Company in order to preserve a Succession And for an acc mmedation of such as have no other Friend there is an Order of the Court of Assistents for them to be bound to the Beadle of the Grocers and turned over to their Masters The abuse of taking Freedoms by Patrimony set forth and the Error detected That it is only to extend to the City but not to the Mystery unless the Son n of the same Mystery whereof his Father was Free. from thence into any other to doe the like But it positively enjoyns them all to bind their Apprentices for the future to Members of the Grocers Company and to be turned over to their Masters to serve their Apprenticeships and all as well those whose terms are expired as those that are not to take their Freedoms of the Grocers in order to preserve a Succession in this Company which otherwise must in few years have sunk for want of Members to the total ruine and destruction of their Charities and Government And for their Accommodation in that behalf there is an Order of the Court of Assistents for the Beadle of the Grocers Company to be the Medium in cases where they have no other Friend of the Company for their Apprentices to be bound to him and so turned over to the Master whom he is to serve which Clause in the Charter for so doing was at first much scrupled by reason of the Custom supposed to be in London for a Freeman's Son to have his Freedom by Patrimony at his own Election of whatsoever Company his Father was a Member though the Son had been bound Apprentice to a Member of another Mystery wherein upon due Examination it was found to be a vulgar Error and a great Mistake by long usage grown into a Custom extending this Custom of Patrimony which is restrained only to a Freedom of the City to every Company in the City whereas the Apprentice though he may have his Freedom whether he serve or no of the City by his Father's Copy yet he ought according to the Original Design and Intent of every Charter of Incorporation to take his Freedom of his proper Mystery where there is any Corporation of such Mystery For that every Mystery hath been incorporated to no other end but to have all their Members and all using their Mystery well governed by proper Judges viz. by Men best knowing and experienced therein whereas the contrary practice hath introduced a spurious Mixture in all Societies and caused all abuses possibly in the Government of the City and made Men as lawless and ungovernable as their corrupt and loose Principles will lead them to As for Example a Member of the Barber-Chirurgions As for Example that a Carpenter or Blacksmith ought not take his Freedom of the Barber Chirurgions though his Father was of this Company a Member puts his Son Apprentice to a Carpenter or Black-Smith or any other Mechanick Trade if the Son having thus served his Apprenticeship out of Pride Prejudice or sinister End shall take his Freedom by Patrimony of the Barber-Chirurgions whereof his Father was a Member he is thereupon Sworn to observe the By-Laws and Ordinances made for well-governing of the Barber-Chirurgions which is to bleed dress Wounds c. things unknown to him and impossible for him to observe and which is worse makes him never after mindful of his Oath and frees him from all Obligation to take notice of or to observe those Ordinances made for well-governing the Carpenters which is his proper Mystery and so he becomes a lawless Person and from thence in that as in other like Cases the End and Design of all Corporations is totally abused and defeated besides the great wrong done to the Company which is thus deprived of its Members which should support the Charge and Grandeur of their Society of which Injury no Company in London have more cause to complain than the Grocers but all other Persons using a Calling of which there is no Corporation in being as Norwich-Factors Merchants c. are at liberty to take their Freedom of what Company they have served to or by Patrimony of their Fathers or by Redemption of what Company they please but having once made their Election they are obliged to continue therein unless they shall be translated thence by order of the Court of Aldermen and consent of the Company into another And whereas two Causes have been assigned for discouragement of Persons to take their Freedom of the Grocers viz. The Causes discouraging Persons from taking their Freedom of the Grocers viz. the great charge and burthen The reproach of their Hall in Ruines and under Sequestration are now removed First The great Charge they were incident to bear above other Companies Secondly The Reproach contracted by reason of their Hall lying in Ruines and under Sequestration and the great Debts they owe both which by the Prudence and Care of our Government now blessed be God are removed and on the contrary greater Arguments may be used to incourage such as left us to return and others to incorporate themselves into this Company And on the contrary for their encouragement besides the many Privileges in this Company the charge of every Office is not half so much besides the many ancient Privileges which the Members of the Grocers Company are intituled unto For ease of their Members they do not take Fines to excuse them of Warden or Steward as heretofore but in special cases neither do they call them on the Cloathing as in most other Companies but when it is most manifest they have been of long continuance or are of sufficient Ability freely to accept it and so it is usually a long time before it comes to a Young Man's turn to bear any charge or burthen here and when it doth And none are suffered to Fine and if they do it is not above half so much as it was heretofore the charge of Livery Steward and other Offices are all reduced to a very low and easie rate or if they Fine or Hold the charge is not much above half so much as it was heretofore all so settled by the Court of Assistents for ease and encouragement of their Members There is provision made for the due payment of all our Charities which for many years have been too much neglected and occasioned great Clamour and Reproach on the Company Our Hall having been new built and beautified there is a most certain Ground-rent by Decree settled to answer all our yearly Charities as well where we have as where before we had no Fond to secure the due and constant yearly payment of them to their proper Object to remove all that daily Clamour and Reflexion which for several years past in all places rendred them reproachful throughout the City and Kingdom Our By-Laws and Ordinances are with great Care and by Learned Counsel prepared for well Ordering and Governing our Members and all using the
his last Will and Testament dated the 17th Day of July 1556. gave for ever to this Company all his Lands and Tenements in Canning-Street and the several Lanes adjacent whereon are now erected many fair Dwelling-Houses by the Lessees after the late dreadful Fire To maintain a School-Master and Vsher and seven Alms-men and a Woman to attend them at Gundle in Northamptonshire and the Surplusage to support their Charities The Bodies of these two Worthy Members and Benefactors were both laid in one Vault in St. Mary Aldermary Church with fair Monuments over them demolished by the said late Fire The said Sir Henry Keble at his own proper Charges built the said St. Mary Aldermary Church BENEFACTORS From whom the Company have received their Revenue designed for the Support and Relief of their poor Members and Discharge of other charitable Vses BENEFACTORS Who gave the Company Summs of Money to purchase Lands and Tenements which with much more they laid out in improving the Lands and Tenements so given by other Benefactors that the same might also answer the yearly Charities appointed by those Donors of such Moneys The DONORS Names and the Streets and Places where their Lands and Tenements so given are situate Sir Henry Keble Broad-Street Sir William Butler Thames-Street Mincing Lane. John Maldon Botolph-Lane Thomas Gore Grace Church-Street Lombard-Street John Billesdon Cornhil Sir William Laxton Canning-Street Bush-Lane Abchurch-Lane St. Nicholas-Lane Eastcheap Sherborn Lane. St. Swithins Lane. John Wardall Walbrook Thomas Knowles St. Antholins Emme Bachus Wood-Street Steyning-Lane Sir Thomas Middleton Baynerd's Castle William Robinson Grub-Street Elizabeth Burrel Cheap-Side Peter Bloundell Donning's Alley Sir John Hart Shore-Ditch Lady Anne Middleton Montgomery-Shire Cornwall  lb Lady Conway 1441 Gilbert Keate 600 William Robinson 400 Alderman Saunders 210 Francis Tyrrel 700 John Heydon 100 Edmond Turvill 1000 Robert Lambert 100 Nicholas Stiles 100 Sir John Peachy 500 Richard Haile 200 Mr. Wheatley 100 Humphry Walwyn 600 Mary Robinson 500 Total Summ 6551 The present Rents with some small Addition from the casual yearly Profits do discharge the whole yearly Charities of both kinds and the Arrears of each Branch are secured to be paid out of the first Fines on renewing Leases and other Improvement of the same And to preserve and augment their Revenue they have made provision to prevent adding to any Term whilst five Years remain in being and not to reserve less than 10 l. per Cent. per Annum of the full improved yearly Value on Demise of any part thereof Benefactors WHO gave Summs of Money to be lent to young Members of the Company on small or no Interest at the Discretion of the Wardens and Assistants wherewith the Company having charged themselves the same are now decreed to be raised out of the first Fines on renewing Leases or other Profits arising out of their Revenue above their yearly Charities immediately after the Arrears of their yearly Charities shall be discharged and for ever to be continued a Stock for these and to be applied to no other Vses whatsoever  l. s. d The Lady Slaney 100 0 0 Edmond Turvyll 100 0 0 Henry Anderson 100 0 0 John Newman 100 0 0 Gilbert Keate 50 0 0 Thomas Wheatley 50 0 0 Sir John Lyon 200 0 0 Edward Elmer 50 0 0 Thomas Farmer 100 0 0 Lettice Deane 200 0 0 Richard Lambert 100 0 0 Edward Jakeman 200 0 0 Katharine Hall 100 0 0 Roger Knott 100 0 0 John Heydon 100 0 0 Sir Thomas Ramsey 200 0 0 Peter Houghton 400 0 0 Thomas Ridge 100 0 0 John Grove 100 0 0 Gilbert Keate 50 0 0 Thomas Dawkins 20 0 0 Robert Brooke 100 0 0 Mary Robinson 200 0 0 George Holman 100 0 0 Richard-Hall 100 0 0 Thomas Westraw 100 0 0 Robert Bowyer 50 0 0 John Hudson 100 0 0 Sir Robert Nappier 100 0 0 William Pennyfather 100 0 0 Thomas Moulston 200 0 0 Stephen Abberley 250 0 0 John Mevil 100 0 0 Thomas Gamull 200 0 0 Constance Wrightman 100 0 0 Sir Edmond Wright 50 0 0 Thomas Freeman 100 0 0 William Pennyfather 233 6 8 This was not only a great Encouragement for young Men so to behave themselves during their Apprenticeship as by a good Report to recommend themselves capable of such a Favour from the Company but is a great Obligation on such of them as by God's Blessing on their Endeavours shall from small Beginnings gain ample Estates to become themselves also liberal Benefactors IN the Reign of King Henry the IV. Henry Chicheley the Eldest Brother being then Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury his two younger Brethren were both Aldermen and Members of this Company viz. Sir William the Second and Sir Robert the Third both in their turn Sheriffs and Sir Robert afterwards twice Lord Mayor who purchased the Ground whereon St. Stephen's Church in Walbrook now stands which he built at his own charge the Advowson whereof remains in the Company of Grocers to this Day which Church being consumed by the Fire Anno 1666. The Right Honourabie Sir Thomas Chicheley also a Member of this Company who descended in a right Line from the said Sir Robert late Master of the Ordnance afterwards Chancellor of the Dutchy of Lancaster and to King Charles the Second and some time to King James the Second of Their Majesties most Honourable Privy Council laid the first Stone and was a liberal Benefactor towards rebuilding thereof And being their Master Annis 1686 / 7. at his own charge built the Company a new Barge and purchased them the Tennant Right of a Barge-House in grateful remembrance whereof they have caused his Picture and this Inscription to be here set up If I were to give a Title to this following Table I humbly conceive it might be not improperly called The Insurance Office. That the Heir may not sooner prodigally waste than his Ancestor frugally got the Estate ΑΠΟΚΑΛΥΨΙΣ ιδ. ιγ. * Rev. 14.13 They rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ALthough Good Works or well-husbanding our Talent lent for Improvement be not Meritorious yet in the Dialect of the Apostle they are esteemed the best Evidence of Faith and Obedience and remain a surviving Testimony of a Faithful Steward when silent in his Grave And it is observable that in all Ages Honour and Estate have been most lasting in their Families who have most abounded in Works of this Nature So that if it were modest to assign the Cause why so many great Estates have been sooner wasted by a Prodigal Heir than gotten by his Frugal Parent we may with humble submission conclude it is from a defect in this great and necessary Duty so generally Crown'd with a Blessing on Posterity SIR JOHN CUTLER Knight and Baronet a Worthy Member of this Company having Fined for Sheriff and Alderman nigh forty years since was chosen and held Master-Warden Annis 1652 / 3. and did immediately after the dreadful Fire
Mystery and for encouragement of all who observe their Duty And also for punishment of all Transgressors and so to encourage our Benefactors that this Company be restored as it was 100 years since a Nursery of Charities and Seminary of good Citizens Our By-Laws by most learned Counsel are settled and again perused examined and approved of as the Law directs in the First Year of the Reign of our now Sovereign Lord and Lady King William and Queen Mary by the Right Honourable the Lords Commssioners for Custody of the Great Seal and the two Lord Chief Justices Sir John Holt and Sir Henry Pollixfen pursuant to our late Charter so enlarged whereby our ancient Usages and Privileges for well Governing and Ordering our Members and Mystery are in every kind regulated augmented and supplyed with addition of new suited to all our defects which will without doubt encourage our Benefactors liberally to contribute towards discharge of the Remainder of our Company 's Debts so that there cannot be a better foundation laid to raise and restore our Company as it was 100 years since a Seminary of good Citizens and Nursery of the best Charities in London and so consequently no Apprentice can well or probably may hope to be planted in a better Corporation in order to his future advantage And that this Company may no longer suffer either by not observing or transgressing them the Heads of such as concern all using the Mystery in London and the Precincts aforesaid will be Printed and Published that all may have notice to Conform thereunto And to the end that all Persons concerned using this Mystery either as Grocer Druggist Confectioner Tobacconist or Tobacco-Cutter in London and within three Miles of the Liberties thereof may have notice thereof and give due Obedience and Conformity to what hath been so designed by the said Charter By-Laws and ancient Usages and this Company suffer no longer by their Defaults either in not observing or transgressing the same the Heads thereof will in short time be Printed and Published and left at their several Dwellings and places of abode for their Caution and better Information And certainly all this considered it cannot be doubted but every Member of this Company will call to mind the great obligation he lies under if he will mind his Oath either as a good Christian or an honest Man in and by all things according to his Power on all opportunities not only to publish and make known unto all Persons concerned what is so required of them but will also move and excite them by the best Arguments and Ways they can speedily to comply with their duty herein and so avoid the Penalties and Charges they will otherwise expose themselves to in a chargeable way and be compelled at last to yield Obedience and Conformity thereunto THE CONCLUSION In a few Motives to Good Works as the very Life and Soul of Religion and the best Evidence of a sincere Christian The Conclusion by Address HAving thus stated the condition of the Company as it long flourished in Splendor and gradually through various Providences and the sad Effects of War and Fire how it groaned of late under so great pressure in its sadder Circumstances And having set before you the happy encouragement already now given and the Methods propounded again to raise and restore this Company to its former splendor Most humbly moving to the great Work of Charity I now tu n to the Honourable and Worthy Members of whom it consists And you my noble and good Masters under whom I hold my Station in this place I most humbly pray you of your wonted Benignity to bear with my Zeal and Freedom and the boldness I assume most humbly to move you to set to your helping hands in this Work so excellent and acceptable to God and every good Man. And pressed with a five-fâ—ld Argument drawn from the nature of this great Duty From example of their Pious Ancestors 1. By remembring you of those eminent good Charities for which those Worthy Members who went before you in former times and are to this day celebrated and have left us such grounds as being now built gives us the prospect of a great Revenue when the Leases are out which though far distant are and will be every year like useful Timber a more growing hope to Posterity Whose Foundation they have to build in 2. That you would not only think it enough to praise them but be provoked by a generous Emulation to follow their Example liberally and bountifully to afford your Assistence not only to secure but also to increase this growing hope that our Burthen and Reproach being removed our Benefactors may be encouraged and this Society still preserved a Seminary of good Merchants and as a Treasury of Charity that so the succeeding Generations may Bless and Honour you as much as you do those Worthy Members in former times when your Names shall be recorded as Raisers and Restorers of the Company of Grocers 3. That what you doe you would doe speedily whereby you will draw on others that need quickening and encouragement by your Example and in so doing you will not only have the Comfort of what you doe your selves but be the happy Promoters in others of what the Company will have cause to bless God and give you thanks for 4. That you will consider how great a deliverance you had to escape the late dreadful Fire with your lives and how Gracious God hath been to you still to entrust you with his Talents for improvement as Stewards in his Work And that this Company which suffered so much in that Calamity hath no other Hands but yours to repair her breaches 5. That you can have no such true comfort in the World on a Sick Bed or in any other Calamity as to be conscious of doing good Works of this Nature when as faithful Stewards of that which is not consigned to you into Property but into Trust you have as Good and Faithful Servants but well disposed of a Parcel of your great Lord's Estate according to his own Will. And for your encouragement this is a Work most acceptable to God and inviting to every good Man the Redemption Relief and Support of the most Ancient and Illustrious Corporation in this Metropolis with all her numerous Offspring the Aged the Widow and the Fatherless the Blind the Lame and the Impotent all that God who is Wisdom and Goodness himself commends after his own example to your Charity and as capable of Alms with most extensive Blessings Encouraging it Promises of Rewards and to be neglected under the most severe Threatnings and Punishments And farther this your kindness will not perish as a Meals-Meat As an Object most acceptable to God and inviting to every Good Man. or a draught of cold Water though that has encouragement a Man would think that will give credit to our Saviour himself but this your Charity will be as a lasting Seed laid on the purest Foundation of those Holy and Good Men who were our Pious Founders and whose Names after so many hundred years smell sweet and blossom in the dust and are now Blessed with God receiving the Recompense of their Reward whilst their Works follow them and praise them in the Gates so that what you shall here bestow will be to open and feed those Fountains as their lasting and refreshing Comforts and Relief For though Good Works in themselves as flowing back to the Fountain from whence they spring can be no way meritorious yet they have been always so acceptable to God And not only as the best means to secure what they shall leave to their Children and Posterity which without this usually is sooner by them spent than got by their Parents but will for ever remain that we find in every Age Estates and Honour continue longest in the Name and Family of such as have been most diffusive in Works of this Nature that if it were modest to render a reason why so many great Estates are sooner wasted by a loose Heir than gotten by his frugal Parent it may be well presumed it is because so little of it was bestowed to such uses when Men return so little to God to whom they owe all they have and most assuredly no Article in your Account at the great Audit will be sooner allowed to * This to be understood in the Apostle's sence not otherwise cover many other Errors than what is thus disposed And now as Spice is a great Ingredient in this Mystery and is a part of your Arms so I pray consider how Alms in Scripture are called an Odor of a sweet-smelling Savour A sweet Perfume in the Nostrils of Men. And an Odor of a sweet-smelling Savour to God. and it is these Perfumes that will prove acceptable to God and have a good Savour amongst Men. So I conclude with my Prayers to Almighty God to incline all your Hearts according to your several Degrees and Qualities in this great Work to acquit your selves as good Men and as good Citizens and Grocers and that I may be happy in discharge of my Duty which alone moved me to make this my humble Address to you all and shall be my endeavours to perform FINIS