A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



quired. Nor do the town books of the period impress 

 us with the concerns of the merchants at this time. 

 The vessels were of small tonnage, the ownership 

 divided : thus, among others, the Mayflower of 28 tons 

 was let out in four several holdings.** 7 Later on, in 

 1619, the mayor with difficulty provided 150 out 

 of .300 required towards the suppression of piracy, 

 and the complaint of burdens again falls heavily on 

 the ear. Much of the town shipping was employed 

 in the middle of the sixteenth century in the New- 

 foundland fishery, 3 * 8 which also made its impress on 

 the later town ordinances,** 9 but a hundred years later 

 had migrated to Poole. The Channel Islands trade 

 was settled in the town from early in the sixteenth 

 century,* 30 wool being exported to the islands for 

 the manufacture of stockings which came back to 

 England for sale. The wine trade continued together 

 with much smuggling. 



It is not to be supposed that the depression of the 

 town was suffered without an effort on the part of 

 the townsmen. After the Fire of London the Cor- 

 poration advertised the attractions of Southampton 

 with its many very good houses with cellars and 

 warehouses then standing vacant. The London 

 sufferers, being men ' of credit and reputation,' were 

 invited to throw in their lot with Southampton and 

 open up fresh trade.*" In the next century a similar 

 offer, with that of free burgess-ship, was made to 

 'merchants of credit and substance' if they would 

 come and help revive decaying fortune.**' But the 

 turn of fortune was not to come yet.** 3 



Meanwhile turning to the interior trades of the 

 townsfolk in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth 

 centuries, they are found to be of the usual kind, and 

 mostly gathered into corporations, craft gilds, or 

 companies, with a common hall, admitting their 

 members by fine, and having relation to the town 

 corporation, by which they were all supervised. The 

 usual arrangement was for one half of admission fines 

 to go to the particular craft or trade, and the other 

 half to the town. The articles of these corporations 

 were to be read publicly among themselves at least 

 once a year. Thus in 1441 all the bakers were fined 

 by the town.* 54 In 1517 they were formed into a 

 company with usual powers of self-government ; two 

 years later (1519) certain members of the craft 

 having engrossed the making of ship-biscuits, all were 

 ordered to bring their portions of biscuit into the 

 hall over the market-place, there to be sold by the 

 masters of the craft indifferently ; any evasion of the 

 order, which was agreed to before the mayor and his 

 brethren, was to be visited by a mulct of ios., namely, 

 6t. %d. to the town and 31. \d. to the light of 

 St. Clement ; for further offence the loss of liberty in 

 the craft corporation was awarded.** 5 They had 

 always to report to the town what stock of grain they 

 had ready for the supply of the public ; the same 

 applies to brewers. In 1584 the fine charged for 

 admission into the bakers' corporation was z6s. 8^., 

 half going to the town, and half to the craft.* 36 



The fine for barber-craft, which embraced common 

 surgery, besides ' trimming ' or hair-cutting, was also 

 (1512) 261. %J., half to the town, and half to the 

 craft. 337 The relations between the town and the bar- 

 bers, who were often ' of a froward mynde,' were 

 sometimes strained, but the following entry deals with 

 conflicting jurisdiction. In 1638 a barber surgeon 

 with episcopal licence having been amerced by the 

 leet jury he was not a Southampton product and 

 called before the House, said he had no respect for 

 the House and never got 6J. by it, ' which proud 

 and peremptorie language of soe meane a fellow in this 

 place is not to be indured. It is therefore this day 

 ordered that he finde sureties for his appearance at 

 the next sessions of the peace there to answer etc.' SM 



Brewing was a popular trade and was constantly 

 being regulated. In 1488 the fine for admission to 

 beer brewing by the year seems to have been lo/. 

 each man.* 38 In 1531 for the avoidance of gambling 

 and idleness, ' by reason that every other house is a 

 bruer or tapper,' the number of brewers and tappers 

 was strictly apportioned, and the brewers were for- 

 bidden to serve their customers otherwise than in the 

 gross, on the principle, often repeated, ' that one may 

 lyve by another,' the tapper being the retail dealer. 3 ' 

 The beer supplied was of several strengths, all regu- 

 lated and charged for according to a standard set 

 ultimately by the town corporation, which otherwise 

 looked after the brewers. They were allowed no 

 iron on their cart wheels ; such wheels not only 

 meant ' decay ' to the pavement, but caused ' the 

 spurging of theire beere so that their barrels cannot 

 come full to their customers.'" 1 However, it had 

 been the practice to bring round 'filling beer' to 

 make up deficiencies, until the regulation came out 

 (1579) that they must supply twenty-one barrels as 

 twenty, and be particular that they all went out 

 full. 34 * The ' tipplers' i.e. the beer-house keepers 

 may here be mentioned. They were being con- 

 stantly regulated both corporately and individually ; 

 and in 1581 were ordered not to receive into their 

 houses any of the common drunkards of the town, 

 the names of some being given. 343 



In 1457 the butchers, whose chief market was 

 by the Friars Gate, paid \s. per annum for each stall, 

 but \d. if only taken for a day.* 44 They were 

 constantly being regulated, and seem to have had 

 some unpleasant customs. 34 " In 1555 they were 

 formed into a company on the usual plan. In 1575 

 we find slaughter houses forbidden within the walls. 

 In connexion with the butchers, bull-baiting should 

 be mentioned. The bull-ring was in the upper part 

 of the High Street ; its use was supposed to make the 

 meat more wholesome ; its disuse in 1496 was visited 

 by a fine of two loads of faggots.* 46 



In 1507 two chandlers sufficed, who bound 

 themselves to supply the town with tallow candles at 

 \d. per pound. In 1576 we find the same number 

 early hours were kept ; they were appointed for 

 twenty-one years, one to serve the parishes of Holy 



827 Liber Notationum under 1576, &c. 



828 Lib. Remembranc. H. foL 204^. 

 139 Ordinances, circa 1630, p. 69. 



880 Lib. Remembranc. foil 16, and 

 Davies, op. cit. 263. 



881 Town Journ. 2 Nov. 1666. 

 888 Ibid. 19 June 1761. 



888 See a curious poem called ' The 

 Vision ' given as Appendix to Bait upon 



Batt by a Person of Quality (Dr. Speed) 

 (ed. vi), 1711. 



M Steward's Bk. Corp. MSS. 



885 Boke of Remembrances (Corp.MSS.), 

 fol. 1 8. 



886 Ibid. fol. 14.1*. 



887 Lib. Remembranc. H. foL 180. 



188 Town Journ. (Corp. MSS.), 14 

 Decem. 1638. 



522 



Steward's Bk. (Corp. MSS.). 



840 Boke of Remembrances, fol. 29. 



841 Ibid. fol. 92* ; Court Leet Bk. 

 '577, 1579- 



848 Boke of Remembrances (Corp.MSS.), 

 fol. 135*. ws Ibid. fol. 139. 



844 Steward's Bk. 



845 Davies, op. cit. 269. 



841 Lib. Remembranc. H. fol. 12. 



