----"resign the way,
To shun the surly _butcher's_ greasy tray:
_Butchers_, whose hands are died with blood's foul stain,
And always foremost in the hangman's train."
The butchers' company was not incorporated until the 3rd year of King
James I. when they were made a _Corporation_, by the name of master,
wardens and commonalty of the art and mystery of butchers; yet the
fraternity is ancient.
Stowe says, "In the 3rd of Richard II. motion was made that no butcher
should kill any flesh within London, but at Knightsbridge, or such like
distant place from the walls of the citie."