ON THE PRICE OF FOREIGN PRODUCE. 447 



port at 19.$-. 7f</., the cost of carriage being included in the 

 price. In the next year four dozen of red port are bought at 

 Henley at i8j., and in 1693 Caryll buys claret and canary at 

 15$-. &/. arid 24 s. Red port, white sherry, and canary are 

 thus purchased at London in 1697, red port, sherry, and white 

 port in 1698 and in 1702. Caryll buys two dozen of sherry 

 at 25$-. White port is found in Oxford in 1684 at 12s. The 

 prices seem to indicate that the wine was an experiment. 



It was an early custom, and it continued for some time, to 

 purchase small casks or kegs of wine under the name of a 

 rundlet or runlet, and frequently the quantity is given. At 

 Worksop one such rundlet of sack, the measure not being 

 given, is priced at i6s. 6d. It probably contained about six 

 gallons, for Lord Pembroke generally pays about is. %d. a 

 gallon for his sack. In 1596 he buys for 22s. 8d. one said to 

 hold 8 gallons, where the price is exactly at 2s. 8d. the 

 gallon. In 1605 the Archers buy a rundlet of Rhenish. Now 

 they give 2s. 6\d. a gallon for this wine on draught, and at 

 the same rates the rundlet would hold nearly three and a-half 

 gallons, for it cost qs. Next year they buy another rundlet 

 at 95. 6d., and probably at nearly the same price. 



In 1609 three rundlets of sack are bought in London, 

 containing respectively 5$, 6|, and 6J gallons. In 1611 

 another contains 6 gallons. In 1617 Shuttleworth buys a 

 rundlet of canary 6 J gallons, and a rundlet of sherry 6 gallons. 

 In 1624 a rundlet of muscadine holds u gallons. In 1627 a 

 rundlet of sack costs 48 s. 6d. t and must have been a larger 

 cask. But sack was worth $s. a gallon this year, which would 

 give about 9? gallons. In 1661 and 1662 Eton buys two 

 runlets of sack at 645. 6d. and 69^. respectively, the cask and 

 carriage being included in the former purchase. In 1665 the 

 College buys a runlet of 12^ gallons of sherry for 66s. &/., 

 and this is probably the measure of the other two. This is 

 the last entry of the kind which I have found. 



Wealthy individuals and corporations also bought wine by 

 the tun, the hogshead, the tierce, and the piece. Thus in 1583 



