They derive their name Painter-stainers from the custom of
calling a picture a "stained cloth." The principal artists in England
were members of the guild, and in their hall are numerous examples of
the work of its members. The Pattenmakers' Company suggests a picture
of the condition of the streets of London in mediaeval times, when
garbage and refuse were thrown into them, when drains and watercourses
were things unknown, and pattens were invented as a useful foot-gear,
and clogs and goloshes were sorely needed. The company appears on the
scene in the fifteenth century, and the name of the city church of St.
Margaret Pattens, Rood Lane, points out that locality as the seat of the
industry. The Pewterers, a company of "friendly and neighbouring men,"
existed in 1348, and did much to make English pewter famous and highly
esteemed in other lands. They visited markets and fairs throughout
England, and seized and condemned base pewter ware, brass goods, and
false scales. They furnished men with arms for the defence of the city,
and kept in their hall corselets, calyvers, bill pikes, and other
weapons, and paid an armourer to keep them in good order. Their history,
written by Mr. Charles Welch in two large volumes, abounds in
interesting facts, and we can only here refer our readers to those
records.

The Plaisterers, formerly known as Pargetters, were skilful in
contriving curious elaborate and beautiful ceilings, which form such an
attractive feature in many old houses. They were incorporated by a
charter of Henry VII. The Playing-card Makers' Company was founded in
1628, with the object of counteracting the deceits and abuses practised
by the inexpert in the art and trade of making playing-cards, and by the
importation of foreign cards into this country. It has no records and
little history. The Plumbers' Company stands high in public estimation,
and has been in existence several centuries, though not incorporated
until 1611, when a charter was granted for "the utility, advantage, and
relief of the good and honest, and for the terror and correction of the
evil, deceitful, and dishonest." Their modern efforts to initiate a
national registration and training of plumbers are worthy of the highest
praise.

Every citizen knows the Poultry in the city--the locality where the
Poulters anciently carried on their trade, selling "rabbits, fowls, and
other poultry." The trade was not without its dangers. Unsound poultry
doomed th