D. What is the reason of this term?
M. No better one occurs to me at present than that its shape is like that of a chessboard.
D. Would the wisdom of the ancients ever have so called it for its shape only, when for a like reason it might have been called “the Board?”
M. I was right in calling you particular. There is another but a less obvious reason. As in a game of chess there are certain ranks of combatants, which advance or stand still by certain rules or limitations, some presiding and others preceding: so here some preside and others assist by reason of their office, and none is free to transgress the established rules.... Moreover, as in chess the battle is fought between kings, so here it is mainly between two that the war is waged and the battle fought, to wit, the treasurer, and the sheriff who sits there to render account; the others sitting by as judges, to look on and give judgment.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF EXCHEQUER PROCEDURE IN RELATION TO ROYAL REVENUE.
Source.—Richard, son of Nigel, Dialogus de Scaccario, ed. Hughes, Crump, and Johnson, p. 89.
By whom and for what cause the testing of silver was instituted?
D. By whom and for what cause was the testing or combustion instituted?