ON THE PRICE OF STOCK AND MEAT. 339 



140 Ibs., when they pay at the rate of $\d. a Ib. I have not 

 gone through and reduced all the entries, but the price always 

 comes to even money when interpreted by the weight. The 

 custom is still remembered at Eton, and I was told, when I 

 was examining the Eton archives, that it was the custom for 

 the boys to hunt the ram when it was brought to the close. 



My reader will notice that this special sheep was a very 

 different animal from those which were ordinarily purchased at 

 Oxford, Cambridge, Eton, and Winchester, at some of which 

 corporations, almost regularly at the last named, the weight of 

 the animal is given. Occasionally the weights are given at New 

 College, Oxford, in the earlier part of the period ; and if we can 

 discover sufficient evidence as to the price of mutton, it would 

 be possible to construct hypothetical weights from the prices 

 given for animals which occasionally come up to and even 

 exceed the cost of the c Election ram.' 



It is known that two centuries before the time on which 

 I am writing, as I stated in an earlier volume (vol. iv. p. 303), 

 there were many different kinds of wool, and therefore breeds of 

 sheep. It is not likely that the tradition or the reality of those 

 varieties passed away, especially as English wool during the 

 seventeenth century still preserved its reputation in the market, 

 though the policy of Parliament was to forbid its exportation. 

 It is I think clear, from the price at which some sheep were 

 bought by Magdalen College, Oxford, that they must have 

 been very different in breed from those purchased at Cambridge, 

 where the price is low, and those at Winchester and New 

 College, where the weight is low. In the record of wool prices 

 given in the Rolls of Parliament, and reprinted in vol. iii. p. 704, 

 Suffolk wool is the lowest priced of any, and Cambridgeshire 

 wool is of low value, and in all likelihood the animal was as 

 inferior as his fleece. 



Magdalen College and New College, Oxford, and Eton pur- 

 chase sheep very extensively, going considerable distances to 

 get their supplies. I cannot of course be certain, but I think 

 that Magdalen must have generally bought Cotswold, and Eton 



