ON THE PRICE OF GRAIN. 231 



Winchester 125. Sd. There is no material difference in the price of 

 meal. Peas have not been found. Beans are at a moderate price, 

 but are rising. 



1692-3. The series of cheap years is now over, and high prices 

 prevail as a rule to near the end of the century. The average of the 

 Cambridge wheat rents in this year is 46 s. 5J</., the price rising 

 rapidly as the year goes on. The bakehouse purchases are effected 

 at 4gs. 4d. The Eton average is 535-., and the College, again unlucky 

 or negligent, buys at 6os. *\d. The Oxford average is 52^. The 

 Portsmouth assise in October is 44*., and a large quantity of wheat is 

 bought at Cuckfield at 48*. The Winchester grants are at 44^., the 

 purchases at 51$. 6d., while the rents give an average of 52*. 2d., the 

 price being highest on May Day. Malt does not rise so considerably, 

 but is still dear. The average at Cambridge is 2os. 2\d. The 

 average price of the Eton rents and purchases, not differing materially, 

 is 25*. lod. The Oxford average is 245. But New College, which is 

 beginning to buy and brew for itself, purchases at 25$. 6\d. The 

 Winchester grants are at 29^., the purchases at 25,?. 3</., the rents at 

 26s. o\d. Oats are also dearer. The Cambridge average, taken from 

 all four quarters of the year, is i6s. i\d. Purchases are made in 

 Cuckfield at 15*. 6d., in Eton at 2os., and at Hurley at 2os. The 

 Winchester average is 1 7^. 6d. Meal is not however much changed 

 in price. Beans fall at Cambridge towards the end of the year, but 

 peas at Winchester are excessively dear. They are probably white. 



1693-4. After 1 66 1, this is the dearest year of the period. I may 

 say that now, when social questions were being considered, the 

 seven bad harvests of William the Third's reign were frequently 

 alluded to in contemporaneous and immediately subsequent literature. 

 The corn rents at Cambridge give an average of 53*. 2\d. But the 

 agent of the bakehouse was more prudent or more fortunate this year. 

 He put off his transactions till July, the cheapest time of the year, as 

 the prospects of the next harvest became brighter, and got his wheat 

 at 43*. Sd. The average at Eton is 77*. Sd. Here again, though no 

 date is given for the principal purchases, we must conclude either 

 that the corporation put up with an indifferent quality or that they 

 bought prudently. One purchase in March is at 571. 4\d., Lady 

 Day being the dearest of the two days, and another at 63*. Sd. The 

 Oxford average is 6Ss . Sd. ; that of Portsmouth is 65*. The Win- 

 chester grants are at 6ox., the purchases at 59*., and the rents at 

 66j. 2\d. In all these places, except Cambridge, the Lady Day rate 

 is the highest of the year. But the evidence from Cambridge and 



