It is natural to ask whether the accounts show signs of luxurious habits. Certainly not in his furnishing. Thus, in 1401 he was adding to the accommodation of his London mansion of la Neyte. For his new parlour he obtained a cupboard for 10_s._, two chairs for 4_s._ 6_d._, six stools for 4_s._ 4_d._, and a deal table for the same sum. I think (the word is not quite clear) that he had a curtain provided for his study-window at a cost of 1_s._ 8_d._; and there was a fireplace in his parlour, for which his Seneschal laid out 7_d._ upon coal. Certainly not, again, in wine and strong drink; for his outlay under this head was about a sixth part of the sum which he spent upon corn and meat. Nor is there any evidence that he used his position for the enrichment of poor relations. It may be that we can detect a needy kinsman in one John Colchester who was granted 3_s._ 4_d._ by my lord's command at la Neyte in March, 1389, and it was quite possibly for a sister-in-law--the wife of Thomas Colchester--that he ordered a diamond ring[70] at a cost of 40_s._ on May 31 of that year, perhaps because it was her birthday. When one of his servants was sent to Colchester on some personal business of the Abbot, the man was evidently not expected to comport himself as if his master's resources were unlimited, for his total expenses were 2_s._ 4_d._ The Abbot liked to have one or two of the younger monks around him, such as John Sandon and Thomas Merke, whom we have met, as Shakespeare also met him, in the events that gather mysteriously round the end of Richard II.'s reign. No doubt, they joined him at table in the new parlour of la Neyte, but the only sign of further bounty towards them was a gift of 6_s._ 8_d._ to them jointly for a treat--pro gaudiis--a term which survives in the custom of applying the word "gaudy" to those College entertainments to which at the moment Oxford is patriotically a stranger. When the great man moved about, it was seemingly not with any great train; otherwise it would hardly be necessary for the Seneschal to give 1_s._ 8_d._ to a certain man for guiding my lord out of the forest of Rockingham, as if the Abbot were too lonely to face the possible appearance of Robin Hood with equanimity. But, of course, there were exceptional circumstances when he would travel in the dignity of his position. There was a formal visitation of the manors of Denham, Laleham, Staines, and Pyrford in 1402-3, which cost over £6, and visits to Henry IV. in the same year at Ware and Windsor and Berkhamstead, at an expense of about £4. A short time after, the Abbot had to face a continental journey, but £4 12_s._ is no great sum to enter as "the expenses of my lord and his household in setting out for Calais with porterage and the hire of a boat to take him to the ship, and also the expenses of John Sandon and John Stowe [two monks] and part of the household on their way back to London."