THE ." GENTLE PUI OF LONDON."*
Tux suspicion attaching to "foreigners," and the popular prejudice ,agaMst such a strange and intrusive element, are matters of old ,date wlkich are not yet.altogether out of date. From the days of the visit of Joseph's brethren :to -the land of Egypt; a foreigner has been too often regarded in the light of an enemy, availing :himself of a flag of trace to spy out "the fatness of the land." The benefits indisputably accruing from his visit have scarcely availed to mitigate the sense of discredit, not to say peril, inseparable -from such doubt- ful traffic. Against this,popular prejudice the spiritof commerce hes waged.a prolonged but often unsuccessful war, and all her appeals to both the higher and lower motives of human action—to common sense and the love of gain—have not anfrequently fallen on deaf or unheeding ears. The "Japanese" policy, indeed, has not been carried out in its lull integrity among European nations—thanks, Perhaps, to the force of circumstances more than that of reason— but for a long -time a policy was adopted towards foreigners which was probably :regarded As a sort of :compromise between -God and Xammon. They were not excluded from the.eountry, but their re-
_
Munimenta Gildhallee Londoniesuit. Vol. II., Parts 5. and Liber Custumaraw- :Bdited by Henry Thomas Riley, M.A., Clareifiall, Cambridge, of the Inner TemPle, Barrister-at-Law. (Published under the .direetion of the Master of the Rolls-) Lei:Isamu and. co. sidence there was made as unpleasant as possible to them, and its duration restricted within the shortest limits compatible with the in- terests of the inhabitants of the country themselves. The foreign merchant was made to feel, from the moment of his landing to that of his departine,the inferiority, not to say ignominy, of his position, and the precarious character of the grace extended to him. He in general found the badge of the alien affixed to him at every stage of his com- mercial enterprise. He was mulcte,dst every tura for the benefit of
• the natives, and as soon as his allotted time bad expired, he was not even allowed to tarry away with him any of his wares which hap- pened to be unsold.
Such, at least, was the treatment which foreign merchants in oneral experienced at the hands of the citizens of London in the aura of the Plantage,nets, 45 any reader may at once see for himself by turning to the Guildhall Records, recently published under the authority of the Master of the Rolls. But the foreign merchants continued to come to England in the face of all these disabilities. some •managed to extort for their own ,state or city peculiar privileges and exemption from the general helotry of their .class; and they all, whether privileged or not, kept up a merry heart under all their grievances, and drew only the more closely the bonds of fellowship among themselves. Fortunately for their reputation Ss Christians and " good fellows," the festive code by which they regulated their "Club" or -" Lodge" as we should now call it, still remains among the Guildhall Records, and we purpose to give some account of its contents to the honourable memory of these bold and cheerful pur- suers of commerce under difficulties. In Auvergne is situated the city of Le Puy en Velay, from which were derived the "Societies ofthe Pui," which once flourished extensively in Normandy and Picardy, and of which the regulations of the "gentle Poi of London" (to use its own nomenclature) present us with the most complete and earliest model. The.celebrated statue of the Virgin Mary in the cathedral of this city of I.* Puy was long an object of .devotion and pilgrimage during the middle ages, and under the auspices of Notre Dame du Puy were instituted these brother- hoods of merchants. We do not know the time of the introduction of the Society into England, nor that of its disappearance, but it appears to belong more particularly to the days of our three first Edwards, to have not existed, perhaps, much earlier than the reign of the .first of thde monarchs, and probably not to have survived the French wars of the third Edward. Some few Englishmen were enrolled among its members, and its rules and observances in some points resemble those of our old London companies; but the Society was .essentially foreign in its character, and the "gentle Pui of Lon- don" cannot be taken as an illustration of the habits of any but the foreigners resident or sojourning in this country. "In honour of God," commences this document (in quoting from which we make use of Mr. Riley's translation), "Our Lady Saint Mary, and all saints, both male and female.; and in honour of our Lord King, and all the .barons of the country.; and for the in- creasing of loyal love; and to the end that the city of London may be renowned for all good things in all places ; and to the end that mirthfulness, peace, honesty, joyousness, gaiety, and good love with- ontend may be maintained; and that all blessings may be set before us and all evils behind" (a declaration full of meaning, as we have seen),—" the loving Companions who are dwelling in and repair- ing. to the good city of London have ordained, confirmed, and esta- blished a festival, that is called the Pui." Every member is bound, as long as there are five Companions, to be himself the sixth, and to conform to all the rules. " Sixpence" is the entrance fee. And after this, "on the day of the great sitting each Companion shall pay twelve- pence," "but to him who shall have a new song, his song shall acquit him." Out of the fund thus raised, the "Prince" is to provide the feast, "so fairly as befits the PM." If he need assistance he may call in ,twelve of the most competent Companions, who are then to be his assessors for the rest of the year. This, then, was the committee of management—or the board of directors. The Companions, in general, are to pay among them any excess in the expenditure of the l'rince on the feast day, on pain of expulsion.
It will be.seen there was an annual feast at which the old "Prince," as he was called, went out of office, and the new one was elected. No one is to be allowed to partake of this feast, or hear the singing, unless he be a member of the Pui. The old Prince names the new one and the twelve Companions; "and the Prince ought to be chosen as being good, and loyal, and sufficient, upon the oath of eleven Com- panions or of the twelve to their knowledge upon their oath." The Prince so selected is not allowed to refuse. The old Prince and his twelve-Companions then go through the room, from one end to the other, ainging, the ,former with the crown of the Pui upon his head, and a gilt cup in his hands full of wine. He then presents the cup to the new Prince, and crowns him. The old and new Prince, awl the most competent of the Companions, to the number of fifteen at most, are to decide on the songs. They are bound to decide as to the best song "to the utmost of their knowledge, upon their oath, that they will not fail, for love, for hate, for gift, for promise, for neighbourhood, for kindred, or for any acquaintanceship, old or new; nor yet for anything that is." The author of the best song is crowned, and the crown is to belong to him. Absentees on this occasion have to pay as if present; but on receiving their twelve- pence, if they bein the city, the Prince is bound to send them "bread, wine, and meat sufficiently." Absentees not being in the city only pay fourpence. If they are beyond seas, or have left the country for good, they are acquitted of their oath and of arrears; but on re- t9rning to London they must pay up -these arrears before readmis- sion to the Pui. If a Camipamon is married in the city, or 'becomes
a "clerk-priest," on notice from him to that effect, the Companions are bound to attend, and he to present them with chaplets " all of one kind." They accompany the bridegroom to church, and make offering, and attend him back to kis house. So also in case of the death of a Companion, the Companions of the l'ui attend and carry his corpse to the church, and make offering. They do not want
ill-doers • or their fees," and if any Companions are " evilly-dis i . posed," the Prince and his twelve Companions are to endeavour 'to make peace," "saving the rights of the king and of the city of
London." Companions ought to leave by their wills unto the bro- therhood of the Pui, according to their means, "for,God and for alms," and for masses for the dead, "that God may assoil them," and for the living, "that God may maintain them in prosperity and in good estate." And they would be doing a good workif they also "gave of their own to advance the brotherhood to endow .a chaplain to sing for the brethren, and to do other benefits, if need be, according as the proved men of the brotherhood should award." There ought to be borne one candle of fifty pounds of wax each year when prayers are offered to our Lady for the brotherhood in the church of St. Martin's-le-Grand. "And be it known unto -all that John de Chest- houute [Cheshunt] the third Prince„ gave the firat candle." Each .Companion ought to maintain the ordinances "to the utmost of his power upon his affiance, withoutguile, without deceit-, and with. out treachery. And all the brethrea ought to aid, comfort, an counsel one another in faith, and in loyalty, peace, love, and concord, as brethren in God and in good love." Such are the earliest statutes of the Society, but in the course of time "the gentle Companions of the.Pui of London" seem to have found it necessary to add some additional articles, more stringent and more precise. By these it is provided that there shall be a common hutch" in which to keep their remembrances mid. ordinances —the new Prime to have one key, and two Companions ,(chosen by common assent) each one key, the old Prince grvnig up his key each year to his successor. We have now a more precise ordinance as to the twelve assessors of the Prince, who are to be chosen -"upon the day of the great sitting of the Pui," and he is to do nothing without the presence of two or three of these twelve. The twelve are now to continue permanently in office, if they choose ; if any die, or be forsworn by the Company and expelled, another is to be elected by common assent. There is to be also chosen "a clerk, intelligent, and residing in London," to serve the Com- pany, in attendance on the Prince and twelve assessors. His re- sidence is to be known to all Companions, and he is to know where every Companion resides. Fie is to summon them to any meeting "for the welfare of the Company" which the Prince and assessors may think fit to call. 11,e is to keep a list of de- faulters at the meetings, and enrol the date and cause of the meet. logs. Complaint is made that the clerk's summonses have not been obeyed, nor yet the ordinances of the Company, so that even in these statutes themselves we find evidence of seeds of decay, if not or proximate dissolution. It is now provided that at the grand feast, while the "royal songs" are being sung, six of the twelve assessors shall withdraw, and make an estimate of the expense of the feast, and then make known to each Companion what he is bound to pay to make up the amount beyond the stipulated twelvepenoe on the day of the feast. lie is to pay forthwith, without gainsaying, or the next day at the latest. On the morning of the morrow of the great feast of the PM there is a meeting of the Companions in the Priory of St. Helen's, where a solemn mass is to be sung for the souls of the dead Companions and of all Christian people, and offerings made "as fully as they are bond to offer the day of the great feast of the PM." Immediately after the mass, the accounts of the old Prince for the first year are to be taken by the twelve assessors, and accounts squared between them, so that- the Prince may neither benefit nor lose by his year of office. The clerk is then to be paid his annual twenty shillings sterling. 'The names of defaulters to the great feast are then to be entered on a new roll; and if any is a defaulter for seven years, he is expelled- It is very significant that it is here added: "And be it known unto all that those who behave themselves thus basely falsify their affiance, and they mast renew their affiance if they re-enter the Society." All promises and gifts of Companions shall be entered in a roll, which is to be placed in the hutch, and the obtaining and recording of these is to be entrusted to the two warders of the keys of the hutch. The clerk of the Company is them to read out the names of defaulters to the meetings of the Company, and if good excuse cannot be ren- dered therefor, each defaulter is fined fourpence; and the new Prince has full power to enforce such fines. It will be seen that, as in most .societies, the fines are a prominent part of the regulationa. Every year the old Prince, when he gives in his account, is to make out a new roll of the members—and it is to be deposited in the hutch—and at the end of each seven years the original roll is to bee amended from these, and the defaulters struck off. There is to be a chaplain to sing masses for the souls of the said Companions, and alsO a chapel of their own, as soon as their means suffice for these. If any well-to-do Companion is pressed by sickness so much as to wish to make his will, the Prince and two of the assessors are to visit him and exhort him to leave something to the support of this chaplain and chapel, and the members generally are authorized to exhort one another to alms to the same purpose. Provision is similarly to be made for the poor of the Company. The ordinances as to the" songs" are very curious : ' And whereas the royalleast of the Pin is maintained and established principal), for -crowning a royal song ; inasmuch -as it is by song that Ws :honoured and enhanced, all thezentle Companions 91 (the Eui; hp:tight
out the sweet sounds of melody and song." but, as most of the characters of the story belong more or less corn.
the Pui, and the reason given is a curious one. " Although the Fastory, to introduce the reader into some, at least, of the arcane of becoming pleasaunce of virtuous ladies is a rightful theme and prin. Bohemian life. It is no part of our duty on the present occasion to cipal occasion for royal singing, and for composing and furnishing inquire into the origin of Boliemianism, to discuss the necessity of royal songs," the Companions of the Pui are " to take example an its existence, or to endeavour to arrive at an exact appreciation of rightful warning, to honour, cherish, and commend all ladies, at all the moral or social status of the members of that brotherhood ; nor times, in all places, as much in their absence as in their presence" ! are we called upon to enter into the question of how far it may be There is, surely, a little touch of sarcasm in this. regarded as a fit and proper subject for a novel. In connexion with
If the Prince die during his year of office, the Companions are all this latter point it is sufficient to observe that, if the old saying that to be summoned to attend his funeral, and while the mass is being a good horse is never of a bad colour may be extended to novels and sung for the repose of his soul, and before his body is interred, his their subjects, Paul Foster': Daughter goes far towards removing any successor is to be chosen by those there present. From another pro- objections that may possibly have been entertained against Bohe- vision, it appears that each Prince had endeavoured to outdo his pre- mianism as a material for fiction. Mr. Cook depicts the various decessor in the magnificence of the feast, the extraordinary expenses phases of Bohemian life with perfect truthfulness, entire freedom of which he defrayed out of his own pocket, and that the fear of from exaggeration, and considerable humour ; and, at the same time, incurring this increased pecuniary responsibility had had the effect of with a consistent delicacy of touch which can scarcely fail to remove deterring persons from entering the Society. The Companions, there- the scruples and conciliate the good-will even of the most susceptible fore, resolved, very wisely, to set limits to the expenditure at the and conventional reader. feast. This is to fall on all the Companions in common, with the ex- The three forms of Bohemianism which are most prominently ception of the Prince's costume, which he is to defray himself. He brought forward in Paul Foster's Daughter are the artistic, the is to be costumed " with coat and surcoat, without sleeves, and literary, and the theatrical, with the peculiarities of each of which mantle of one suit, with whatever arms he may please"—the mantle Mr. Cook has evidently a close and intimate acquaintance. A. con• and crown to go to the new Prince who shall succeed him. After fleeting link between them is provided in the person of the hero of the feast there is to be a procession on horseback through the city, the story, Edwin Gabriel Erie, who, although the son of a wealthy be who is crowned for his song riding between the old and new solicitor hi Lincoln's Inn-fields, and destined to follow his father's Prince. All hangings of cloth of gold, or silk and tapestry, are to be profession, has an uncontrollable propensity for painting pictures henceforth prohibited in the banqueting-room ; " save that the seat and writing verses, and, being of a romantic turn of mind, cherishes where the singers shall sing the royal songs shall be covered with a for a time a sentimental attachment to a popular actress. Mr. Cook cloth of gold." The room is to be " fairly dressed with leaves, appears to be thoroughly cognizant, by personal experience, of the strewed with rushes, and dressed out with bankers," i.e. coverings nature and results of the two first, at least, of these tendencies; or cushions for the benches, " in such manner as pertains unto while the development of the third affords him an opportunity of such a royal feast." The crown of the Pai is to be found at displaying an intimate familiarity with some of the less generally the common cost, at the price of one mark, and not less. All known, bat not the least amusing, aspects of theatrical life. But, the Companions, rich and poor alike, are to be served, first, with of the three forms of Bohemianism which he undertakes to describe, "good bread, good ale, and good wine;" then, "with pottage and it is in the artistic phase that Mr. Cook is, to our thinking, most with one course of solid meat ;" and then, "after that, with double completely at home. The foremost figure in this department of the roast in a dish, and cheese, without more." After all have eaten, story is that of Paul Foster himself, a conscientious, if not a distin- neither the old nor new Prince is to give a supper that day, or a din- gnished, professor of the classical and anatomical school of painting, ner the next. As soon as the song is crowned, the procession who finds, much to his disgust, that works of this class are less through the city is to take place, and then they are to escort their popular with the picture-buying public than with the adjudicators of new Prince to his house, "and there they shall all alight, and shall the Royal Academy medal, and whose worldly circumstances are, in have a dance there by way of hearty good-by ; and they shall take consequence, far from being so prosperous as he could wish. There one drink and depart, each to his own house, all on foot." The is much vigour and no little real humour in Mr. Cook's delineation residue of the feast is to be kept safely till the morrow, and then to of this large, loud, tender-hearted painter, whose principal source of be distributed among the prisoners at "Newegate, the poor hospitals, inspiration was Lempriere's dictionary, and whose manner of perform.
and to the other needs of the city." ing the commonest operations of life is thus illustrated: "Paul Foster To complete the chapel of the Company, "near the Guildhall," took his tea vigorously, as though he tried to fancy it beer. I think
a contribution is to be levied on each of the richer members of a he regarded it contemptuously as a meal; it was altogether too trivial penny every Saturday, and on the poorer of one halfpenny. The a matter for that historical artist. He looked upon it, probably, as clerk and one or two of the assessors are to collect this money and genre work, and out of his line very much. But he sought to elevate enter it in a roll ; and those who cannot pay on Saturday are to pay the subject by his mode of treatment. He went into strong attitudes some other time. A change is made in the day of the great feast, as over it. He blew upon it noisily ; he dashed it into his saucer, and most of the Companions are "merchants frequenting fairs," and as the swallowed it with gurgling majesty." At the same time, he "ate fair of St. Ives and other fairs fall upon the day formerly appointed. thin bread and butter in a muscular, gladiatorial sort of way." It is henceforth to be held on "the Sunday next after the feast of Doubtless, the reason why Mr. Cook describes artist life so well, and
the Trinity." with such truth of local colour, is that he has himself the artistic "Without these statutes here written," concludes this singular faculty very strongly developed. In support of this assertion we document, "never will the gentle Pui of London have power to be might cite numerous passages from all parts of his book; and notably, honoured or maintained according to its merits in due manner. And the opening paragraph of the first volume, which is, however, too long If the statutes be not well kept and reasonably holden, all the fra- to quote. The portrait of Aurelia Vane, the leading star of the Theatre ternity will fall asunder without doubt, in a short time; the which Royal Nonpareil, and the object of Edwin Erie's youthful devotion, may God in his kind mercy forbid. Amen." is very well drawn; and the contrast between the matter-of-fact way Such, then, were the rules and observances of the "gentle Pai of in which the actress looks at things in general, and the romantic London," by which there can be little doubt a spirit of good-fellow- aspirations of her sentimental admirer, is strongly brought out. At ship and inoffensive joviality was kept alive among the foreign mer- the same time we commend it to the notice of that numerous class chants in spite of all the indignities and restrictions which were whom Mr. Cook aptly designates as "the British snob, whose mouth heaped and imposed upon them by the jealous prejudices of our civic it is impossible to close in his dirty tattle about actresses." Without forefathers. representing Miss Vane as in any way a paragon of virtue, Mr. Cook
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