648 ON THE PRICE OF FOREIGN PRODUCE. 



it is specified, is also bought by the butt, which contained from 

 104 to 105 gallons. I find eleven such entries in my accounts 

 between 1504 and 1566, the last entry, 113^. 4^., not being at 

 so high a rate as that of 151 j, when it is i^is.nd., the purchase 

 being made at Osney Abbey, near Oxford. The average of ten 

 entries between 1504 and 1548 is 4. i6s. i\d. On one 

 occasion (1522), when Malmsey is also bought by the gallon, 

 the butt is called ' doleum manseti.' 



Sack is distinguished from Malmsey, as, for example, at 

 Stonor in 1533, an( * London in 1566. It is bought largely for 

 the use of the navy in 1546, as Malmsey is in 1548. In the 

 first entry it is cheaper than Malmsey by the butt. But in the 

 other entry it is dearer. In 1578 and 1579 sack is bought at 

 10 the butt, the prices of 1546 (an average) and 1566 being 

 3 us. lod. and 5 i$s. 



Bastard is found eight times, becoming cheaper in the later 

 years. It is always bought by the gallon. The average of these 

 eight entries is is. $\d. the gallon. Muscadine is another 

 Spanish wine. Four entries between 1561 and 1573 S^ ve an 

 average of is. 8d. Three entries of Muscadel between 1568 

 and 1581 give an average of nearly 35-. a gallon. 



Sweet wine is twice bought by the rundlet. On one of these 

 occasions (1470) the quantity of the cask, sixteen gallons, is 

 given. The price is high, is. \o\d. the gallon in bulk, the 

 highest price which I have seen for sweet wine till the year 

 1522. On the other occasion (1518) a rundlet, the quantity 

 of which is not given, is bought at almost exactly half the 

 price. 



In 1522 a butt of Romney is bought by Sion for 36.$-. 6d. 



Rhenish wine is occasionally found. In 1443 a butt of 

 36 gallons costs $is. at Writtle, and next year at the same 

 place a fat, said to contain five 'ames,' is purchased also at 51 s. 

 It is impossible to identify the 'ame' with the modern aum, 

 unless a prodigious fall in price be assumed. Twice it is 

 bought by the sextary, and for the royal household ; on the first 

 occasion in 1496 for Henry VII, at 35. 8</. ; on the second. 



