424 ON THE PRICE OF FISH. 



few entries of pikerell and pike, the former at i s. $d., the latter 

 at very various prices. In 1648 a pike is bought for loj. by 

 King's College, Cambridge, and must have been a very large 

 fish, 30 Ibs. or upwards, even at that dear time. In the next 

 year the College pays only is. lod. In 1651 it pays 3^., 

 in 1663 3^. 6d. In 1691 a pike is bought at Cuckfield for 

 5$-. 9</., and we are told that it weighed 20 Ibs., or nearly ^\d. 

 a pound. But it is probable that these purchases are excep- 

 tional, and that both corporations and private persons supplied 

 themselves with fresh-water fish from ponds and stews. 



There are a few prices of lampreys. This favourite fish of 

 our ancestors always commanded a high price. All the 

 purchases are made on Lord Spencer's account. In 1599 he 

 buys six at 6s. each, and six at is. 6d., the former in March, 

 the latter in April. In 1600 he buys three at 6s. in Feb- 

 ruary; in 1601, twelve at is. in April; in 1602, two at is. in 

 March. It seems then that the season for this fish was the 

 early spring, and that the price or the size greatly varied. 



SHELL-FISH. I find lobsters and crabs, crawfish, crayfish, 

 prawns, cockles and oysters. In 1599 Lord Spencer buys 

 seven dozen lobsters at us. $d. the dozen. In 1602 he 

 purchases twelve ' pots ' of lobsters and crabs at los. the pot, 

 and 200 crawfishes at 20^. the hundred. In 1627, four 

 lobsters are bought at Mendham at *]d. each. In 1686, 13 Ibs. 

 of lobsters are bought in London at ^d. the lb., and in 1697 

 in the same place four large lobsters at is. each. Prawns cost 

 gd. the hundred in 1614 at Hastings, and lod. in 1686 at 

 London. Cockles are bought at 4d. the hundred in 1614. 



Oysters were no doubt very extensively purchased at 

 places near the sea and near the beds. The fellows of 

 Winchester consumed very large quantities of them. But, 

 as I have had more than once to observe, the household 

 books of Winchester College have strangely disappeared. 

 Oysters are also found occasionally elsewhere. They are 

 bought by the bushel and by the hundred, at Winchester 

 by the pottle at first, and by the hundred or thousand sub- 



