l8o ON THE PRICE OF GRAIN. 



average of 17^. of</., the malt rents of S. John's at one of 2U. Eton 

 buys a hundred quarters of malt at 2OJ. The average of the four 

 Oxford rents is 23^. 4</., while four purchases at Worksop are at 

 31*. 2\d. Oats vary very considerably in price. A small quantity 

 i> very dear at Cambridge. But at Gawthorp, a large quantity, bought 

 by the sieve or double quarter, is very cheap. Nor are they dear at 

 Holme and Oxford. Oatmeal is found in London, Oxford, and Work- 

 sop, but not at excessive prices. Beans and peas are not particularly 

 dear, the former being bought extensively at Gawthorp at 17,?. the 

 quarter, and regularly at Oxford and Cambridge. Peas are a good 

 deal dearer than beans, a fact which probably explains the unusual 

 purchase by King's College for the stable, this corporation generally 

 feeding their horses on peas. 



1595-6. The King's College sales in the Christmas and Lady 

 Day quarters are effected at a fraction under 36^. The S. John's 

 account gives an average of 40^. n\d. Eton purchases at 40^. at 

 Lady Day, which seems to have been nearly the cheapest time of the 

 year, if not the cheapest. But in August the price rises to 6os. at 

 Cambridge, and according to the second All Souls rent to 64-$-. in 

 Oxford. The sales and purchases at Worksop rather depress the 

 average. They are plainly effected at the earlier part of the agricul- 

 tural year. We may be certain that the prospects of the harvest in 

 the late summer of 1596 were exceedingly gloomy. Again, the two 

 entries of barley do not indicate excessive prices ; but they are pretty 

 certainly early purchases. The sales at Cambridge are at moderate 

 rates ; they are as before of the farmers' overplus. But the S. John's 

 rents show the same facts, that the wheat rents do, and these facts are 

 further illustrated by the second of the All Souls rates. Eton buys a 

 large quantity of malt at a fairly low price, most likely in March. 

 There are few entries of oats, and these are low but rising. Oatmeal is 

 not much affected. The rye sales and purchases at the three localities 

 are significant, for that of Worksop is dated, and that large quantity 

 purchased at Ipswich was, I am told, expressly bought for the purpose 

 of distribution among the destitute. There is nothing particular to 

 note in the price of peas and beans. The average of the former at 

 Cambridge is i6s. nf<, at Worksop iSs. Sd. But these articles were 

 generally purchased for winter feed in the stable. 



1 59 6 ~7 The surplus wheat at King's College is sold this year at 

 43^. io</., and as usual in the Christmas and Lady Day terms. The 

 average of the S. John's rents is 48.?. 6\d., the price rising steadily 

 through the agricultural year. But at Eton the Lady Day purchases 



