DATES OF EACH RISE. 729 



is nothing which illustrates the opulence of the fifteenth century 

 more than its buildings. That costly material, brick (the reader 

 will observe how much dearer it was than stone, and how 

 slowly it became cheaper), was employed as an article de hixe 

 by the wealthy or extravagant. It was Henry the Eighth's 

 favourite material, and if any wise person could be in love with 

 brick, the bricks manufactured some four centuries to three 

 centuries and a half ago, were worth loving as works of 

 genuine ceramic skill. English bricks from 1460 were the 

 most perfect material conceivable. Hence in this especially, 

 and in other building materials generally, fifteenth century 

 prices were high. 



Now it will be remembered that a vast mass of old building 

 materials was immediately saleable after the dissolution of the 

 monasteries. Most of my later entries come from places close 

 to these convenient quarries. It is said that not a little of 

 medieval Rome was built from the Colosseum. Every 

 monastery was a Colosseum to the neighbourhood. The lead 

 went first. The tiles, especially the costly ridge and gutter tiles, 

 went next. The timbers followed, and even the laths to the 

 ceilings. The work was so good, and the bricks were 'so 

 recent a material, that there was not much to be made of them. 

 Iron was dear, and old wrought iron was certainly useful. 

 Still, there was a considerable importation of wrought iron 

 from the Low Countries in the shape of nails, though English 

 nails were better, and under present circumstances cheaper. 



Laths begin to be dear in 1551 ; plain tiles in the same year. 

 Crests and ridge tiles remain cheap, unless we take into 

 account some exceptional demand, for there were plenty on the 

 ridges and gutters of the old buildings, now doomed to pass 

 from political to fanatical Churchmen. Slates become dear in 

 1563, bricks in 1547, lath and board nails scarcely at all. 

 There were plenty to be drawn out of the old timbers and 

 roofs. 



The same circumstances influence the price of metals. Pig 

 lead is not really dear till 1562 ; rolled lead is dearer in 1549, 



