ON THE PRICE OF GRAIN. l8l 



cost 64^., unless the expression in the account ' beyond the Ss.' implies 

 that for any excess over the stipulated quantity the College had to pay 

 72J-. At Hardwick the average is $is. 6\d. The four prices at Oxford 

 are at an average of 65 s. 5 \d. But the All Souls rents suggest that the 

 maximum price was midway in the year, and that it declined in the 

 summer. The quality of the corn is well indicated by the price of 

 seed-wheat at Worksop in September. Some sales are made here 

 from September to September. The first is plainly of very inferior 

 grain. Then follow four sales in October and November, and three 

 in August and September 1597, in the last of which the price is as 

 high as at Cambridge on Lammas Day. I have found no price of 

 barley in this year, but the rise in the price of malt corresponds with 

 sufficient accuracy to that of wheat. Oats, except in one locality, are 

 exceedingly dear ; and oatmeal, under the name of groats, is quoted at 

 Sos. Rye at Worksop is dearer than wheat at Cambridge. Peas are 

 high at Cambridge, exceedingly high at Worksop. But beans are not 

 quite so dear. The year is one of serious famine. 



1597-8. In this year King's College adopts the Act of 1576, 

 though only four of their estates are put under wheat rents, eleven 

 being put under malt rents. The College is evidently indisposed to 

 abandon its old practice of covenanting with its tenants that they 

 should supply quantities of wheat and malt at low or nominal prices. 

 But henceforth the King's College prices are of the highest market 

 rates on certain days. The same fact applies to the malt prices, 

 except that in this year the College sold 22 quarters to a private 

 individual at 22*. The highest rate of the year at S. John's is on 

 Candlemas Day (February 2), when the quotation is 50^. Sd. At Eton 

 it is 6os. at Michaelmas and Lady Day. The average at Oxford is 

 50J. 6|</., for the price is depressed by the second All Souls sale, the 

 prospects of the coming harvest being now far more satisfactory. 

 The highest prices of the year are those of Worksop in September 

 and October, by the middle of which month, if the entry is of good 

 quality wheat, the price has fallen 2is. $d. the quarter. One entry is 

 interesting. It is quoted from Halliwell's Shakespere 1 , and is ex- 

 tracted from a letter of one Shirley to Quiney, stating the prices of 

 seed-wheat, barley, and beans on January 24, with the quantities he 

 bought of each. In this year, we learn from the Stratford records, 

 the local authorities took account of all the stocks of wheat possessed 

 by the townsfolk. The high price is an indication of how scarce sound 

 seed was. Seed-barley is also purchased at Worksop, but at a lower 

 1 Halliwcll's Outlines, p. 456 (sth edition). 



