HOLLAND, DIAPER, NAPKINS. 561 



the use of the Princess Elizabeth, that in 1555 for a corporal 

 cloth to the Host, and that in 1564 and onwards for the Warden 

 of New College and the Presidents of Magdalen and Corpus 

 Colleges. Generally, however, holland is of such very various 

 qualities that an attempt to draw an average from the entries 

 would be misleading. 



Diaper, as I have said before in this chapter, appears first in 

 1461, when a table-cloth of this material or pattern is bought 

 for ios. But I have found no other entry till 1489. Diaper is 

 purchased by the yard and by the ell ; but I find no guide in the 

 prices given as to the relative length of these two measures. 

 The lowest price at which I have found this article is 6d. in 

 1510, by the yard. But I have also found it at yd. the ell in 

 1541. The highest prices, 4^. 6d. in 1534 and $s. $d. in 1566, 

 are by the ell. But in 1543 it is zs. 6d. by the yard, zs. $d. and 

 is. iid. by the ell. In this year Magdalen College, Oxford, 

 bought two pieces of diaper each nine ells long at is. lod. and 

 2s. the ell. 



It is plainly impossible to draw any average from an article 

 the entries of which vary in money value from 6d. to 45. 6d. in 

 the earlier, and from nd. to 5.$-. 3^. in the later period. Nor 

 is one assisted by adopting the three-foot nine-inch scale for 

 the ell. In 1532 diaper is the same price by yard and by ell. 

 Probably the whole difference was in quality. Thus in 1550 

 one Oxford college buys diaper at nd. the ell for the servants' 

 table, another at 2s. 8d. for table linen, i.e. for the fellows, and 

 at is. zd. for towelling. Including the alternus pannus of 1582 

 under the term diaper, I find about forty entries of diaper by 

 the yard or ell. 



It occurs, however, in another form, by the dozen napkins. 

 These are generally called mappae ; sometimes they are noted 

 by the English name. The first entry by the dozen is in 1498, 

 when it costs 4^. In 1506 the dozen is 9.$-. q\d. In 1517 it 

 is 7.$-. In 1538 one is bought for 43. $d. at Cambridge, and 

 appears either to have been a small table-cloth, or a napkin of 

 extraordinary fineness. Once only are napkins purchased at 



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