‘Whereas in and by certain Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of _England_, bearing Date the twenty-fourth Day of _February_ in the first Year of the Reign of his then Majesty King Edward the Fourth, after reciting, That the Freemen of the Mystery of Barbers of the City of _London_, using the Mystery or Faculty of Surgery, had for a long Time, exercised and sustained, and still continued to exercise and sustain great Application and Labour, as well about the curing and healing Wounds, Blows and other Infirmities, as in the letting of Blood, and drawing of Teeth; and that by the Ignorance and Unskilfulness of some of the said Barbers, as well Freemen of the said City as of others, being foreign Surgeons, many misfortunes had happened to divers People, by the Unskilfulness of such Barbers and Surgeons, in healing and curing Wounds, Blows, Hurts and other Infirmities; and that it was to be feared, that the like or worse Evils might thereafter ensue, unless a suitable Remedy was speedily provided in the Premisses; his said then Majesty did therefore, at the Supplication of the Freemen of the said Mystery of Barbers, in the said City of _London_, grant to them, amongst other Things, that the said Mystery, and all the Men of the said Mystery of the said City, should be one Body, and one perpetual Community; and that two Principals of the same Commonalty, of the most expert Men in the Mystery of Surgery, might with the Assent of twelve, or eight Persons at the least, of the same Community, every Year elect and make out of the Community two Masters or Governors, being the most expert in the Mystery of Surgery, to oversee, rule and govern the Mystery and Commonalty aforesaid, and all Men of the same Mystery and the Affairs of the same; and that the aforesaid Masters or Governors, and Commonalty, and their Successors, might make Statutes and Ordinances for the Government of the said Mysteries; and that the Masters or Governors for the Time being, and their Successors, should have the Survey, Search, Correction and Government of all the Freemen of the said City, being Surgeons, using the Mystery of Barbers in the same City, and of other Surgeons whatsoever, being Foreigners, practising and using the Mystery of Surgery, within the same City and Suburbs of the same, and the Punishment of them, as well Freemen as Foreigners, for their Offences in not perfectly executing, performing and using that Mystery; and should also have the Survey and Search of all Manner of Instruments, Plaisters and other Medicines, and the Receipts to be given, applied and used by the said Barbers and Surgeons, for the curing and healing of Sores, Wounds, Hurts and such like Infirmities; and that no Barber using the said Mystery of Surgery, within the said City, or Suburbs thereof, or other foreign Surgeon whatsoever, should be in any Manner thereafter admitted to execute, perform and exercise the same Mystery of Surgery,