What then was the change that took place on the introduction of the Exchequer? How did it modify the system previously in existence? Our only clue is found in the well-known words of the ‘Dialogus’: “Quod autem hodie dicitur ad scaccarium, olim dicebatur ad taleas.” Writing as a specialist on Exchequer history, Mr. Hall contends that “this expression in itself denotes the actual place of receipt and issue of the revenue rather than a court or council chamber.”[160] But one cannot see that ‘scaccarium’ in itself denotes a court or council chamber more than does ‘talea.’ The one was a chequered table, the other a wooden tally. My own view is that the change really consisted of the introduction of the chequered table[161] to assist the balancing of the accounts. Previously, tallies alone would be used, and it is noteworthy that even after the ‘Exchequer’ system was in full operation, the deduction for the loss involved by ‘combustion’ was still effected by tally.[162] I have little doubt that the ‘combustion’ tally was in use in the 11th century for payments “ad arsuram et pensum.” Instead, then, of the sheriffs’ accounts being balanced by the cumbrous system of tallies, the introduction of the Exchequer table, very possibly under Henry I., enabled them to be depicted to the eye by an ingenious system of counters. To the modern mind it is strange, of course, that, while the reformers were about it, they did not substitute parchment, and work out the accounts on it. But, doubtless for the benefit of unlearned sheriffs, the old system of ocular demonstration was still adhered to, and the Treasurer’s Roll merely recorded the results of the ‘game’ by which the accounts had been worked out upon the table. Mr. Hall’s belief is best set forth in an article he contributed to the ‘Athenæum’ (November 27, 1886), and of which he reprinted this passage, subsequently, in ‘Domesday Studies’ (1891): There is every reason for believing that the audit machinery of the ancient Treasury at Winchester was sufficient for the purpose.... It is true, indeed, that the earliest germ of the Exchequer is perceptible in these accounts, which were, however, audited not ‘ad scaccarium,’ but ‘ad taleas,’ _i.e._ in the Treasury or Receipt at Winchester.... We find in the Pipe Rolls the old Treasury at Winchester used as a permanent storehouse for the reserve of treasure, regalia, and records, and we even find Exchequer business transacted there by way of audit of accounts, which formed a special office or ‘ministerium’ as late as 1130 (Pipe Roll 31 Hen. I).[163]