dinners reputed to be the best in a city celebrated throughout all England for its groaning tables, its splendid hospitality, its rare and generous old wines. We drove on through Bristol's charming suburb of Clifton. "Who's lord of the manor here, do you know?" I asked.

Galvanic hat tip and the reply, "I don't rightly know, mum, but I suspect it's the Merchant Venturers."

Determined to find something that this octopus had no tentacle upon, I waited until we got down into the city proper, and passing a tasteful and elaborate structure, evidently a great school, I securely asked what it was.

"The technical school, mum, 'twas built and everything put in it by the Merch-"

But I broke in hurriedly, "Can't you show me something the Merchant Venturers have nothing to do with, never had, and never will?"

"That I can, mum," and he grinned a trifle sardonically, and pulled up before a building on which appeared the sign, "Headquarters Liberal Committee for Bristol." "There never was no Merchant Venturer as was ever anything but a Tory," said the hackman, "and there's one place (pointing) you won't never see none of them." And after this bit of humour he became torpid again.

I began to understand about this society. It was certainly a survival, a medieval relic; perhaps the only ancient guild in Bristol. Ability, and perhaps luck in its investments, had probably made it wealthy, and the judgment and splendour of its munificence had kept it alive. Its coevals, the other municipal guilds of the middle ages, had all been swamped in the river of time. The tylers, the plasterers, the lorimers, the merchant tailors, all have vanished; but the Merchant Venturers bloom in perpetual youth. "Tell me all about this guild," I said to a delightfully talkative Bristol friend, a mine of antiquarian lore, not drybones sort of stuff, but fresh and vivid when distilled through his genial heart and warm imagination.

The 'Merchants'," said he-and I could note his inward delight at the prospect of a patient listener-" are our one surviving ancient guild. Some one or two others claim to live, I believe, but they are in the languor of extreme age. Of course, being the only survival, our society is prominent in Bristol. If we, like you in London, had 72 ancient guilds still in existence; if there were here a mercers' company and a drapers' company, with $400,000 a year each; if our companies had a total property, like the London guilds, of $75,000,000, with an income of $4,000,000, why our 'Merchants' would be overtopped. But they stand alone. Their beginnings are wrapped in mystery. There is a suggestion of a body to govern the shipping interests of the city as far back as 1314; but records are defective until a century and a half later,

when a complete organisation of the guild was undertaken, and it appears in a way to have had municipal functions, and to have been attached to the town council as a sort of committee on commerce." Dear me," I thought, "what a flood I have evoked." But there was no stopping him.

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"In 1552," he ran on, breathless, "the society was incorporated by royal charter under the name of the Master, Wardens, and Commonalty of Merchant Venturers of the City of Bristol, and under the auspices of the society an extended trade was carried on. Our stout old ancestors," rambled on my friend, "whose forefathers from time immemorial had been Bristolians, were permeated with a passion for adventurous trade. Their little vessels were seen in every accessible port of Europe, and carried our city's coat of arms to such far off and outlying places as Archangel, the Canaries, even Thule in Iceland; but not Ultima Thule to Bristol, for her indomitable mariners, led by Sebastian Cabot, and aided by the Merchant Venturers, soon passed beyond, and were the first to cast anchor by the mainland of the new continent."

Here was my chance to stem the tide. "I remember," I cried, "it was, I believe, at a 'Merchants' dinner that the following occurred: -An American travelling through Bristol was invited to one of these banquets, and was eager for information about all ancient things, which his kindly entertainers readily supplied. 'Did you know,' said one, that the discoverer of the mainland of the American continent was a member of the Society of Merchant Venturers?' 'No,' said our fellow-countryman, much interested; 'if I may I will just jot that down in my note-book.' And then the Englishman saw his guest write down, Columbus was a member of the Society of Merchant Venturers."

Its

"That is funny," said Antiquary, and then he remorselessly resumed: "The history of the guild is full of romantic association with America. Itowned large plantations in Virginia and New England. It imported tobacco from the one, codfish from the other. records contain extended regulations for the government of its plantations, and these prove conclusively how able were the brains that controlled the society during the stirring times of Tudor Henry and his despotic daughter. It goes without saying that so vigorous an organisation spent time and energy in the search for what was to the mariners what the philosopher's stone was to the alchemists-I mean the North-west passage. Privateering was a favourite and lucrative pursuit of the Venturers, and some fat galleons of Spain from the South Sea were diverted from their intended ports to enrich the coffers of the society. They contributed of their funds to suppress piracy; they made up purses to redeem British captives from the Algerine and the corsairs of Tripoli; they sent agents abroad to stimulate trade, and some of their letters of instruction to their representatives are models that might with advantage be literally copied and dispatched to-day."

I escaped from my antiquarian friend by a ruse. I gained nothing, for I turned soon after to a pleasant acquaintance who had solemnly assured me that in this ancient city he was the only thing modern, and that he positively knew nothing behind yesterday's paper.

"The Merchant Venturers?" said he. "Yes, old society, very rich, intensely respectable. They have a lot of land around here which they hold on to severely, and do what they like with. They are Irish landlords, too; but I must say they are reported to be pretty good ones. They remained too long a practical thing. They ought to have been enjoying a dignified leisure a century ago, but when our new docks were built in 1809 they, by the charter, had a powerful voice in their management. They were not by their constitution fitted for this work, and between this time and the year 1848, when things were altered, they did the city a lot of harm. Too slow. They ought to have been most progressive. The era of steam was beginning. The Great Western, the first steamer-except the little Savannah-to cross the Atlantic, was launched from Bristol in 1837, but the result of her triumphal passage was the establishment of the Cunard line from Liverpool. Had the Merchants' been alive, reduced dock dues, &c., perhaps we might have captured some of the ocean steam trade that Liverpool subsequently gobbled up."

I thought I noticed a certain suppressed bitterness in my modern friend's tone, and as I had begun to understand a little the ins and outs of Bristol, I innocently asked, "Are you a Liberal?"

Some moments after I queried, "By the way, have you ever dined with the Merchants'?"

"No," came the feeling answer. "I am not one of the elect. I am a Radical and a Dissenter, and it is much easier, I hope, for the benefit of a large class of my fellow-men, for a rich man to get into heaven than for such as I to taste the delights of one of their Apician banquets."

Ah! Then I understood why the "Merchants" had badly managed the docks. Poor humanity! But then my modern friend was reputed to be so fond of a good dinner. My lucky fate soon brought me face to face with a prominent member of this ancient guild. "Tell me all about it, please," I implored.

"Let us go to head-quarters," said he. "Will you go down to our hall with me, and have a chat with our treasurer, Mr. Pope, who will be charmed to show you all our possessions? His ancestors have been uninterruptedly represented in the society. since 1650, and he is a mine of information, in which you can dig at pleasure for curious lore about our past."

But the time-table would not permit this. "I must leave for London in an hour," I said, "so tell me about it."

"That's a pity," answered he; "I should like you to see our

ancient charters, the first one dating from Edward VL It is a formidable parchment, I assure you, with its great waxen seal, as big as a dinner plate, and twice as heavy. You should see our oaken-panelled council chamber, our antique portraits, our elaborate banqueting-hall, our handsome plate. I should like to show you our ancient records, our musty old regulations for the guidance of our almshouses. A series of regulations, dated 1650, shows how carefully we looked after the souls of our pensioners. They are directed to be careful to pray privately every morning and evening in their chambers. They forfeit their week's allowance if they are absent without excuse from church on Sunday, and the same penalty is exacted if he or she be found at any time to be drunk. If any be heard to swear, he is mulcted in the same amount. The same rules obtain now in theory. We have at present about thirty in our almshouses. They must have been seamen, and we give them a room, six shillings a week, coals, blankets, &c. We have established a technical school, most completely equipped, which I wish you could find time to see, where we now have over one thousand pupils, and which is so far from self-supporting that it costs us £1,500 a year. The first cost of the building and equipment was £35,000."

"What must be done, and who must one be, to be a member of your society?" I asked.

"Members are elected by the society, but they must be freemen of the city, that is, born within the limits of the ancient thirteen parishes, now the heart of the city. Freemen are becoming scarce, as few now reside in these ancient parishes, they all being devoted to business. But an apprentice to a freeman becomes a freeman upon the expiration of his indentures. Hence some of our grave and reverend seignors who aspired to join us, and who are not freemen, are apprenticed regularly to some freeman, and thus, after some years, are eligible to join us. By the way," he continued, "a man who marries a free woman of the city becomes ipso facto a freeman, but I have never, I believe, heard of a man marrying that he might thus be entitled to join our society."

"I should think not," I said with dignity. "I should, after all I have heard, like to join your society myself, but I would not marry your most stalwart freeman to thus unlock your doors." And I thanked him and came to London.

1711.—INSCRIBED PILLAR IN GLOUCESTER. -In Rudder's History of Gloucester (1781), pp. 33, 34, it is stated that there was lately a pillar on the Great Key (Quay), made of timber, and having this inscription on a brass plate near the top:-"1650. Qui feliciter optat civitati Glevensi, non ut Herculeam Columnam, sed perpucillam. Hoc pignus amoris est gratitudinis." In the middle were these arms : On a chevron three roses, and on a canton an Ulster, to denote that they belonged to a baronet.

Some years ago I occupied an idle hour or two in searching books of heraldry, English, Scotch, and Irish, to find out to whom these arms belonged, but without success. In one of the books I found the arms of BLACKADER described as Az. on a chev. arg. three roses gu., but without an Ulster. I cannot find that any one named Blackader was ever connected in any way with Gloucester. Can any of your readers supply the desired information?

J. J. P.

1712. THE SISSMORE FAMILY, OF MAISEMORE.-In No. 1629, p. 194, there is mention of a marriage with "Packinton," A.D. 1562; and in No. 1656, pp. 229, 231, 232, 235, other members of the Sissmore family appear. Additional information from parish registers, wills, and other sources, will be most gratefully received. T. L. SISSMORE.

54, Billing Road, Northampton.

1713.-GLOUCESTERSHIRE MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT, 1491-92. -In the parliament-7 Henry VII. - summoned to meet at Westminster 17th October, 1491, and dissolved 5th March, 1492, the following represented Gloucestershire and its boroughs :

Some of the names in the MS. are slightly indistinct, and must be read a little doubtfully. I shall be glad of genealogical information respecting any of the foregoing. This parliamentthe names of the members in which have been fortunately recovered-is of interest as coming nearly mid-way in the missing period, 1477-1529. W. D. PINK.

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Leigh, Lancashire.

1714. WILL OF JOHN PYNKE, OF BRISTOL, 1494.-The following particulars may be noted "I John Penke the younger of bristow Merchant ". "my body to be buried in the parish church of Alhalowys in Bristowe "-"to Alice Penke my wyf viij pipes of Woode And a tonne wyne' to my sustre Annes Penke ij pipes of woode Also a Brasse potte And a panne A Coverlet of verdure A dozen of pewter vessells A Bason and a Ewer"-" to my suster Johane Penke iij Tonne of gascoyne wyne the ffurst that shall come frome Burdeaux of myne "-"to my brothur iij Tonne wyne comying ffurst frome burdeaux of myne, and I forgeve him all soche money

VOL. IV.

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