272 RENT-ROLL OF THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. provided each a stone-cutter to work at their expense for two years ; a neighbouring abbot 1 0/. ; a baron, with his lady, their eldest son and daughter, placed the four next stones, offerino- on them the title-deeds of the advowsons of four neighbouring churches. The proceedings at that festival furnish an excellent example for us at the present day.^ We may add, under this head, the tapestry and other furniture required in a chapel, the hghts, altar-cloths, richly em- broidered copes, gifts of plate and vestments, and other articles for the services of the church. Also the offerings made to images, and at shrines and tombs. 6. Expenses attending the chase and out-door amuse- ments ; payments to huntsmen, falconers, and watermen. " The mystery of woods, and the mystery of rivers," were necessary occupations for furnishing the tables, as well as daily sources of amusement.'^ 7. Rewards and costly presents, including the offerings at festivals before spoken of ; the payments to silversmiths for presents, often appear in household books as disbursements of very large amount. 8. Payments to theatrical servants, " Associations of Players," as they were sometimes called, kept by the aris- tocracy, or for occasional performances. Lastly, let us not omit private charities. From the Howard Household Books, printed by the Roxburghe Club, and abl} edited by Mr. Payne Collier, already referred to, extending from 1481 to 1483, we find that the private charities of Lord Howard, the first Duke of Norfolk, and his family, were both general and extensive. Few pages, says Mr. Collier, occur in which alms are not recorded, apparently as a necessary part of the household expenditure.^ In a subsequent age this good practice continued. Anne, Countess of Pembroke, during her residence at each of her castles, every Monday morning caused 10.?. to be distributed amongst 20 poor householders of the place, besides the daily alms which she gave at her gates to all that came.^ A nobleman, as in the case of Lord Howard, often expended no trifling sums in the maintenance of youths at the Universities,
- Berington's Literary Hist, of the Middle Ages, p. 216.
' Ellis's Specimens of the Early English Poets, vol. i. p. 335.
- ■ Household Books, ut supra, p. xxv.
' Southey's Colloquies, ii. 1 37.
