182 



Uncouth as tliis sketch may at first appear, it is no contemptible spe- 

 cimen of art in some of its parts — for instance, the figure of tlie crier, 

 stepping out of the court, is both correct and animated — it is, at all 

 events, a curious exhibition of the court, and of the costume of the 

 time. It may not, therefore, be uninteresting to explain the nature 

 and occupation of the characters represented therein. 



The Courtis that of the Exchequer. — In the llth Henry IV. 

 this court was settled in the form which Mr. Madox describes it* 

 to have assumed in the year 1261 ; the Lord Treasurer presided 

 therein, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, an officer created to act 

 as a controul upon him, and two Barons formed his assistants ; the 

 office of third Baron was united to that of the Chancellor, the fourth 

 was not added until long afterwards. 



This court consisted of two parts — the superior, and the inferior, or 

 receipt, which latter was solely employed in the receiving and paying 

 of money : it is the superior or judicial court which is represented 

 here, employed, as was their proper duty at their original establish- 

 ment, in deciding matters relating to the revenues of the crown. 



The Sheriff was formerly the collector of all the king's revenues, 

 as he is now of that branch, only, which is levied by the green wax 

 process ; -f he accounted in the Exchequer, and this account was 

 divided into three parts, made at separate periods of the year — they 

 were called his profer, visns, and sumnia — at the latter he was to make 

 up his final account in person; and the form of this duty is still pre- 

 served, being almost the only remnant in existence of the original 

 business of the court — it is that which is exhibited in this sketch. 

 The Sheriff was charged from the great pipe J roll with all 



* Madox's History of the Exchequer, p. SC*, <Src. 

 t Howard's Exchequer, Preface 18. Madox. 6M, &c. 



X So called because it was the pipe or channel for process— the crown debts, and the sum- 

 tBOcs to levy them being entered tiiereon. 



