pence for "making a stupid reply
to the King's Treasurer"! [Pipe Roll, 16 Henry Third] It was reserved
for King John to carry this exaction to a ridiculous excess, by taking
bribes to hold his tongue on inconvenient topics, and fining his
courtiers for not having reminded him of points which he happened to
forget. [Misae Roll, I John.]

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Note 1. A long undergarment then worn by men and women alike.

Note 2. "For gilding the King's bit (_frenum_), 56 shillings." (Pipe
Roll, 31 Henry First.)

Note 3. Reckoned according to modern value, these prices stand about
thus:--Bacon pig, 2 pounds, 10 shillings; porkers, 5 pounds; sheep, 5
shillings 3 pence; quarter of beans, 25 shillings; load of flour, 30
shillings.

Note 4. "_Dieu L'encroisse_," a translation of Gedaliah, and a very
common name among the English Jews at that time. This incident really
occurred about twenty-five years later.

Note 5. Some writers deny the existence of chimneys at this date; but
an entry, on the Pipe Roll for 1160, of money expended on "the Queen's
chamber and chimney and cellar," leaves no doubt on the matter.

CHAPTER FOUR.

THE FAIR OF SAINT FRIDESWIDE.

"That's what I always say--if you wish a thing to be well done,
You must do it yourself, you must not leave it to others."

Longfellow.

The month of May was the liveliest and gayest of the year at Oxford, for
not only were the May Day games common to the whole country, but another
special attraction lay in Saint Frideswide's Fair, held on Gloucester
Green early in that month. Oxford was a privileged town, in respect of
the provision trade, the royal purveyors being forbidden to come within
twenty miles of that city. In those good old times, the King was first
served, then the nobility, lay and clerical, then the gentry, and the
poor had to be content with what was left. It was not unusual, when a
report of anything particularly nice reached the monarch--such as an
import of wine, a haul of fish, or any other dainty,--for the Sheriff of
that place to receive a mandate, bidding him seize for the royal use a
portion or the whole thereof. Prices, too, were often regulated by
proclamation, so that tradesmen not unfrequently found it hard to live.
If a few of our discontented and idle agitators (I do not mean those who
would work and cannot) could spend a month or two in the olden time,
thei