may serve for so manie necessarie things as may be, both beddyng and other thinges for househould.

that no Offycer shall make anie Substitute or leave his key and charge wthout lycence of the Steward or Clerke Comptr And that they & euye of theym shalbe circumspect in theyre Offices so that my L. may be served trulie and dylygentlye as well for his howse as his pffet.

that eûye under Offycer in his place shall be obedyent to suche other Officers as my L. doth and shall appoynt to be aboue theym.

This is unquestionably the Earl's autograph, although written in a smaller hand (and the Christian name in full) than that engraven on Plate 1 p. 252 in Whitaker's Hist. of Craven, which is assigned to "circ. 1537," and bears little resemblance to this signature.

“And in the tyme that Henrie raigned of Derby Erle and Lorde,
Standley and Strainge, the Isles of Man wch yeldethe like accorde,
Knight of the honorable ord af St. Georges garter,
With Elizabeth queene well likt, and of her subjects in grete favo”.”
Thomas Challoner, 1576.

12

Bere viz.

Rote sett downe the better thereof to vnderstande the maner of the wekely brieffements and expensis in my said L. the Earle of Derbies howseholde viz.

first of one mette & a halfe of Barly malte & the lieke quantitie of otte malte wth ilb & a halfe of hoppes there is made one hoggeshead of beare for his L. house adding thereto in every Brewe wch conteyneth tenne hoggesheades being the increase of xxxti windles of malte the quantitie of half a windle of wheat grounde like malte.

Breade viz.

Of a Pecke of Wheate & lieke quantitie of Barly mingled together there is made of household breade xxxti caste conteyning threescore loffes.

It❜m of every mette of fyne wheate made in Manchetts there is fyve score caste of manchets conteyning tenscore manchettes.

Dredge viz.

Bieffe viz.

Of every Windle or mette of wheate baken in greate loffes for Dredge to the Kitchen there is made Sixe loffes.

Of every oxe there is xii tylles besydes the chines & maribones wch be estymed to be of the value of three tylles and so a howle oxe to conteyne xyne tyelles.

Vealles viz.

Of every vealle there is to be cvtte owte for ordinary messes in the Halle

Mottons viz.

Of

xvne messes.

every motton there is to be cvtte owte in ordinary messes for the Halle xii messes.

Haberdaine viz.

Of every haberdaine there is cvtte iiii messes for the Halle.

Household Expenses

OF

HENRY, EARL OF DERBY,

IN

1586, Etc.

Knowsley, 1586.

HE BOEKE of the Weekeley Bryeffementes a of my L. the Earle of Derbie's House for severall yers viz. A° d. [1586] 1587, 1588, [1589, 1590.]

An Abryffet. of the expenses of my L. the Earle of Derbyes howse wekelyb in one howle yere begyñg the xviiith of Julij 1586 duringe sutche tyme as his L. didd kepe howse in Lancashire, viz.

Every officer of the Earl of Northumberland's household, in the time of Henry VIII., was required to attend daily upon the Comptroller, early in the morning, to be breved, i. e. to give in his accounts for the preceding day. Brevement, an account, ordinances and regulations. - Halliwell's Arch. and Prov. Words. p. 160.

An account of the daily expenses of the Queen's table in 1576 is printed from the Harl. MSS., No. 609, in Nichols' Prog. of Elizabeth, vol. ii. pp. 8-51. The items of provision are generally the same as in this Diary, but the arrangement of the Breakfast, Dinner and Supper is given, and also the prices of the several articles of food, which, unfortunately, are here omitted.

The word "caste" here seems to mean a small but precise quantity of wheat before it was ground, although its ordinary meaning was portions of several loaves together, into which bread is generally baked. "A caste piece," several pieces joined into one. - Halliwell's Dict. of Arch. In the Grand Christmas Entertainment of Queen Elizabeth at the Temple in 1561 - 2, it was ordered that the Porters in the Hall should allow to each casual spectator "a cast of bread and a candle, nightly after supper." — Dugdale's Origines Jurid., quoted by Nichols in Queen Elizabeth's Prog., vol. i. p. 138.

-

n11, nihilum, i. e. nothing, or, non librum, not a pound.

d Acates is often contracted to cates - provision, food, delicacies.

"I and all choice that plenty can send in

Bread, wine, acates, fowl, feather, fish, or fin."

Ben Jonson, Sad Shep. i, 3.—Nares.

Caterer, achater, or purveyor, was one who "should be a man skilfull, and withall have a cheverell conscience, so that he will be sure in the laying out of every shilling to gaine to himselfe a penny at the least, such a man in a great house will thrive himselfe but his Lord shall lose. He is daily to take his directions from the Clarke what provision he is to make of all kinds of Achates and Necessaryes, and God make him an honest man."-Braithwaite's Household of an Earle in the time of Jac. I. p. 34. e fresh.