258 ON THE PRICE OF GRAIN. 



1600, 1606, 1610, 1615, 1618, 1626, 1628, 1643, 1644, 1645, 

 1652, 1655, 1667, 1669, 1671, 1676, 1682, 1686, 1700. 



In the following it is between 35^. and 40^. : 1594, 1607, 

 1609, 1611, 1614, 1623, 1638, 1639, 1641, 1642, 1656, 1664, 

 1665, 1668, 1670, 1672, 1675, 1679, 1680, 1681, 1683, 1691. 



It is nearest to the general average in 1638, 1664, and 

 1680. 



During the last twelve years of the period comprised in 

 my third and fourth volumes, vol. iv. p. 292, the average price 

 of wheat was i6s. %d. In only two of these early years, both 

 in the first decade, it falls below this figure. But taking the 

 average of the first twenty years, 29^. 3i*/., as a guide, and 

 remembering that this includes a rising market and two 

 great scarcities, the period opens with two years of moderate 

 prices, such as had been experienced for seven years previously. 

 Then two dear years, one exceedingly dear, follow, and two of 

 great cheapness. To these succeed five years of comparatively 

 moderate prices, if we remember that prices are rising. 

 Then follow five years of unprecedented scarcity, the third 

 being the worst, being nearly double the price of the worst 

 recorded year just forty years earlier. The residual four years 

 oscillate about the average given above. 



The next four years are what would be now called cheap, 

 the price always gradually creeping up. Then follow three years 

 which are dearer, the middle one much dearer. Then follow nine 

 years, which are not much above and not much below the 

 general average, to be followed by two very cheap years. Then 

 come two, one a little above, the other a great deal above 

 the average. Then come two rather dear years, and three 

 cheap years. Then comes a period of comparative scarcity, 

 one being a year of famine with prices above all previous 

 experience. This period lasts nine years. Then follow eight 

 moderately cheap years, to be followed by the disastrous five 

 years of 1646-50, a period of excessive and unbroken dearth, 

 in which I do not doubt that many persons perished of famine. 

 Another year of high prices is followed by three cheap years, 



