INTRODUCTION XXV11 



somewhat pedantic fashion. The chapter about the survey 

 ends ' with the sentence about the breadth of an acre being 

 sixty-six feet, and a new chapter, de modo arandi, begins 

 somewhat awkwardly with the next sentence (p. 8, line 12). 

 It is not without interest to notice that the monastery 

 which possessed this copy was one that had long had an 

 important trade in wool. 2 



This group of MSS. with the long insertion also formed 

 the basis of an English translation (19) which occurs in a 

 late fifteenth century hand among the Sloane MSS. in the 

 British Museum. 



3. So far for the arrangement and divisions of the text ; 

 a few words may be added about the different MSS., and 

 in so doing it will be convenient to deal with them not in 

 their chronological order, but with reference to the libraries 

 where they are now to be found. 



Cambeidge appears to be specially rich in this depart- 

 ment. There are no fewer than five copies in the 

 University Library, besides one at Trinity. 



University Library. 

 (13) Dd. vii. 6 f. 52&. This is a large folio volume on 

 parchment, containing a collection of statutes, together 

 with the treatises of Br acton and Hengham. It appar- 

 ently dates from the earlier part of the fourteenth century. 

 It is interesting on account of the title, quoted above. In 

 judging of the value of the information it affords regarding 

 the author, we must remember that the text from which 

 this MS. was copied must have been of an early type, since 

 the chapters had no headings. It is divided into sixteen 

 chapters, similar to those in the text, and distinguished by 

 numbers, and the introduction omits the second of the 

 two English proverbs. The last sentence of the chapter on 

 inspecting cattle in the present edition (p. 22) is transposed 

 in this MS., and stands at the beginning of the chapter, 

 but in a slightly longer form. 



1 As in the Heralds' College MS. 



- Growth of English Industry during the Early and Middle Ages, 549. 



