so long in
finishing,) brought him an exact account of all the landed property of
his kingdom.[*]

[* Chron. Sax. p. 190. Ingulph. p. 79. Chron. T.
Wykes, p. 23. H. Hunting, p. 370. Hoveden, p. 460. M. West.
p. 229. Flor Wigorn. p. 641. Chron. Abb. St. Petri de Burgo,
p. 51. M. Paris p. 8. The more northern counties were not
comprehended in this survey; I suppose because of their
wild, uncultivated state.]

This monument, called domesday-book, the most valuable piece of
antiquity possessed by any nation, is still preserved in the exchequer;
and though only some extracts of it have hitherto been published, it
serves to illustrate to us, in many particulars, the ancient state of
England. The great Alfred had finished a like survey of the kingdom in
his time, which was long kept at Winchester, and which probably served
as a model to William in this undertaking.[*]

The king was naturally a great economist; and though no prince had ever
been more bountiful to his officers and servants, it was merely because
he had rendered himself universal proprietor of England, and had a whole
kingdom to bestow. He reserved an ample revenue for the crown; and in
the general distribution of land among his followers, he kept possession
of no less than one thousand four hundred and twenty--two manors in
different parts of England,[**] which paid him rent either in money, or
in corn, cattle, and the usual produce of the soil. An ancient historian
computes that his annual fixed income, besides escheats, fines, reliefs,
and other casual profits to a great value, amounted to near four hundred
thousand pounds a year;[***] a sum which, if all circumstances be
attended to, will appear wholly incredible. A pound in that age, as we
have already observed, contained three times the weight of silver that
it does at present; and the same weight of silver, by the most probable
computation, would purchase near ten times more of the necessaries of
life, though not in the same proportion of the finer manufactures. This
revenue, therefore, of William, would be equal to at least nine or ten
millions at present; and as that prince had neither fleet nor army to
support, the former being only an occasional expense, and the latter
being maintained, without any charge to him, by his military vassals,
we must thence conclude that no emperor or prince, in any age or nation,
can be compared to the Conqueror for opulence and riches. Th