1 82 THE PRICE OF GRAIN. 



rate, and also a kind which the account calls ' broad,' the average of 

 nine Worksop prices being 25^. $\d. The price of malt at Cam- 

 bridge is lower than is proportionate, but it is a rule of prices, that 

 when necessaries become dear, in this case bread, luxuries, in this 

 case beer, fall in price. In malt the All Souls price is very sug- 

 gestive. Rye corresponds in price to wheat. Oats are less in price 

 than in the previous year, and oatmeal, if I can judge from the only 

 return, from Worksop, indicates that this grain was good in quality. 

 Beans and peas are cheaper. 



The years just commented on were the worst famine years of Eliz- 

 abeth's reign. I can have no doubt that the event made the poor-law 

 a social necessity. They are also the beginning of a new epoch, i.e. 

 one in which high prices would be the rule, though the fact is not 

 plainly proved till after the great queen's death and the accession of 

 James. 



1598-9. Both King's College and S. John's, Cambridge, supply 

 accounts of rent prices for this year, the former still divided into 

 quarters or terms, in which wheat rents are far less common than 

 malt rents. The S. John's account shows that the price rose slightly 

 up to Candlemas, then fell, then rose to Midsummer and fell at 

 Lammas, though the changes are trivial. The average is 25^. 2\d. 

 At Eton the price is unchanged. At Oxford the average is (from six 

 entries), $os. io<, the second price at All Souls suggesting a 

 declining market. The only price of barley comes from Worksop. 

 It is nearly all seed, and of course of good quality. Malt at Cam- 

 bridge is at an average of i6s. $\d., at Eton of 23,$-., at Oxford of 

 2os. n^d. Oats are at all kinds of prices, but are not dear. The rye 

 prices of Worksop are rather below an average, but they are late in 

 the summer. Peas and beans are cheap. The year is above the 

 average of fertility. 



1599-1600. On the whole, prices are rather lower this year, 

 though in the three typical localities they do not vary materially. 

 Wheat is at 27.$-. in Cambridge, the price rising notably at the end of 

 the agricultural year, at 30^. 2d. in Eton, at 28^. \d. in Oxford, at 32^. 

 in Worksop, and at %is. i\d. at Wormleighton, Northants, where 

 the summer price closely corresponds to that in Cambridge. As 

 far as wheat is concerned, there is very little difference between this 

 and the last year. As regards barley, there is only one price from 

 Gawthorp, where it is rather high, and is probably seed. Malt is 

 cheap at Cambridge, but rises at the end of the agricultural year. It 

 is lower at Eton on Lady Day than it had been at Michaelmas, but 



