6; 6 ON THE PRICE OF FOREIGN PRODUCE. 



distinguish the effect induced by the destruction of the 

 Egyptian trade from that which came in the first place by the 

 issue of Henry and Edward's base money, and the final exaltation 

 of general prices. But there is no article in which it seems 

 more easy to trace, few as the entries are, the effect of 

 political events on merchantable commodities. 



Most of the entries of sugar do not contain any account of 

 the form which the article had in the hands of the vendor. 

 But there are several entries of sugar loaves, in some of which 

 the weight is given, in others the price only of the article. It 

 will, I think, be possible to arrive at some interesting results by 

 examining these facts. 



I find no loaf of sugar before 1481. Two loaves are then 

 bought in London each of 7 Ibs. weight. In 1529 two loaves 

 are 7^ Ibs. each. In 1527 three loaves are nearly 7 Ibs. 5} ozs. 

 each, and one is 7 Ibs. In 1530 there are loaves of 8 Ibs., and 

 in 1533 of 6|lbs. In 1534 loaves are 13 Ibs. and 91 Ibs. ; in 

 1 535 three loaves are at 1 1 Ibs . i T ozs. each ; in 1 555 1 1 Ibs. 3 ozs. 

 In 1556 the City of Oxford, at one of its annual feasts, bought 

 a loaf of 5 Ibs. weight. In 1572 the same city bought two 

 loaves of ii Ibs. and iolbs., and in 1576 a loaf is purchased at 

 Hunstanton weighing 15 Ibs. 10 ozs. The sugar is by avoir- 

 dupois weight of sixteen ounces to the pound. 



The sugar-loaves then, up to about 1533, ge nera ^y weighed 

 about seven pounds. Afterwards they are manufactured into 

 about eleven pounds, and finally the weight is raised to nearly 

 sixteen pounds. The increase in the weight indicates, I think, 

 an improvement in the process of manufacture. 



In 1514 a loaf of sugar was bought for $s. The average price 

 of sugar by the pound being 5}^., this loaf must have been 

 a little over 7 Ibs. In 1520 two loaves are respectively 3^. id. 

 and $s. i\d. The price is 6d., and the loaves were probably 

 between 6 Ibs. and 7 Ibs. In 1522 the loaf is is. nd. I have 

 no price by the pound in this year, but it is probable that the 

 loaf was still 7 Ibs. in weight and the price $d. a pound. In 

 1527 the loaf is 4^. 4^., i.e. at 7 Ibs., a little over what it is in 



