number of trade associations considerably increased,
and wonderfully so during the reigns of the last of the Valois and the
first of the Bourbons.

The historian of the antiquities of Paris, Henry Sauval, enumerated no
fewer than fifteen hundred and fifty-one trade associations in the capital
alone in the middle of the seventeenth century. It must be remarked,
however, that the societies of artisans were much subdivided owing to the
simple fact that each craft could only practise its own special work.
Thus, in Boileau's book, we find four different corporations of
_patenotriers_, or makers of chaplets, six of hatters, six of weavers, &c.

Besides these societies of artisans, there were in Paris a few privileged
corporations, which occupied a more important position, and were known
under the name of _Corps des Marchands_. Their number at first frequently
varied, but finally it was settled at six, and they were termed _les Six
Corps_. They comprised the drapers, which always took precedence of the
five others, the grocers, the mercers, the furriers, the hatters, and the
goldsmiths. These five for a long time disputed the question of
precedence, and finally they decided the matter by lot, as they were not
able to agree in any other way.

[Illustration: Fig. 205.--Seal of the Corporation of Carpenters of St.
Trond (Belgium)--From an Impression preserved in the Archives of that Town
(1481).]

[Illustration: Fig. 206.--Seal of the Corporation of Shoemakers of St.
Trond, from a Map of 1481, preserved in the Archives of that Town.]

[Illustration: Fig. 207.--Seal of the Corporation of Wool-weavers of
Hasselt (Belgium), from a Parchment Title-deed of June 25, 1574.]

[Illustration: Fig. 208.--Seal of the Corporation of Clothworkers of
Bruges (1356).--From an Impression preserved in the Archives of that
Town.]

[Illustration: Fig. 209.--Seal of the Corporation of Fullers of St. Trond
(about 1350).--From an Impression preserved in the Archives of that Town.]

[Illustration: Fig. 210.--Seal of the Corporation of Joiners of Bruges
(1356).--From an Impression preserved in the Archives of that Town.]

[Illustration: Fig. 211.--Token of the Corporation of Carpenters of
Maestricht.]

[Illustration: Fig. 212.--Token of the Corporation of Carpenters of
Antwerp.]

[Illustration: Fig. 213.--Funeral Token of the Corporation of Carpenters
of Maestricht.]

Trades.

Fac-simile of Engravings on Wood, designed and engraved by J.