Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 3.djvu/344

314 five marks. To Serjeants who brought the heads of six outlaws, six shillings. 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 : 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. Let us pass onwards in search of other information. We are at the