THE PRICE OF' WOOL* 385 



Under the decennial averages we find traces of those tempo- 

 rary rises in the price of articles which, as we have seen on 

 several occasions before, characterized the decades 1311-1320, 

 1361-1370, 1371-1380. As before, the greatest exaltation of 

 price is that of the years 1371-1380. 



I have also taken a general average of the weight of the 

 fleece, in so far as information is supplied. It is to all our 

 modern experience very low. But it is not quite without 

 parallel in the statements made by Arthur Young in one of 

 his tours , for he speaks of fleeces weighing sf, 3^, and 4 Ibs. 

 The weight, however, of the medieval fleece is generally so 

 low that I cannot help thinking that the best parts of the 

 wool were selected, and the inferior sold under the name of 

 locks, or refuse. 



fl Eastern Tour, vol. iv. p. 275. 



C C 



