LINEN. BREADTH OF STUFF. 553 



of linen is designated. Canvas is bought at Cambridge in 

 1447, and again in 1458, which is said to be half an ell broad. 

 But it is clear that this is exceptionally narrow, as the price 

 is only is. 6d. the dozen in the former year, less than half the 

 ordinary price of canvas, and 3.$-. the dozen in the latter, when 

 inferior and broader goods are dearer. In 1550 linen bought 

 by Magdalen College is distinguished as ell wide, and ell and 

 a half wide, other linen in 1552 and 1553 as three-quarter 

 cloth, and again as three-quarter canvas in 1555 and 1558. The 

 cheapness of this article implies that the narrowness was 

 exceptional. On the other hand, six-quarter broad canvas in 

 1573 is not exceptionally dear. Broad canvas or sheeting 

 again appears to be two ells broad, as it is said to be in the 

 year 1575, and the price of such broad canvas entirely accords 

 with such a width, for broad canvas is about double the price 

 of that which is of ordinary width. But the broadest is that 

 under 1411, where the entry declares that the linen was 3^ ells 

 in width. 



Again, the breadth of the canvas or linen is implied in the 

 articles made from it. In 1482 twenty-one chorister's shirts 

 cost 6\d. each. The price of the cheapest linen recorded in 

 the year, that purchased at Norwich, near which town it was 

 abundantly manufactured, is 4^. an ell, and the smallest 

 chorister could hardly be shirted under an ell and a half of 

 linen ell-wide. In 1503 three shirts cost 6d. each, and we are 

 told that two surplices required five ells. Similarly, in 1508, 

 a shirt costs 7^. In 1535 eight surplices cost 2s. each, and 

 I should conclude that four ells of ell-wide linen would be 

 needed for a surplice. In 1544 six surplices take thirteen ells. 

 In 1548 a dozen shirts cost i6s., and another half-dozen js. iod., 

 the average price of shirting this year being %\d. the ell. In 

 1466 five ells of fine Holland are needed for two shirts made 

 for Sir John Howard, afterwards Duke of Norfolk, and next 

 year five yards are purchased to supply two smocks for one 

 of his daughters, and four and a half for the other. In the 

 year 1466 an entry is made of 'square Flemish ells.' which 



