ades where the aspirants were not
required to produce a _chef-d'oeuvre_, the installation of masters was
accompanied with extraordinary ceremonies, which no doubt originally
possessed some symbolical meaning, but which, having lost their true
signification, became singular, and appeared even ludicrous. Thus with the
bakers, after four years' apprenticeship, the candidate on purchasing the
freedom from the King, issued from his door, escorted by all the other
bakers of the town, bearing a new pot filled with walnuts and wafers. On
arriving before the chief of the corporation, he said to him, "Master, I
have accomplished my four years; here is my pot filled with walnuts and
wafers." The assistants in the ceremony having vouched for the truth of
this statement, the candidate broke the pot against the wall, and the
chief solemnly pronounced his admission, which was inaugurated by the
older masters emptying a number of tankards of wine or beer at the expense
of their new brother. The ceremony was also of a jovial character in the
case of the millwrights, who only admitted the candidate after he had
received a caning on the shoulders from the last-elected brother.

[Illustration: Fig. 247.--Fac-simile of the first six Lines on the Copper
Tablet on which was engraved, from the year 1470, the Names and Titles of
those who were elected Members of the Corporation of Goldsmiths of Ghent.]

The statutes of the corporations, which had the force of law on account of
being approved and accepted by royal authority, almost always detailed
with the greatest precision the conditions of labour. They fixed the hours
and days for working, the size of the articles to be made, the quality of
the stuffs used in their manufacture, and even the price at which they
were to be sold (Fig. 246). Night labour was pretty generally forbidden,
as likely to produce only imperfect work. We nevertheless find that
carpenters were permitted to make coffins and other funeral articles by
night. On the eve of religious feasts the shops were shut earlier than
usual, that is to say, at three o'clock, and were not opened on the next
day, with the exception of those of pastrycooks, whose assistance was
especially required on feast days, and who sold curious varieties of cakes
and sweetmeats. Notwithstanding the strictness of the rules and the
administrative laws of each trade, which were intended to secure good
faith and loyalty between the various members, it is unn