Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a coal merchant who gives short weight.

1591

Greene Pleasant Discovery of the Coosnage of Colliars D3: There be also certaine Colliers that bring coles to London in Barges, and they be called Gripes, to these come the Leger, and bargains with him for his coles.

2. a London coal merchant who buys wholesale in the country and then retails the coal in London, pretending to be from the country himself.

1591

Greene Pleasant Discovery of the Coosnage of Colliars D3: The Leger, the crafty collier I meane, [...] bargaynth with the Countrie Colliers for his coales and paieth for them nineteen shillings or twentie at the most.