there hold no Staple. By Ch. 3, all persons may buy wools, fells, &c., so that they bring them to the Staple; and it is made felony, upon pain of life and member, for an English, Welsh, or Irish, Merchant to transport wool, &c. By Ch. 18, merchants of Ireland, and Wales, may bring their merchandise to the Staple of England. By Ch. 23, officers thereof, and merchants, repairing to it, shall be sworn to maintain the Staple, and the laws, and the customs of it. The above are the only chapters necessary for me to quote; but this important statute, for the governance of the Staple, is in itself a code of laws, containing no less than twenty-nine chapters. In the 37 of Edw. 3, (1363,) Calais was again made a staple town, but this statute does not appear in the books; it is however referred to by the 43 Edw. 3, Ch. 1, (1369,) by which, on account of the then war between England and France, the Staple is removed from Calais, and the staple towns somewhat varied from the former law. The towns, named in this renewed act, are Newcastle, Kingston upon Hull, Saint Botolph, Yarmouth, Queenborough, Westminster, Chichester, Winchester, Exeter, and Bristol;" thus we see York, Lincoln, and Norwich, by their omission, cease to be staple towns, and Kingston upon Hull, (now Hull,) Saint Botolph, (now Boston,) and Yarmouth, are made primary staples, and that Queenborough is named in lieu of Canterbury. The Welsh Town, and the Irish Towns, remain as before. The next statute, relative to the Staple, at which I arrive, is that of 14

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Rich. 2, (1390.) It contains several chapters, and, by the first, the Staple is removed from Calais into England, (from thence it is evident, that, by some unnoticed statute, it was removed back to Calais between the last-recited Act and the present one, between the years 1369 and 1390,) and every alien merchant is to bestow half the money received upon the commodities of this realm. By Ch. 4, denizens are restrained from buying wools but of the owners of the sheep, or at the Staple. Ch. 5 directs, that no denizen, but only strangers, shall "carry wools, leather, woolfels, or lead out of the realm of England to the parties beyond the seas upon pain of forfeiture of the same." The next statute, that of 2 Hen. 6, cap. 4, (1423,) re-establishes the Staple at Calais. It recites in its preamble, that Edw. 3 did ordain, that his Staple should be at Calais, and that "the whole repair of wools, woolfels, leather, lead, tin, butter, cheese, and other merchandise, (except woollen cloths, and red herring,) passing out of the realm of England, and his lands of Wales, and Ireland, and the town of Berwick upon Tweed, should be at the said town of Calais." The statute of Edw. 3, here referred to, (as before observed,) does not appear in the books, but we may perceive, that it included within the Staple fresh articles, butter, and cheese, as here mentioned. This act also refers to one in the 1 of Hen. 4, but which likewise is not to be met with in the statute-book, and which, as it appears, made an exception in favour of "Genoa, Venice, Catalonia, Arragon, and other realms, lands, and countries, towards the west,

being of the King's amity," and allowed them to ship at Hampton, (Southampton,) wools, &c., and take them "into their country towards the West;" but this favourable exception is here annulled, and all merchandise, passing out of England, Wales, and Ireland, is directed to be carried to Calais, so long as the Staple shall be there. By the 3 Hen. 6, Ch. 4 (1424) butter and cheese are declared to be no longer articles of the Staple, and the Chancellor for the time being is empowered to license any one under the Great Seal to carry these to any other parts than to the Staple! The 6 Hen. 6, Ch. 6 (1427) establishes Melcombe Haven (now better known as Weymouth) as a staple place, in addition to the others before appointed by statute, and by 8 Hen. 6, Ch. 17 (1429) Calais is confirmed as the foreign Staple, and for wools, woolfels, leather, lead, tin, and other merchandise, conveyed elsewhere, double value is to be forfeited, unless by merchants of Genoa, Venice, &c., conveying "into their country towards the west," and saving its old privileges to Berwick upon Tweed. Ch. 19 is enacted against strangers mariners of Flanders, Holland, Zealand, and Brabant, and declares, that, if any one, of those parts, takes wools, woolfels, &c., from this realm in his ship, and concealed underneath wood, wheat, &c., to any other port than to Calais, he shall forfeit ship and cargo. An exception is made in favour of such, which, by the ordinance made, shall pass over "the streights of Marrock." These are here mentioned for the first time. The Straits of Gibraltar are, without

doubt, meant, and the exception must be in favour of those, as before mentioned, from Venice, Genoa, &c. The expression may probably be the corruption of Morocco, but I have never seen the word before. Ch. 20, for the prevention of undue means to lower the value of the exported wools, and woolfels, &c., ordains, that no persons, inhabiting the town of Calais, shall buy any such commodities "beyond the seas." By the 10 Hen. 6, Ch. 7, (1432,) all staple articles, carried elsewhere than to the Staple of Calais, are directed to be forfeited, and one half of the value to go to the King, and the other to the discoverer; the usual exception is made in favour of the licensed parties, those trading within the streights." " The 14 Hen. 6, Ch. 2 (1435) is a similar protecting act in favour of Calais, and the Staple, and it also enacts, that the payment shall be in bullion, which shall be taken to the mint at Calais. This statute is also accompanied with saving exceptions in favour of Genoa, Venice, Tuscany, Lombardy, Florence, and Catalonia, and also of Berwick upon Tweed. Ch. 5 and Ch. 8 of the same year are passed to prevent secret exportation from creeks, instead of the assigned wharfs, and (2) afford a strong proof of the prevalence of smuggling. The statute, 18 Hen. 6, Ch. 15, (1439,) makes it felony to convey wool, or woolfels, out of the realm to any other place than Calais, "provided always, that the wools, which pass the streights of Marrock shall be in no wise comprised within this ordinance." The next statute to be mentioned is of some im

portance. It is the 2 Ch. 27 Hen. 6, (1448.) It states the manifest, and great diminution of duties, which for many years in the time of Edw. 3, produced £60,000 yearly, or more, but owing to various frauds, and smuggling, and the selling of wools in Brabant, &c., by those, who were licensed to carry over the mountains, to such men, as were before accustomed to resort to, and buy at, Calais, the duties were become lowered in receipt to less than the yearly sum of £12,000. For these reasons, all licences were declared void, unless those to pass "the streights of Marrock," and unless those granted" to our Lady, the Queen, our Companion," to the Duke of Suffolk, to the Prior of Bridlington, and his successor, and also to Thomas Walsingham, Thomas Brown, and John Pennycock, Esquires. We have here the curious fact, that Margaret of Anjou, the spirited Queen of Henry, the Sixth, deigned to become a royal, and female, merchant!

We are now arrived at the times of Edward, the Fourth, the cotemporary of John Halle. It is said, that he was the patron of commerce, and manufacture, and that he was himself a merchant!* In his third year he passed an Act, Ch. 1, (1463,) restraining aliens from the exportation of wools, and making certain regulations for its shipment from the port of Newcastle alone, as to particular portions of the north. All wool exported is to be sent to Calais. This statute was evidently, indeed expressly, intended to favour the manufacturing interests. The 4 of

Henry's Hist. of Britain, Vol. 10, p. 69.