414 WOOL, HIDES, AND BARK. 



for centuries a local industry in that region, got a far better 

 market for its produce than an Oxford College could, where 

 the communication was more difficult and the market, if it 

 existed at all, was less regular, for though there may have been 

 tanners in Oxford, there is, as far as I have read, no note of 

 them in local history. The load at New College, where the 

 yard is also mentioned, is 48^. in 1664 (Eton 165^.), 45^. in 

 1667, 42s. 6d. in 1669 (in neither of these years is there any 

 Eton entry), 39^. in 1667 (Eton 52.?.), and 43.$-. in 1684 (Eton 95^.). 

 From these figures it will be seen that bark at Oxford realised 

 less than half the price at which the Eton fellows sold their 

 produce. It is perhaps hardly necessary to mention that oak 

 bark was the only material used at that time for tanning 

 leather. 



The following are the Eton averages : 



1625 40^. od. 1663-1672 ... 103.9. Afd. 



1636 6os. od. 1673-1682 ... qos. yd. 



1 64 5-1 652... 56^. $d. 1683-1692 ... $4s. lod. 



1 653-1 662... 84.$-. 8d. 1693-1702 ... 82^. 6d. 



HOUGHTON'S WOOL PRICES. These, as usual, are derived 

 from many localities all over England. I have divided these 

 prices into districts, the Home taking London and places in 

 the immediate vicinity ; the South-west, Wilts, Dorset, Devon, 

 and Cornwall ; the East, the counties of Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, 

 Cambridge, Hunts, and parts of Herts ; the West-Midland, 

 the counties about the Severn and Wye; the Midland, Derby, 

 Leicester, Nottingham, Northampton, &c. ; the Northern, 

 England north of the Humber ; and the South, Hants, Sussex, 

 and Kent. 



It is quickly discernible, from investigating these prices, that 

 the record is not of local growths, but of markets for export 

 and manufactures. That export had a good deal to do with 

 the price is clear from the fluctuations in the market of some 

 ports, and the high price at others, as for example, Liverpool. 

 Some of the best wools were grown in the West-Midland 

 district, but the price in these markets is by no means 



