ecretary and an assistant secretary, an
auditor, a lawyer and four literary personages, 'Letterati,' who, among
them, must know 'the four principal languages of the world, namely,
Hebrew, Greek, Latin and Italian.' The omission of every other living
language but the latter, when Francis the First, Charles the Fifth and
Henry the Eighth were reigning, is pristinely Roman in its contempt of
'barbarians.' There were also to be six gentlemen of the chambers, a
private master of the table, a chief carver and ten waiting men, a
butler of the pantry with an assistant, a butler of the wines, six head
grooms, a marketer with an assistant, a storekeeper, a cellarer, a
carver for the serving gentlemen, a chief cook, an under cook and
assistant, a chief scullery man, a water carrier, a sweeper,--and last
in the list, a physician, whom the author puts at the end of the list,
'not because a doctor is not worthy of honour, but in order not to seem
to expect any infirmity for his lordship or his household.'

This was considered a 'sufficient household' for a nobleman, but by no
means an extravagant one, and many of the officials enumerated were
provided with one or more servants, while no mention is made of any
ladies in the establishment nor of the numerous retinue they required.
But one remembers the six thousand servants of Augustus, all honourably
buried in one place, and the six hundred who waited on Livia alone; and
the modest one hundred and seven which were reckoned 'sufficient' for
the Lord Cola of Benevento sink into comparative insignificance. For
Livia, besides endless keepers of her robes and folders of her
clothes--a special office--and hairdressers, perfumers, jewellers and
shoe keepers, had a special adorner of her ears, a keeper of her chair
and a governess for her favourite lap-dog.

The little book contains the most complete details concerning daily
expenditure for food and drink for the head of the house and his
numerous gentlemen, which amounted in a year to the really not
extravagant sum of four thousand scudi, or dollars, over fourteen
hundred being spent on wine alone. The allowance was a jug--rather more
than a quart--of pure wine daily to each of the 'gentlemen,' and the
same measure diluted with one-third of water to all the rest. Sixteen
ounces of beef, mutton, or veal were reckoned for every person, and each
received twenty ounces of bread of more or less fine quality, according
to his station; and an aver