392 ON CANDLES, TALLOW, AND FUEL. 



one from Theydon Gernon, one from Bering's Accounts, and 

 two from Caryl's estate in Sussex. One entry from Tavis- 

 tock, in 1602, gives a purchase of four weys of 'coal' at 24^. 

 I cannot interpret what this measure can be, or whether it is 

 charcoal or sea-coal ; the ordinary weight of a wey (224 Ibs.) 

 is out of the question at the price. It must I suspect mean a 

 ton in this entry. 



SEDGE AND TURVES. These are bought, the former ex- 

 clusively at Cambridge, the latter almost always. Sedge is 

 bought by the hundred, I conclude the hundred bundles ; turf, 

 by the thousand. In the fifteenth, and the first three quarters 

 of the sixteenth century, sedge was regularly purchased at 

 Cambridge, and it still was till the middle of the seventeenth, 

 when, with a solitary exception in 1654, it entirely disappears 

 from the accounts. On enquiring at Cambridge, I found that 

 there was no memory there of its ever having been used as 

 fuel. I conclude that when it was purchased, it was for the 

 oven. 



Sedge rises in price till the middle of the seventeenth 

 century. In the early part of the period, it is dear in the two 

 years 1594 and 1595, in 1614 and 1615, and in 1621 and 1629. 

 During the scarcity of the decade 1643-1652 it is very dear, 

 and perhaps this great exaltation of price may have led to its 

 disuse. The burning reed which is once or twice bought 

 at Chatham Dock for navy stores may have been something 

 like the Cambridge sedge. 



Turf is found scantily in the earlier part of the period, but 

 almost regularly during the seventeenth century, being fre- 

 quently bought by King's College in very large quantities. 

 It rises greatly in price at and after the middle of the century, 

 but falls again towards the close. I conclude that the turf of 

 the accounts is peat dug from the fens and dried for fuel. It 

 is sometimes distinguished by its origin, as Ramsey, Bolsover, 

 Bottisham, and Burwell. There can be no doubt that the 

 price of turf was greatly exalted by wet summers. 



FIREWOOD AND FAGGOTS. It is quite clear from the 



