220 ON THE PRICE OP. GRAIN. 



1670-1. Prices are a little higher. The Cambridge wheat rents 

 show an average of 35^. 6d., while the purchases are at 31,?. 2d. On 

 the other hand, the Eton rents are a little lower than the year before, 

 the average being 38 s. 2\d. y and the purchases yielding a rate of 36 s. Sd. 

 In Oxford the rents are a little higher, at 40$. +d. The Winchester 

 rents are at 30*. Sd., the grants at 36^., the purchases at 34^. 2d. The 

 malt prices are on the whole a shade lower. The Cambridge rents 

 are at iSs.; those of Eton at 26s. %\d., the purchases at 24^. io^d. ; 

 the Oxford rents are at 233-. ^d. ; those of Winchester are at 2is. 2\d. ; 

 the grants are at 23^., the purchases at 22^. 2\d. Oats are dearer. 

 The average price at Cambridge for entries between October and 

 August is i2s. 2\d., that of the Oxford purchases is i*js. *\d. Eton 

 prices are, as usual, high. The Winchester rate is 14^., oatmeal show- 

 ing a decided rise. Peas are dearer than might have been expected. 

 Beans are at moderate prices in the Essex localities, dearer at Oxford, 

 much dearer at Eton. 



1671-2. Prices are throughout lower. The wheat averages of the 

 Cambridge rents give 30^. Sd. ; the bakehouse supplies, purchased in 

 the latter part of the year, are at 28^. yd. The Eton rents yield an 

 average of 38^. 3^.; the purchases one at 37^. 3^., fifteen separate 

 entries being given. The Oxford average is 38^. Sd. The Winchester 

 rent book is lost for this year. The grants are at 36^., the purchases 

 at 30^. 3</. There is but little fluctuation throughout the whole 

 year. The Cambridge malt rents are lower, at i$s. id. So also are 

 those of Eton, at 2os. $\d., the College for once buying at higher 

 rates than their rents, viz. 22$. o%d. The Oxford rents are un- 

 changed through the year, at 20.$-. There is one Winchester rent 

 at 22s., that for Michaelmas; the grants being at 20^., and the pur- 

 chases at 1 7 s. Q\d. Oats are a good deal cheaper. At Cambridge 

 they are dear at first, and the average on the year is I2S. g\d. At 

 Eton they are at i^s. id. At Winchester the average is uj. 3f</., and 

 the price of oatmeal is slightly reduced. Beans and peas are both at 

 low rates. 



1672-3. For this year and henceforth, I have put the price of 

 the Winchester rents as post-dated in the College accounts into the 

 average of the year to which they belong. The fact that they are 

 post-dated, long suspected by me, was abundantly confirmed by the 

 entries of 1673, an d is demonstrated by the rest of the series to the 

 close of the period. In this year, the last of a series of nine cheap 

 years, the Cambridge rents are at 33^. i\d., the prices rising towards 

 the end of the time. The College made its bakehouse purchases in 



