^{page 1 note 1} The agreement was probably made with the mason by Sir Edward Francis, officer to the Earl at Petworth at this time.

^{page 1 note 2} I.e. Horsham slates; see V.C.H. Sussex, ii. 230.

^{page 1 note 3} The Quarry Fields were to the south-west of Petworth House, off West Street; see Leconfield, Lord, Petworth Manor in the Seventeenth Century (Oxford, 1954), Map XII B, field E.Google Scholar

^{page 2 note 1} The Earl was renting as his London residence at this time Boswell House, on the site of the Law Courts, Carey Street.

^{page 2 note 2} The bill has been made up in the household. It is the bill of Lego, the smith of Petworth, for the supply of some of the building materials required for Petworth House in 1595, when a new building was constructed near the wine cellar there. The ‘ new building ’ was probably an outhouse near North Street. See Batho, G. R., ‘ The Percies at Petworth, 1574–1632 ’, Sussex Archaeological Collections, xcv (Oxford, 1957), 1–27Google Scholar.

^{page 2 note 3} Probably Anthony Menvell; see Appendix III.

^{page 3 note 1} Nails had become standardized in sizes during the fifteenth century; prices had fallen so that 6 d. nails were sometimes only 5 d. a hundred (see Salzman, L. F., Building in England down to 1540 (Oxford, 1952), 315Google Scholar). This does not explain, however, the vagaries of the arithmetic in this MS.; the items here totalled at £3 6 s. 9 d., e.g. in fact total £3 5 s. 1 d.

^{page 3 note 2} The sheep were branded with the Percy crescent, that is.

^{page 3 note 3} lamb heads is presumably an error for jamb heads.

^{page 5 note 1} Thomas Fotherley, disburser for the privy purse, was dispatched into the North to ascertain the fate of the Earl's northern Michaelmas rents, for the conveying of which Thomas Percy was responsible as chief officer in the North, immediately the Earl learnt of the Gunpowder Plot and of Percy's defection. Letters from Fotherley of this date, reporting on what he could learn at Ware and Doncaster, survive in Alnwick MS. 101, fo. 1, and S.H.MS, 0. 1. 2 c, fo. 1.

^{page 5 note 2} The Earl was committed to the charge of the Archbishop of Canterbury (Richard Bancroft) on 7 Nov. 1605.

^{page 6 note 1} It had been intended to open Parliament on this date, but the opening was postponed until 5 Nov.

^{page 6 note 2} Parliament was due to open this day. Apparently the Earl's robes were taken to Westminster before news reached the Percy household of the Gunpowder Plot.

^{page 6 note 3} The Earl had gone from Syon on Monday evening, 4 Nov., to his London house, at this time Essex House, to be ready for the opening of Parliament on 5 Nov. He had been asked to remain in his house on Tuesday afternoon, after Thomas Percy's part in the Gunpowder Plot became known, and was committed to the charge of the Archbishop of Canterbury on 7 Nov.

^{page 7 note 1} The Earl was committed to the Tower of London on 27 Nov. 1605.

^{page 7 note 2} Sir William Lane sent two of his men, Lambe and Jock, to wait upon the Earl in the Tower at this time.

^{page 8 note 1} A key to the books bought: Jean Riolan the elder: Opuscula metaphysica, etc., Parisiis, 1598, duodecimo, in limp vellum, 2 s. 4 d.; Joseph Du Chesne, physician to Henri IV of France: Ad Veritatum Hermeticae Medicinae ex Hippocratis veterumque decretis ac Therapeusi, etc., Lutetiae Parisiorum, 1604, octavo, in limp vellum, 1 s. 8 d. ; Andreas Caesalpinus: De Metallicis libri tres, Noribergae, 1602, quarto, 3 s.; Christopher Clavius: Calendarii Romani Apologia adversus Michaelum Mastlinus a Clavio, Romae, 1588, folio, presumably bound in calf, 6 s. 8 d.; Les Morales de M. A. Theveneau, Paris, 1607, octavo, 3 s.; Joseph Hall: Epistles, London, 1608, 1 s., S.T.C. 12662 or 12663.

^{page 8 note 2} James Rime(y) or Ryme(r) was a London bookseller of some note, stepson to Ascanius de Renialme; see McKerrow, R. B., general editor, A Dictionary of Printers and Booksellers, 1357–1640 (1910), 225–26, 228Google Scholar.

^{page 8 note 3} The Earl paid three visits to Bath in the years 1590 and 1591. He was there for three weeks ending 28 June 1590; for four weeks and five days ending 3 Oct. 1590; and for four weeks and four days on this visit, ending 15 May 1591.

^{page 9 note 1} The guests at dinner are listed in the first column and those at supper in the second. The number after a guest's name indicates the number of servants accompanying the guest.

^{page 15 note 1} The number in the Check-roll is the total size of the travelling household; the number of strangers is the total number of set meals (dinners and suppers) consumed in the household by the guests and their servants during the week.

^{page 15 note 2} The quantities here given represent the remainder of the previous week, the consumption and the remainder of the present week, in that order.

^{page 15 note 3} The Earl was away at this time, attending James I on his entry into London. He had been admitted a Privy Councillor on 25 Apr. 1603 and was appointed Captain of the Gentlemen Pensioners in May. The ‘ ladies ’ refers to the Countess and the young daughters, Lady Dorothy and Lady Lucy.

^{page 16 note 1} The Earl was renting Boswell House, on the site of the Law Courts, as his London residence at this time.

^{page 19 note 1} The Earl was renting as his London residence at this time Blakewell or Blackwell House, in what is now known as Ireland Yard, Blackfriars.

^{page 22 note 1} Thomas Stanley was granted an annuity, possibly of £100, out of the ironworks ‘ and others ’ in the Great Park, Petworth; £100 was the rent of the ironworks. See Leconfield, Lord, Petworth Manor in the Seventeenth Century (Oxford, 1954), 99Google Scholar.

^{page 24 note 1} John Smith was lessee of the ironworks at Petworth, 1587 onwards. See Leconfield, Lord, Petworth Manor in the Seventeenth Century (Oxford, 1954), 93–99Google Scholar.

^{page 25 note 1} The installation of the Earl was as Knight of the Garter, 25 June 1593.

^{page 26 note 1} Another MS. is also numbered U. I. 50 (4); this is a book of disbursements for provisions of Henry Taylor for the same period.

^{page 28 note 1} The Earl was using Essex House, Strand, as his London residence at this time.

^{page 29 note 1} This date records the date of audit and not the termination of the audit-period. The declarations of account commonly have such a contemporary endorsement as the one here given, and those in the U series of S.H.MSS. often have in addition an early nineteenth-century note such as: Household accounts—of no use. These endorsements are ignored in the other examples printed in this volume.

^{page 30 note 1} ‘ The yong ladye ’ referred to was Lady Dorothy Percy, the eldest child to survive.

^{page 32 note 1} The Earl's London residence at this time was Lord Willoughby's house in the Barbican, rented at £100 p.a. from the spring of 1598.

^{page 33 note 1} The Little Park was also referred to in this period as the Middle Park and as the Home Park, Petworth. See map XV, Leconfield, Lord, Petworth Manor in the Seventeenth Century (Oxford, 1954Google Scholar).

^{page 33 note 2} Lady Piece, in Wide Mead, Petworth. See Leconfield, op. cit., map XIV C.

^{page 33 note 3} The child concerned was Lady Dorothy Percy.

^{page 34 note 1} Thomas Stanley, a former Steward of Household, was granted an annuity, possibly of £100, out of the ironworks ‘and others’ in the Great Park, Petworth; £100 was the rent of the ironworks. See Leconfield, op. cit., 99.

^{page 34 note 2} The survey of Petworth by Ralph Treswell the younger in 1610 refers to one house and parcel of ground lying behind the Pheasant Yard and containing 1 rod 8 perches, which may be identified with this holding of Frisell's (Leconfield MS. N 27/1).

^{page 34 note 3} John Rapley or Rapsley held land near Cripplecrouch Hill, Northchapel, in 1610, as the map of Petworth by Ralph Treswell shows (Leconfield MSS.).

^{page 34 note 4} This is possibly the copyhold close held by Robert Keyes in 1610 and called the ‘ Readinge ’; it is given as containing 3 acres 3 rods 20 perches in Leconfield MS. N 27/1.

^{page 34 note 5} The tenements called Cookes were held in 1576 by William Bowyer; the 1576 Survey in the Leconfield MSS. lists them as a barn, two orchards and three crofts containing six acres and rented to Bowyer at 3 s. p.a.

^{page 35 note 1} This is an example of the customary fees allowed to the holders of particular offices on the estate or in the household; Halsoe was a falconer, and probably also a keeper.

^{page 38 note 1} In this and the next paragraph, Northumberland House refers to Northumberland House, Aldersgate. Part of the house was shortly to be let to one Tullye, a printer; a partition was erected in 1599 to divide Tullye's part from the Earl's and a surveyor paid £1 1 s. to take view of the house ‘ where the neighbours had done his Lordship wrong by encroaching upon his Lordship's house’; [53], [55], and [58].

^{page 40 note 1} The lords spiritual and temporal, sundry officers of the realm and certain individuals were granted exemption from the impost duty on the importation of a quantity of wine for consumption in their own households; the Lord Treasurer issued warrants for the bills to the collectors of customs and the bills were signed by the merchant and by the nobleman or his assignee. As an earl not of the Privy Council, the Earl was allowed eight tuns free of duty at this time. See B.M., Add. MS. 5,495, fo. 4, and S.P. Dom. Eliz., cxlvi. 93, fo. 1.

^{page 42 note 1} I.e. at Petworth.