366 ON THE PRICE OF FARM PRODUCE. 



article. It was used to a great extent in the domestic con- 

 sumption of monarchs and nobles. But this consumption was 

 in the aggregate nothing as compared with its universal use in 

 churches, as an offering at shrines and altars. The annual 

 cost of the article in colleges and monasteries is a very large 

 sum, though it was constantly compensated by the other offer- 

 ings made by the penitent, or in the profits made by the sale. 

 Thus Oriel College, in Oxford, to which the offerings made in 

 St. Mary's Church were a considerable source of income, buys 

 wax largely for religious offices, and sells tapers at a profit to 

 the worshippers. 



There are a few entries of red wax for seals, but chiefly in 

 the later period. In early times the corporation probably 

 manufactured this article, by melting wa.c with vermilion, red 

 lead, and other pigments. 



Frequent purchases of oil are made, olive and rape, for 

 light and culinary purposes, but chiefly for the former. In the 

 pre-reformation period, most years are represented by these 

 articles, in the later they become scanty. But decennial aver- 

 ages by the gallon have been obtained. The price in the 

 earlier period is very uniform, the average being is. i\d. the 

 gallon. In the latter it rises to 2s. 8f</. Oil is frequently 

 bought in small quantities. 



Oil is also bought by the barrel, or cask, the casks being 

 small. One of six gallons is given under 1403, and another of 

 under 5^ gallons in 1406. But it does not follow that these 

 were full barrels. A barrel of rape oil is bought in 1450 for 

 2is., half a ' cade 3 of oil in 1456 at 30^. 8^/., another in 1480 at 

 7^., and others in 1481 at 5.$-., in 1482 at 5^. 7^., in 1483 at 4^-., 

 in 1484 at 8s. These are bought at Finchale. But the same 

 priory gives 335-. 4d. for a barrel in 1486. 



In 1488 Magdalen College buys a doleum for 23^. ^d. Sion 

 in 1489 a barrel of rape oil containing 1 6 gallons i quart 

 i pint for 59^. iod. Two years afterwards it buys two barrels 

 at 33.$-. 4\d. But in 1494, these measures are even more con- 

 fusing. A 'cade' of oil containing 64 gallons is bought in 



