PRUNES. RICE. ALMONDS. 673 



weight, entries by this quantity begin in 1532. The average of 

 the barrel in 1532-3 is us. ^\d. The hundredweight is found 

 in 1552 for the first time. The averages are i6s. id. for 1551- 

 60, i6s. for 1561-70, and 24^. for 1571-82. 



'Pines' are found in 1510 and 1.527 at 2s. the pound. 

 Oranges at 2s. 4d. the hundred in 1527, and at id. each in 

 1560. Quinces are a penny each in 1527 ; nearly \\d. in 1569. 

 Pomegranates are is. each in 1535, and olives ^d. a pound 

 in 1536. 



RlCE. This article is found in seventy-six years. It is 

 cheap at the beginning of the fifteenth century, about a penny 

 a pound. But it becomes dearer from 1431 onwards, rising to 

 id. and $d. There is virtually little variation in the price till 

 after 1541, when it is more than doubled in money value. It 

 is dearest, as is usually the case with these foreign products, 

 during the last twelve years. I have found ' flowers of rice ' 

 once in 1443 at 4^. the pound. Rice was probably used for 

 confectionery, as it forms a whiter jelly than any other kind of 

 corn. Its origin was Italy and perhaps Egypt. In one year, 

 1406, ordinary rice is distinguished from 'de Malikis," 1 the 

 price of the latter being four times that of the former. 



ALMONDS. This kind of fruit is generally sold by the 

 hundredweight of 112 Ibs. The accounts generally specify two 

 kinds, Valence and Jordan, the former being considerably 

 cheaper than the latter. The origin of Jordan almonds is 

 Malaga, and thus both kinds are Spanish produce. Jordan 

 are probably garden, or cultivated fruit. 



Some cause, forgotten and perhaps undiscoverable, made the 

 price of the cheaper kind of almonds high in 1406 (8oj. the 

 cwt.). Had it not been for this entry, the average of the first 

 two years would have been 2U. od. There is another dear 

 year in 1473, wnen tne hundredweight is 88s. 6d., while the 

 dear years 1481-2 (34^. yd. and $$s. 2d.) similarly raise the 

 averages for 1471-80 and 1481-90. These years were probably 

 crop failures. There is, as fa: as I know, nothing besides to 

 explain the apparently dear decades to which reference has 



VOL. IV. X x 



