harter a
distinct form of government under a governor and twenty-four
assistants. In 1564 they were incorporated by a royal charter by the
title of "The Merchants Adventurers of England." Long before that time
they had become by far the largest and most influential company of
English exporting merchants. It is said that the Merchants Adventurers
furnished ten out of the sixteen London ships sent to join the fleet
against the Armada.

Most of their members were London mercers, though there were also in
the society members of other London companies, and traders whose homes
were in other English towns than London. The meetings of the company
in London were held for a long while in the Mercers' hall, and their
records were kept in the same minute book as those of the Mercers
until 1526. On the Continent their principal office, hall, or
gathering place, the residence of their Governor and location of the
"Court,", or central government of the company, was at different times
at Antwerp, Bruges, Calais, Hamburg, Stade, Groningen and Middleburg;
for the longest time probably at the first of these places. The larger
part of the foreign trade of England during the fifteenth and most of
the sixteenth century was carried on and extended as well as
controlled and regulated by this great commercial company.

[Illustration: Hall of the Merchants Adventurers at Bruges. (Blade:
_Life of Caxton_. Published by Kegan Paul, Trench, Truebner & Co.)]

During the latter half of the sixteenth century, however, other
companies of merchants were formed to trade with various countries,
most of them receiving a government charter and patronage. Of these
the Russia or Muscovy Company obtained recognition from the government
in 1554, and in 1557, when an ambassador from that country came to
London, a hundred and fifty merchants trading to Russia received him
in state. In 1581 the Levant or Turkey Company was formed, and its
members carried their merchandise as far as the Persian Gulf. In 1585
the Barbary or Morocco Company was formed, but seems to have failed.
In 1588, however, a Guinea Company began trading, and in 1600 the
greatest of all, the East India Company, was chartered. The
expeditions sent out by the Bristol merchants and then by the king
under the Cabots, those other voyages so full of romance in search of
a northwest or a northeast passage to the Orient, and the no less
adventurous efforts to gain entrance to the Spanish possessions