By letters patent, 37 Edward III., it was ordained and granted, amongst other things, that no merchant should go into Gascony for wines, nor use the trade of wine in England, except those who in London were enfranchised in the said mystery there, or who, in other cities, boroughs, and towns, had skill therein, and that no stranger should retail wines; and that the merchants of the said mystery of Vintners should elect four persons to see that all wines were sold by retail in taverns at a reasonable price for such wine, and of such conditions, as they were known, or named, to be; and that the taverners should be ruled by such four persons, and likewise that the said four persons should correct and amend all defaults that should be found in the exercise of the said mystery, and inflict punishments by their good advice and consideration, if need were, without the mayor, bailiff, or other chief magistrate; and the King gave licence to the said Merchant Vintners to export cloth, fish, and herrings in exchange for wines; and did ordain that all wines coming to London should be landed above London Bridge, westward towards the Vintry, so that the King’s butler and gauger and searchers might have knowledge thereof, and take the customs and prices of right due. Which Letters Patent were exemplified and confirmed by inspeximus by King Henry the Sixth by Letters Patent, bearing date the eighth day of November, in the sixth year of his reign. By another charter of King Henry VII., the King and Queen ordained and constituted the mystery of Vintners of the City of London a mystery of itself, and the freemen and commonalty thereof were to be one body corporate and politic, in deed, fact, and name, by the name of the master and wardens and freemen and commonalty of the mystery of Vintners of London. Other charters are recited from Edward VI., Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth. The members of the Vintners Company, by patrimony or servitude, and their widows have, by its various charters, the right to sell foreign wine without a licence; and the court of assistants as the governing body, when a complaint is made that the privilege is abused by any member, summons him to attend, and after hearing the evidence on both sides, adjudicates according to its discretion. The utmost penalty is disfranchisement. The Company exercises control only over its own members. The Company claims to exercise through its members the privilege of selling foreign wine without licence throughout England. [Illustration: COUNCIL CHAMBER, VINTNERS’ HALL Vintner Sheriff receiving the Congratulations of his Company. ]