'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
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
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