Considering the multiplicity of duties and responsibilities which confronted many stewards they might well have thought at times that William Thynne's thousand eyes and hands were hardly extravagant qualifications for their employment. Inevitably, stewards' experience of their employment varied greatly from estate to estate and employer to employer. Some estates were very large, comprising several dozen manors, and required the watchful care of a chief steward with several understewards and a small army of estate servants to carry out his orders. Some consisted of but one small manor and the stewardship could be carried out on a very part-time basis by a country attorney as part of the ordinary business of his legal practice. It was not just a question of size, however, but rather the degree of complexity.