aithful. They provided "a prest, brede, wyne, wex,
boke, vestments and chalise for their auter of S. Nicholas in the said
chapel." The King granted their request.

[Illustration: THE MASTER'S CHAIR AT THE PARISH CLERKS HALL.]

The original home of the guild was in Bishopsgate. Brewers' Hall was, in
1422, lent to them for their meetings. But the old deeds in the
possession of the company show that as early as 1274 they acquired
property "near the King's highway in the parish of St. Ethelburga,
extending from the west side of the garden of the Nuns of St. Helen's to
near the stone wall of Bishopsgate on the north, in breadth from the
east side of William the Whit Tawyer's to the King's highway on the
south." These two highways are now known as Bishopsgate Street and
Camomile Street. They had property also at Finsbury on the east side of
Whitecross Street. Inasmuch as the guild did not in those early days
possess a charter and was not incorporated, it had no power to hold
property; hence the lands were transmitted to individual members of the
fraternity[52]. After their incorporation in 1442 the trustees of the
lands and possessions were all clerks. Another property belonged to them
at Enfield.

[Footnote 52: The transmission of the property is carefully traced in
_Some Account of Parish Clerks_, by Mr. James Christie, p. 78. He had
access to the company's muniments.]

The chief possession of the clerks was the Bishopsgate property. It
consisted of an inn called "The Wrestlers," another inn which bore the
sign of "The Angel," and a fair entry or gate near the latter which
still bears the name Clerks' Place. Wrestlers' Court still marks the
site of the old inn--so conservative are the old names in the city of
London. Passing through the entry we should have seen seven modest
almshouses for the brethren and sisters of the guilds. Beyond these was
the hall of the company. It consisted of a parlour (36 ft. by 14 ft.),
with three chambers over it. The east side with fan glasses overlooked
the garden, 72 ft. in length by 21 ft. wide. The west side was lined
with wainscot. The actual hall adjoined, a fine room 30 ft. by 25 ft.,
with a gallery at the nether end, with a little parlour at the west end.
A room for the Bedell, a kitchen with a vault under it, larder-rooms,
buttery, and a little house called the Ewery, completed the buildings.
It must have been a very delightful little home for the company, not so
palatial as that