230 ON THE PRICE OF GRAIN. 



quality. The Eton price is at the same rate, 20,?., all the year through, 

 and the purchases are made at i8s. \d. The Winchester grants and 

 purchases are each at 1 is. Oats are cheap at Cambridge and Win- 

 chester, and not very dear at Eton. A small quantity of meal in one 

 locality is dear, and raises the average by comparison with the Win- 

 chester price. Beans are cheap. Peas, found at Winchester only, are 

 rather dearer. 



1690-1. Prices are lower again. The Cambridge corn rents are 

 at 23^. nd. ; the bakehouse purchases, again made in the cheapest 

 market, are at 2u. Sd. The Eton average is 335-., the College pur- 

 chasing at 30.T. 2d. The Oxford rate is %os. 4^. The Portsmouth 

 assise is at 25^. in October, 34^. in April. The Winchester grants are 

 at 32^., the purchases at 28^. 6d. The rents, which are found this 

 year, give an average of 27^. 6d., the price being low at the end of the 

 agricultural year. The price of malt is lower than any experience 

 since 1620. The average of the Cambridge malt rents is us. 4\d.\ 

 those of Eton i8r. oj</., while the purchases are at i6s. d. The 

 Oxford average, unchanged during the year, is at i6s., but New 

 College purchases at 14^. 6d. The Winchester grants are at 15^., the 

 purchases at 15^. n</., and the rents, so the record informs us, were at 

 i$s. for the whole year. Oats are low: Ss. >]\d. at Cambridge; 

 us. $\d. at Winchester, the oat rent being ios.; i$s. 4<f. at Maiden- 

 head ; 1 5^. 7</. at Eton. Meal is rather dear, for the same reason as 

 that given in the year before. Peas are not found. Beans are 

 cheap. 



1691-2. There is a considerable rise, though the price of wheat 

 is still below the average. The Cambridge wheat rents are at 34^. 2d., 

 prices rising towards the end of the year. Hence the bakehouse 

 purchases, made in July, are at 34,?. Sd. The Eton average is 

 4is. 6d., and the purchases are again unfavourable, at 47^. id. The 

 Oxford average is 40^. The average of the Portsmouth assises is 

 34.?. The Winchester grants are at 34.$-. Sd., the purchases at 41.?., the 

 rents, the highest of any, being at 42^. %d. It is probable, indeed 

 almost certain, that the prospects of the coming harvest were unsatis- 

 factory, and that the harvest season was wet. Malt is also dearer. 

 The Cambridge rents are at 13^. i id. ; those of Eton at 20^.; while the 

 purchases are again unfavourable, at 2os. ^d. The Winchester grants 

 are at 2is. 6d., the purchases at iSs. id., the rents at 2os. The 

 harvest in the southern counties was much more unfavourable than in 

 the eastern. The Oxford rents are at iSs. Oats again rise in price. 

 The Cambridge average is 12.?. >j\d. ; that of Eton i8s. Sd.; that of 



