The Laws of the Mercers of Lichfield which have been transcribed by Mr. Russell and will, I trust, find a place in our next volume of Transactions, seem to me to have very special interest. They are typical of the ordinances which were made for industrial regulation in the seventeenth century. Throughout this century there was an extraordinary development of industrial and commercial companies, many of which were formed by statute and others by letters patent. The wisdom of granting such patents for commercial purposes was the subject of long-continued discussion—this centred round the action of the East India Company. But, if we except some special cases in the time of Charles I., there seems to have been comparatively little dispute about the industrial companies, and a great many were formed or were reconstituted during this period. Of these the Cutlers Company of Sheffield is the most celebrated.