LAND CARRIAGE. VALUABLE GOODS. 707 



cask could hardly weigh less than six hundredweight, and was 

 probably more. The rate is thus a little over id. per ton per 

 mile. It is a little less than one third the average price charged 

 for the carriage of goods by the carrier from Oxford to London. 



In 1542 the cost of carrying glass from London is is. id. the 

 cwt. In 1543 goods are conveyed at is. $\d., in 1545 at is. 4d., 

 in 1546 at zs. 4d., in 1548 again at is. 4^., in 1549 at about 

 zs. 4d., in 1550 at about is. gd., in 1551 at is. 8d., in 1557 at 

 zs. 4d., in 1559 at zs. s in 1560 at zs., in 1570 at is. 8d. 



The distance from Oxford to Cambridge is eighty miles. In 

 1556 goods were conveyed from Stourbridge fair, a mile to the 

 east of Cambridge, to Oxford, at is. 6\d. the cwt. This year 

 contains the dearest corn prices of the whole period. 



In 1472 a hogshead of vinegar is carried from Cambridge to 

 London. The charge is high, 4.$-. 4^., and is a considerable 

 item in the price of the article as delivered, for the purchase is 

 us. The hogshead contained probably as much as the cask of 

 oil referred to above, and weighed more. The cost of carriage 

 is much higher. But in 1512 carriage is only lod. the cwt. 

 from Cambridge, and this at the end of November. In 1554 

 and 1555 barrels of eels, each weighing about z\ cwts., are 

 carried from London to Cambridge for 4.9. id. and 4$-. nd., 

 and in 1557 the cost of carriage from London to the same 

 place was zs. 6d. the cwt. In 1560 it is zs.; in 1562, zs. 4d. ; in 

 1577, is. These prices are higher than those for carriage from 

 London to Oxford, and suggest that transit was not so regular 

 and customary between Cambridge and London as it was 

 between Oxford and London, since the distance is shorter. In 

 1428 a pipe of red wine is carried to Hoxne from Yarmouth, 

 twenty-five miles, for 7^. 



It is less easy to interpret other carriages. In 1410 a mill- 

 stone is carried from London to Oxford for 5.$-. The cost of 

 carrying the five millstones from London to Cuxham, a place 

 twelve miles short of Oxford, was nearly 7.9. each in 1330 (see 

 Vol. I, p. 426). In 1429 a pair of millstones are carried from 

 Bridgewater to Taunton, a distance of about twelve miles, for 



z z 2 



