ON THE PRICE OF GRAIN. 269 



1580-1. Wheat is dearer. The average at King's College is 

 18^. 4^d., at Pembroke, 15^. 2\d. But the Yorkshire price is close on 

 22s., the general average being 2os. Barley and malt correspond to 

 wheat. Rye is nearly the price of wheat. Oats are cheaper. Beans 

 and peas are at relative prices. Oatmeal at Oxford is considerably 

 cheaper, and the price of oats was probably low. 



1581-2. Wheat is 17^. 6d. at King's College, 14^. n|^. at 

 Pembroke. But it is higher in Yorkshire, and the general average, 

 2 is. \d., is slightly in excess of that in the previous year. It is 

 probable that the price fell as the summer advanced. Barley has not 

 been found. Malt is a little cheaper generally, though the Yorkshire 

 prices are unchanged. Oats are rather dearer. Rye is dear, but 

 the entries come from Yorkshire only. Beans and peas are almost 

 unchanged. 



1582-3. In this year, the half-yearly accounts of wheat and malt 

 are first found in the College registers. They are evidently local, 

 and not, as the statute prescribes, the market values at the locality in 

 which the rents are received. Cambridge prices are low. Yorkshire 

 prices of wheat, rye, and malt are high, considerably higher than in 

 the previous year. But other wheat prices are close on the general 

 average, igs. i\d., with some slight fluctuations. Barley is found in 

 two localities only, in Lancashire and Oxford. One of these entries 

 is for seed, and the price is high. Malt, like wheat, is found fre- 

 quently. Oats have not been found, but meal at Oxford is at what 

 are now moderate prices. Beans and peas, the former found in 

 Oxford and Cambridge, the latter at Cambridge only, are practically 

 unchanged, and are at natural or proportionate rates. 



I have found it necessary, in dealing with the record of corn 

 prices, to divide my results into two sections, one containing 

 the first hundred and forty years of my enquiry, the other the 

 remaining forty-two. I will not say indeed that had Henry 

 refrained from his selfish and miserable expedient of debasing 

 the currency, prices would have remained stationary, or would 

 have been only slowly augmented, but I am convinced that 

 this plan of his, aggravated as it was by the action of his son's 

 guardians, precipitated the change, and that the honest and 

 effectual action of Elizabeth was unavailing; as she found 

 when the change was once completed, for it is to this result 



