countrymen of a later date, soon found out that England was a rare place for making money. And when these ancestors of our modern German competitors first came to this country, they had to encounter so little opposition from the native traders, that they speedily monopolised the whole of the foreign trade of the port. But while the Hanseatic League owed much of its power and influence to the early footing which the Easterlings obtained in London, there cannot be a doubt that by helping to develop the enormous productive resources of the country, and revealing the unrivalled natural facilities of the port for trade, they laid the foundation of the supremacy which London now enjoys as the great entrepôt for the produce and commerce of the world. Moreover, as their remarkable confederacy at one time comprised no less than eighty of the largest and wealthiest cities in Germany and Sweden, their establishment in London was the means of opening up commercial relations with the Continent of a magnitude, which, while the balance of immediate profit fell to the traders of the League, proved an incalculable boon to this country when their exclusive privileges were taken from them. Not only so; the success of the Easterlings in London attracted the commerce of other continental nations, particularly the Venetian and Genoese, and thus brought about the trade with the Mediterranean ports, and, incidentally, with the East. In the reign of Henry III. (1236) the foreign trade had become so important, that the practice which had hitherto prevailed of buying goods on board the importing ship, was found to be so irksome and inconvenient, that, on condition of paying certain tolls to the Mayor, permission was granted for the direct landing of cargo, so that it might be disposed of on shore. This gave rise to the existing landing and wharfage dues. Ten years afterwards, the Corporation purchased Queenhithe, which, it should be remembered, besides Billingsgate, was the only place in the river at that time suitable for the landing of goods. Meanwhile, the enormous influence which the Easterlings had acquired in London, by means of the charters granted them by successive monarchs, was beginning to excite a spirit of competition and jealousy amongst the citizens. But they found that, great as was the productive resources of the country, their German competitors had obtained such complete control of the continental markets, that no Englishman stood a chance against the combinations which he had to encounter there. This led to counter-combinations on the part of the citizens, as the only means by which they could hope to introduce their goods into foreign markets. I need hardly observe that this was one of the causes which led to the origin of many of the trade guilds, and livery companies of London. In the time of King Edward IV. a considerable impetus was given to commercial transactions of all kinds, and the trade of the port rapidly increased.