578 ON THE PRICE OF TEXTILE FABRICS, ETC. 



which should be worn by the objects of their benefaction, and 

 directed the seasons at which their livery should be renewed. 

 Merton did not, it seems, do so in his college, and the fellows 

 were left to follow their own fancies in matters of costume. It 

 will be found that several of the complaints contained in the 

 Scrutiny which is printed at the end of the second volume, 

 refer to undue smartness in dress on the part of some of the 

 inmates of the college j a charge which could hardly have been 

 made if the livery were regularly served out, and all the fellows 

 were dressed alike. But Wykeham prescribed that his fellows 

 should be clothed, and the annual roll of the college gives, par- 

 ticularly in the years which come after the date at which these 

 volumes conclude, a precise account of the cloth purchased, 

 both for warden, fellows, chaplains, and servants. 



There were always at least two qualities of cloth, the c secta 

 generosorum' and the c secta valettorum;' the distinction being 

 so marked, that I have felt myself able to draw up a table 

 which shall contain both qualities. In the long account of the 

 Determination Feast, vol. ii. pp. 643-647, much of the space 

 occupied by the roll is devoted to a statement of the purchase 

 and distribution of cloth and trimmings among the several 

 persons who received doles on that occasion. 



Twenty-nine pieces seven yards and a half (the piece con- 

 taining twenty-four yards) are purchased, mostly from one 

 Hende, a London cloth-merchant. The cloth is either c colons' 

 or c stragulatus,' that is, it seems, of one uniform colour or 

 variegated. The price ranges between is. \d. and is. the 

 yard, the rayed or variegated cloth being the cheaper ; though 

 some of this is described as being 'secta armigerorum,' 

 the other as c secta valettorum.' The variegated cloth was 

 served out to lay persons and servants, the c pannus colons' 

 to academics. 



The quantity distributed varies greatly. Giles, the writer 

 of the account, and one other person, receive eight yards. 

 Many of the others have seven and a half, and seven. Under- 

 graduates receive four yards. The servants, or c valects,' have 



