Yet, although he prospered in business, “in 1572 we find him assessed as in the Bachelors’ Company,” and he was not elected to the superior company until 1594 (_ibid._ vol. ii. p. 237). And in the Ordinance of 1507, “for all those persons that shall be abled by the maister and Wardeins to holde hous or shop open,” it is provided that the person desiring to set up shop shall not only pay a licence fee, but also “for his incomyng to the bachelers’ Company and to be broder with theym iij^s iii^d” (Clode, _Memorials of the Merchant Taylors’ Company_, p. 209). Nor do the instances of its action imply that it had at heart the interest of the wage-earners, as distinguished from that of the employers. The hostility to foreigners, the desire to secure government clothing contracts, and the preference for a limitation of apprentices to two for each employer are all consistent with the theory that the Bachelors’ Company was, like its superior, composed of masters, probably less opulent than the governing clique, and perhaps occupied in tailoring rather than in the business of a clothier or merchant. It is not until 1675 and 1682 that can be traced in the MS. records of the Clothworkers’ Company the existence of distinctively journeymen’s combinations (_Industrial Organisation in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries_, by George Unwin, 1904, p. 199). The other instances of identification of “Bachelors’ Companies” or “Yeomen” organisation with journeymen’s societies are no more convincing than that of the Merchant Taylors. That the “valets,” serving-men, or journeymen in many trades possessed some kind of “almsbox,” or charitable funds of their own is indeed clear, but that this was ever used in trade disputes, or was independent of the masters’ control, must at present be regarded as highly improbable. The strongest instance of independence is that of the Oxford cordwainers (_Selections from the Records of the City of Oxford_, by William H. Turner, Oxford, 1880). See, on the whole subject, the chapter on “Mediæval Journeymen’s Clubs,” in Sir William Ashley’s _Surveys: Historic and Economic_, 1900; _Industrial Organisation in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries_, by Professor George Unwin, 1904; and an article on “The Origin of Trade Unionism,” by Mr. W. A. S. Hewins, in the _Economic Review_, April 1895 (vol. v.). [9] Dugdale’s _Antiquities of Warwickshire_ (1656), p. 125. [10] Riley’s _Memorials_, p. 653; Clode, _Early History of Merchant Taylors’ Company_, vol. i. p. 63. [11] Compare Fagniez, _Études sur l’industrie et la classe industrielle à Paris_ (Paris, 1877), p. 123. [12] 3 Henry VI. c. 1; see also 34 Edward III. c. 9. [13] “Ordinances of Worcester,” Art. lvii. in Toulmin Smith’s _English Gilds_, p. 399. [14] Compare the analogous instances given by Fagniez, _Études sur l’industrie et la classe industrielle à Paris_, p. 203 (Paris, 1877).