ular clergy; or they might be in part maintained by collections
made, for instance, by a commissioner duly authorized by a formal
attested document, in which were recounted the indulgences by popes,
archbishops and bishops to those who became its benefactors (Cobbe, p.
75); or, in the case of leper hospitals, by a leper with a "clapdish,"
who begged in the markets; or by a proctor, in the case of more
important institutions in towns, who "came with his box one day in
every month to the churches and other religious houses, at times of
service, and there received the voluntary gifts of the congregation";
or they might receive inmates on payment, and thus apparently a
frequent abuse, decayed servants of the court and others, were "farmed
out." (8) _Mode of Admission._--The admission was usually, no doubt,
regulated by the prior or master. At York, at the hospital of St
Nicholas for the leprous, the conditions of admission were: promise or
vow of continence, participation in prayer, the abandonment of all
business, the inmate's property at death to go to the house. This may
serve as an example. The master was usually one of the regular clergy.
(9) _Decline of the Hospitals._--It is said that, in addition to 645
monasteries and 90 "colleges" and many chantries, Henry VIII.
suppressed 110 hospitals (Speed's _Chronicle_, p. 778). The numbers
seem small. In the economic decline at the end of the 15th and
beginning of the 16th centuries many hospitals may have lapsed.

Gild and municipal charities.

In the 15th century the towns grew in importance. First the wool trade
and then the cloth trade flourished, and the English developed a large
shipping trade. The towns grew up like "little principalities"; and for
the advancement of trade, gilds, consisting alike of masters and
workmen, were formed, which endeavoured to regulate and then to
monopolize the market. By degrees the corporations of the towns were
worked in their interests, and the whole commercial system became
restrictive and inadaptable. Meanwhile the towns attracted newcomers;
freedom from feudal obligations was gained with comparative ease; and a
new _plebs_ was congregating, a population of inhabitants not qualified
as burghers or gild members, women, sons living with their fathers,
menial servants and apprentices. There was thus an increasing
restriction imposed on trade, coupled with a growing _plebs_. Naturally,
then,