II., only three or four times.
This change seems to have taken place in a great measure
since Edward I. The allowance granted by Edward III. to the
earl of Murray, then a prisoner in Nottingham Castle, is one
pound a week; whereas the bishop of St. Andrews, the primate
of Scotland, had only sixpence a day allowed him by Edward
I.

*** 27 Edward III.

The pay of a man at arms was quadruple. We may therefore conclude, that
the numerous armies mentioned by historians in those times, consisted
chiefly of ragamuffins who followed the camp, and lived by plunder.
Edward's army before Calais consisted of thirty-one thousand and
ninety-four men; yet its pay for sixteen months was only one hundred and
twenty-seven thousand two hundred and one pounds.

It was not till the middle of this century that the English began to
extend their navigation even to the Baltic;[*] nor till the middle of
the subsequent, that they sailed to the Mediterranean.[**]

Luxury was complained of in that age, as well as in others of more
refinement; and attempts were made by parliament to restrain it,
particularly on the head of apparel, where surely it is the most
obviously innocent and inoffensive. No man under a hundred a year was
allowed to wear gold, silver, or silk in his clothes; servants, also,
were prohibited from eating flesh meat, or fish, above once a day.[***]
By another law it was ordained, that no one should be allowed, either
for dinner or supper, above three dishes in each course, and not above
two courses; and it is likewise expressly declared that "soused" meat is
to count as one of these dishes.[****] It was easy to foresee that such
ridiculous laws must prove ineffectual, and could never be executed.

The use of the French language, in pleadings and public deeds, was
abolished.[*****] It may appear strange, that the nation should so long
have worn this badge of conquest: but the king and nobility seem never
to have become thoroughly English, or to have forgotten their French
extraction, till Edward's wars with France gave them an antipathy to
that nation. Yet still it was long before the use of the English tongue
came into fashion. The first English paper which we meet with in Rymer
is in the year 1386, during the reign of Richard II.[******]

* Cotton, p. 117.

** 27 Edward III. cap. 7.

*** Anderson, vol. i. p. 151.

**** Anderson, vol. i. p. 177.

***** 37 Edw