you will.  Is there no deceit in these goodlye shows?  Yes, too many; if you will buy a chain of gold, a ring, or any kind of plate, besides that you shall pay almost half more than it is worth... you shall also perhaps have that gold which is naught, or else at least mixed with drossie rubbage....  But this happeneth very seldom by reason of good orders, and constitutions made for the punishment of them that offend in this kind of deceit, and therefore they seldom offend therein, though now and then they chance to stumble in the dark!”

Fynes Moryson, a traveller who died in 1614, says that “the goldsmiths’ shops in London... are exceedingly richly furnished continually with gold, with silver plate, and with jewels....  I never see any such daily show, anything so sumptuous, in any place in the world, as in London.”  He admits that in Florence and Paris the similar shops are very rich upon special occasions; but it is the steady state of the market in London to which he has reference.

The Company of Goldsmiths in Dublin held quite a prominent social position in the community.  In 1649, a great festival and pageant took place, in which the goldsmiths and visiting craftsmen from other corporations took part.

Henry III. set himself to enrich and beautify the shrine of his patron saint, Edward the Confessor, and with this end in view he made various extravagant demands:  for instance, at one time he ordered all the gold in London to be detailed to this object, and at another, he had gold rings and brooches purchased to the value of six hundred marks.  The shrine was of gold, and, according to Matthew Paris, enriched with jewels.  It was commenced in 1241.  In 1244 the queen presented an image of the Virgin with a ruby and an emerald.  Jewels were purchased from time to time,—­a great cameo in 1251, and in 1255 many gems of great value.  The son of ado the Goldsmith, Edward, was the “king’s beloved clerk,” and was made “keeper of the shrine.”  Most of the little statuettes were described as having stones set somewhere about them:  “an image of St. Peter holding a church in one hand and the keys in the other, trampling on Nero, who had a big sapphire on his breast;” and “the Blessed Virgin with her Son, set with rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and garnets,” are among those cited.  The whole shrine was described as “a basilica adorned with purest gold and precious stones.”

Odo the Goldsmith was in charge of the works for a good while.  He was succeeded by his son Edward.  Payments were made sometimes in a regular wage, and sometimes for “task work.”  The workmen were usually known by one name—­Master Alexander the King’s Carpenter, Master Henry the King’s Master Mason, and so forth.  In an early life of Edward the Confessor, there is an illumination showing the masons and carpenters kneeling to receive instruction from their sovereign.

The golden shrine of the Confessor was probably made in the Palace itself; this was doubtless considered the safest place for so valuable a work to remain in process of construction; for there is an allusion to its being brought on the King’s own shoulders (with the assistance of others), from the palace to the Abbey, in 1269, for its consecration.