Considerable light has been thrown on the vicissitudes of the Horners’ Gild by the recent discovery, as well as recovery, of the most interesting and ancient MSS. book already alluded to. The existence of this book, which formerly belonged to the Company, and was, in fact, its official record, was brought to the notice of the Clerk of the Company by Dr. Warner, of the British Museum. After many negotiations between Mr. Howard Deighton and the then owners of the volume, it was purchased for the sum of £40. A detailed account of this precious possession has been given in the form of a publication entitled “Some Notes on the Old Book of the Worshipful Company of Horners,” which was distributed to the members of the Company and their guests at their last Livery Dinner, by the late Master, Mr. J. T. Edmonds. Though records relating to Craft Gilds in the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth centuries are very meagre and difficult to discover, the “Old Book of the Worshipful Company of Horners” has proved extremely useful in helping to build up a consecutive history of this extremely early Gild. It demonstrates the fact that at least as early as the fourteenth century, both Horners and Bottlemakers were taking their full share of civic and commercial life. [Sidenote: The Gild in Saxon days.] Probably, during the Saxon period, the workers in horn, in common with other craftsmen, were enrolled amongst the members of the Frith Gild and not differentiated until the Anglo-Norman period. It might even be admitted that the Horners’ Gild was a subdivision of one of the many “Gilds Merchant” so prominent as mercantile forces in the eleventh and twelfth centuries; but it is more than probable that before the end of the eleventh century, so important a trade as that of the Horner would have begun to assert itself separately and individually, more especially as there does not seem to have been any larger or more important Gild under which it could have found shelter. [Sidenote: Horn Fair, 1268.] [Sidenote: Horners’ Statutes in 1284.] We do not know whether the Horners’ Company had any connection with “Horn Fair,” which took place at Charlton, in Kent, and for which Henry III granted a Charter in 1268. Of this fair, Philpot, writing in 1639, tells us it was called Horn Fair because of “the great plenty of all sorts of winding horns, cups and other vessels of horn there bought and sold.” We are, however, on sure ground when we point to an interesting proof of the great antiquity of the Horners’ Company, which comes to us from the official letter books of the City of London. In Letter Book A, fol. 40, 12th Edward I (September 8th, 1284), we find that the ancient Gilds are drawing up Rules for revision by the authorities, an event which, no doubt, took place every few years in early times. The entry includes the following:—“The same day the said John (Pesemers) received the Statutes of the Horners for correction.” [Sidenote: Notable Horners in 1303.]