By the Rev. W. H. Jones. 



141 



which were collected in 1229 (13 Henry III.) with great rigour, 

 have left their memorial behind them in the name of "Lombard" 

 Street, where their offices are said to have been. 



The Merchants of the Staple. 



The " Easterlings" were foreigners, as we have already intimated. 

 Within a quarter of a century of their settlement in England we 

 find mention of a class of native merchants, who are commonly 

 known by the name of " the Merchants of the Staple." Those who 

 profess to have investigated their origin, give us the following 

 account. They tell us that there was a commercial society known 

 by the name of " The Merchants of the Staple," which had its 

 origin about the year 1248 ; that it had the regal form of a cor- 

 poration before the 12th Edward II. (1219), inasmuch as there 

 are records in the Pipe Office of the Exchequer, which imply that 

 there was then existing such a corporate body, with the title of 

 "the Mayor and Constables of the Staple of England," who then 

 had their staple at Antwerp, for the sale of English goods, and the 

 importation of such foreign goods as were wanted at home. They 

 add, that they were a company trading with a joint-fund, sanctioned 

 by Charter, and supported by peculiar and exclusive privileges. 

 And Henry, in his " History of Great Britain," after endorsing 

 the above opinions, details the objects for which such a company 

 was established. It was instituted, he says, " to answer these two 

 ends : — 1st, To purchase and collect all that could be spared of the 

 chief commodities of the kingdom ; which were these five ; — wool, 

 wool-fels, leather, lead, and tin ; and convey them to certain towns 

 which were called staple towns, that the king's customs might be 

 collected with ease, and that foreign merchants might know where 

 to find these commodities in sufficient quantities. 2nd, To export 

 these staple wares to foreign countries, and to import returns for 

 them in goods, coin, or bullion." 



He adds, " Natives as well as foreigners might be and were 

 employed in executing the first of these ends, but no natives of 

 England, Ireland, or Wales, could be concerned directly or indi- 

 rectly in exporting any of these commodities." How far subsequent 



