In other matters we may see the discontented attitude of the workfolk. Thus the journeymen cappers objected to the lengthening of the hours of their working day, which in 1496 had been fixed to last from six till six, but which by 1520 was further increased by two hours in the summer-time, thus lasting from five in the morning to seven in the evening.[503] Six years later it was enacted that, unless they kept these hours, it was permitted to any master to "abridge their wages according to their time of absence." Any rivalry in trade between masters and men was crushed whenever the masters' power availed to do so. Thus in 1496 the journeymen cappers carried on a contraband trade, and scorning to be content with the permission to "scour and fresh old bonnets" for that purpose, made new caps for sale; nor did the imposition of a fine of twenty pence at every default avail to check their activity. Therefore according to the rules of 1520, members of the craft were forbidden to give any work to those who knitted the journeymen's caps, or to the spinners who span for them, thus indirectly checking this illicit competition. In other ways the journeyman was made to feel the weight of the master's hand. Among the carpenters none could be set to work unless he had served for seven years as apprentice to the handicraft;[504] and a journeyman capper was compelled to certify the cause of leaving his late master to the satisfaction of the masters of the craft.[505] These are some points connected with the life of mediæval craftsmen. Although so much has been written on the economical, social, and religious aspects of the subject, we are still very ignorant as to the actual workings of the craft system. Modern industry seems to have entirely passed through, and, as it were, forgotten this immature phase of its existence. The companies in Coventry which were able to survive the shock of the suppression of the guilds and chantries under Edward VI., and have lasted to our own day--the mercers, drapers, cappers, fullers, clothiers, and worsted weavers--possess none of the powers or organization of their predecessors, and are mere survivals of a bygone time, "the shadows of a great name." FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 451: Rogers, _Six Cent._, 116.] [Footnote 452: In early times there was a special place in the market assigned to the sale of cloth. See _undated_ deed Corp. MS. C. 40.] [Footnote 453: _Rot. Parl._, iii. 437.] [Footnote 454: _Literæ Cantuarienses_ (Rolls Series, 85), iii. 81.] [Footnote 455: See above, p. 202.] [Footnote 456: _Leet Book_, 657.] [Footnote 457: _i.e._ the Trinity guild.] [Footnote 458: The elephant, _i.e._ the city seal, which bears the device of an elephant and castle.]