538 ON THE PRICE OF FISH. 



but a 'sea-calf is bought at IGJ., another at i8s., and two 

 at 135. 



I have given three entries of shrimps in 1535. They are 

 bought by the pannier at 2s. iod., at about is. 6d. t and thirdly 

 at is. lod. 



There are fifteen entries of oysters, generally by the hundred 

 or thousand, once by a measure which I cannot interpret, the 

 ' waste.' The latter is in the fifteenth century (1482), the others 

 are in the sixteenth. An average taken from twelve of these 

 entries gives \\\d. the thousand. I have omitted the unknown 

 quantity of 1482, and an astonishing purchase at Durham in 

 I 533 f r ^ e Christmas feast of the monks at a little over ^d. 

 a hundred. In 1572 4d. a hundred is paid at Harling and 

 Mendham, but this is a gentleman's seat. If fish were dear, 

 oysters were cheap enough to rouse our envy. Cockles cost 

 Sd. a bushel in 1513. Most of the oyster prices come from 

 Hickling. 



I cannot guess what the ' Magari ' of Battle are, four hundred 

 and a half of which cost $s. nd. ; or 'scapyn,' one hundred of 

 which are obtained for is. *]d. ; or Linches,' of which a hundred 

 cost IDS. $d. in 1448. 



But no puzzle is knottier than the price of the lamprey and 

 its associated species. I noticed before (Vol. I, p. 614) that 

 the variation in the price was remarkable in the thirteenth and 

 fourteenth centuries. Here it is even more extraordinary. 



There is an entry of salt lampreys at 20 s. the barrel in 1404. 

 These are bought at Canterbury, and the price is generally low 

 in these entries. At the same time and place eighty fresh 

 lampreys cost is. icd. and fourteen hundred fresh 'lamprons' 

 are bought at 52^. the hundred. But in 1507 a hundred fresh 

 'lamprons,' fish being dear, cost only lod. 



In 1405 the Countess of Warwick pays Ss. 6\d. a-piece for 

 nine c lampred,' a word employed occasionally in the fourteenth 

 century (Vol. II, pp. 553 iv, 555 ii, 557 i. ii), and generally accom- 

 panied by a very high price for the article, for it is is. id. in 

 I292,about is. n%d. in 1327 ; while in 1392 one is 6s. 8d., and 



