206 JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
There is little doubt that many of these would have thrown a 
light upon my subject; for the town authorities, the mayor and his 
brethren, appear to have been always intimately connected with the 
Church of St. Andrew. In my “ Ecclesiastical History of Old 
Plymouth,” I referred more particularly to the bye-law passed in 
the third mayoralty of Thomas Grayson with reference to the copes 
and vestments. ‘The money received for the use of these was to 
be taken by the churchwardens, and expended upon the copes if 
necessary, and to the use of the church generally, under the super- 
vision of the mayor and wardens. 
Again, in 1499, wardens for the steeple, otherwise the tower, 
were appointed by the mayor; but this was only for a special 
purpose, I think, and no subsequent appointment was made. but 
in other ways the governing body was interested in the church and 
church property both before and after the Reformation. In connec- 
tion with the Gilds of the town, this is very evident, and it is 
most annoying that we have but the slightest traces of such Gilds. 
Plymouth, unless it was different from almost every other town, 
must have had several of these; but references to two, or perhaps 
three, only are to be found. 
A Gild was a society or voluntary association of persons formed 
for the purpose of promoting the common interest of those so 
banded together. It was an institution of local self-help, which 
took the place to a great extent of the modern friendly or benefit 
society, but which had much higher aims; paying attention not 
only to the particular object of its formation, but to religion, 
justice, and morality, as well as to the assistance of the needy. 
The Gilds were found in every walk of life, and for the promotion 
of many objects, and we find in almost every town one or more 
existing. By some it has been stated that the Gild was the origin 
of the Borough. This is not however the case, although frequently 
the two became mixed up together, and frequently the Gild law 
became the law of the town.* 
We have traces of Gilds in Plymouth, besides crafts connected 
with them. Two of these were of importance—those of Corpus 
Christi and of Our Lady and St. George. Both were, no doubt, 
closely connected with the Church of St. Andrew, the former un- 
questionably so. While the one was essentially a Gild formed for 
a specially religious purpose, having in all probability been instituted 
* Toulmin Smith. 
