Page:Select historical documents of the Middle Ages.djvu/119

Rh therefore, the time shall have arrived for the account of the sheriff, those who were chosen as overseers of the works come together, and having taken an oath in public that, to the test of their knowledge, the sum named has been expended to the king's advantage on that public work, a writ of the king shall there be made out at the exchequer, under the witness of the president and of another whom he shall name, in which that sum concerning which they have testified, and likewise the names of the overseers, shall be expressed; and then at length it shall be computed to the sheriff. But if, through these expenditures, the work of the king shall have been completed, that first writ, concerning the furnishing of the necessary amounts, which was sent to the sheriff, and this last one which is made at the exchequer, are placed in the marshal's box for the accounts rendered. If, however, something remains to be done on that work, the sheriff shall keep by him the writ that was sent him, until that same work is completed; so that from it he may have authority to furnish the amounts necessary for completing the work; but the other one shall be closed up in the box which has been mentioned. For when it is written in the yearly roll, "to that work 100£,"there should consequently be added: "by writ of the king and by view of these N." But if there were no writ of the king containing the amount and the names of the overseers, the writing of the roll which says "by writ of the king" might seem to be false.

D. By this discourse I have been so thoroughly satisfied that I willingly omit those things about which I had already opened my mouth to inquire. For when a writ of the king is brought to the sheriff concerning the payment of the necessary sums for this or that work, and it is added: "and it will be computed to thee at the exchequer," or this: "spend from thy farm,"—which is almost of the same authority,—it seemed superfluous that he should be put to the trouble of another writ; but I did not, indeed, understand that in such writ the amount was to be expressed, so that thus it might correspond to the authentic yearly roll, the tenor of words being the same.