55 



existence, to lay out in the conveniences and com- 

 forts of life. Yet his lordship is not borne out in 

 this conclusion by the data which he himself has 

 furnished. According to the table inserted in his 

 address, the average surplus, after purchasing the 

 first necessary of life, of the three years preceding 

 1800, the time when corn suddenly rose in price, 

 was 2s. 4%d. The average surplus of the seven 

 years, from 1808 to 1814, years of the highest 

 war prices, was 3s. IQ^d. ; nearly 2-3ds. as much 

 more as the average of the year preceding the date 

 of high prices. And, if he had stated the average 

 rate of wages of those seven years at 14$. a week, 

 the documentary evidence would have been nearer 

 the truth. In this case the surplus would have 

 been greater during the time of high prices than 

 his documentary evidence admits. The surplus, 

 then, instead of being 3*. 10|-d., would have been 

 about 4y. 8d., which is about as much again as 

 it was the three years antecedent to the year at 

 which high prices commenced. From the same 

 table it appears that the labourer never was so 

 well off as since the price of corn has been mode- 

 rate, or about 8.9. a bushel. This is an important 

 admission. If the criterion of the labourer's pros- 

 perity be the surplus which remains to expend on 

 the luxuries and comforts of life, he must have 

 been far less prosperous for 150 years preceding 

 1797, when the average price was about 6s. 4d. a 

 bushel, and the rate of wages about 6s. and Is. a 

 week, than during the time of high prices, as the 



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