five marks. To Serjeants who brought the heads of six outlaws, six shillings[1]. In repairing the aforesaid castle five marks. For four carriers bringing the hunting gear of the king from Northampton to Westminster half a mark. In repairing the houses of the king in the castle of Northampton and Silveston forty shillings. To the chaplain at Geddington fifty shillings of his salary for the past year. The cost of a carriage and harness for the use of the queen twenty-eight shillings and sixpence. For a judge, and doing justice, three shillings and sixpence. In the purchase of hay for feeding the beasts in the park of Northampton thirty-seven shillings; and for the expence of taking six prisoners from Northampton to Stamford, and thence to Nottingham, seventeen shillings and ninepence." Remember you are now entering into the age of feudalism, a time of ignorance, illegitimate force, and moral imperfection, where you will observe every thing in the system discordant to our modern notions, every thing opposed to our general ideas of liberty and civilization; bear this in mind when you examine these facts, and without measuring them by the standard of the present day, contrast them with each other. What is the picture you behold, and what are the results of your reflections? You see from a single extract on the sheriff's accounts the manner in which the revenue was expended, how freely the personal pleasures of the monarch were gratified; and with what singularity do these payments stand in juxtaposition with each other! The head of an outlaw valued at a shilling, whilst the services of the king's confessor, with his salary in arrears, fetched no more than the same price per week[2]: again the keep of the royal deer considered worth an outlay of seven and thirty shillings, whilst the remuneration of an officer of justice fell down to three and sixpence. Any comments of mine would be superfluous, the facts themselves will elicit their proper reflections[3]. Let us pass onwards in search of other information. We are at the
- ↑ A similar entry exists on the Rotulus Misæ, 14th John. Willielmo homini Ade Crok qui tulit vj. capita Wallensium servientium Cadewallani amputata ad Dominum Regem apud Roffam vj. sol.
- ↑ It seems to have continued such till the sixth of Edward I. Rot. Claus. m. 6.
- ↑ An illustration of another character offers itself in a letter of Fulke de Breaute to Hubert de Burgh, in which he states that a number of poor begging alms at the hospital of St. John in Northampton had been killed by the press of those entering the gate, and several wounded and killed by the blows of the vergers; and he sends William Tilly, mayor of Northampton, to explain the circumstance, and begs to be informed what ought to be done. Rep. Dep. Keeper. V. Append. II. No. 738.
