222 ON THE PRICE OF GRAIN. 



1674-5. Prices are a little lower. The Cambridge wheat rents 

 give an average of 46.?. d. But the bakehouse is judicious, buying 

 all its supplies in April, when the market was declining, at an average of 

 36.?. Sd. In Cambridge the highest price of the year is at Lammas, 

 and this must have been a local scare, as it is not noticeable elsewhere. 

 At Eton the average of the rents is 62*. 6\d.} of the purchases, 

 which are numerous but all effected by the middle of April, the average 

 is 59,?. 5j</. Portsmouth has recorded two assises of this year, at 

 six months' interval, with an average of 43^. The average at Oxford 

 is 6os. Sd. The Winchester grants are at 64^., the purchases at 

 53-f- 3f^- The rents in the same place are at $is. g%d. Malt is dearer 

 than it was the year before. The rents at Cambridge give an average 

 of 26^. 8%d., those of Eton are of 35^. g\d., while the purchases are 

 effected at 32*. 6d. The Oxford malt average is at 31.?. 8d. The 

 Winchester grants are at 30^. 4</., the purchases at 27.$-. 6d. ; the rents 

 give an average of 28^. %%d. The alarm which causes the high 

 average of wheat is not represented in the malt prices. Oats are 

 a good deal dearer. The entries at Cambridge, numerous and dated, 

 go from October to the end of January, then are resumed in June, 

 when two purchases are made, and in September, when one lot is 

 bought. The average is i $s. $d. At Eton they are cheaper, but still 

 dear, at 2os. The Winchester average is 14^. 6J</., and the Lady Day 

 oat rent at 12$. Meal is a little cheaper. Peas are cheap, but beans 

 are still dear. I conclude that these two harvests were scanty, and that 

 the seasons were unpropitious. 



1675-6. From this year, and for fifteen consecutive years, the 

 price of corn is low, sometimes very low. There are indeed a few 

 years in this period in which there is a scarcity price, but on the 

 whole the time must have been exceptionally favourable to the working 

 classes, who had since 1650, and no doubt in consequence of the 

 excessive prices of the five years 1646-50, obtained a permanent 

 increase of wages, ranging from 35 to 50 per cent. The wheat rents 

 at Cambridge are at 30^. 7J^., prices declining to but little more than 

 half in the summer compared with the rate of Michaelmas. A com- 

 paratively small quantity is purchased by the bakehouse in April at 

 3OJ. 2d. The Eton rate is 40$. i{d., the purchases of the College 

 being at 33^. o^d., these being dated. The Oxford rate is 40.?. Sd. 

 The Winchester grants, a relic of the previous year's dearness, are 

 at 54-r. 4</., the purchases at 33^. The Winchester rents are at 

 34J. n%d. The Cambridge malt rents give an average of i8.r. 8%d. 

 The Eton malt rents are high, the average being 27^. yd., the purchases 



