Quid ad Factorem Talearum.

In capite vero secundæ sedis primus est serviens Camerariorum, Clericus seu Laicus, cujus officium paucis expediri potest, verbo tamen non opere.  Hic taleas de thesauro contra Vicecomitem, vel eum qui computat, ministrat, & cum oportuerit secundum quod ratio computationis exegerit, mutat, vel minuit, vel addit in talea, apposita cidem contratalea Vicecomitis.  Quo facto in termino Paschæ longiorem Vicecomiti reddit iterum in terrnino Sancti Michaelis asserendam.  In termino vero Sancti Michaelis, cum in Rotulo summa ejus scripto suerit deputata, tradit eandem longiorem Marescallo, in forulo suo reponendam.

D.  Miror, quod dixisti taleam semel compoto ablatam iterum alij compoto offerendam.

M.  Noli mirari;  quoniam quicunq;  exacta, vel soluta fuerint a Vicecomite in termino Paschæ, necesse est iterato summoneri;  non tamen ut secundo solvatur quod jam solutum fuerit, sed ut offerant se compoto, & oblata talea solutionis jamdudum factæ redigatur in scripturam Rotuli ;  & sic absolvatur a debito.  Dum enim taleam penes se habuerit, liberatus non erit, sed semper summonendus.

D.  Et hæc necessaria visa sunt;  sed prosequere, si placet, de officijs.

M.  Immo quia de taleis mentionem secimus, quo ordine taliandi ratio consistat, paucis adverte.  Talearum igitur alia est, quæ simpliciter Talea dicitur;  alia, quam numerandam nuncupamus.  Legitimæ vero Taleæ longitudo a summitate indicis usq;  ad summitatem extenti pollicis est : illic terebro modico perforatur.  Memoranda vero quæ de firma Bl[anca] semper sieri solet, paulo brevior est ;  quia facto Essayo, per quod firma dealbatur, prima illa confringitur, & apposita sibi talea combustionis taleæ longitudinem tunc primo meretur.  Hac autem ratione fit incisio.  In summo ponunt M libr.;  sic ut incisio ejus spissitudinis palmæ capax sit;  C l ut pollicis;  xxl ut auricularis;  libræ unius incisio quasi grapi Ordei tumentis ;  solidi vero minus, sic tamen ut ex concisionibus loco vacuato modicus ibi sulcus fiat;  denarius facta incisione nullo dempto signatur.  Ex qua vero parte millenarius inciditur, alium non pones numerum ;  nisi forte mediam ejus partem;  sic ut mediam similiter incisionis ejus partem demas, & infra constituas.  Sic si Cl incisurus est, & non sit tibi Millenarius, facies sic ;  & de xxl. sic ;  & de xx Sol. quos libram dicimus.  Quod si multi Millenarij, vel centenarij, vel vigenæ: librarum incidendæ sunt, lex eadem servetur, ut ex patentiore parte ejusdem taleæ, hoc est, quæ directe tibi proponitur facta annotatione major numerus, ex altera vero minor incidatur;  ex patentiore veto parte semper est major numerus in summo, ex minus patente semper minor, hoc est denarij.  Marcæ argenti ad Scaccarium incisio sola significativa non est ;  sed per solidos designatur.  Marcam autem auri in medio taleæ, sicut libram unam incidas.  Aureum vero unum non prorsus ut argenteutn, sed ducto directe incidentis cultello per medium taleæ, non obliquando sicut sit in argenteo.  Sic igitur ipsa locorum dispositio & incisionis differentia, quid aureum vel quid sit argenteum, utrumq;  determinat.  Cæterum oportunius hæc omnia Visu quam verbo cognosces.

D.  Quod de his restat oculata side constabit.  Nunc si placet de officijs prosequere.

M.  Post hunc ut supra diximus interpositis viris aliquibus discretis a rege missis, residet is qui ex præcepto Regis computationes facit positione numerorum pro calculis.  Officium quidem satis perplexum est & laboriosum; & fine eo vix vel nunquam Scaccarij ratio possit expediri ;  sed nulli illic residenti convenit ex officio, nisi cui Rex vel Justicia mandaverit exequendum.  Laboriosum inquam ;  quia cætera officia lingua vel manu;  hæc hijs duobus explentur;  sed in hoc, lingua, manus, oculi, mens indefessa laborant.

As to the Maker of Tallies.

Now at the head of the second seat the serjeant of the chamberlains comes first, a clerk or a layman, whose office can briefly be disposed of ;  in word, however, not in deed.  He brings forth from the treasury the tallies against the sheriff or against him who renders account;  and, when it is necessary, according as the manner of accounting demands, he changes or diminishes or adds to the tally, comparing it with the counter tally of the sheriff.  This having been done at the Easter term, he gives back the longer one to the sheriff to bring again at the Michaelmas term.  But at the Michaelmas term, when the amount of it shall have been put down in writing in the roll, he hands this same longer one to the marshal to put in his box.

Scholar.  I wonder at thy saying that a tally once offered for an account, should again be offered for another account.

Master.  Do not wonder;  for with regard to whatever has been exacted, or paid by the sheriff at the Easter term, he must again be summoned;  not, indeed, in order that what has been paid should be paid again, but that the sheriffs shall present themselves to give account, and that the tally offered for the payment previously made ma be reduced to writing in the roll, and that thus he may be absolved from his debt.  For so long as be has the tally in his possession, he will not be acquitted but will always be liable to be summoned.

Scholar.  And all this seems necessary.  But proceed, if it Please thee, concerning the offices.

Master.  Now, since we have made mention of tallies, learn in a few words what the process is in which the matter of tallying consists.  There is, then, one kind of tally which is called simply tally;  another, which we call memoranda tally.  The length of an ordinary tally is from the top of the forefinger to the top of the extended thumb;  there it is perforated with a moderate borer.  But a memoranda which is always accustomed to be made for a blank farm is a little shorter;  for when the assay is made through which the farm is blanched, that first one is broken, and the tally of combustion being added to it, it then first merits the length of a tally.  The incision, moreover, is made in this way : At the top they out £1000 in such as way that its notch has the thickness of the palm;  £100 of the thumb;  £20 of the ear;  the notch of one pound, about of a swelling grain of barley;  but that of a shilling, less ;  in such wise, nevertheless, that, a space being cleared out by cutting, a moderate furrow shall be made there;  the penny is marked by the incision being made, but no wood being cut away.  On the side where the 1000 is cut thou dost not put another number, unless, perhaps, the middle part of it;  in such wise that thou in like manner dost take away the middle part of its notch and dost place it below.  [Note : The meaning of this passage is obscure.  The Latin reads: " Ex qua vero parte millenarius inciditur, alium non pones numerum;  nisi forte mediam ejus partem;  sic ut mediam similiter incisionis ejus partem demas, et infra constituas."]  Just so if £100 is to be cut in, and thou hast thousands, thou shalt do the same;  and if £210, the same;  and if 20 shillings, which we call a pound.  But if many thousands or hundreds or twenties of pounds are to be cut in, the same law shall be observed, so that on the more open side of the tally, that is, that which is placed directly before thee, a mark being made, the greater number shall be cut;  but on the other, the lesser;  but on the obverse side, is always the greater number at the top, but on the converse always the lesser, that is, the pence.  For a mark of silver there is no special notch at the exchequer, but we designate it in shillings.  But a mark of gold thou dost cut in the middle of the tally as though it were one pound.  But one gold piece is not cut altogether like a silver piece, but by drawing the knife directly through the middle of the tally;  not obliquely, as in the case of the silver piece.  Thus, therefore, both, the arrangement of the positions and the difference of cut, determines what is gold and what is silver.  But thou shalt learn all this more conveniently by looking at it than by hearing of it.