CARRIER'S CHARGES. COMMUNICATIONS. 711 



It is by no means improbable that some of these cheaper car- 

 riages the cheapest, it may be observed, nearly ^d. per mile 

 were effected by return carts or waggons, which, having brought 

 produce to the great fairs held at Oxford and Cambridge, the 

 latter by far the most famous, and disposed of what they had 

 brought for sale, would be willing to bargain at rates lower 

 than ordinary carriers were accustomed to demand for back 

 freightage. Occasionally, too, the price paid will not divide 

 exactly into a rate per hundredweight, though far more fre- 

 quently the price per hundredweight is given in the account 

 or is manifestly implied. Such indivisible sums suggest that 

 bargains were made by higgling. 



That communication was neither so cheap nor so easy after 

 the Reformation and the dissolution of the monasteries, is 

 probable, quite apart from the effects which the base coinages 

 of Henry and Edward, and the permanent stiffening of prices 

 induced. The custom of pilgrimage ceased, and shrines which 

 had been frequented by a host of devotees were desecrated. 

 To a city like Canterbury, which was visited by thousands 

 annually, such changes in sentiment and Church rule must 

 have been particularly disastrous. The abbot and his friars no 

 longer appeared on circuit, inspecting the estates which they 

 possessed, and buying large quantities of produce at the 

 markets and fairs. Needy adventurers had taken their place 

 and their property. The Universities were now a shadow of 

 their former selves, though they certainly became more learned 

 and austere. The high price of all articles of necessary use 

 made the purchase of luxuries, in so far as they were known, 

 rare and more stinted. Internal trade was discouraged, the 

 people were generally poor, and the middle classes were 

 obliged to forego much with which they were familiar a 

 generation before. As the markets were straitened, the roads 

 naturally fell into decay, or were neglected. The desire to 

 have good communications was weakened, and the highways 

 went from bad to worse, until it was necessary to devise 

 some means by which they should be restored, when in the 



