ON THE PRICE OF GRAIN. 2 15 



rents, two only, give an average of 79*. iod., the highest price here 

 also being Lady Day. Now come the Winchester rents. According 

 to the record, they give an average from the seven rent days which 

 Winchester always has, of 49^. if</. ; the grants, which are always 

 a maximum price, being at 6os., and the purchases at 6$s. Now this 

 discrepancy first led me to conclude that the Winchester corn rents 

 were dated a year too early, a suspicion which was abundantly confirmed 

 when they began to be continuous. But the rents are lost from this year 

 till 1 664. If however one takes the grants of 1662 as really the price of 

 1 66 1 the rent was 8os., which with the purchases gives an average of 

 72j. 6</., and the price of the year as supplied from these four localities is 

 l6s. gd. instead of los.y^d. as given in the averages below. The Cam- 

 bridge malt rents are at 35^., the highest price being at Easter or Lady 

 Day. (Easter was this year, old style, on March 30.) At Eton the 

 rents are at 40^. 9 J</., while the purchases by the College are at 34*. 4</. 

 The Oxford average is 36^. Sd. At Winchester the difficulty already 

 alluded to arises again. The entries are almost certainly of the 1660 

 harvest, for the average is not quite 23.?., while the purchases are at 

 3u. o\d. I have however in these two kinds of grain followed the 

 obvious instead of the corrected entry. There is abundant evidence 

 of the price of oats. At Cambridge they are purchased from the 

 beginning of October to the latter end of September, and are dearest 

 in July, the average being 225. 6d. There are numerous entries at 

 Eton, and purchases between October and August, at an average of 

 225. 4</. At Oxford they are bought at an average of 2os. yd. ; at 

 Winchester they are 2os. \d. Oatmeal is not so dear as might be 

 expected. I am disposed to believe that oats and oatmeal were a 

 better crop than other kinds of grain, and that the rise in the price is 

 due to an extensive demand, rather than to a deficient supply. Beans 

 are very cheap. Peas are rather dear. 



I have dwelt on this year of excessive dearth, partly because it mut 

 have been one of a most exceptional character, partly because it gives 

 me the opportunity of stating that however copious may be one's 

 materials, they are still necessarily open to constructive criticism. 

 The record at Winchester and King's College was intelligible enough 

 nli. n first compiled, but as one has to find out the explanation of an 

 obvious discrepancy, no little care and thought is needed, in order to 

 the facts harmonise. In the present period the nearest analogue 

 to the harvest of 1661 was that of 1596. The years 1556, 1438, 

 i \\<t and 1315 are, till we come to deal with the latter end of the 

 eighteenth and the early part of the nineteenth century, the only genuine 



