686 SUNDRIES. 



table, to hold the broth or gravy of the meat which was 

 served up. 



The meat, or on fish days the salt fish, was served in messes 

 called fercula, of which one went to every three persons, the 

 ferculum being calculated at nearly five Ibs. of beef, reduced in 

 weight of course by boiling. The only adjunct of this meat 

 was bread, served from a large bread-basket, the cost of this 

 piece of furniture being an index of its size. Beer was served 

 at the lower tables in black-jacks, i. e. in leathern jugs; to the 

 occupants of the higher tables in silver mugs, called oxeyes at 

 Corpus, terns in other places. It is probable that till the 

 confiscation of the Oxford plate by Charles, and the inter- 

 cepted confiscation of the Cambridge plate by Cromwell, the 

 better-off colleges, and even those whose resources were 

 scantier, were tolerably well supplied with plate. Oriel 

 College, which was certainly not rich, would hardly have 

 given 295-. for a lock to its plate-chest if it had not possessed 

 a store worth precautions. A present of plate was a common 

 gift, and when the student was of superior rank or fortune, it 

 became an habitual tax. But in 1585 New College buys 

 some small silver spoons, and the price (Ss. 6d.) shows that they 

 must have weighed less than an ounce and a half; and in 1603 

 Oriel College buys a crater argenteus, probably a bowl for 

 spiced wine, for 44^. 6d. 



On ordinary days, it is probable that there was no material 

 difference, either in quality or quantity, in the viands served 

 at the high table and those supplied to the inferior members 

 of the household. The principal meal of the day was taken, 

 as far as the guests were concerned, in silence, for up to the 

 Civil War at least it was the custom for one of the members to 

 read the Bible during meals, the clerk receiving his main- 

 tenance in return for the service. There was but little dis- 

 position to conversation. The inmates of these corporate 

 houses lived together, by interest or necessity, from the 

 beginning to the end of the year. They were brought 

 together by no feeling of association, and the society was 



