PARCHMENT AND VELLUM. 595 



may conclude for the reason stated above in the case of paper, 

 it is cheaper in large quantities than it is in small. Once 

 it is sold by the quire, by which must be understood a quantity 

 cut into the same shape as paper was. In many of the instances 

 given in the tables less quantities than the dozen are purchased, 

 but for the sake of uniformity the entries are reduced to a 

 common measure. Here the same rule holds good, and pur- 

 chases by the round dozen are generally obtained at lower rates 

 than a few skins are. The average will be seen to be i\d. a skin, 

 or zs. $d. the dozen. TJie rise is nearly double by the dozen, 

 not more than fifty per cent, by the roll. It is probable that 

 in the increasing cheapness of paper the general use of parch- 

 ment diminished. The roll of parchment does not occur in the 

 accounts till 1503, when it is purchased at Stourbridge fair by 

 the fellows of King's College, Cambridge. 



Sometimes the parchment is described as large, and indeed 

 it might be expected, as the breeds of sheep were so numerous, 

 and the wool of such very various value, that the skin as well 

 as the fleece should vary in size. But large parchment bought 

 in 1531 is not dearer than small articles not specially designated 

 by this word in 1532. 



The quality of the parchment manufactured in the fifteenth 

 century is very inferior to that of the thirteenth and fourteenth. 

 The earlier manufacture is very fine and thin, is smooth, free 

 from grease, and translucent. The later produce is coarse, 

 often greasy, and far more dense. It may perhaps be stronger, 

 but the earlier was a far handsomer and more delicate material. 

 The quality of the parchment is nearly as good a test of the 

 antiquity of a document, in the absence of direct evidence, as 

 the handwriting is. 



The chief purpose to which parchment was devoted was the 

 draft of the annual return of income and expenditure, in 

 societies where such a return was made, for bailiffs returns, 

 and for the engrossing of leases and similar legal documents. 



There are a few entries of vellum. It is once quoted by the 

 quire, and at double the price of parchment. The average of 



