none of the tables are preserved. It is, however, clear that some, if not all, were in existence in the writer's time, and not destroyed in the great fire of 1666, but, like the Exchequer records hereafter spoken of, they were not thought worthy of being kept, and probably sold as waste materials; this is much to be regretted, as no record of makers exists previous to the date of this copper plate in 1697.

In Belgium many of these copper plates have been carefully preserved, and electrotype copies have recently been supplied to the South Kensington Museum of ten copper plates of the celebrated Goldsmiths' Guild of Ghent, on which the makers' marks are stamped, and the names engraved against them, from 1484 to 1707. The goldsmiths of Belgium in the 15th century had no rivals in Europe, being patronised by the Dukes of Burgundy; and their works, ornamented with niello, enamel, chasing, and engraving, were not surpassed by any other country in Europe. The inventories of the jewels of the Dukes of Burgundy bear witness of their excellence. The goldsmiths' art was hereditary; they were at the same time modellers, painters, and architects. Among these may be mentioned, Van Houten, Van Ravenscoot, Du Schoenen, Vilaine, and Corneille de Bonte le gentil gantois. The silver collar of the Beffroi, with an escutcheon representing the fair pucelle de Gand caressing the lion of Flanders, is in the Hotel de Ville; and a collector at Ghent is the fortunate possessor of a Gothic silver casket, dated 1486, with the stamp of Corneille de Bonte, his initials, and in the centre an ermine (in Flemish Bonte) a pun upon his name; he was deacon of the guild from 1487 to 1500. There are also two copies of copper plaques from the Guild of Goldsmiths of Bruges, with names of plate-workers from 1567 to 1636 Others from different guilds are to follow, through the perseverance of Mr. Weale.

The makers' marks which follow were stamped at random on the copper plate, in lines from top to bottom, under each other, commencing with the earliest date of entry at the left-hand corner, as shown in the frontispiece to the two last editions of our " HALL MARKS ON PLATE," taken accurately from a photograph of the original at Goldsmiths' Hall; but the initials of the second, or surnames, are here arranged alphabetically for easy reference.

ENTRIES OF PLATE-WORKERS' MARKS.

Copied from the Records at Goldsmiths' Hall.

A leather case at Goldsmiths' Hall contains five volumes, in which the following entries of Makers' Marks are written.

C. Vol. 3.

30 May 1739

to 1758.
Ditto

Remarks.

Large plate workers.
(The letter V is wanting.)

Small workers only.

Large plate workers.

The titles state that the entries are to 1769, but only three occur after 1758. Small workers.

1758 to 1773 Contains small workers only.

Vols. 1 and 2, which contained the names and marks of the large plate workers from 1758 to 1773 are missing. They were evidently in existence in 1773, the year when the Parliamentary return was made; but were probably never returned to the Hall, or are since lost.

SEPARATE BOOKS, GOLDSMITHS' HALL.

Vols. 1, 2, 3. 1774 to 1805 These books contain the marks of large

and small plate workers in alphabetical order, but not separated as before. The extracts we have made belong, apparently, from their size, to the former.

It must be borne in mind that the accompanying list contains only the names of the actual manufacturers, the names of the goldsmiths to whose order the pieces were made not being recorded. Very few of the goldsmiths were workers themselves, although they probably