houshold were Gentlemen both by birth and office; fuch as the Comptroller, Clarke of the kitchen, Chamberlain, Treasurer, &c. &c. This appears from the fervants and horses kept for their ufe f, and from the table where they fat being called the KNIGHT'SBOARD & Among other inftances of magnificence, we cannot but remark the number of PRIESTS that were kept in houshold, not fewer than ELEVEN, at the head of whom prefided a Doctor or Batchelor of divinity, as dean of the chapelh. This redundance of clergymen must not be altogether attributed to the fuperftition of that prieft-ridden age, but to the fuperior intelligence of the men of that order, who seem to have been almoft the only perfons capable of exercifing any office of fkill or fcience; fo that the Surveyor of my lord's lands, his Secretary, and the Clarke of his foreign expences, were all Priefts; notwithstanding which, the last officer was weekly to make. up his accounts on Sunday'.

It appears however from many curious inftances in this book, how deeply the devotion of that age was tinctured with fuperftition, and how much the nobles were influenced by the Clergy m. Indeed nothing more ftrongly fhows the great devotion of our ancestors in the middle ages, than the number of CHAPELS in fome of the Northern Caftles. In build

ings

• See pag. 310, 315, 318. f See pag. 37, 43, &c. pag. 87, &c. pag. 330. See alfo fect. xlv. However many of the head officers found their own horses, or to use the language of the book, " were at their own horfing." See also pag. 310, 315, 318. 1 Pag. 398.

* Pag. 364.

h Pag. 323.

Pag. 337, &c. &c,

Pag. 301. i Ibid.

ings of this fort, where multitudes of men were often long confined within very narrow limits, every inch of fpace one would think must be valuable, and yet in caftles of very moderate fize one often finds more than one Chapel. Thus in WARKWORTH and PRUDHOW caftles in Northumberland (both of them belonging to the PERCY family) are ftill to be feen the remains of two Chapels, one in the bafe court among the outer buildings, the other within the keep or body of the caftle. And yet both these fortreffes are by their fituation much straitned for room, which is remarkably the cafe of Prudhow caftle: and as for that of Warkworth, befides its two Chapels, in the court are also to be feen vaults defigned for a confiderable building. This, in the old Surveys", is faid to have been intended for a COLLEGE; by which, I fuppofe, we are to understand fome monaftic foundation °.

SECONDLY, this book contains a compleat SYSTEM OF ANCIENT OECONOMICS. Here may be feen all the Provifions, Conveniencies, and Accommodations, which our nobility had procured in that half-civilized age; and even moft of their Diverfions and Amusements may be collected from it. Here are the Bills of fare, the domeftic Regulations of every kind, and the methods

See the Survey taken in 1567, by Geo. Clarkson, Auditor to Tho. VIIth, Earl of Northumberland. Foundations of this fort were not unufual in Caftles. In 1362, a perpetual Chantery was founded in Alnwick Caftle for three Priefts, who were daily to celebrate mafs in the Chapel of the caftle for the fouls of the deceafed Lord Percy and others of his family. See Clarkson's MS. Survey in 1567 and Dugdale's Mon. Ang, vol. 3. p. 164. P See pag. 339, &c.

methods of providing for each contingency. The minute attention paid to every the most inconfiderable article of domestic expence, and the formal stated orders established with regard to many particulars which appear to us extremely trivial, are very remote from our modern ideas and present manners: but this minuteness is not peculiar to our Houfhold Book. The establishing a fyftem of Domestic Oeconomy appears to have engaged the attention of our Ancestors nearly in the fame degree, as the enacting public Laws and fettling the Conftitution of the Kingdom. In the celebrated FLETA, amidst the most important heads of Government and Law, the Author introduces a plan of Houshold Management, and gives the minutest Directions for regulating the mosft petty domestic concerns 9. Our nobility in the more early times, lived in their castles with a grofs and barbarous magnificence, furrounded with rude and warlike followers, without control and without system. As they gradually emerged from this barbarity, they found it neceffary to establish very minute domeftic regulations, in order to keep their tur bulent followers in peace and order: and from living in a state of disorderly grandeur, void of all fyftem, would naturally enough run into the oppofite extreme of re

ducing

Vid. Lib. 2. where he defcribes very minutely every thing that pertains to the Office of almost every kind of Houshold Servant: viz. not only of the Seneschal, Bailiff, Marshall, &c. but of the Cook, Oxdriver, Shepherd, Swineherd, Baker, Mower, Carter or Waggoner, (De Carre&tario from Carreta, Fr. Chariot, a Waggon) Cowkeeper, Dairy-man, &c. The FLETA is fuppofed to have been written in the Reign of Edward II.

B

ducing every thing, even the moft trifling disbursements, to stated formal rules. It may be confidered further, that a nobleman in the dark ages, when retired to his castle, had neither books, nor news-papers, nor literary correspondence, nor vifits, nor cards, to fill up his leifure: his only amusements were field-fports, and as these, however eagerly pursued, could not fill up all his vacant hours, the Government of his Houfhold would therefore be likely enough to engage his attention, if he happened to be a prudent man; and having little elfe to do or think of, from a meer defire of employment, he would be led to defcend to the most studied minuteness in his regulations and establishments.

To a perfon unacquainted with the ancient value of Money, the Allowance in this book may perhaps appear fcanty, and hardly confiftent with the ideas entertained of the old bountiful housekeeping; as the weekly fum divided to each perfon taken one with another, amounts to little more than 2 s. per week. But this is not fufficiently estimating the value of Money at the time this book was compiled. A Thousand Pounds was the fum annually affigned for the keeping of my Lord's houfe: the number of Perfons in houfhold was one hundred and fixty-fix". That fum divided equally amongst them (omitting the fractions) amounted annually to 61. os. 5 d. each perfon; and weekly to 2s. 3 d. 4. At a time when Wheat was fold at 5 s. 8 d. per Quarter, 61. os. 5d. would purchase just twenty-two quarters, three bufhels and a half of

Wheat;

• See pag. 224.

• See pag. 45.

• See pag. 4.

Wheat; which at 5 s. a bufhel now, would coft 441. 17s. 6d. Confequently, at this estimate, the annual proportion to each perfon then was nearly equivalent to 451. per annum of our prefent money, a very great allowance to be diftributed through fo large a family as that of the Earl's houfhold.

But even this is ftating the account as much as poffible in conformity to modern ideas, for it appears pretty evidently that Wheat was not the most general bread-corn used in that age, (as indeed it is hardly yet in the northern counties) but that Rye, Barley, or Oats, were the common food of the lower or middle ranks of people, who at prefent (in the fouthern parts of England at least) difdain any but the fineft wheaten bread; the great difference therefore in the value of money is further to be increased by the difproportion of value between Wheat and other inferior grains.

It

may further be observed, in the words of a very eminent writer, that "the value of Money has ano"ther variation, which we are still lefs able to ascer"tain. The rules of custom, or the different needs "of artificial life, make that revenue little at one time, "which is great at another. Men are rich and poor "not only in proportion to what they have, but to what they want. In fome ages not only neceffaries 66 are

B 2

* See the life of Ro. Afcham, prefixed to Bennet's edition of his Works in English. 4to.