664 ON THE PRICE OF FOREIGN PRODUCE. 



ordinary price of anise was before the general rise, though it is 

 also probable that the price in the later period was a good deal 

 less than the two entries would suggest. The origin of anise 

 is Asia Minor, the Greek islands, and Egypt. The carraway 

 is of much wider geographical distribution. It is found wild 

 from Iceland and Siberia to the south of Spain. But it is 

 plain from my accounts that it was not familiar in England, 

 that it is not indigenous, and was not, as it now is, or lately 

 was, cultivated. It does not appear till 1527, when it is 

 bought at %d. a pound. The same price is paid in 1536. In 

 1554 it is is. \\d.\ in 1556, is. \d.\ in 1559, is. 4^. and 

 is. 8d. ; in 1569, is. %d. Such prices, especially when com- 

 pared with those of anise, an aromatic seed which has always 

 been of foreign origin, show conclusively that carraway seed 

 was of foreign origin also. 



A pound of coriander is bought in 1569 for 2s. 8d. Cori- 

 ander has been long cultivated in England, but it is im- 

 possible that its culture could have been English at a time 

 when such a price was paid for it. In 1569 a pound of 

 camphor was purchased for 32^. The price even for the time 

 is enormous. The history of the drug will be found in the 

 valuable work of Messrs. Fliickiger and Hanbury \ 



Occasionally powdered spice is bought. I have found 

 powdered cinnamon in 1468 and 1482 at is. id. and is. 8</. 

 the pound, powdered ginger in 1466 at is. 4d. Except in 

 the first case, that of cinnamon in 1468, the powder is cheaper 

 than the unmanufactured spice. 



I have found only two entries of cumin, in 1405 and 1406, 

 when the prices are is. $d. and 3^. the dozen. 



LIQUORICE. I have made nine entries of liquorice, one 

 of which only is in the fifteenth century. Here it is cheap, 

 is. 6d. the dozen. The general average is 3.$-. z\d. the dozen. 



1 Pharmacographia, p. 461. There are few books of such remarkable and exhaustive 

 research as this valuable treatise. It was hardly published when one of the authors, 

 Mr. Hanbury, died most prematurely. I am much indebted to the work, and I know 

 that I was of some service to the authors. 



