xvi PREFACE. 



and policy, the forcible suppression of the Irish woollen 

 manufacture, because it might become the rival of 

 :land, since it possessed to the full those natural 

 advantages of climate which England enjoys. Burnet 

 was unquestionably right when he recognised the 

 physical peculiarities of the English climate, and their 

 economical value. 



JAMES E. THOROLD ROGERS. 



OXFORD, 

 October i, 1887. 



*^* The evidence on which the conclusions are 

 arrived at in this volume, as far as prices are con- 

 cerned, is contained in that which follows. I wish I 

 could have avoided the labour and expense of printing 

 it ; but being in the main extracted from manuscript 

 records, it was necessary to collect and print the 

 evidence, in order to prove my inferences, and to 

 enable others to search into the materials for them- 

 selves. 



