454 ON THE PRICE OF BUILDING MATERIALS, ETC. 



is entered. Cord is also bought by the teys and the 

 fathom. 



Besides rope, sail twine to sew sails is occasionally found, 

 and as a rule at double the price of cordage, or even more, 

 as in 1482, when extraordinary purchases are found in the 

 Howard accounts. At a later period, white and tarred twine 

 are bought, generally by the pound, at the rate of from 745-. 8</. 

 to 56^. the cwt., a considerable amount being bought by the hun- 

 dredweight in 1569 at 65 s. 4^. Latchet line was also boughi 

 by the coil (1569). 



The navy stores included hemp, flax, and puppet oakum for 

 caulking. This is bought at about qs. 4^. before the rise (e.g. 

 1546), and zos. afterwards, as in 1562, 1563 (when it is 13^. ^d. 

 the cwt. at Portsmouth), 1573, when it is again 2os. t white 

 oakum being i$s. in 1574. In 1577 white oakum is i6s., flax 

 oakum ios., white hemp oakum being ijs. and los. In 1578 

 hemp oakum is ijs., flax i6s. In the earlier period hemp is 

 generally lod. the stone, and oakum id. the Ib. The hemp 

 bought at Sion in 1494 was probably dressed, as the flax was 

 for weaving. 



NAILS. As in the earlier period, the most important and 

 frequent entries are those for lath-nails, sometimes called 

 sprigs, though occasionally distinguished from the latter ar- 

 ticles. Only four years are wanting in the whole 182 for 

 entries of lath-nails or sprigs. The price of lath-nails is nearly 

 up to that which prevailed during the last half of the fourteenth 

 century, till the last forty years of the fifteenth. From this 

 date it declines, and from 1461 to 1540 the average is very 

 little higher than it was from 1261 to 1350, illustrating anew 

 that significant decline in prices which characterises the eco- 

 nomical history of England during the eighty years 1461-1540. 

 The rise effected after the issue of Henry's currency is by no 

 means proportionate to that of other articles not reaching the 

 average of 1351-1400. 



Lath-nails, as I stated in my previous volume, were manu- 

 factured in every village by the local smith, and were always 



