568 ON THE PRICE OF TEXTILE FABRICS AND CLOTHING. 



suppose is meant a tabard. On this occasion the price is high, 

 I s. id. a yard. Up to 1540 the average of this article is nearly 

 Sd. the yard, afterwards it is is. i\d. I have taken those 

 entries which are specially designated as frieze, except that of 

 1552, which is described as hairy Irish stuff. Once in 1494 

 it is bought by the roll. The purchase is at Sion, which also 

 buys it by the yard in the same year. If the two articles are of 

 the same quality, the roll must have contained thirty-two yards. 

 Fustian, of which I found only one entry before 1401, occurs 

 frequently in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It appears 

 to have been a ribbed cloth. In 1521 and 1531 it is bought at 

 2s. and is. jd., the former at Kingston-on-Thames, the latter 

 at Durham, and in this case must have been of superior quality. 

 Omitting these two entries, the average price is almost 8d. the 

 yard ; including them it is exactly lod. After 1540, the aver- 

 age is is. id. On one occasion (1443) it is described as 'white 

 ribbed fustian.' It is bought by the roll of thirty ells in 1482 

 and 1553, at i2s. 6d. and 325-. 6d. 



A far cheaper woollen fabric than that served out to those 

 whom a college or monastery clothed and kept within its 

 precincts, is often found under various names in the accounts. 

 All the entries which I have noted are before 1540, and give 

 an average of .a little over $%d. the yard, or if they are to be 

 measured by the piece of twenty-four yards of exactly 1 8s. Sd. 

 the piece. Such cloth is employed for the commonest farm 

 hands, or for stable purposes. In all likelihood it does not 

 differ materially from frieze. It is of all colours. 



Something analogous to this must be the white russet of 

 Candlesby, which will be found quoted under the years 1431, 

 1432, 1433, 1440, 1443, at us. 4d., IQS. 6d., ios., los. 6d., and 

 us. 6d. the dozen ; and, again, the cloth bought at Winterton 

 in 1433, and that at Selborne in 1451. It was probably home- 

 spun. 



Again, the accounts contain entries of Carsey or Kersey. 

 Omitting one entry at the rate of 3.$-. nd. the ell, bought for 

 the prior of Hickling's gaskins, the average is is. 





