ON THE PRICE OF LABOUR. 283 



1363. In the two former cases the rate, \d. a piece, seems 

 excessively high, and one would think, in the general practice 

 that prevailed of using fur of all kinds, that rat-skins had a 

 market value. The same amount is paid in 1363, but the 

 number caught is not specified. Five crows and five pies are 

 captured at rather more than a halfpenny each in 1297; and we 

 must, I suppose, conclude, when the king's fox-hunters were 

 invited to Hoton in 1366 to kill foxes, that the sport was not 

 an equivalent for the trouble. 



I have found three instances, besides those contained in the 

 Itineraries, of fees paid for legal advice or assistance. The fee 

 paid to the advocate who defended the will of the husband of 

 Isabella de Fortibus is not high, or the questions raised were 

 far more summarily disposed of than they can be at present in 

 analogous cases. The occasion on which legal opinion was 

 taken at Oxford in 1308 is not stated. In both cases the 

 payment is half a mark. The fee of a mark in 1309 seems to 

 have been a retainer. We find that Roger Bigod had a c nar- 

 rator 3 in Ireland, and gave him a livery ; vol. ii. p. 536. 



A few instances have been found of ecclesiastical fees. The 

 king's chaplains at Woodstock and Windsor receive 50^. a year; 

 and probably other allowances, as the rate of payment is lower 

 than that of common labour. Merton College pays the chap- 

 lain at Farley, an impropriate benefice of the College, 4.6*. o,d. 

 in 1278, and seems to have succeeded in reducing his stipend 

 to 2,6s. 8^., or two marks, in 1305. On the other hand, the king's 

 chaplain at Langley gets ^10 a year. 



Among fees paid for special services, note may be taken of 

 the fact that Merton College pays the Bishop of Salisbury 

 13^.6^. in 1296 for officiating at the funeral of the Countess 

 of Salisbury. There was good reason for this generosity, for 

 the Countess Ela had been a notable benefactor. Just before 

 her death, vol. ii. p. 568. ii., the College sent her a present of 

 gingerbread, which cost them 41. id. Gingerbread, according 

 to the Clare account of 1285, vol. ii. p. 544. ii., seems to have 

 varied considerably in price, being valued at 9^. the pound 



