It seems that on this great occasion one of the Marshalls had endeavoured to take our Company “down a peg” in order of precedence. This was, however, successfully resisted, and the Clerk proudly records the following in the Minutes on the same day: MEMORAND: that the Kingꝭ ma{tie} w{th} the Kinge of Denmarke & the Prince of Wales came through this Cittie from wardes the Tower of London attended uppon with the Lordes and gentry of this Land on the last day of this instant moneth of July Att which tyme M{r.} ffoxe beinge one of the Comittees for placeinge of the Companies standingꝭ would have displaced us But by the Lord maiors order wee were placed in the seaventeenth place accordinge as wee ought to be placed. 1606. Notwithstanding the new charter granted in the previous year, the Court found itself unable to regulate the practice of Barbery and Surgery without an extended set of By-Laws, which were now obtained and are still preserved at the Hall. They are in English, on eight large skins of parchment, beautifully engrossed with a handsomely illuminated title, the initial ~T~ containing the Barber-Surgeons’ arms, and distributed over the heading are the arms of the Master and Wardens in 1606, viz.: John Peck, Edward Rodes, William Fynynge and John Fenton. [Illustration] The By-Laws are allowed by Thomas Lord Ellesmere, Lord Chancellor; Thomas Earl of Dorset, Lord Treasurer; and Sir John Popham, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas; who send “greeting in our Lord God Everlasting,” and enact Ordinances of such fearful length, that to a layman it passes comprehension how the draughtsman could have kept his head clear whilst he travelled through such a sea of prolixity, and, to a great extent useless, repetition. If the Chancellor and his colleagues troubled themselves to read through and understand the document to which they have appended their seals, they must have uttered very sensible sounds of relief when they came to the sealing; the recapitulation of the mere heads of this extraordinary production, will probably be found wearisome to the reader, viz{t}: 1. Recital of an Act of Parliament, 24th Feby., 19 Henry VII. 2. Oath of a freeman. 3. Oath of the Masters or Governors. 4. Oath of an Assistant of the Livery. 5. Oath of the Electors. 6. Oath of the Clerk. 7. Oath of a “foreign” Surgeon. 8. Oath of the Wardens of the Yeomanry. 9. Oath of an Assistant of the Yeomanry. 10. Oath of the Beadle. 11. Oath of the Porter. NOTE.--Some of the foregoing oaths contain over 500 words in each! 12. Every person shall appear upon summons under a penalty of 3{s.} 4{d.}, and for not keeping the hour, a fine of 2{d.} to be imposed. 13. Masters neglecting the day of Election, the distribution of Ferbras’ alms, or the payment of rents, to forfeit £5. 14. No great Election dinner to be kept without the consent of a Court of Assistants, under a penalty of £5.