FIGS. DA TES. 6j I 



differently, is uniformly of the same weight, the price must 

 have been much higher in the early part of the fifteenth 

 century than it is from 1454 to 1535, when the last entry is 

 found. In 1403 it is 4.$-. 6d. ; in 1412, $s. yd. ; in 1420, 

 4s. &/.; in 1424, 3^.; in 1425, 4*. ; in 1432, 4*. 4^.; in 1451, 

 4s. ii<, an average of nearly 4^-. $\d. After this time twelve 

 entries, in one of which (1533) the frail is said to contain 

 30 Ibs., give an average of a little over 2s. io$d. It may be the 

 case that figs by the frail were of better quality than those sold 

 loosely, but if the quantity was 30 Ibs. throughout, the former 

 average is much higher than the article is when sold by the 

 pound, and the latter almost the same, but a little lower. 



Between 1516 and 1540 the price of figs by the toppet or 

 topnet is a little over 2s. $d., seven entries occurring. Be- 

 tween 1555 and 1560 five entries give an average of 4^-. nj^/.* 

 and between 1572 and 1582 five others 6s. $\d. These figures 

 again illustrate the rise in the last decade. 



Three entries of figs by the barrel give an average of 

 23.?. lod. Such a price by the hundredweight suggests again 

 that the toppet contained about 30 Ibs., and that it corresponds 

 to the earlier frail. It may serve to illustrate such an in- 

 ference, that in 1533 figs are bought by the topnet at 

 Cambridge and by the frail at Stonor, at the same price, 

 2s. 6d. 



The Pershore purchases by the caput are found between 

 1441 and 1471. The average price is 45-. Sd., and the measure 

 seems to be the same as the frail or piece. 



DATES. Entries of dates occur for sixty-one years during 

 the period before us, and in every decade. In the thirteenth 

 and fourteenth centuries they were found only seven times. It 

 will be remembered, however, with respect to these and to 

 other kinds of foreign fruit and spices, that the facts which 

 supplied me with information in my former volumes came 

 principally from the accounts of producers, while those which 

 have been used for the present volume come mainly from the 

 records of expenditure. It is therefore possible that dates were 



