DAIRY PRODUCE, EGGS AND POULTRY. 363 



24 Ibs. each are bought at $d. a pound, one at 4}^., and 

 another at ^d. 1685 was a very dear year for butter, and 

 probably the weather was dry, and the grass short and scanty. 

 The cheapest year of the New College series is 1687, when 

 the price varied from $\d. to $\d. a pound. The cheapest 

 price of cheese which I have recorded is one of Lord Lovelace 

 in 1689, when a large quantity is bought in Oxford at a penny 

 per pound. In this year the New College price ranges from 

 3i</. to 4<t. During the dear years at the close of the seven- 

 teenth century the New College price is high, but not ex- 

 cessive. 



In earlier times cheese is often bought by the wey of 

 224 Ibs., 1 in later by the half-wey, or hundred-weight. In 1644 

 the Parliament bought the large amount of 52,000 Ibs. for 

 the navy at 2s. $d. the dozen. The highest-priced cheese 

 which I have found is that bought by D'Ewes in 1636, at 

 n6j. ^d. the wey, or 'over 6d. a pound. The cheapest which 

 I have registered is that bought by Lord Lovelace. But 

 I have found it at 30^. 6d. the wey, or 15^. $d. the cwt. 

 Scanty however as the accounts are for the early period, 

 I think it probable that the averages given for ten of the 

 decades do not give any wide interpretation of prices, but 

 represent the facts with fair accuracy. 



EGGS. The price of eggs has been found with few intervals 

 for the first sixty-three years of the period, but is almost 

 wanting for the residue, only one entry after 1645 having 

 been discovered. Eggs in large quantities are purchased for 

 the kitchen at King's College and Winchester, though they 

 do not appear in the few later accounts of these corporations 

 which have been discovered. They arc also bought, and at 

 very low prices, in the north of England, the cheapness of this 

 produce being proof of the almost universal practice of 

 keeping poultry. Thus in 1585 at Kirkby Stephen a large 

 amount is bought in March and April at is. a hundred. In 

 London, on the other hand, and at an early period, eggs are 

 < So defined by 9 Hen. VI. cap. 8. 



