THE OFFICE OF SENESCHAL 105 



which ought to be done in the manor throughout the year, 

 and what it amounts to the bailiff tallies and accounts for, 

 and they ought to answer on the account for the rest. 



The office of the lord. 



The lord ought to love God and justice, and be 

 faithful and true in his sayings and doings, and he ought 

 to hate sin and injustice, and evil-doing. The lord ought 

 not to take counsel with young men full of young blood, 

 and ready courage, who know little or nothing of busi- 

 ness, nor of any juggler, flatterer, or idle talker, nor of 

 such as bear witness by present, but he ought to take 

 counsel with worthy and faithful men, ripe in years, who 

 have seen much, and know much, and who are known to 

 be of good fame, and who never were caught or convicted 

 for treachery or any wrong-doing; nor for love, nor for 

 hate, nor for fear, nor for menace, nor for gain, nor for 

 loss, will turn aside from truth, and knowingly counsel 

 their lord to do him harm. 



The lord ought to command and ordain that the accounts 

 be heard every year, but not in one place but on all 

 the manors, for so can one quickly know everything, and 

 understand the profit and loss. And he ought to com- 

 mand and ordain that no bailiff have his food in the 

 manors except at a fixed price in money, so that he take 

 nothing from the manors but hay, firewood, and straw ; and 

 that no friend, stranger, nor anyone from the lord's hostel 

 or elsewhere be received at the manors at the lord's ex- 

 pense, nor shall anything be given or delivered to them 

 without warrant of writ, unless the bailiff or provost wish 

 to acquit it from their own purses for the great expense one 

 is unnecessarily put to, as can be seen above in another 

 chapter. 



The lord ought to inquire by his own men and others 

 on his manors as many as there are, about his seneschal 

 and his doings, and the approvements he has made since 

 his coming ; in the same way he ought to inquire about 



