384 THE PRICE OF WOOL. 



neighbourhood of the Humber, the quality from this region is 

 certainly good. 



The dearest years for wool are those of 1277, 1320, 1375, 

 1377, in each of which the price exceeded 3^. the clove, that is, 

 was more than $d. the pound in money of that time. It is 

 hardly necessary to say that such rates, even on the lowest 

 estimate of the change in the value of silver, are far in excess 

 of any modern experience, if indeed they do not indicate the 

 highest prices which have ever been reached since the times 

 in which the trade in this produce began. Its lowest price 

 was in the year following the Great Plague, when it fell to 

 U., or to little more than if*/, the pound. 



There are also several continuous periods of exalted prices. 

 Thus, from 1276 to 1290 the price is nearly always high, three 

 only out of fifteen years falling below the general average. It 

 is high again from 1313 to 1327, for out of fourteen years only 

 one is below the general average. It is high again from 1 364 

 to 1380, for out of these seventeen years none are below, but 

 all are above the average. 



On the other hand, there are low continuous prices. It is 

 low from 1291 to 1312, for in these twenty-one years it is only 

 eight years above the average, and once stands at it. It is low 

 from 1332 to 1363, for out of these thirty-two years it is only 

 once above the average. It is low again from 1381 to 1400, 

 being, during the twenty years, only four times above the 

 average h . 



The price of lambs' wool is about ten to fifteen per cent, 

 cheaper than that of great or sheep's wool. The general 

 average, however, puts the rate at a little less. But on one 

 or two occasions the price is so exceptionally high, and is so 

 little corrected by other entries, that I do not place the fullest 

 confidence in the average derived from this kind of produce. 



b It appears that by a statute of 1343, repealed in 1344, a minimum price was fixed for 

 wool, below which it could not be sold. In the account below it will be seen that the 

 price of wool in the year 1342-3 was only is. 7d., and that it rose in 1343-4 to 28. 2\d. 

 The demand annulled the necessity of the law. 



