ON THE PRICE OF LABOUR. 



5 11 



painting in 'byse 5 and gilding at is. Sd. the yard, gilding 

 pendants at iod., lath- making at 5.$-. the load of 30 hundreds, 

 felling and squaring timber at %d. the ton, and forging iron at 

 \d. the pound. The clerk is paid at lower rates than the 

 artisans, as are also the tailors, i.e. the persons employed to 

 check the quantities done by piece, and the carriages engaged. 

 There is on the whole no marked difference between the 

 prices paid by Henry, and by his subjects. The works are 

 undertaken on the following manors or palaces: Bridewell, 

 Dover, Greenwich, the Tower, Westminster, Windsor, Woking, 

 Ampthill, Bishop's-Hatfield, Chatham, Eltham, the Moor, 

 Richmond, Hunsdon, Canterbury, Dartford, Barking, Enfield, 

 Leeds Castle, Ostonhanger, and Grafton, at all of which places 

 the king kept establishments, and incurred prodigious expenses. 

 Nor are these all, for we know that he possessed Hampton 

 Court and Sheen besides. The places enumerated above were 

 all superintended by Needham. 



Most of the expenses incurred by Elizabeth were on her 

 navy, though in one or two of the years there are accounts for 

 charges incurred at the palaces of Eltham and Greenwich. 

 The year is divided into quarters, and the rates of wages 

 when workmen are not fed range in artisans from is. to 9^., 

 and in labourers from Sd. to 6d., the latter being the most 

 common rate. 



The contracts for victualling the men are as follows per week 

 per man : 



These are the rates at Deptford and Gillingham. They vary 

 a little at Portsmouth. In these three years the price of wheat 

 was IQS. ii^d., i(.)s. 9\d.> and 9^. iod., the latter being the 

 cheapest year since 1558, the year of the Queen's accession. 

 Fifty years before, is. a week was considered liberal board for a 

 labourer. Lodging is almost invariably zd. a week, and the 



