The amalgamation of the crafts; differentiation of classes within the craft gild; industrial capital v. commercial capital; the Elizabeth company; the Stuart corporations of small masters; joint-stock enterprise and industrial monopoly; protectionism under James I; the antecedents of the trade union. Appendix A: extracts from the clothworkers' court book, 1537-1639; classification of woolgrowers and clothiers, 1615; Charles I and the pin monopoly; the feltmakers' joint-stock project, circa 1611; the case of the feltmakers truely stated; extracts from feltmakers' ordinances and court book, mainly illustrating the dispute of 1696-9; the statue of apprentices set aside. Appendix B: list of manuscript sources for the history of the industrial companies of London during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Appendix C: list of books and articles consulted.