APPRENTICE. 





of mutual protection against feudal oppression, 

 competition, the sssertinn of ] 



J The restraint of free 



IMMulisr privilegw. and the limitation of 



the numbers of such as abouM participate in them, were the main 

 rwulta to which thest institutions tended : tad for than purpose* a 

 more obvious or effective instrument than apprenticeship oould hardly 

 be found. To exercise a trade, it was necessary to be free of the 

 company or fraternity of that trade ; and ai the principal if not the 

 only mode of acquiring thin freedom in early timet wai by erring an 

 apprenticeship to a member of the body, it became easy to limit the 

 number* admitted to thi> privilege, either indirectly by the length of 

 apprenticeship required, or more immediately by limiting the number 

 of apprentices to be taken by eaoh master. 80 strict in some instance* 

 were UMM regulation*, that no matter wu allowed to take ai an 



to it* origin ai a part of the ayitem of aieociated trade*. The tendency 

 to association, indeed, i* not strong among the agricultural population, 

 combination being, to the scattered inhabitant* of the country, incon- 

 venient and often impracticable ; whereas the inhabitant* of town* are, 

 by their very position, invited to it 



Subsequently to the twelfth century, apprenticeship ha* prevailed in 

 almost every part of Europe. In France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, it 

 may be distinctly traced, and it probably existed in various other coun- 

 tries. It is asserted by Adam Smith, that seven yean seems ancientry 

 to have been all over Europe the usual term established for the dura- 

 tion of apprenticeships in most trade*. There seems, however, to have 

 been no settled rule on this subject, for there is abundant evidence to 

 how that the custom in this respect varied not only in different coun- 

 tries, but in different incorporated trades in the asms town. 



In Italy, the Latin term for the contract of apprenticeship wan 

 aexvmotnlatio. From an old form of an Italian instrument, given by 

 Beier in his learned work, ' De Collegiis Opificum,' it appears that the 

 contract, which in most respects closely resembled English indentures 

 of apprenticeship, wu signed by the father or other friend of the boy 

 who was to be bound, and not by the boy himself, the latter testifying 

 hi* consent to the agreement merely by being present. 



In France, the trading associations prevailed to a great extent, under 

 the names of " Corp* de Uarchands " and " Communautes." At 

 the Utter end of the 17th century, there were in Paris six " Corps de 

 Ifarchands," and one hundred and twenty-nine " ( 'oiiimiinauton," or com- 

 panies of tradesmen, each fraternity having their own rules and lawn. 

 Among these bodies the duration of apprenticeship varied from three 

 to eight or tn yean. It was an invariable rule in the " Corps de Mar- 

 chanda," which wa* generally followed in the " Communautes," that no 

 maitnr should have more than one apprentice at a time. There was 

 also a regulation that no one could exercise his trade a* a master until, 

 in addition to his apprenticeship, he had served a certain number of 

 yean a* a journeyman. During the latter term be was called the 

 " compagnon " of his master, and the term itself was called his i <>m 

 pagnonage." He had also, before being admitted to practise his trade 

 a* master, to deliver to the " jnrande," or warden* of the company, a 

 specimen of his proficiency in his art, called his " chef-d'oeuvre.'' He 

 was then said " aspirer a la mattrise." The son* of merchants living in 

 their father's house till seventeen yean of age, and following his trade, 

 were reputed to have served their apprenticeship, and became entitled 

 to the privileges incidental to it without being actually Hound. These 

 companies or associations were finally abolished at the revolut inn, when 

 a perfect fiesduui of industry was recognised by the laws, and this, with 



, prescribes the rights 



It does not, however, lay down any particular form, and 

 leaves the time and other conditions of the contract to be determined 

 by the parties. 



In < let-many, though we And the same Institution, it varies not only 

 in the name, but has some other remarkable peculiarities. The com- 

 panies there wiled giidtn, *Ufte, or i*inyen, appear to have exercised 

 in many respects a sort of judicial 0011* ,*, and, 



cither on account of moral or physical defects, to have refused odmls- 

 kw to applicants far freedom at the discretion of the elders or mast*. 

 They seem to have occasionally admitted workmen who had not served 

 a regular apprenticeship into the lower class of memlpers of a trade ; 

 bat to become imstsri was only allowed to thorn who hod pone 

 through the regular stage* of instruction which r. 



to the present day i* as follow* : The ni 



the term prescribed by his indenture (av/dimii-brirf), is admitted m' 

 the company as a companion (yaeU), which corresponda in many 

 rsspeota to the French eomfagoa*. Having passed through the rears 

 of his apprenticeship, called khr-jalu*. satisfactorily, he becomes en 

 titled to receive from the mast em and companions of the guild a 

 certificate, or general letter of recommendation (lt,,,l. 

 testifies that h has duly served his apprenticeship, 'and has been 

 admitted a member of tile company, and commends him to the good 

 i of the societies of the same craft, wherever he may apply for 

 With this certificate the young artisan seta out on his travels, 

 pvhich often occupy several yp.r, called vaatM-jaltrr, supporting him 



self by working a* a journeyman in hi* particular art or trade in the 

 various towns in which he temporarily establishes himself, and availing 

 himself of his tvtuitrfiafl to procure admission into U.. lYH.iwship and 

 privileges of his brother workmen of the same craft On his return 

 home, be is entitled, upon producing certificates of his good conduct 

 during his m*dd-jakn, to become a master. In Qermany, the periods 

 of servitude have varied in different states and at different periods ; in 

 general, the term is seven years ; but in some instance* an apprentice- 

 ship of five or three yean is sufficient 



Neither in Ireland nor in Scotland have the law* relating to associated 

 trade* or apprentices been very rigorously enforced. In the former, 

 the same system of guilds and companies certainly existed ; but, a* it 

 was the policy of the English government to encourage settler" 

 little attention wan paid to their exclusive privilege* ; and in 167- the 

 Lord Lieutenant and Council, under authority of an Act of I'.ulument, 

 issued a set of rules and regulation* for all the walled towns in Ireland, 

 by which any foreigner was allowed to become free of the guild* and 

 fraternities of tradesmen on payment of a fine of 20. A statute con- 

 taining very similar enactments was passed in 19 Oeo. HI. The 

 term of apprenticeship, also, in Ireland, wa* of a moderate length, live 

 years being required by 2 Anne, c. 4, for the linen manufacture, which. 

 by 10 Oeo. I., c. 2, was reduced to four years. It is asserted by 

 Adam Smith, that there is no country in Bnrope in which 

 laws are so little oppressive as in Scotland. Three year* are there a 

 common term of apprenticeship even in the nicer trades, but there i* 

 no general law on the subject, the custom being different in di! 

 communities. 



It is, perhaps, impossible to ascertain precisely at what time appren- 

 ticeships first came into general use in England. But that the insti- 

 tnticn is one of very old date is certain. )*Mng probably contemporaneous 

 with the formation of the guilds or companies of tradesmen. In the 

 statutes of the realm, however, there is no reference to such an insti- 

 tution for about 200 years after the guilds are known to have existed, 

 apprentices being first incidentally noticed in an act (1- Kieh. II. c. 3) 

 passed in 1388. But that about this time apprenticeship had become 

 extremely common is proved by a statute passed in 1405-6 (7 H> 

 c. 17), which contains the singular enactment, that no one shall bind 

 his son or daughter apprentice unless he have land or rent to the value 

 of 20. by the year ; the cause of which provision is stated to be the 

 neat-city of labourers in husbandry, in consequence of the custom of 

 binding children apprentices to trades. In the act (8 Hen. VI. c. 11) 

 whirl) repealed this statute in favour of the city of London, the putting 

 and taking of apprentices is stated to have been at that time a custom 

 of London time out of mind. The name statute was repealed (by the 

 llth Hen. VII. c. 11) in favour of the citizens of Norwich, and (by 

 the 12th Hen. VII. c. 1) in favour of the w. >rsted-makers ot Norfolk ; 

 and in the former act we find the first mention of any particular term 

 of servitude, the custom of the worsted-sheerer** of Norwich being con- 

 firmed by it, which required an apprenticeship of seven years. Except 

 in London, it does not appear that at an early period there was in 

 England any uniform practice in this respect, but that the duration of 

 the apprenticeship was a matter for agreement between the parties to 

 the contract In Madox's Kormulare Anglicanum,' there is an inden- 

 ture of apprenticeship dated in the reign of Henry IV., which is nearly 

 in the same form as the modem : and in that case the 



binding is to a carpenter for six VIMI.-. It is, however, probable that 

 before the statute of the ,1th KHz. c. 4. the t>-rm of apprenticeship was 

 seldom leas than seven yearn. In London, the | period of seven years 

 at the least was expressly prenribed by the custom as the shortest 

 md Sir Thomas Smith, in his 'Commonwealth of Kngland,' 

 written about the time of the passing of the statute ,.t Klirabeth, says, 

 in reference to the previous practice, that the apprentice " serveth, 

 some for seven or eight years, some nine or ten years, as the master 

 and the friends of the young man shall think meet, or can agree 

 together." 



The statute of the K and 6 Edw. VI. c. 8, which enacts that no person 



shall weave broad woollen cloth, unless he have served a seven years' 



apprenticeship, may l>c adduced as a further proof that this term was 



fart becoming the customary one, when, by the ."th Klin, c. 4, it was 



l.iw f the land, and one unifonn practice in all trades int.ro- 



I'.ut neither l.y that .-tatntc. nor by the 



i he act, WM 



1 i . eship thta setea years forbidden. 



'I'h. I, nd ' .and often a 



nee from their number-, the 



H.ijicrior birth of many of them, and the \v.-:iltli of their masters, but 



' uly fmni their union, ami the- spirit of freemasonry which 



hem. The author of a curkmS poem published fa 



ur of London Appn nli' >,' observes, in his 



and count!* .,;dom of 1 j 



and dominion of Wales, the pv.nns of knight M, c.<juicrs, gentlemen, 

 ministers, yeomen, and tradest r places 



of nativity and are bound to be pi. -nticcs in London." He also in. i 

 "the unanimous correspondence that is amongst that innumerable 

 company." 



It may be readily supposed that such a body, in the midst of a large 

 metropolis, densely crowded with population, and frequented by 

 strangers of all kinds, was not a little obnoxious to the police ; and 



