PARCHMENT AND VELLUM. 6oi 



of landlord and tenant during the most critical epoch of 

 English agriculture. But had these documents been prepared 

 in the College office, some entry would have been made of 

 the cost to which the corporation was put in procuring the 

 material on which they were engrossed. The accounts which 

 have been examined for the materials of these volumes are 

 derived from the records of eight corporations, each of which 

 possessed large quantities of real estate, and the annual issue 

 of deeds from the treasury or bursary of each corporation 

 must have been very large. The deeds were generally en- 

 grossed on roughly squared skins, but occasionally the^parch- 

 ment was cut into sheets and ruled. The quality of the 

 parchment is inferior to that manufactured at an earlier 

 period, when great care was taken in shaving or scraping the 

 product. 



Between the earlier and later entries of this article, none 

 having been found for the last twenty years contained in these 

 volumes, there is a rise in price, though not a considerable 

 one. This comparatively slight elevation is I conclude to be 

 accounted for by the diminished use of the material. Legal 

 instruments were still engrossed on parchment, but many 

 documents which by habit or tradition or necessity had 

 formerly been drafted on the old material were now drawn 

 upon paper, especially agreements, even for the conveyance of 

 freeholds. The principal use of the sheepskin after the wool 

 had been removed was for the manufacture of parchment, 

 though some was employed for common gloves, as we shall 

 see when we come to deal with the Sundries in the next 

 chapter. The discontinuance therefore, even in a slight 

 degree, of the use of this material would check that rise in price 

 by which most other articles are marked, for there is no reason 

 to believe that the other cause which arrests elevation in price, 

 improvements cheapening the process of production, had been 

 discovered or adopted, if indeed they were not discouraged by 

 the diminished demand for the article. 



No intimation is given of the purpose for which vellum was 



