366 THE PRICE OF WOOL. 



certain districts, and to take separate averages for separate 

 localities. As it is, however., I may perhaps be able to shew 

 that great differences in the market price of this produce did 

 prevail, and that these differences are to be ascribed to breed 

 and climate, as shewn by the variations in price and the weight 

 of the fleece. 



But incomplete as I feel the evidence is, it must be re- 

 membered that little or no information on this subject has 

 hitherto been published, and that, as throughout the rest of the 

 facts offered to the reader, the record is that of actual sales and 

 purchases. Again, any illustration, however imperfect, of that 

 which constituted the great wealth of England for many ages, is 

 of great interest in the narrative of economical history. And 

 lastly, I may perhaps fairly assume, that though some doubt 

 may arise as to the sufficiency of the information gathered for 

 the purpose of striking an annual average, there can be little 

 doubt that the general average is precise enough, and that the 

 reader may be able to trace with tolerable accuracy the rise and 

 fall in the price of this important article of ancient produce in 

 England. I am satisfied, that is to say, that the average price 

 of sheep's wool between 1260 and 1400 was is. \\d. the clove. 



The evidence for the price of wool would have been as 

 abundant, or nearly so, as that of wheat, and in the later years 

 of this enquiry would have been more so, (since the owners of 

 estates frequently kept sheep after they had let their arable 

 land on lease,) but for two causes. The first is the fact that 

 the sale of wool does not always pass through the hands of the 

 bailiff. He gave account indeed of the produce, but he fre- 

 quently transferred the wool in his possession to the hands of 

 some other agent, who collected the whole growth of the year 

 from the several estates under management. This is a general 

 custom after the beginning of Edward the Third's reign, during 

 which time the exigencies of the French war led the king to 

 interfere, sometimes by consent of Parliament, and some- 

 times in defiance of its remonstrances, with the free sale of 

 this staple article. The expedients by which the king con- 



