of the play up to that time, and all their raiments and all other manner of stuff that they had. The Guild Merchant thereupon chose 21 persons to have the direction of the play. Mr. Kelly thought that this record indicated that at Leicester, as in many other ancient boroughs, such as York and Chester, the Passion Play was acted by players selected from the different crafts or trading guilds. They do not seem however to have had the management of the Play, for this proposal that the crafts should manage it was not accepted, the governing body of the town deciding that it should be managed by a committee of their own, "with two beadles." Whether the crafts of Leicester arranged the Passion Plays or not, they used undoubtedly to get up and present outdoor Pageants on days of High Festival. Nor did the fraternities of trade lag behind the religious guilds in public spirit and generosity. Thus, in the year 1540, the Occupations of Smiths and Butchers and Bakers and Corvisors, or Shoemakers, all subscribed according to their means towards the expense of obtaining Henry VIII's charter of Fairs.
The deep sense of brotherhood which animated the old Leicester Occupations is well brought out by the record which tells how, in the year 153 1, the Warden and Company of Journeymen Shoemakers agreed to pay to the Dominicans or Black Friars ten marks over and above the usual offering duties, to have their prayers; and how, in the following year, it was agreed, before Mr. Nicholas Reynold, then Mayor, by consent of the Wardens and all the Company of Journeymen Shoemakers, that they should give yearly to the Austin Friars in Leicester, for all the brethren and sisters to be prayed for, in ready money 10s., to be paid at two times in the year, besides the offering days before used. Women were not admitted to the Guild Merchant of Leicester, but it appears from this record that the Shoemakers' Occupation admitted both brothers and sisters.
Again, the Occupations acted as Insurance and Friendly Societies for their members, and helped them when they were in distress. Thus, the Articles of the Leicester Glovers' and Fellmongers' Ordinance, which have been preserved, contain the following clause:—
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