The hides and yardlands held by the conquerors--how much was in demesne, how many acres were wood and how many meadow--the number of servi, and what the mill paid were duly translated and recorded.
The descent of the manors through the monasteries and the persons who purchased them at the Dissolution filled several pages, and was supplemented with a charter recognising rights of infang and outfang, assize of bread and ale, and so forth.

Finally, there was a list of the mayors, which some one had carried on in manuscript on a fly-leaf to within ten years of date.

There was an air of precision in the exact sentences, and the writer garnished his tale with frequent quotations from Latin writers.

In the midst was a wood-cut of a plant having no sort of relevancy to the subject-matter, but for which he returned thanks for the loan of the block.
But he had totally omitted his own times.

These quotations, these lists and charters, the extracts from Domesday, read dry and formal--curious, and yet not interesting.