Morning journal and courier., 1883-02-23
Guilds and Trades Unions.
Henry w. Farnam,s Lecture Last Eve
 tu1 ir, NorfI, ShedfeId Hall.

Ne EaEn4nA1S
 ing in North Sheffield Hall.
 Henry w. Farnam last evening delivered the second lecture in the 'tMechanics' course'' at North Sheffield Hall. There was B large attendance, and the lecture, indicative of much scholarship and reflection, was lis- tened to with close attention. The lecturer commenced as follows
 An enlightened monarch, who was at the same time an author, hazarded in one of his philosophical works the statement s'There is no new thing under the sum-" This like most of thestatements of pessimists, was an exaggeration and yet it was sufficiently true to pass into commonplace quotation of every day life and to suggest the pivota, question of modern historical investigation All history, as far as it lays claim to the cpl thet ''scientifc, D is engaged in testing the truth of the phrase. For historians have long since outgrown the chronological stage, in which the facts were simply arranged, in order and labelled with their dates, like the names in catalogue; and they are rapidly outgrowing the biographical stage, in which the doings of prominent characters and the play of their motives are simply woven into an interesting tale.
 Historians are now studying, not biogra- phy, but institutions-not single men, but aggregates of men and the working out of great facts of civilization, through the oper- ation of usage, law, national characteristics, physical surroundings and all the other forces that play upon society.
 And does not all this study resolve itself into the enquiry 'How far are the institu- tions of one period like those of another and how far are they unlike-how far is it true, taking each case by itself, that there is no new thing under the sun?"
 This question must be considered before we can enquire into the change or lack of change. Indeed, when it is answered in de- tail the causes are not hard to find, for they are already suggested.
 The speaker made reference to what is needed in order to know what is original and what is pIagiarized, in order to have inteli- gent criticism, saying that the practical char acter of this kind of investigation is what deters men from such an enterprise.
 !, The lecturer proceeded: We can pene- trate the narrow streets of some market town of the 18th and 14th century and Ioit- ering along, under the overhanging gables, look into the little shops. We can see the weaver patiently treading his hand-loom while his wife and an apprentice are reeIing the yarn and doing other ' light work. We see the cordwainer stitch ling pair of fantastic boots for the abbot, or saddler mending pack saddle to carry some merchants baggage to the shrine of St. Thomas. We may see the armorer hammering out @ coat of mail, destined per- | haps to bear the brunt of 8 hundred lances ! and then to be handed down to younger gen. erations and finally to be the wonder of ! gaping crowds in modern museum If we ' emerge from the i'll paved streets into the ' market place, we see the stalls of the butch CTS and green grocers here, too, are the lodges of the masons in which master and ! man are working with the zeal of true artists \ on the details of capital and gargoyle, carbel \ and finial while others are slowly rearing the lofty vault of the nave, and high on the staging stands the keen eyed monk, whose master mind still lives in the church he has designed, whose features are perhaps per- ! ceived but not detected amongst hundreds o1 images that look down from their inches \ whose name is lost forever.
 In those days there were no all-chimneyed ! factories, no steam engines and power ! looms, no capitalists and factory hands, but every manufacturer worked with his owr muscle and every workman was his own em ! glover. Every mechanic too was his ow1 l retailer and the middleman had not become | a necessity If at times the produc tion exceeded local consumption, the surplus
 was carried to one of the great fairs at whief merchants met from all parts of the country tunder the special protection of the feuda lIord or abbot or bishop in whose domaiI l the market was held, to buy and sell the raV
 material of industry and the products of dis
 tant lands
 After describing the aunoyances difficult, | and danger of travel in those days the | speaker said: Printing at that time had no | been invented. Comparatively few besid \ the clergy could read or write. Magma charts
 was in practice little more than license ex
 torted from hated king by powerful bar ! onaee and had not yet settled into the cor
 ner stone of English liberty. In a so
 ciety in which individual rights were bu 1 feebly maintained by the State there was n
 safety but in association. During the frs
 three or four. centuries of the Christian CT
 the family was the natural union on whicl ) men relied for help in diversity, but a families increased in numbers and becam | separated, an artificial union was formed t | replace the natural one and men invented 1 the guild The primary object of the earl.
 guilds, which are supposed to have existed a | far back as the thirty seventh century, seem
 to have been mutual assistance against rob | | often other objects were combined wit
 these, some of a public, some of social l some of a religious character, and ofte guilds were formed expressly for class.
 There was in Lenne guild of youn ! scholars formed to maintain and keep a
 image of Saint William standing in a ataberna cle of Lenne. The guild of the Lord Prayer of York was to keep up play settin
 forth the goodness of the Lords prayer, Ii | which play all manner of vices and sins wer
 held up to scorn. The guild of Corpu ? Christi was formed to carry on 8 stately pro ) cessIon each year at the feast of Corpu | Christi for the glory of God and the city o
 York. Almost all these guilds, usually calle social guilds, also provided aims to the poor | charity to the aged members and assistance in case of loss by sea, fire or robbers j; some times against unjust lawsuits.
 Many peculiarities in the laws or conduc ? of these guilds were detailed by the speaker } He spoke of the guild of the Palmers o Ludlow, providing that Eff any man wishes
 as is common, to keep night watches wit } the dead, this will be allowed on the condi
 ton that he neither calls up ghosts no 7 makes any mockery of the body or it's goo l name nor does any other scandal of tn
 kind"
 Fidelity to the brotherhood was the corne stone of all these institutions.
 | The speaker gave many illustrations fror quaint records of his subject at this poin ! and followed with a full and interesting aC } count of the guilds of London as early as tn tenth century, and those of Berwick upo i the Tweed in the thirteenth, showing hov
 the government of the towns assumed tn form of guild.
 The guild ''merchants.'' as they were cal ed, usually had the whole administration o
 the town in thelr hands, and made not onl
 ordinances for themselves, but also generf police regulations which were binding upe the whole city. The ''guild merchant'' o ! Berwick on the Tweed' had sanitary reg ulations, tariffs fixing the price of commo articles of trade; rules against forestallins and. expressing, market regulations, taxe
 and general provisions with regard to tn { government and the borough In Cologne . where the patricians controlled the city | they held the craftsmen in a position alr:os ! of servitude. The law was administered il | the interest of the rulers. As these guild became aristocratic, they excluded mel with dirty hands or with blue nails, and th
 craftsman who would be admitted must hay : foresworn his trade for year and a day. The rule of the wealthier guilds in Eng land does not seem to have been as hard as il
 Germany, but there were many contests.
 The speaker pictured the life of the artisa in the 14th and 18th centuries. The frs