from the worshipful Cordwainers' Company
down to the

                                 " cobbler who lives in a stall,
Which serves him for parlour, and kitchen, and all."

Saint Crispin and Saint Crispinian, the two
sainted cobblers, were two brothers of noble
birth, who came from Rome to Soissons to
preach in the middle of the third century,
supporting themselves by making shoes
during the night. Brothers they are in
fame, at any rate: for there are at Paris (or
were, some years ago, but perhaps revolutions
have overturned them) two pious Societies
called Frères Cordonniers (Brother
Shoemakers); the one under the protection of
Saint Crispin, and the other under that of
Saint Crispinian; they live monastically, and
make shoes to support themselves and to assist
the poor.  Our Cordwainers and these
Cordonniers are supposed to have derived their
names from Cordouanniers, workers in
Cordouan or Cordovan leather.

Saint Crispin keeps up many old customs
among his followers, the Cordwainers of
England, as well as among the Cordonniers
of the Continent, while other ceremonies have
fallen into desuetude. The country
shoemakers were wont to cease candle-light
working on the first Monday in March, and
a holiday was enjoyed among them called
"welting the block." They assembled in the
shop, procured drink, and the eldest hand
poured the first glassfull on a burning candle
into the block candlestick; and after this
symbolic performance, the sons of Crispin
went through a well-known process of
imbibition. Perhaps the country shoemakers may
still remember something of the custom
which Bloomfield used to enjoy in his
shoemaking days—of waxing his customers to
the seat of Saint Crispin, preparatory to the
serving of them with a " pen'orth of strap-oil."

The craft is rich in names which have
become in greater or lesser degree household
property. There was the eccentric
Lackington who, in the title-page of his
autobiography, tells us that he came to London
with five pounds in his pocket, and rose
to be a bookseller having an annual sale of
a hundred thousand volumes: he had been
a shoemaker in the west of England. There
was Sir Cloudesley Shovel, the redoubtable
admiral. There was Fox, the real original
Friend. There was Hans Sachs, the poet
of Nürenberg, and the friend of Luther.
There were the learned Baudouin and Jacob
Böhmen. There were the radical Hardy and
the astrological Partridge; the powerful
Gifford and the gentle Bloomfield. There
were Savage, and many others— all sons of
Crispin before they turned their thoughts
and energies into new channels.

It is an odd thing, for which few persons
seem to be able to account, that the shire of
Northampton, above all others in the three
kingdoms (except the metropolitan county),
is the headquarters of the boot and shoe trade.
Wellingtons, Bluchers, Prince Georges,
Clarences and Alberts, Oxonians, Cambridge,
Cambridge ties, side-springs, tops, spring-tops,
waterproof shooting, hunting, strong boy,
French dress, strong walking, front lace,
side lace, highlows, and double-channel—
all are brought from this inland county in
numbers which would stagger " the oldest
inhabitant."

Northampton, Wellingborough, and
Kettering, are the three principal towns; but
there are others which pick up the smaller
crumbs. The sale-shop shoes and boots are
especially supplied from this quarter; indeed,
this is the distinguishing feature of the
Northamptonshire trade, for there are very
few " bespoke " goods here made. And these
country workers press somewhat heavily on
those of London, keeping down wages, and
prices, and profits to a somewhat low degree.
Many a manufacture has assumed a new
aspect in consequence of those foolish "strikes"
to which our workmen are rather prone;
and we believe that it was owing to some
such strike among the London shoemakers,
in the early part of the present century, that
a migration took place to Northampton, where
a tolerably large manufacture for an agricultural
population had before been established.
St. Crispin remembers 1812 as having
been a momentous year in these matters.
There was strife between masters and men in
London; the latter, earning more than they
have ever earned since, assumed the mastery,
and o'ermastered the masters. Men met,
masters met; men threatened, masters refused;
work was stopped, and orders were suspended.
Several employers, determined not to be
coerced into the new terms, cut out their
leather in London, and sent it to Northampton
to be made into boots and shoes; and several
sent their orders to be wholly executed in
that county. Northampton looked up; it
became mighty busy; and it opened
warehouses in London for the sale of Northampton
work; and foreign merchants, finding that
there was another English town which was
better worth their notice than the metropolis,
in respect to this branch of commerce, forthwith
sent their orders to Northampton. The
result staggered the London masters, and
still more the London men. Down to that
period Northampton boots and shoes were
scarcely known in the metropolis, having
mostly shod the denizens of the midland
counties; and the London hands made not
only the goods for London wear, but for
export also. St. Crispin's children in the
metropolis have been sorry for 1812.

Busy working is this at Northampton, and
its neighbour towns. There are master
manufacturers, who keep extensive
warehouses, and give out work to be done by
operatives who work at their own dwellings;
the leather, cut to the proper sizes and shapes,