'In a MS. note he remarks that for the abolition of monasteries [there was] some colour, and after professed inquiries as to manners; moreover, allowances [were] made to all ranks. But in case of gilds (much wider) no pretence of inquiry or of mischief, and no allowance whatever. A case of pure wholesale robbery and plunder, done by an unscrupulous faction to satisfy their personal greed, under cover of law. No more gross case of wanton plunder is to be found in the history of all Europe; no page so black in English history.'[316]
Of course there is another side to the question, and Mr. Ashley, who discusses very fully the consequences of the Act of Edward VI., thinks that it has been unfairly condemned. He says that, so far as the companies were concerned, the Bill did not propose to take from them anything more than the revenues actually used for religious purposes; and further, that the Statute neither 'abolished' nor 'dissolved' nor 'suppressed' nor 'destroyed' the companies, but left all their corporate powers and rights intact, except so far as religious usages were concerned.[317]
We must remember, however, that Mr. Toulmin Smith's indignation was roused not so much by the forfeiture of certain trusts in the hands of the livery companies as by the robbery of the small gilds all over the country.
The early history of most of the city companies is rather disconnected, and, owing to the loss and destruction of documents, the mode by which the craft gilds were amalgamated with the livery companies is not very easy to follow. Still, the likeness between the two institutions is so marked, and their duties so similar, that there is no difficulty in acknowledging the fusion. To take a single instance, it may be mentioned that the original gild of Goldsmiths had exactly similar public duties to perform that are now performed by the present Goldsmiths' Company. This connection has usually been taken for granted, but it is necessary to allude to the question here, because Mr. Loftie, a high authority on the history of London, has strongly disputed this connection. In 1883 Mr. Loftie wrote: 'The identification of the adulterine guilds with the later companies is scarcely possible'[318]; and again in 1887: 'The Weavers' Company is not the only one which claims to represent directly an ancient guild, but it is the only one whose claim has anything so like a reasonable foundation.'[319] These are, however, only casual remarks, but in his latest work he has elaborated his attack in the following terms:--