660 ON THE COST OF CARRIAGE. 



This town is distant in a straight line 21 f miles from Oxford, 

 The wine was bought at the charges of Merton College, and the 

 payment for carriage is made by the bailiff of Holywell. The 

 rate is 4*. 6d. the tun that is, almost exactly the same as that 

 paid thirty-four years before by the Countess of Leicester. 



Lastly, in the Determination Feast (1395), three tuns an 

 carried from Southampton to Oxford, at a cost of ^i is. 6d 

 each. The distance in a direct line is 60 miles- but, as 1 

 have stated above, the route really traversed was very mud 

 longer. This price is far in excess of any others which have 

 been recorded. But it will be remembered that it was neces- 

 sary to occupy more than one day in going and returning. It i< 

 likely that both journeys occupied at least four days. Besides, 

 the conveyance takes place in the winter, that is, some fe\* 

 weeks before the middle of February. Still although the price 

 is comparatively high, it is only, if estimated by the direct dis- 

 tance, Af\d. j and if, as before, we add one-fourth to the road, 

 it is a little above 3^., a sum by no means excessive if w< 

 consider the length of the journey, the season of the year, and. 

 therefore, the state of the roads. 



Towards the latter part of the period we find two entrie: 

 for the conveyance of goods by the common carrier. Journey; 

 were undertaken by this personage over very long distance: 

 even in very early times. There is a carrier alluded to noM 

 and then in the Merton accounts who traverses the country 

 between Oxford and Newcastle. So in 1394 and 1395, w< 

 read of the carrier from Winchester to Oxford, and in th< 

 latter year of a similar functionary between London anc 

 Oxford. Perhaps, however, Thomas Cursor**, of Cat Street 

 Oxford, is the earliest carrier whose name and place of busines: 

 has been recorded. Cat Street was a row of houses, which ex 

 isted up to the middle of the present century, between th( 

 Bodleian Library and the relics of Hertford College. 



These carriers were engaged to convey the cloth which wai 

 distributed as livery among the fellows and other members o 



b Vol. ii. p. 605. i. 



