ON THE PRICE OF GRAIN. 257 



We shall see this however more fully when we come to ex- 

 amine the prices of commodities generally. 



Now the general average gives a price of wheat of 39^. o\d. 

 The average of the first twenty years is 29*. $\d., of the last 

 hundred years 41$. I do not indeed purpose to take the last 

 of these as a standard, but it is plainly necessary to draw 

 attention to the fact alluded to, that despite the excessive 

 dearness of the years above referred to in Elizabeth's reign, 

 the evidence is up to a certain point one of a rapid increase of 

 prices. I think, for reasons which I shall be able to allege 

 lower down, that the final effect of the new silver, as far as the 

 seventeenth century is concerned, was not accomplished till 

 about 1648. 



The following years are those of great dearth, the price 

 of wheat rising above 6os. a quarter: 1630, 1647, 1648, 1649, 

 1661 (over 70^., and the highest of all), 1693, 1697. 



In the following years it is below 6os. and above 55*. : 1596, 

 1650, 1658, 1698. 



In the following it is between 55^. and $os. : 1597, 1608, 

 1622, 1646, 1659, 1673, 1674, 1678, 1696. 



In the following it is between 50*. and 45^. : 1586, 1617, 1625, 

 1632, 1637, 1651, 1657, 1662, 1663, 1677, 1684, 1692, 1695, 

 1699. 



In the following it is between 45^. and 40^.: 1595, 1612, 

 1613, 1616, 1621, 1624, 1629, 1631, 1633, 1634, 1635, 1636, 

 1640. 



In the following it is below zos. : 1584, 1587, 1588 (the 

 cheapest year), 1591. 



In the following it is between 20^. and 25*. : 1583, 1592, 

 1593, I 6oi, 1654 ; and if we can omit a single entry from one 

 place at a price which I feel convinced is a mistake in the 

 original, in 1688. 



In the following it is between 25 s. and 30^. : 1589, 1590, 

 1599, 1602, 1603, 1604, 1605, 1619, 1620, 1627, 1653, 1666, 

 1685, 1687, 1689, 1690, 1701, 1702. 



In the following it is between 30^. and 35^. : 1585, 



VOL. V. s 



