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 diligent description of the whole land was made with regard to its woods as well as its pastures and meadows, also its agriculture; and this description having been noted down in common words, it was collected into a book; in order, namely, that each one, content with his own right, should not with impunity usurp that of another. Moreover the survey is made by counties, by hundreds and by hides,—the name of the king being marked at the very head, and then, in turn, the names of the other lords being placed according to the dignity of their standing; that is to say, those who are tenants in chief of the king. Moreover against the separate names thus arranged in order are placed numbers by means of which, below, in the course of the book itself, whatever concerns these persons is more easily found. This book is called by the natives Domesday; that is, by metaphor, the day of judgment; for just as a sentence of that strict and terrible last trial cannot possibly be eluded by any art of tergiversation: so when, in the kingdom, contention shall arise concerning those things that are there noted,—when the book is appealed to its sentence can not be scorned or avoided with impunity. On this account we have named this book the book of dooms; not that, in it, a sentence is given concerning any doubtful matters that come up, but that from it, as from a judgment that has been given, it is not allowed in any way to depart.

D. If it please thee, explain what is a county, what a hundred, what a hide; otherwise the things that have been said will not be clear.

XVII. What is a Hide, what a Hundred, what a County, according to the common opinion.

M. The country people know this better; but, as we have heard from them, a hide, from its primitive institution, consists of a hundred acres: but a hundred, of several hundred hides—the number not being a fixed one, however; for one consists of many, another of fewer hides. Hence thou wilt frequently find that, in the old privileges of the Anglo-Saxon kings, a hundred (hundredus) is frequently called a centuriate (centuriata). The county,