Anniversary Address, 11 



Guilds and other meetings, and who, if they do come, do not 

 appear in their gowns. Another entry of the 9th May, 1677, 

 is " Whereas several burgesses do resort to Guilds with 

 cloaks and with white hats on their heads, which is very 

 uncojuely and indecent for members in Corporations so to 

 do ; it is therefore ordered that no burgesses hereafter shall 

 come to Guilds or public meetings without a cloak and a 

 black or sad coloured hat, on pain of one shilling upon every 

 default." A few days afterwards, 7 burgesses were fined for 

 not coming to the Guild in cloaks. 



They wer-e from the first jealous of the dignity of those 

 they put in authority over them ; it was ordered in 1506 

 " that neither the Mayor, Aldermen, nor any of the Bailiffs 

 shall brew nor bake to sell during their office, upon pain of 

 6s 8d, ' toties ([uoties,' as they shall offend against this 

 order." Nor were they indifferent as to the morals of their 

 apprentices ; in July, 1666, two, whose moral characters do 

 not appear to have been without reproach, were only ad- 

 mitted as burgesses, on paying a fine of £5 each to the 

 Guild. Disfranchisement seems to have been a punishment 

 very often inflicted. Instances are recorded of men being 

 disfranchised for perjury and lying, for using profane words 

 against God Almighty, for letting a shop to a stranger, or 

 one not a freeman, for living out of the town, for enlisting 

 as a soldier, the reason given in this case being that he was 

 unable to perform his duties to the town, and burgesses who 

 had not paid their taxes were in many cases disfranchised 

 until they paid them. Disfranchisement must have been a 

 severe punishment, as it debarred those, upon whom it was 

 inflicted, from trading in the town, or participating in any 

 of its privileges, and of these privileges, which were great, 

 as set forth in the various charters granted to the town, 

 which have been often published, the burgesses were very 

 tenacious. 



The business of the Guild seems to have been most 

 frequently taken up in guarding against the encroachments 

 of strangers or unfreemen, particularly of the Scots. Mr 

 Scott refers in his History to the great hatred in which the 



