Notes and Queries, Number 17, February 23, 1850. Various

with the year 1574, and finishes in 1708; the accounts are all written at the time of their respective dates, and regularly signed by the auditors then and there present as correct.

      I have made numerous extracts from these interesting documents, and notes thereon, which I shall at some future time be happy to lay before your readers, if you should consider them of sufficient importance.

      As a voucher for what I have stated with regard to their existence, and to give some idea of their general character, I have selected (at random) a few items from the year 1580-1:—

      "The Accompte of Henrie Jaye, Churchwarden of the Parishe of St. Antholyne, from the feaste of the Anunciacon of our Ladye in Anno 1580 unto the same feaste followinge in Anno 1581."

      Among the "receaittes" we have—

      "R^d of Mr. Thorowgoode for an olde font stone,

      by the consente of a vestrie v^s iiij^d

      "R^d for the clothe of bodkine11 y^t Ser Roger

      Marten hade before in keppinge, and now

      sold by the consente of a vestry and our

      mynnister iij^li vj^s viij^d

      "The Payments as followithe:—

      "P^d to the wife of John Bakone gwder of the

      Lazer cotte at Myle End12 in full of her due

      for keppinge of Evan Redde y^t was Mr.

      Hariots mane till his departtur and for his

      Shete and Burialle as dothe apere xl^s viij^d

      "P^d for makinge of the Longe pillowe & the

      pulpit clothe ij^s

      "P^d for a yard and a nale of fustane for the same

      pillowe xvj^d

      "P^d for silke to the same pillowe xvj^d

      "P^d for xj^li of fethers for the same pillowe, at

      v^d – - iiij^s vij^d

      "P^d for brede and beer that day the quen cam

      in xij^d

      "P^d for candells and mendinge the baldrocke13 vj^d

      "P^d for paynttinge y^e stafe of the survayer iij^d

      "P^d for mendynge the lytell bell iij^s

      "Pd to Mr. Sanders for the yearly rent of the

      Laystall and skowringe the harnes14 for

      his yer iij^s viij^d

      "P^d to Mr. Wright for the makinge of the Cloke15

      mor than he gatheride, agred one at the laste

      vestrie xvij^s

      "P^d to Peter Medcalfe for mending the Cloke

      when it neade due at o^r Ladies Daye laste

      past in Anno 1581 iij^s

      "P^d for entringe this account xx^d."

W.C., JUNIOR,

      Overseer of St. Antholin, 1850.

      QUERIES

      COLLEGE SALTING

      Mr. Editor.—If your very valuable work had existed in October, 1847, when I published in the British Magazine a part of Archibishop Whitgift's accounts relative to his pupils while he was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, I should certainly have applied to you for assistance.

      In several of the accounts there is a charge for the pupil's "salting;" and after consulting gentlemen more accurately informed with regard to the customs of the university than myself, I was obliged to append a note to the word, when it occurred for the first time in the account of Lord Edward Zouch, in which I said, "I must confess my inability to explain this word; and do not know whether it may be worth while to state that, on my mentioning it to a gentleman, once a fellow-commoner of the college, he told me, that when, as a freshman, he was getting his gown from the maker, he made some remark on the long strips of sleeve by which such gowns are distinguished, and was told that they were called 'salt-bags,' but he could not learn why; and an Oxford friend tells me, that going to the buttery to drink salt and water was part of the form of his admission.... This nobleman's (i.e. Lord Edward Zouch's) amounted to 4s., and that of the Earl of Cumberland to 3s. 4d., while in other cases it was as low as 8d." To this I added the suggestion that it was probably some fee, or expense, which varied according to the rank of the parties. It afterwards occurred to me that this "salting" was, perhaps, some entertainment given by the new-comer, from and after which he ceased to be "fresh;" and that while we seem to have lost the "salting" both really and nominally, we retain the word to which it has reference.