The Statute, intituled Assisa Panis et Cervisiæ, made Anno 51 Hen. III. Stat. I.; and Anno Dom. 1266. Cotton MS. Claudius, D. 2. ... Panis verò de siminello ponderabit minus de Wastello de duobus solidis, quia bis coctus est. For the Ordinance for the Assise and Weight of Bread in the City of London, see Stowe's Survey, p. 740, Edit. 1633. It was sometime called _Simnellus_, as in the Annals of the Church of Winchester, under the year 1042. "Rex Edwardus instituit, et cartâ confirmavit, ut quoties ipse vel aliquis Successorum suorum Regum Angliæ diadema portaret Wintoniæ vel Wigorniæ vel Westmonasterii; Præcentor loci recipiet de fisco ipsâ die dimidiam marcam, et conventus centum Sumnellos et unun modium vini." But, indeed, the true reading is _Siminel_. The English Simnel was the purest White Bread, as in the Book of Battle Abbey. "Panem Regiæ Mensæ aptam, qui _Simenel_ vulgò vocatur[379]." [379] Cowell's Interpreter. See also Blount's Glossary, in voce. _Simula._--A Manchet, a White Loaf. Among the Customs of the Abbey of Glastonbury: "In diebus solemnibus, cum Fratres fuerunt in cappis, Medonem habuerunt in Justis, et Simulas super mensam, et vinum ad caritatem, et tria generalia." Chartular. Abbat. Glaston. MS. fol. 10. For the use of Saffron, now used for colouring the Crust of the Simnel, see Shakespear's Winter's Tale; where the Clown (Act iv.) says, "Then I must have Saffron to colour the Warden Pyes." Origin of Thirteen Pence Halfpenny, AS HANGMAN'S WAGES; _In a Letter to_ EDWARD KING, _Esq. President of the Society of Antiquaries_. The vulgar notion, though it will not appear to be a vulgar error, is, that Thirteen Pence Halfpenny is the fee of the Executioner in the common line of business at Tyburn[380], and therefore is called Hangman's Wages. The sum is singular, and certainly there is a reason for its having obtained so odious an appellation, though it may not be very obvious. [380] The Executions, on ordinary occasions, were removed from this memorable place, and were performed in the street of the Old Bailey, at the door of Newgate. This was first practised on the 9th of December 1783. See the printed account. Every of these Executions, I was told by Mr. Reed, 1785, is attended with an expence of upwards of nine pounds. Twenty persons were hanged at once in February 1785. We find that anciently this Office was, in some parts of the Kingdom, annexed to other Posts; for the Porter of the City of Canterbury was the Executioner for the County of Kent, temporibus Hen. II. and Hen. III. for which he had an allowance from the Sheriff, who was re-imbursed from the Exchequer, of Twenty Shillings _per annum_[381]. [381] Madox's History of the Exchequer, ii. p. 373.