248 ON THE PRICE OF GRAIN. 



the average of barley is 19^. 2</., of malt 24,?. 6d. Oats are cheaper 

 in the Home, Eastern and Midland markets, but dearer in the others. 

 The price is highest at Chester, 23*., and at Tedbury and Wantage, 

 each 20J. ; in London they are 14^.3^.; at Pembroke they are 

 cheapest, gs. $%d. 



Rye is dearer than in the previous year, in every district but the 

 Home. The greatest rise is in the South-west district, in which it is 

 more than 5^. dearer than in the previous year. But in this district 

 every kind of grain, except beans, is at a higher price than in 

 1695. If therefore I attempt to discover the cause, I should set it 

 down to bad weather early in the harvest. There is little to com- 

 ment on in the price of beans and grey peas : the former is a little 

 lower than in the year 1695, the latter only fractionally lower, and 

 prices being lowered less in the South, South-west and North than in 

 the other districts. On the other hand, the price of white peas is 

 higher on the average, the increase being very great in the South-west, 

 being 17^. 6d. a quarter on the previous year. 



1697-8. This, taking England all over, is the worst of the seven 

 years. The average of the Home markets does not rise so high as 

 in 1693, but in all the other districts it is higher. The scarcity too is 

 more uniform and unbroken over the whole year, there being com- 

 paratively few fluctuations in the market. Eleven places out of fifty-six 

 register a price of over 6o,r. a quarter, the highest being Lewes with 

 66s. 4\d., the next'Rumford with 66s. Dartfordand Croydon are very 

 near with averages of 65*. 6%d. and 65^. i$d. respectively. The 

 average at London is 59^. 6\d. It is 36.$-. in Chester, but returns come 

 from this market in the first quarter only. There are only eight locali- 

 ties in which it ranges between 40$. and 50^. The scarcity is there- 

 fore general, and the character and amount of the harvest must have 

 been as generally appreciated. It was I imagine from noting the 

 effects of this dearth that Davenant, availing himself of Gregory King's 

 calculations, published in 1699 his essay on the Balance of Trade, 

 and included in that part of it which deals with the Land of England 

 and its products the famous law of prices which Gregory King 

 enunciated 1 . 



The price of barley and malt are not so much enhanced as one 

 might naturally expect, and this I think is due to a stinted consumption. 

 These products are again dearer in the South-west district than they are 

 elsewhere, the highest price of barley being at Bristol, 32^., and the 

 highest of malt, Dorchester, 36^. In London they are respectively 

 1 Davenant's Works, vol. ii. p. 224. 



