and the tinker said, "It is nothing but solder. Give it here to
me." But then he brought it to a smith, and the smith told him it
was gold; and with that gold he bought his freedom. "And from that
time," continues the story, "the smiths have been lucky, taking
money every day, and never without work, but as for the tinkers,
every man's face is against them!"

In the Middle Ages the arts and crafts were generally protected by
the formation of guilds and fraternities. These bodies practically
exercised the right of patent over their professions, and infringements
could be more easily dealt with, and frauds more easily exposed, by
means of concerted effort on the part of the craftsmen. The goldsmiths
and silversmiths were thus protected in England and France, and in most
of the leading European art centres. The test of pure gold was made
by "six of the more discreet goldsmiths," who went about and
superintended the amount of alloy to be employed; "gold of the
standard of the touch of Paris" was the French term for metal of the
required purity. Any goldsmith using imitation stones or otherwise
falsifying in his profession was punished "by imprisonment and by
ransom at the King's pleasure." There were some complaints that
fraudulent workers "cover tin with silver so subtilely... that
the same cannot be discovered or separated, and so sell tin for
fine silver, to the great damage and deceipt of us." This state
of things finally led to the adoption of the Hall Mark, which is
still to be seen on every piece of silver, signifying that it has
been pronounced pure by the appointed authorities.

The goldsmiths of France absorbed several other auxiliary arts, and
were powerful and influential. In state processions the goldsmiths
had the first place of importance, and bore the royal canopy when