Z6- HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

e ii A i'. district, their proprietors, tenures, value; the quan-iv. tity of meadow, pasture, wood, and arable land,

iosi. which they contained; and in some counties the

number of tenants, cottagers, and staves of alldenominations, who lived upon them. He appoint-ed commissioners for this purpose, who enteredevery particular in their register by the verdictos juries ; and after a labour of fix years (for thework was so long in finishing) brought him anexact account of all the landed property of hiskingdom This monument, called Doomfday-book, the most valuable piece of antiquity pos-sessed by any nation, is still preserved in theExchequer; and though only some extracts of ithave hitherto been published, it serves to illustrateto us in many particulars the ancient state ofEngland. The great Alfred had finished a likesurvey of the kingdom, in his time, which waslong kept at Winchester, and which probablyfcrved as a model to William in this under-taking

The king was naturally a great ceconomist;land though no prince had ever been more boun-tiful to his officers and servants, it was merelybecause lie had rendered himself universal propri-

' Chron. Sax. p. 190. Ingulf, p. 79. Chron. T. Tykes,p. 23. H. Hunt. p. 370. Hoveden, p. 460. M. West.p. 229. Flor. Wigorn. p. 641. Chron. Abb. St. Petri deBurgo, p. 51. M. Paris, p. 8. The more northern countieswere not comprehended in this survey; I suppose becauseof their wild, uncultivated state. *’ Ingulf, p. 8-