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ANCIENT BLACK BOOKS, &c.
(_For the Mirror._)
The Black Book of the Exchequer is said to have been composed in the
year 1175, by Gervase of Tilbury, nephew of King Henry the Second. It
contains a description of the court of England, as it then stood, its
officers, their ranks, privileges, wages, perquisites, powers, and
jurisdictions; and the revenues of the crown, both in money, grain, and
cattle. Here we find, that for one shilling, as much bread might be
bought as would serve a hundred men a whole day; and the price for a fat
bullock was only twelve shillings, and a sheep four, &c. At the end of
this book are the Annals of William of Worcester, which contain notes on
the affairs of his own times.
The Black Book of the English Monasteries was a detail of the scandalous
enormities practised in religious houses: compiled by order of the
visiters, under King Henry the Eighth, to blacken them, and thus hasten
their dissolution.
Books which relate to necromancy are called Black Books.
Black-rent, or Black-mail, was a certain rate of money, corn, cattle, or
other consideration, paid (says Cowell) to men allied with robbers, to
be by them protected from the danger of such as usually rob or steal.