You will be glad of a little information
touching the customs of trade amongst us, and
the best shops and markets at which to
purchase. Our ordinary shops, as you may see, are
open chambers on the ground floor. Beneath
them are in some cases sheds for warehouses;
but to your repositories of stock answer our
shealds (or sheds) attached to the hythes, or
landing-places. There certain public officers,
called scavagers, are in attendance, who take
customs for the stowage of goods in these
receptacles. Besides their shops our tradesmen
have stalls, which in assigned places they are
allowed to keep stationary. Elsewhere they
stand, as you saw yesterday, in the road.
Trades being generally handed down from father
to son, or restricted to a guild, it is usual for
all men of the same calling to inhabit a separate
district. To remedy the evil effects of the
monopoly that would ensue from the restriction of
trades, the authorities are wont from time to
time to publish an assize, or fixed scale of
charges, which no trader may exceed. This
rule applies to handicraftsmen as well as to
dealers. No doubt a certain degree of injustice
is thereby occasioned, but assuredly less than
would fall upon the poorer public if the guilds
were under no control. Before you blame
our system you must be reminded that in
your country a similar restraint is placed upon
the extortion of the drivers of public
conveyances.

The civic officers exercise the strictest
control over the quality of food and liquors, and the
weights and measures whereby they are sold. It
is the duty of the alderman of each ward to
inspect the latter periodically, and certify to their
accuracy by affixing his seal. No private and
unsealed vessels, such as the common drinking
cups of the taverns, called hanaps and cruskyns,
or cruses, are allowed to be used as measures.
Wine cannot be sold until scrutinised and gauged.
The bakers have their ovens regularly inspected,
and the bread compared with the assessed standard.
If any one is detected giving false weight
he is pilloried in Chepe for the offence. After
two convictions, his oven is pulled down, and he
is expelled from the trade. The pillory is the
ordinary punishment for selling unsound, imperfect,
and counterfeit goods of any description,
the articles themselves being not only forfeited,
but burnt.

There is but one more custom of our trade
which it is requisite that you should know,
and that is the franchise of purveyance enjoyed
by the king and certain privileged bodies and
individuals. To form an adequate conception
of it, you must call to mind the condition of
some of your own seaport towns, where, to the
prejudice of the residents, the first supply of
fish is daily bought up by the metropolitan
traders. Here the metropolis and the whole
country are in a similar position, with the
additional disadvantage of the hardship being
legalised. It is usual for the servants of the
king, and certain spiritual and temporal lords, to
attend the markets between midnight and the
hour of prime (the Church service at six A.M.),
and choose the best articles for the use of their
masters. Public trading is only legal after this
period. Of late years, through the manly
opposition of the Commons, this drawback to our
commercial prosperity has been mitigated to
some extent, and its limits are always guarded
with the utmost jealousy.

Of edibles let us begin with bread. There
are several sorts in regular consumption. The
best white bread we call " demeine," or lord's
quality. The next sort is "wastel," that is,
cake or biscuit bread, which, though good, is half
the price of demeine. A third kind is called
French; a fourth " puff," from its lightness;
and a fifth "tourte," or "bis," that is, brown
bread. The leaven employed is also of different
qualities. The loaves, which are circular in
shape, are always stamped with the baker's
private seal—a counterpart of which is kept by
the alderman of the ward, who makes a periodical
tour of inspection. Mixed flour is often
used in the country especially a combination of
wheat and rye, which we call "mystelon," or
"monk-corn," from its being a favourite food
in the monasteries. It is the same as the maslin
of your country. To prevent fraud, this, and
every other commixture of flour, is forbidden
in London. For a similar reason, the bakers
of tourte bread, which is made of unbolted
flour, are prohibited from making any other sort,
and a converse restriction extends to the bakers
of white bread. The places for the sale of
loaves are public, and it is illegal to purchase at
the baker's oven. Cornhill and Chepe are the
largest markets. Private families, however,
usually buy of the regratresses, women who
regrate, or retail bread from the bakers, and
deliver it at the doors of their customers. The
profit of these hucksters is limited to the
thirteenth batch, which they receive over and
above each dozen. You, too, are familiar with
the term " baker's dozen." The bread most
in demand with us is not made in the City,
but at Stratford, and Bremble in Essex, and St.
Alban's in Hertfordshire, whence it is brought
up in carts every morning. The reason of its
popularity is its cheapness—two ounces over
London weight being gained in every penny-
worth.

Should you have occasion to buy corn, you
will find the regular markets at Billingsgate,
Queenhythe, Graschirche, and the Friars
Minors' pavement at Newgate. To prevent any
chance of the collision of eager competitors,
certain places are assigned to farmers from
the eastern, and those from the western
counties; and to prevent fraud, restrictions of
time and place are put upon regraters. There
are millers in the City, should you require their
services. The few sokes still remaining confer
upon the owners a right of multure; that is, the
exclusive privilege of grinding the corn of their
tenants.

We Londoners eat less flesh than fish, and
pork more than other kinds of meat, but you
will find ample means of gratifying your own