which he was summoned have been paid, is not allowed to take his seat for the account; but that when he shall have come and already taken his seat, the other sheriffs are excluded; and he shall sit alone with his people, about to reply to the interrogations. He.shall see to it, moreover, that on the day itself, or on the day preceding, it shall have become known to the debtors of his county on what day he is going to sit and render account; and also, around the building of the exchequer and the village or the town, he shall, by the voice of a herald, make known to them that he is to sit then or there. Then when all are seated and listening, the treasurer, who, as has been said, by reason of his office sits opposed to him, asks him if he is ready to render an account; he replying, "I am ready," the treasurer goes on: " say, therefore, first, if the alms, if the tithes, if the fixed liveries, if the lands given are the same this year as they have been in the past." But if he reply that they are the same, then the scribe of the treasurer, shall, in writing down these fixed payments, follow diligently the roll of the past year; the treasurer looking on the while, lest by chance the hand of the scribe should err. And since, in the chapter on the office of the scribe of the treasurer, I remember to have said enough concerning the order of writing, I pass these things over at present.
D. Speak then, if it please thee, concerning those things which thou long since did'st put off until treating of the duties of the sheriffs; how it is, namely, that some lands are given by the king blank, some by tale; for this has troubled me from the beginning.
M. It is clear enough to thee, I believe, from the foregoing, how it is that certain farms are paid blank, others by tale. A farm, indeed, is paid blank when it has been blanched by testing.
V. How it is that some estates are given blank, some by tale.
Who, indeed, was the author of this institution, and what the reason for starting it, is well enough known. We say, then, that a farm is paid by tale, when satisfaction is given for it by counting alone, and not by testing. When,
