564 ON THE PRICE OF TEXTILE FABRICS AND CLOTHING. 



divided among the members of the foundation. When, as was 

 often the case, the college endowments were too scanty for 

 the board, lodging, and clothing of the inmates, weekly pensions 

 were paid, and the recipient of the charity either had to depend 

 on his private means, or on some source of income which he 

 was able to earn. Sometimes the founder resolved on making 

 a great person of his warden or provost, or whatever other name 

 was given to the chief of the college, and stinting his fellows. 

 This was particularly the case with New College, Oxford, 

 Wykeham's foundation, the fellows of which were so scantily 

 provided, that, as the register informs us, they constantly went 

 into religion, propter paupertatem. In other colleges, such as 

 Merton, Oxford, and King's, Cambridge, the allowances to the 

 fellows were more liberal, though the head was still made an 

 opulent personage, whose appointments were far more lavish 

 than those of the fellows, and whose money allowance for his 

 private ends was more liberal J . 



The principal sources of regular information as to the price 

 of cloth for wear are the accounts of New College, Oxford, and 

 King's College, Cambridge. There are a few from Merton 

 College, Oxford, and Peterhouse, Cambridge, from Netley Abbey, 

 Sion, and Durham. . But none of these supply many facts. 

 The clothing of wealthy and noble personages is illustrated chiefly 

 from the Howard accounts, though the purchases on behalf of 

 the abbot, or prior, or head of a College, are of the same nature. 

 I shall deal separately with silk fabrics. 



The New College purchases are generally made at Winches- 

 ter, and at one of these great autumnal fairs, which, till a genera- 

 tion ago, were frequented for the same purpose. In my youth, 

 it was still customary for the smaller gentry in Hampshire to 

 visit Winchester in order to buy West of England cloth at the 

 beginning of September for the use of their households, just as th< 



1 The annual pension of the Provost of King's College, Cambridge, was 100 a year, 

 besides every expense of his household. In 1468 (Vol. Ill, p. 679, i), the college 

 reduced it to 100 marks, probably because, after the accession of the House of York, this 

 was all the foundation could afford. 



