The system was characteristic of the Middle Ages, and arose from the fact that in those troublous times every isolated person needed protection and was content to merge his individuality in some society in order to obtain it.

The guilds made for peace and diminished competition, so that a guildsman may have been less tempted to hurry over or scamp his task.
The result was much honest, careful work such as you see in the original of this picture.

We are told by those who know best that there has never been a time when the actual workmanship of the general run of craftsmen was better than in the Middle Ages.
This picture of Richard II.

has not faded or cracked or fallen off the panel, and it seems as though we may hope it never will, for it was well made and, what is even more important, it seems always to have been well cared for.

If only the nice things that are produced were all well cared for, how many more of them there would be in the world!.