SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 1 15 



century, there must have been a large concourse of persons 

 to the Universities. For obvious reasons monarchs shewed 

 peculiar favour to these establishments, the date of whose 

 origin is exceedingly obscure. They were the great public 

 schools of the country a , and it is easy to conceive that, as 

 very scanty accommodation was sufficient for immigrant stu- 

 dents, there was a very general influx of these aspirants after 

 knowledge at a time when intellectual activity was awakened, 

 that is, at about the beginning of the thirteenth century. Most 

 of the monasteries sent some of their novices to the Universi- 

 ties, who, after a course of study, carried back to their several 

 establishments such learning as these academies afforded. 



Some insight into the domestic life of the fellows of Merton 

 College, then and for many years afterwards the only impor- 

 tant collegiate foundation in Oxford, is afforded by scrutinies 

 and itineraries printed at the latter part of the second volume. 



I have elsewhere observed that a characteristic of Merton's 

 foundation was the rule of assigning, in addition to their 

 course of studies, some portion of secular business to as many 

 of his fellows as could be employed in the affairs of the 

 college. Hence some of these persons took journeys on behalf 

 of the society, others superintended repairs, some were engaged 

 in the duty of seeing to the education and management of the 

 " boys of the founder's blood," and some, again, were selected 

 to control and give account of the regular expenditure of the 

 house. To ensure due attention to these several duties, the 

 founder enjoined that a scrutiny should be held three times 

 a year, and that each member of his society, from the warden 

 to the junior fellow, should submit to listen to such comments 

 on his character or conduct as his associates might be disposed 

 to utter. Such a practice, or a custom analogous to it, pre- 

 vailed in most monastic establishments b . 



Some of the charges made in this solitary document are 

 grave, some of a comparatively trivial character. The most 

 prominent object of reprehension is a long-standing quarrel 



a Vol. ii. p. 608. i. b See Ducange, " Scrutinium." 



I 2 



