LOCKS AND KEFS. 513 



before us., Bodley's chest, presented to the curators of his 

 library, has one lock with a great number of bolts, all of which 

 are sprung from the same key, besides two padlocks, both of 

 which had to be opened before access to the chest was at- 

 tained. The large key to the chest was in the custody of the 

 Chancellor or his deputy, the other two in that of the Proctors, 

 whose office was originally more closely connected with the care 

 and management of academical funds than with its discipline. 

 So it will be seen in the account given, vol. ii. p. 520. iv., that 

 the same check was put on the sacristan of Bicester priory, 

 for two locks and four keys are provided for the oil-chest. 



The purpose of many among the locks which may be found 

 priced in the second volume is undescribed. The commonest 

 purchase whose use is designated is that for the grange or 

 granary. But locks are found for all sorts of places; as 

 for the stable, the outer door, the park gate, the solar, the 

 bed-chambers, the cellar, the garden, the buttery, the pantry, 

 the larder or salser, the lavander (where linen was kept), the 

 wardrobe, the chapel, the malt, court, and hen-house, the wool- 

 chamber, the mill-chest, the sheepfold, the vinary, and the 

 apple-mill. All these kinds of locks were fixed to the door, or 

 to the lid of the chest. 



There seem to be two qualities of locks ; some cheap, and 

 ranging from id. to 4^., others dearer, between $d. and ^d. 

 Both kinds are found in the earlier as well as the later times. 

 An average taken from ninety-two entries of the former kind 

 before the Plague gives %{d. as the price of lock and key in the 

 eighty-four years between 1367 and 1350. Only seven entries 

 are found after this date, all between 1361-1400, of articles 

 ranging between $\d. and 6d., the average price of which 

 is 5f </. 



On the other hand, there are certain locks and keys, not 

 distinguished as far as their purpose goes from others, but 

 which are manifestly of higher quality. Thirteen entries of 

 such locks before the Plague give an average of $\d. nearly ; 

 six after that date of 



