TU Cowpate.] THE HAMMERMEN. 263
reference to those trades which form the United
Incorporation of Hammermen, and to the old city
companies and trades in generaL
?6 The Hammerer?s Seill of Cause,? was issued
on the 2nd Nay, 1483, by Sir Patrick Baron of
Spittalfield, Knight, Provost ?of the City, Patrick
Balbirge of that ilk, David Crawford of St. Giles?s
Grange, and Archibald Todrig, being bailies ; and
under the general name are?included at that time,
blacksmiths, goldsmiths, lorimers, saddlers, cutlers,
buckler-makers, armourers, (( and all others
within the said burgh of Edinburgh.? Pewterers
were afterwards included, and a heckle-maker so
lately as 1609. By the rule of the corporation it
was statute and ordained, that ?? na hammerman,
maister, feitman, servand, nor utheris, tak vpon
hand fra this tyme furth, to exercise or use ony
mair craftis but alanerly ane, and to live thairupon,
sua that his brether craftismen be not hurt throu
his large exercitation and exceeding of boundis,?
Src. And all the privileges of the haminermen
were ratified by Act of Parliament so recently
as September, 1681, when shearsmiths appear as
members of the corporation. In those days all the
operations of industry were treated as secrets.
Each trade was a craft, and those who followed
it were called craftsmen ; and skilled artisans were
?? cunning men.? (Smiles.)
The Hammermen?s seal bears the effigyof St.
Eloi, in apostolical vestments, in a church porch
surmounted by five pinnacles, holding in one hand
a hammer, and in the other a key, with the legend,
(( Sig2lum commune artis tudiatorum.?
By the end of the 16th century the manufacture
of offensive weapons predominated over all other
trades in the city. The essay-piece ofa cutler, prior
to his admission to the corporation, was a wellfinished
?quhinzier,? or sword; and there were
gaird-makers, whose business consisted in fashioning
the hilts ; dalmascars, who gilded weapons and
armour. In 1582 sword blades were damascened
at Edinburgh ; but ?? Hew Vans, dalmascar, was
ordained not to buy blades to sell again,? his business
being confined to gilding steel. There were
also the belt-makers, who wrought military girdles ;
dag-makers, who made hackbutts (short guns),
and dags, or pistols ; but all these various trades
became associated in the general one of armourers
or gunsmiths, as the wearing of weapons
began to fall into desuetude, and other arts connected
with civilisation and luxury began to take
their places.
In 1586 a locksmith is first found in Edinburgh,
where he was the cnly one, and could only make
a ?? kist-lock.? Tirling-pins, wooden latches, and
transom bars, were the appurtenances of doors
before his time generally. But by 1609, ?as the
security of property increased,? says Chambers,
the essay was a kist-lock and a hing and bois
lock with ane double plate lock ;? and, in 1644,
?? a key and sprent band were added to the essay.?
In 1682 ?a cruik and cruik band? were further
added; and in 1728, for the safety of the liegeq
the locksmiths? essay was appointed to be ?? a cruik
and cruik-band, a pass-lock with a round filled
bridge, not cut or broke in the backside, with nobs
and jamb bound.? The trade of a shearsmith
appears first in 1595 in Edinburgh, and in 1613
Thomas Duncan, the first tinkler in the city was
admitted a hammerman. The trade of a pewterer
is found as far back as 1588; the first knockmaker
(or clockmaker) appears in 1647, but his
business was so limited that he added thereto
the making of locks. (? Traditions of Edin.?) In
1664 the first white iron smith was admitted a
hammerman, and the first harnessmaker, though
lorimers-manufacturers of the iron-work used in
saddlery-were members. since 1483. The first
maker of surgical instruments in Edinburgh was
Paul Martin, a French Protestant refugee, in 1691.
In 1720 the first pin-maker appears ; and in 1764
the first edge-tool maker, and the first manufacturer
of fish-hooks.
By the first charter of the hammermen all a p
plicants for admission were examined by the
deacons and masters of their respective arts, as to
their qualifications ; and any member found guilty
of a bre?ch of any one of the articles contained in
their charter, was fined eight shillings Scots towards
the support of the corporation?s altar of St. Eloi in
St Giles?s Church and the chaplain thereof. The
goldsmiths were separated from the hammermen in
1581 ; but since then many other crafts have joined
them, including gunsmiths, watchmakers, founders,
braziers, and coppersmiths.
The cordiners, or shoemakers, were first created
into a society by the magistrates on the 28th of
July, 1449 (according to Maitland), in terms of
which each master of the trade who kept a booth
within the town, paid one penny Scots, and the;.
servants one halfpenny, towards the support of
their altar of St. Crispin, in St. Giles?s Church. A
new seal of cause was granted to them in 1509, and
another in 1586, which enacted that their shops were
not to be open on Sundays after g AM., and that no
work was to be done on that day under pain of twenty
shillings fine. It also regulated the days of the
week on which leather boots and shoes could be sold
by strangers in booths. This charter was confirmed
on 6th March, 1598, by James VI., in considera
