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INTRODUCTION.

Of the two Manuscripts comprised in the following Volume the first contains an account of the Household Expenses of Edward Earl of Derby for the year 1561, and of his Household Regulations for the year 1568, and is written in a bold hand on six folio sheets of vellum, the writer being unknown. The other Manuscript, giving an account of part of the Household Expenditure of Henry Earl of Derby for several successive years, consists of twenty-four folio pages of common paper, of which twenty-two are filled, being written in a close hand on both sides. The early writing is that of William ffarington of Worden Esq. a gentleman who held various high offices in the household of the Elizabethan Earls of Derby, and who continued to make the several entries until July 1589, when the style of the writing changes, being less accurate and more indicative of haste. This is continued until March 21st of the following year, when the original writing again appears, and there is no alteration to the end of the book, which is bound in a

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vellum cover, and, towards the conclusion, a little injured by damp.1

The Manuscripts have always remained in Mr. ffarington's family, and his successors have happily preserved them from those casualties and accidents which too often befall similar records.

Conceiving that so graphic a picture of the domestic economy and social condition of the most noble house in Lancashire was worthy of further preservation as illustrative of the feudal clanship which existed in the time of Queen Elizabeth—the greater part of the families mentioned in the Diary being in some way or other connected with the house of Stanley-it has been placed at the disposal of the Council of the CHETHAM SOCIETY, with other valuable papers, and is now presented to the members by the courtesy of the writer's accomplished descendant and representative, Miss ffarington of Worden.

The great hospitality and magnificence of living of Edward and Henry Earls of Derby furnished fruitful topics for the admiration of some of their contemporary chroniclers, and none of the old nobility seem to have surpassed them in their princely style of housekeeping. The extent and splendour of their establishments were little inferior to those of the Court itself, and in some respects closely resembled the

1 It has been said that the office of the Usher of the Hall was the keeping of a return of the number of persons dining daily, for the use of the Clerks of the Kitchen, and they probably were required to bring it to the Steward of the Household; but this will not account for the writing being in Mr. ffarington's hand, unless he afterwards transcribed the returns, which is not improbable, being characteristic of his regularity and industry.

royal usage. The same plan was adopted for the constitution of the household, and the domestic officers had the same titles and style.

Henry Earl of Derby had his Council, which embraced some of the nobility, the Bishop, and a large body of the superior Clergy of the Diocese, besides the principal gentlemen of the two palatine counties. The powers vested in this Council were not dissimilar to those of the Privy Council of the sovereign, and not only were statutes enforced and laws carried into effect, but regulations and ordinances of the most stringent and occasionally of the most arbitrary character were enacted, affecting the liberties as well as the property of individuals. Like the Queen, the Earl of Derby had his Comptroller and Steward of the Household, his Grooms of the Bedchamber, and Clerks of the Kitchen; and the eldest sons of independent gentlemen of the first rank in the county deemed it an honourable distinction to wait in private upon his Lordship at his table, and in public to wear the badge of his livery. There was nothing servile in their employment, and therefore nothing ignominious in it, the nobility themselves contending for similar situations in the royal household.

The three principal offices in the establishment were filled by individuals of knightly rank, connected with the family either by descent or by marriage, some of whose ancestors had hazarded their lives in the campaigns of Agincourt and engaged in the wars of the Roses, whilst their immediate predecessors had shared in the well-earned glories of Flodden and had returned unscathed from the wars of Scotland.

These officers of the Earl had the privilege of applying to their own use, probably in their own domestic establishments, a certain number of his Lordship's servants, wearing his livery, and whose wages and clothes were supplied by him. They had also horses kept for their convenience, and their high rank was duly recognised in the household.

Some officers, not mentioned by the Diarist, probably existed in the establishment, or they may have been recorded under a different name, such as the Chamberlain, who might be known as the Marshal of the Hall;' the Master of the Horse and the Falconer, who may be found amongst the Yeomen of the Stable; and the Herald, or Officer at Arms, who might also fill the less imposing but well-sounding place of Trumpeter. The Cupbearer and the Sewer are not in the Check Roll.

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That there was a Clerk of the Works, an Auditor,5 and a private Secretary, appears indisputable, and it is known that Edward Earl of Derby had a company of Minstrels' in his household, which might, however, be discontinued in that of his son.

It may excite our surprise to find only one Chaplain retained in the family of Earl Henry, as, less than half a century before the Diarist wrote, the Earl of Northumberland had eleven Priests in his house, at the head of whom was a Dean of the Chapel, and he a Bachelor or Doctor of Divinity; but this reduction in the number of such ecclesi

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6 At the Funeral of Earl Henry. 7 Whitaker's Craven, p. 233.

8 Northumberland Household Book, Pref. p. vii.

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