's Debts and Charities if they see but any Encouragement from the rest of the Members III. This Building though it amounts to much more than what it was at first designed yet a great part thereof hath been freely laid down on purpose for this work and whatever is farther laid down towards it which it is hoped the whole will be raised by kind Members to answer these good ends would never have been so given but for this very purpose And that the Building and Beautifying the Hall may not be a bait to Creditors again to seize it so again to discourage the Members The Hall and the Company 's Revenue is by advice of Counsel settled by Conveyance and Decree I. Subject to secure the Money so taken up to discharge the Sequestrations c. And when those and what Monies they should be so necessitated to take up to compleat the Buildings shall be discharged II. Then to secure so far as the same will extend the yearly Charities wherewith the Company is chargeable by many Benefactors who so heretofore left Money in their Hands as a Fund to secure the same no part whereof now remains as being a trust they are liable in the first place as a Duty incumbent on them both to avoid a Curse and in order to obtain a Blessing from God upon their Endeavours and also to avoid prosecution of the Commissioners upon the Statute for Charitable Vses who have yearly put the Company to vast expences already upon that Account And these things having been made known to their Creditors who were also convinced by the ill success of others how vain and fruitless it would be to put themselves and the Company to trouble and charge whereby they might hazard the loss of their Debts but not in the least better secure them the Company have been not only free from Suits and Prosecutions which they were not at any time before since their troubles began but also the Wardens and Assistants have been in a great measure freed from those daily Clamours which disturbed them in the Company 's Service And now so fair an opportunity being offered to deliver the Company and to give Encouragement to Benefactors it is hoped there is no Member but will chearfully embrace it whereby they shall not only draw others on by their Example to preserve this Society still a Nursery of Charity and Seminary of good Citizens but also encourage Benefactors for the future some in their Lives and others at their Death liberally to extend their Kindness towards this Company and without all doubt such works as these are acceptable to God in times of greatest Trouble and Danger and such Benefactors may hope on no less Security than God's own Word for Ease and Comfort on a Sick Bed and Deliverence in time of Trouble And moreover their Creditors being now made sensible of the Truth of the Company 's Condition are inclined to comply with any reasonable Proposals shall be made by any on the Company 's behalf and as some have already done others are willing and ready to embrace such Terms as may be agreeable to the Company 's Condition in their present Circumstances for their Satisfaction I have thus abstracted the Company 's Case in these four Pages To the end all Persons concerned whether Members Creditors or Benefactors whose time will not permit them to read the following Sheets may be more readily informed upon all Occasions of the Truth of their Condition And for their ease who shall desire farther Satisfaction in any particular I have added marginal Notes in the following Pages for their Direction And now having at last by God's assistance and with unwearied industry accomplished my design and having also traced their Revenue to the Original Donors and Purchasers I did by order of the Assistants prepare and cause the several following Tables to be set up in their Hall which I have here inserted as a Monument more lasting to the end the Names of their Friends and Benefactors from whom they have received All may be kept in Memory that the Generations to come as well as the present Age may not only bless God for such a Foundation but be quicken'd from their Example to build and enlarge thereupon that their Names may in like manner survive in the blossom of a sweet smelling savour when their Bodies are turned to dust The several Tables c. THE Right Honourable Charles Earl of Dorset and Middlesex Lord Chambelain of his Maiesty's Houshold a Faithful Friend and Patron of this Society admitted into this Fraternity October the 22d 1689. Our most Gracious Sovereign Lord King William having been first chosen the same day their Sovereign Master WILLIAM the III. King of England c. by his Majesty's Royal Permission was on the 22d day of October in the First Year of their Majesty's Reign chosen c. Sovereign Master of this Company graciously accepting the Instrument of such his Majesty's Election and Freedom in a Gold Box. Soon after which the Ordinances for well-governing and regulating the Members and Mystery of the Grocery were examined and likewise approved of as the Law directs by the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners for the Custody of the Great Seal and the Lords Chief Justices of either Bench. Wardens Sir Ralph Box Kt. John Butterfield Richard Peirce Francis Chamberlaine CHARLES the II. late King of England c. and Sovereign Master of this Company was graciously pleased by Special Warrant under his Sign Manual to ascertain the several Branches of the Mystery of the Grocery declaring Druggists Confectioners Tobacconists and Tobacco-Cutters as all springing from it to be a part of the Mystery and pursuant thereto they were afterwards by Charter under the Great Seal duely Incorporated and made one Body with the Grocers never to be separated to preserve a Succession of Members in this Company THE Right Honourable John Earl of Mulgrave one of the Lords of the Bed-Chamber to King Charles the Second and after that Lord Chamberlain c. having taken his Freedom of this Company was most affectionately assisting to procure the Species of the Mystery explained and settled in order to preserve a Succession of Members in this Society THE Site of this Hall and Garden with the Ground whereon Sir Robert Clayton's Dwelling-House stands was formerly the Mansion-House and Inheritance of the Right Honourable the Lord Fitzwater of whom the Company purchased the same in the Reign of King Henry the Sixth and soon after built their Hall thereon for both which they borrowed great Summs of Money And afterwards in their languishing Condition Sir Henry Keble Kt. and Alderman some time Lord Mayor lent them Money on Security of their Hall and Revenue to clear their Debts And by his last Will and Testament dated in the sixth Year of King Henry the Eighth freely gave all back to the Company for ever to support their Charities SIR William Laxton Kt. and Alderman also some time Lord Mayor by
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
A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE COMPANY OF GROCERS From their ORIGINAL TOGETHER With their Case and Condition in their present Circumstances truly stated AS ALSO How their Revenue is settled for Payment of their Charities and Provision made for the well-governing their Members and Mystery to preserve a Succession in their Society Designed for Information of all and Benefit of the Members and for Satisfaction and Encouragement of their Friends and Benefactors LONDON Printed by Eliz. Holt for the Company of Grocers MDCLXXXIX TO THE SACRED MAJESTY OF King WILLIAM AND Queen MARY May it please Your Majesties HAVING already presumed to offer to Your Majesties Sacred Hands a mean Present in a small Treatise Entitled NOSCE TEIPSVM wherein I have endeavoured to give some account how I have spent my Holy Days since I have been Clerk of the Company of GROCERS with the Reasons and Arguments inducing me to join in the Communion of our National Church when I had examined and tryed all other different Persuasions Your Majesties Gracious Acceptance of that together with You my Dread Sovereign's vouchsafing to become our Supreme Master have embolden'd me to offer at Your Majesties Sacred Feet the following Sheets as the Product of my Working Days in the same Service I may not hope Your Majesties should spare time to look farther but I most humbly beseech Your Majesties to cast Your Gracious Eyes on the few following Lines which I have recorded in our Register immediately before the entry of such Your Majesties Gracious Condescention Whereby I humbly Hope it will plainly appear no other Company in London might so justly presume to beg the Honour of Adoption by a Crowned Head. That Your Majesties Sacred Names may be Illustrious from this little Orb throughout all Your Majesties Dominions to the ends of the Earth shall be the daily and hearty Prayers of May it please Your Majesties Your Majesties most Dutiful Loyal and Obedient Subject and Servant WILLIAM RAVENHILL Clerk of the Company of Grocers A short Account of the Grocers AULA AROMATARIORUM vulgariter Grocers Hall olim nominabatur Domus Illustrissimi Domini Fitz-water unius è Regni hujus Paribus quam regnante Henrico Sexto Societati Aromatariorum vendidit Sita est in ipso urbis Meditullio cui adjacet Hortus qui Aeri liberiori spatium det necnon Area prae foribus satis ampla quâ Senatorum vice Comitumque dum Praetori rebusque publicis inserviunt Nobilium etiam quacunque de causa huc accedentium currus recipiantur ac ea de causa Communitas Aromatariorum post Conflagrationem Urbis horrendam re-edificabat ampliorem fecit omnis generis necessariis adornavit ut Domus ad Summum Magistratum magnificè recipiendum prae omnibus aliis maximè Commoda Videretur Summus enim Magistratus Vicem gerit ipsius Regis nullis igitur sumptibus pepercit Aromatariorum Societas ut receptaculum esset tanto Officio tanto Magistratu Dignum nam in hoc opere perficiendo multa expenduntur Millia Solidorum ut Aedificium esset Splendidum aptum suis civibus conveniens qui in loco hoc sese solemnibus Conviviis amicitiam suam invicem testantur augent ab omni Civitatis parte congregati huc accedunt ut mutuam erga seipsos Benevolentiam exerceant Hoc quoque honori gloriae totius Regni vertitur dum egredientes Domi redeuntes Peregrini Domestici Aulam hanc conspicuam mirantur simul amant Quod ad antiquitatem Spectat egregiae hujus Societatis Originem suam longâ serie deducit à Mercatoribus Romanis qui cum Orientali Orbis Regione commercia habuerunt pro Aromatibus comparandis devictâ hâc Insulâ Urbem habitabant Quibus Nostratium in re nautica peritia Originem suam debere videtur saltem ab illis multum incrementi accepit atque adeò Maris Imperium quod haec Insula largè latéque per multa retro Secula obtinuit eisdem aliquo modo acceptum refert Quapropter in Divitiis abundanti rerum Copiâ caeteras omnes Communitates facilè superabant Hinc Ortae sunt Familiae illustrissimae mox Prolem illustriorem daturae Haec Communitas Corpus fit politicum sub cura gubernatione quatuor Custodum qui vocari possint Superintendentes nomine Magistro excluso ut Capiti Coronato semper locus relinquetur quem locum Carolus Secundus Beatae Memoriae Rex implere non dedignatus est Cujus Nomen ut aeternitati consecraret gratissima Societas Statuam ejus erexit in Byrsa Regia in Registro suo Nomen ejus inscriptum habet ut testimonium sit posteris gratitudinis suae erga Regem tam Benignum qui Chartam illi fixam reddidit firmam quâ in re Exemplum proposuit Regibus suis successoribus ut favore suo perpetuo Communitatem hanc foverent ut perpetuum sit Charitatis Diversorium fertilissimum Mercatorum opulentorum piorum Civium fidelium Subditorum Seminarium Which may be thus read in English GROCERS HALL was once the Mansion-House of the Lord Fitz-water a Peer of this Realm of whom the Company purchased the same in the Reign of King Henry the Sixth being situate in the Centre of the City of London and having a fair open Garden behind for Air and Diversion and before it within the Gate a large Court-yard for the reception of Coaches as the Aldermen and Sherriffs attend the Lord Mayor on Publick Affairs especially from Guild-Hall and the Sessions at the Old-Baily or as the Nobility and other Persons of Quality shall either pay their Visits or be thither invited by his Lordship For these Reasons the Company of Grocers after the late dreadful Fire rebuilt and inlarged it with all Offices and Accommodations far beyond any other Place that ever was or now is for the most Commodious Seat of the Chief Magistrate as he is for the time being his Majesty's Representative in this Famous City at the expence of many thousand pounds as designing it for encouragement of their Members and conveniency of the Citizens resorting thither as to the Fountain of Justice from all Parts of the City as it may also redound to the Honour of the Kingdom being conspicuous in their transient view to Embassadors and Foreigners as well as Natives of his Majesty's Dominions passing and repassing through this City And as this Society may boast of its Antiquity deriving its Original from Merchants in Rome trading in Spices to the Eastern Parts who from Rome transplanted themselves to this City with the Conquest of this Island and first gave Wings to Navigation here from whence this Island hath been able to give Law by Sea to all the World so hath it above all other Companies in London abounded in wealthy Members trading both at home and abroad from whence have sprung many honourable Families being incorporate by the Name of Four-Wardens as Super-intendents without a Master and so most capable of Adoption
by a Crowned Head King Charles the Second of Blessed Memory having been their last Sovereign Master and as other Companies have done in Memory of the King from whom they have received the like Honour so this Company hath set up his said late Majesty's Statue in the Royal Exchange and recorded his Sacred Name here in their Register that so the Generations to come may know how far they are Debtors to his Memory for the Foundation he laid whereon his Royal Successors might build to carry on and complete their Happiness in restoring and setling so Pious a Nursery of Charities and fruitful Seminary of Eminent Merchants and Good Citizens God save the King and Queen TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE CHARLES EARL OF Dorset and Middlesex Lord Chamberlain of his Majesty's Houshold My Lord THough my Station be but low in this little Province yet I can now without Breach of my good Behaviour humbly boast of the Honour of being therein Your Lordship's Fellow-Servant under one Sovereign Master so Good and Gracious that He delights in nothing more than to encourage the Diligent and the Faithful The Company of Grocers who have suffered an Eclipse of late Years from the sad Effects of War and Fire are now under the Sun-shine of His Majesty's Gracious Influence to be restored to their Pristine Lustre so as with Courage and Comfort they may improve their Privileges and Immunities for Publick and Diffusive Good in discharge of their great Trusts agreeable to the Original End and Design of their Corporation My Lord Though this Society had not the Mammon of Profit and Advantage to Court Your Lordship's Patronage yet I may adventure to tell Your Lordship that by implanting Your Self into it You gave the Grocers no more than their due for it cannot be doubted that a Body Politick that makes out so fair a claim to a Crowned Head can be defective in their just Title to the most Honourable and Heroick Member This I have here endeavoured to demonstrate as a Testimony how ambitious I am to manifest my self Their Majesties Dutiful and Loyal Subject and May it please Your Lordship Your Honours most Faithful Obliged and most Humble Servant William Ravenhill Clerk of the Company To the Right Honourable Right Worshipful and the rest of the Worthy MEMBERS of the SOCIETY of the MYSTERY of GROCERY London William Ravenhill their Clerk humbly offers and prays their Acceptance and Perusal of these following Papers as a Testimony of his Hearty Desires and Sincere Endeavours to vindicate the Reputation and improve the Interest of this Society AS soon as by the good Providence of God I obtained the Favour and had the Happiness to be chosen your Clerk I resolved with my utmost Diligence to pursue and perform my Duty in this Place and thereby gratefully answer the expectation of my Friends who promoted my Election and also lay hold on so fair an opportunity to ingratiate my self into the Favour and Esteem of Good Men Being convinced that if I should neglect my Duty it would render my Folly and Ingratitude more conspicuous to the World Therefore that I might in doing the one avoid the other I endeavoured in the first place to inform my self of the true State and Condition of the Company upon Inquest whereof I found it plain and manifest that for want of Knowledge of the Truth thereof many Reproaches and Reflexions were cast upon this Society both from Strangers with whom they have been no way concerned and also their Creditors who rendred them obnoxious in Courts of Law and Equity and before the Commissioners for Charitable Uses as if they had been a Company that possessed a great Revenue sufficient to pay all their Debts yet were so averse from doing that that they wasted and consumed their Estate in Feasting themselves refusing to pay unless they were compelled by Chargeable Suits which not only aggravated their Creditors but alienated the Affections of many good Persons as well Members as others and caused many chargeable Suits and vexatious Prosecutions against them notwithstanding the great Care and Endeavours of some Worthy and Good Members who used all possible means to avoid the same Therefore I made it my great Design to acquaint my self with all their Affairs and past Transactions that I might be able to make a true Representation of the Company 's Condition both what it was before they contracted their Debts and how they became indebted what they have already done towards it and what means and methods they may best use and prosecute to discharge themselves to the end those great Reproaches and Prejudices which through Mis-apprehensions and false Reports have been cast on this Company may be removed And every true-hearted Member that bears a Christian respect to the Pious Memory of our Ancestors who were Worthy Benefactors and would in discharge of his Duty commend himself after their Example to Posterity may willingly and chearfully lay to his helping hand And as a farther Testimony of my hearty desires to serve the Members having so briefly stated the Company 's Case I shall endeavour to give you a short account of the Antiquity and first Creation and Continuance of the GROCERS as far and clear as I can make Conjecture or have received any probable Account also I have regulated and digested the Company 's Books into an orderly Method as also their Evidences to clear their Titles to their several Rents Lands and Houses and the several Schools under their Government And also the several Ecclesiastical Livings in the disposition of this Society with the Names of their Founders and how they became Vested in their Right and also other Privileges peculiar to this Society and how their whole Revenue as a most righteous Sanction is settled to secure the due payment of all their yearly Charities so as it may appear obvious and plain to be understood by every individual Member of which it will not be proper here to give an account but I refer to the Books and Records themselves more fit to be inspected at this Hall by such as have Right to know them than to be exposed to view of others whom it no way concerns To which I have added a short account of some Enlargement of Privileges granted them by King Charles the Second after the Quo Warranto brought against them which though it were an Invasion of the Subject's Rights yet by the over-ruling Providence of God it became an occasion of advantage to this Company as it put them upon searching into and Examination of their Constitution so as to discover their Defects and Irregularities and by advice of Learned Counsel to obtain a subsequent Charter without dependance on or relating to any Surrender and without injury to or interfering with any other Company otherwise than to regulate mis-usage and to preserve their own Rights but rather tending to the benefit and advantage of the whole City as it explains and settles the Species of their Mystery and
in their Christian Duty they shall thereby assuredly though not meritoriously treasure up to themselves Eternal Happiness hereafter Where neither Moth can Eat nor Rust Corrupt nor Thieves break through and Steal and where they shall be for ever above all necessity of aid from the fading Enjoyments of this World when they shall be there entertained with a Well done Good and Faithful Servant enter thou into the joy of thy Lord and Master For most assuredly as the succour and relief of the Hungry and Naked the Aged and Impotent do daily ascend in silent Prayers to the Ears of the Omniscient Father of Mercies and bring down at least Temporal Blessings in this Life on their Children and Posterity who thus as Faithful Stewards become their Patrons and Benefactors as we may read to this purpose that Jehu for the small Good he did swayed the Sceptre to the Fourth Generation So most assuredly the silent Sighs and Groans of the Widow and Orphans the Aged the Captive and the Impotent under oppression and in their Want and Misery do cry as loud in the Ears of the same righteous Judge for Vengeance in all the Curses and Miseries attending Mortality on the Heads and Families not only of all such as either covet defraud take away from or hinder those poor Objects of their Right their Portion or Relief but also of such as come short in their Duty herein according to their Power Interest and the opportunity they have to shew it towards them as they themselves are appointed of God but Stewards in Trust for those poor Members of one Christian Body A short Account of the Original of the GROCERS and their first Incorporation And their Condition in their present Circumstances truly Represented * Grocers inquit Minshew ab initio ut ex legibus nostris probat nihil minutim sed omnia al grosso by the Great Magnis sc ponderibus divendere soliti sunt In libro Statutorum nostrorum significat Mercatores Qui aliquod mercium genus totum coemunt Skin Etymologicon Linguae Anglicanae THE word Grocers was a term at first distinguishing Merchants of this Society Etymology of the Word Grocer in opposition to Inferiour Retailers for that they usually sold in gross Quantities by great Weights And in some of our old Books the Word signifies Merchants that in their Merchandizing dealt for the Whole of any Kind Which after he came more Extensive But in after times the word Grocery became so extensive that it can now hardly be restrained to the certain kinds of Merchandizes they have formerly dealt in For they have been the most Universal Merchants that traded abroad and what they brought home many Artists of this Society found out ways afterwards to change and alter the Species by Mixture Confections and Compositions of simple Ingredients by which means many and various ways of Dealing and Trading passed under the Denomination of Groceries They were the first Merchants trading abroad and so prolifick that other Companies have branched from them And indeed this City and Nation do in a great measure owe the Improvement of Navigation to Merchants originally exercising this Mystery as Trading into all Foreign Parts from whence we have received either Spices Druggs Fruits Gums or other rich Aromatick Commodities It is well known this Company hath bred the most Eminent Merchants in this City and this Society hath been so prolifick that many other Societies have been branched out from hence as will be owned by the most worthy of them Improved Navigation The Merchants Trading to the Levant Seas and other Societies have originally been the Off-spring of this Society as appears by ancient Records of Indentures of Apprentices to Members of this Company And it is not inconsistent and may easily be drawn within compass of Belief That there was amongst the Romans a Society agreeable to this of the Grocers who were also Merchants trading into those Seas as may be Collected from Persius Their Antiquity a Poet who wrote in Rome in the time of Augustus describing the various Inclinations of Men in their Course of Life He instances them in these Words viz. Mercibus hic Italis mutat sub sole recenti Rugosum piper pallentis Grana Cymini Sat. 5. With Merchandizing this with Care doth run Vnto the East under the rising Sun To fetch rough Pepper and pale Cummin Seeds For Roman Wares c. First called Pepperers by way of Eminency for all Spices as were such like Merchants trading in Rome Where Pepper being the most Royal Preservative Spice is only mentioned by way of Eminency for all the rest And so we may well conclude that this was the Reason why the Society of the Grocers whose Original first here exercised may modestly be supposed to spring from the Romans were long before they were Incorporated distinguished by the name of Pepperers although they traded before in all other the former Merchandizes as well as that It is impossible to give any other Account of the Original of this Society here in this City so long at first excercised under the Denomination of Pepperers for that the City of London it self at first under the Britains and successively after under the Romans and Saxons and at last was over-run by the Danes no History now remains to give a certain Account of the first Methods of Government therein farther than what may be collected from some late Writers of our own now extant who have transmitted to us what they could then discover by their Enquiry and Search into Antiquity whereby we may plainly understand that the first Model of Civil Government settled in this City was from the Exemplar of Rome it self as Mr. Stow instances in the very words of an ancient Writer who wrote in the Reign of King Stephen From whence London had its first Model of Civil Government viz This City saith he even as Rome is divided into Wards it hath yearly Sheriffs instead of Consuls it hath the Dignity of Senators it hath Vnder-Officers and according to the Qualities of Laws it hath several Courts and general Assemblies upon appointed days Some time after the City obtained their Chief Magistrate to be under the Denomination of Mayor First Lord Mayor in London which was about the first year of King Richard the First the first Man we find advanced to that Dignity was Henry Fitz-Alwin who continued therein 24 years successively And soon after to wit in the 17th year of King Henry the Third Their first Member Mayor Andrew Bockerell it appears Andrew Bockerell a Pepperer was chosen Mayor and so eminent were the Pepperers in this Infancy of the Mayoralty Pepperers Eminent and frequent Mayors that before the 36th year of that King's Reign a Pepperer had the Chair nine several years and very frequently afterwards we find the Pepperers advanced to that Dignity And it appears by ancient Books now extant That in the time of
King Henry the Fourth there were at one time no less then 12 of their Members Aldermen Twelve Aldermen at once Members of which Number were two Brothers William Chicheley afterwards Sheriff Sir Robert Chicheley afterwards also Sheriff Sir Robert Chicheley twice Lord Mayor and Founder of Wal-Brook Church Still in their Donation and twice Lord Mayor who also was Founder of the Parish Church of St. Stephen Walbrook upon a Plot of ground by him for that Sacred Use purchased of the Grocers the Donation of which Church is at this day in the Company of Grocers Which Society of the Pepperers increasing and spreading so Universal in Merchandizing that it appears afterwards they were distinguished by the Name of Grocers as being a more comprehensive Name than Pepperers Afterwards called Grocers insomuch that before they were incorporated by the Name of Grocers to wit in the Third year of King Edward the Third Anno 1329. John Grantham was chosen and held Mayor by the Title of Grocer And the first Charter I find of the Corporation of the Grocers was granted by King Edward the Third in the twentieth year of his Reign Anno Dom. 1345. which appears to be long before the Mercers were incorporated First Charter of the Grocers and before the Mercers though they are now the only Company have Precedency of the Grocers yet for the Reasons above-mentioned it may be very well presumed that as the Grocers were long before them the most Eminent Society so in after-times renewing their Charter by a more Comprehensive Term Afterwards Postponed to them they might Post pone themselves But though they thus March as a forlorn Regiment in the Front might the Hopes and Endeavours of many good Members prevail to have the Spirit of our Ancestors revived in the present Generation this could no way eclipse the Grocers But not to Dimination of their Dignity who have all the Noble Army of the rest of the Corporations following them than the Morning Star ushering in Day before it can eclipse the Glory of the Rising Sun. Afterwards the Charter of this Company was several times renewed as also it was in the Seventh year of King Henry the Sixth and they then made a Body Politick Grocers Incorporate by the Name of Custodes Communitas Mysterii Groceriae Londini And in the beginning of that King's Reign Purchase of the Hall of the Lord Fitz-water men late his Mansion-House they purchased the ground where the Grocers Hall now stands with the ground belonging to it of Walter Lord Fitz-water a Noble Peer of this Realm bounding the same between the Old-Jewry and Walbrook And so considerable in the City were the Grocers long before that time that they may be well presumed time out of Mind to have had the management of the King's-Beam as an Office peculiar to them not only as principally using the same but as being originally vested therein The Office of the King's Beam. they having had all along beyond the Memory of Man the naming of the Weigh-Master and the naming placing removing and governing of the four Porters attending that Office all to be elected out of their own Company and to be Sworn at their own Hall a Privilege allowed them as their undoubted and inseparate Right as ancient as that Office it self used in the City Their ancient Privileges of Inspection and Correction of Abuses in their Mystery Also amongst other Privileges and ancient Usages of this Company I find recorded even as high as Edward the Fourth's days this Company had Power of Inspection and Correction of Abuses and Irregularities of all Persons though free of this or any other Company in the City or Suburbs any way using or exercising any kind of Grocery and also to assay the Weights they bought or sold by and to take notice of all their Defaults and return them to be Fined at the Discretion of this Fellowship and to take 4 d. of every Person for their Labour therein as well of such as were offending as such as were not which Usage was always continued And in the Charter renewed to this Company in the fifteenth year of the late King Charles the First this Privilege is Gonfirmed Confirmed and Expressed to extend 3 Miles from the Liberties and expressed to extend three Miles from the City as well within Liberties as without and hath only been omitted for some years past when the Company began to be first interrupted in their Affairs The same King Henry the Sixth by Charter under the Great Seal granted to this Company the Office of Garbling in all places throughout the Kingdom of England Garbling-Office the City of London only excepted which Privilege though discontinued during the late unnatural War and almost forgotten is now ratified by their late Charter and Confirmation and may be of considerable Advantage to this Company In the time of the Reign of King Henry the Seventh the Company was greatly indebted Sir Henry Keble Sir William Laxton Worthy Members and Benefactors both buried in a Vault in Aldermary Church See Stow's Survey and Sir Henry Keble a Worthy Member sometime Lord Mayor of this City lent them Money on their Hall and their Revenue nigh the full value to clear their Debts and afterwards in the beginning of the Reign of King Henry the Eighth by his last Will and Testament freely gave back all to the Company remitting his whole Debt and Interest This Sir Henry Keble at his own Charge built Aldermary Church Afterwards about the eighteenth year of the same King Henry the Eighth Sir William Laxton also a Worthy Member and sometime Lord Mayor by Deed executed in his Life time gave the Company all their Lands and Houses in Canning-Street and the Lanes thereunto adjoining I shall here add but one more who may well deserve to be recorded among their chief Benefactors Mr. John Bilsdon John Bilsdon a Worthy benefactor of Houses in Cornhill a worthy Member by his Will dated about the fourteenth of King Henry the Eighth gave this Company all his Messuages in the several Parishes of St. Michael's and St. Peter's in Cornhill which being consumed with the rest of their Revenue in London by the late dreadful Fire many very fair Houses have been since built on the same ground by the Companies Leassees on long Leases under small Rents but of great improvement when expired Upon part of which ground stood the late Weigh house Weigh-House where the Office of the King's Beam was kept until the time of the same Fire And in order to prevent any difference which might otherwise hereafter happen between the City and Company touching the interest of the City in Weigh-house-yard I humbly conceive it to be my duty herein to insert in the best manner I can the Truth of the Case especially since upon search I could find no certain footsteps of it in their own Books at Guild-Hall which