413 ON THE PRICES OF FARM PRODUCE. 



is. iof</. at Kenet in 1280, is. 8^. at Weston in 1286, js. 

 at Kenet in 12875 is. >jd. at the same place in 1288, (when the 

 gallon seems to be reckoned at 8 Ibs.), is. lod. at Chesterford in 

 the same year, is. $\d. at Kenet in 1289, is. 6d. at Kenet in 

 1294. It would seem, too, that the " pinguedo," reckoned in 

 the year 1292, at Weston, at js. 6d., and at the same place, in 

 the next year, at zs. 3^., as also the Hampstede unctum, said 

 specially to be bought for sheep in 1298, must have been similarly 

 medicated. The interpretation of the excessive price paid for 

 pinguedo at Cheddington and Funtington in 1299 must be, 

 I think, of the same character, though it should not be for- 

 gotten that the currency was exceedingly confused by the legal 

 issue of base money in this year. The circumstance that so high- 

 priced an article is not found after the close of the thirteenth 

 century is due, I conceive, to the fact that the older and more 

 expensive medicaments employed for curing the skin disease 

 in sheep were abandoned in the general use of tar. After this 

 innovation it is possible that some entries of unctum or 

 pinguedo refer to mixed grease and tar; but this circumstance, 

 if it be real, would make no great difference in market prices, 

 for, as we shall see below, the price of tar and butter, or tar 

 and the other soft fats, is not very different, though it is on 

 the whole slightly less in the former article. Lard is dear in 

 1293, 1296, 1310, 1320, 1321, 1330? I 33 2 " ^ a d we an y 

 evidence for the later years, we should no doubt find that 

 a rise and fall in price was effected in this as well as in 

 other fats. 



The various hard fats, the suet that is to say obtained from 

 sheep and oxen, are generally known under the name of cepum. 

 They are employed for the home manufacture of candles, for 

 mixing with the softer fats in order to lubricate cart wheels 

 and mill machinery, and for dubbing leather. The price is, 

 on the whole, rather higher than that of the softer fats, and, as 

 will be seen, is considerably larger than that of butter. 



Unctum is probably a mixture, and is used for cart wheels 

 and sheep-dressing. More information is given as to the price 



