598 PAPER, PARCHMENT, INK, BOOKS, ETC. 



* * 



S^.the asterisk on the left 



* * 



*|**|***!** 

 meaning ten ; on the right, five. 



* * * I * * * | * * = 

 * 



Jf I * -X- 



* * * * = 



Again, 833 quarters of malt cost 253 

 Cost. 



MALT. 



* * 



= 833. 



=25314*.; 



or ninety-nine loads of coal cost 39 i2s. 



COAL. Cost. 



* * 

 r 



* * * 

 # 



* * 



#* 



In 1529 the cheese bought at Sion cost J 4s. $d. This is 

 expressed as follows : 



* 



In referring to these accounts, it may be convenient to note 

 the price of spectacles, the discovery of which seems to be due 

 to the fifteenth century. The first entry which I have found is 

 under 1492, when five pair were bought at 4^. the pair, a price 

 which, I think, implies that they were familiar articles. In 

 1500, a pair cost 8d. In 1505, they again cost %d. They are 

 all purchased at Sion. In 1577, a pair of spectacles at 

 Hunstanton cost 6d. 



Stonebreaker's spectacles, by which I presume is meant a 

 shield to the eyes only, cost id. a pair at Canterbury in 1541. 

 A pair of barnacles,' at Cambridge, in 1573 cost 6d. 



Muratori Antiqq. vol. v. has stated that spectacles were 

 invented at Pisa or Florence in or about the year 1311. Our 

 own countryman, Roger Bacon, who is credited with many 

 other discoveries, is also reported to have hit upon this capital 



