IN ancient days in England the salaries of dignitaries and holders of offices under the Crown were comparatively small, but the emoluments direct and indirect were often very valuable. Thus the official salary of the Keeper of Jewel House was, up to Tudor and Stuart days, only £50 a year, paid annually in arrears. But since it is manifest that no one could live, however economically, and keep up his position on this nebulous income the kings of those days allowed, what we now think vulgar, that is perquisites. Three hundred years hence, perchance butlers and hall-porters will be as much above the region of subsidiary salaries as is now the Lord Chancellor or the Master of the Horse, and as is, also from reliable information, the Keeper of the Jewel House. In this respect the Keeper of the King’s Treasure in those days fared by no means indifferently, his salary of £50 being a mere bagatelle which might almost have been dispensed with. To start with, apartments were reserved for him in all the King’s palaces, as well as at the Tower of London, for it was his duty to travel with the King wherever he went, and to take with him such articles of the Regalia and Royal plate as the King might have occasion to require. When in London the Keeper would reside in the Royal Palace, whilst his deputy was quartered at the Tower in immediate charge of the Regalia. Thus he lived rent free, though perhaps not always under the most comfortable conditions according to modern ideas, for there were a large number of similar officials in the King’s retinue, and each wrangled with another as to who should have this accommodation or that, and who should have precedence in this minor matter, as in greater. The Keeper of the Regalia not only lodged free of charge, but also was his table plenteously provided from the King’s kitchen and from the King’s cellar. The allotment of solid refreshment laid down sounds almost immodest, being no less than fourteen “double-dishes” per diem. What a double dish was is not quite clear, but at the Coronation of James II there is a great enumeration of the “singular dishes,” and the diagram of the table shows all these dishes to be round in shape. Presumably, therefore, a double dish was oblong in shape, was twice the size, and held twice as much as a singular dish. And whereas our forefathers thought little of the light viands of these days, we may conclude that the fourteen double dishes held little but solid meats and puddings. Though appetites seem to have been large in those days, there appears to be an ample margin in this allowance for the Keeper not only to feed himself and a moderate following on a fairly liberal scale, but also to entertain his friends. Nor was the allowance of liquid refreshment less liberal; for in this respect we learn that the Keeper was allowed as much beer, wine, and spirits as seemed good unto him, and presumably to his guests.