ON THE PRICE OF GRAIN. 223 



being at 26^. 4\d. The Oxford rents are at 25^. 8d. The Winchester 

 grants are at 2os. 6d., its purchases at 2os. nd., while its rents are 

 at 2os. 4\d. The price of malt declines as the year advances. Oats 

 are very varied in price. At Biggin, an early winter price, they are at 

 1 9 s. 4d. At Cambridge, two of the fourteen entries being ' fen oats,' the 

 average is IQJ. i \d. At Eton there is a price of iSs. But at Winchester 

 the average is los. S^d. They are dearest at Bishop's Stortford, where 

 they are at 2is. d. But I am convinced that these high prices were 

 paid early in the agricultural year, and that it was some time before the 

 goodness of the harvest was generally recognised. Beans are at 

 natural prices as compared with wheat, and peas are cheap. Oatmeal 

 is and remains almost permanently at higher prices. 



1676-7. The average of the Cambridge wheat rents is 2*1 s. $d. 

 The bakehouse purchases, 237 quarters, are bought at 27^. 3^. on an 

 average, the price rising as the year advances. At Eton the average 

 of the rents is 35*. 8f</., and of the purchases 36^. 2f</., the College 

 purchasing in the month of August at greatly enhanced prices. At 

 Oxford the average is 30^. \d. Two purchases in October and 

 November at Reading and Uxbridge are at corresponding prices with 

 those of Eton. The Winchester grants are at 34^. 8</., the purchases 

 at 32J. ; the Winchester rents are at 32^. id. The price begins 

 to rise in May. The malt rents at Cambridge are at iSs. 6$d., in 

 Eton at 245. ii\d., the purchases at 245. Sd. The Oxford average is 

 22s. The Winchester grants are at 24*., the purchases at 20^. gd., 

 the rents at 2 is. i\d. The price then of the two principal kinds 

 of grain is lower than the year before. Oats are on the whole also 

 cheaper, and even oatmeal. The average at Cambridge is i is. io\d., 

 prices being registered from November to January, in April and August. 

 The Winchester average is rather high, i6s. 4\d., though one purchase 

 is at i2s. Beans are practically unchanged in price, while peas are 

 decidedly dearer. 



1677-8. Prices are a good deal higher, this and the following 

 year being the dearest in the period referred to above. The Cam- 

 bridge wheat rents give an average of 401. g\d., the bakehouse 

 purchases, made in June and July, being at 391. 6d. In Cambridge, 

 the cheapest rate of the year is at Midsummer. At Eton the averages 

 are at 55*. 5j</., the price generally rising through the year till Mid- 

 summer, when it slightly falls. The average of the purchases is 

 481. 7|</., and here the dearest rate is in August. In Oxford the 

 average is 50*., the rate rising also. Two entries are found from 

 Horstead Keynes and Wkkluun at corresponding prices. The Win- 



