methods which the Editor has pursued in bringing it to light.

This vellum Roll contains 196 _formula_, or recipes, and belonged
once to the earl of Oxford [50]. The late James West esquire bought
it at the Earl's sale, when a part of his MSS were disposed of; and
on the death of the gentleman last mentioned it came into the hands
of my highly-esteemed friend, the present liberal and most
communicative possessor. It is presumed to be one of the most ancient
remains of the kind now in being, rising as high as the reign of king

Richard II. [51]. However, it is far the largest and most copious
collection of any we have; I speak as to those times. To establish
its authenticity, and even to stamp an additional value upon it, it
is the identical Roll which was presented to queen Elizabeth, in the
28th year of her reign, by lord Stafford's heir, as appears from the
following address, or inscription, at the end of it, in his own
hand writing:

'Antiquum hoc monumentum oblatum et missum
est majestati vestra vicesimo septimo die mensis
Julij, anno regni vestri falicissimi vicesimo viij ab
humilimo vestro subdito, vestraq majestati fidelissimo
E. Stafford,
Hares domus subversa Buckinghamiens.' [52]

The general observations I have to make upon it are these: many
articles, it seems, were in vogue in the fourteenth century, which
are now in a manner obsolete, as cranes, curlews, herons, seals [53],
porpoises, &c. and, on the contrary, we feed on sundry fowls which
are not named either in the Roll, or the Editor's MS. [54] as quails,