It is clear then that Domesday here uses 'breve' of a return, not of a writ, and I venture to think the word may refer to the abbreviated entries made in Domesday Book itself as distinct from those _in extenso_ found in the original returns.[245] This usage is found in both volumes. We read of land at Marham, Norfolk, held by Hugh de Montfort; 'est mensurata in brevi Sanctæ Adeldret' (ii. 238), where the reference is to the 'Terra Sanctæ Adeldredræ' (ii. 212), and of Hurstington Hundred, Hunts, 'Villani et sochemanni geldant secundum hidas in brevi scriptas' (i. 203). The reference, in both cases, is to the text itself. The former of these two phrases is repeated in the _Inquisitio Eliensis_,[246] a fact of some importance if, as I venture to think, it is there meaningless. The point is worth labouring. We see that the phrase cannot have occurred in the original returns, where all the entries relating to Marham would have come together. But if it was only applicable to Domesday Book itself--where the fiefs were separated--then must the I.E. have copied from Domesday Book. This, indeed, is the point to which I am working. For Essex, Norfolk, and Suffolk, I believe, the compilers of the _Inquisitio_ (1086-7) must have worked from the second volume of Domesday as we have it now. We see it _firstly_, in the order of the counties; _secondly_, in the absence of the jurors' names; _thirdly_, in the system of entering the lands. With a fourth and minute test I have dealt just above. But to make this clearer, we must briefly analyse the return. The Cambridgeshire portion extends from p. 101 to p. 120. It extracts from the original returns, Hundred by Hundred, all that relates to the Abbey of Ely. Following this is a note of its possessions in the Borough of Cambridge[247] (pp. 120-1), and then summaries of the Abbey's estates, in _dominium_ and _thainland_ and _socha_, in all six counties, and of the lands held by Picot the Sheriff, Hardwin d'Eschalers and Guy de Raimbercurt, to which it laid claim as its own (pp. 121-4). Then we resume with Hertfordshire, the extracts from the original returns (pp. 124, 125). Both the Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire portions close with the words, 'De toto quod habemus', etc., referring to the totals worked out by the Abbey from the entries in the original returns.