SPICES. PEPPER. 451 



quantities served out on each occasion. Thus for example in 

 1609, note is taken of eleven of them, at eight of which spice 

 is served, generally of three kinds, cloves and mace mixed, 

 cinnamon and ginger mixed, and nutmeg. These were no 

 doubt in powder, six ounces or half a pound of each, for spice 

 was weighed by apothecaries' weight, and indeed generally 

 bought of such tradesmen, fruits and sugar being purchased 

 by avoirdupois and from the grocer. 



PEPPER. From 1583 to 1639 I have fairly continuous 

 accounts of the price of this spice. Thenceforward the entries 

 are very scanty and broken. As in the fourth volume, I have 

 taken a hypothetical weight of a dozen Ibs. in order to avoid 

 inconvenient fractions. As might be expected, the price of 

 this article varies exceedingly. Up to 1603 there was 

 practically no English trade with the East Indies, and the 

 supply of Eastern produce was divided between the foreign 

 merchant, the Dutch for instance (who traded with Spain and 

 Portugal even while they were at war with them), and the 

 Turkey or Levant Company, who purchased through the 

 overland route, which the Turks, after utterly destroying it in 

 1516, were now in various directions seeking to restore. 

 During the early years of the East India Company, the 

 English members of the Levant Company complained bitterly 

 of the mischief which the long sea voyage was doing to the 

 trade with Turkey, and particularly with its market for tropical 

 produce 1 . 



For the first twenty years or thereabouts then, the price of 

 pepper, and indeed that of similar spices, represents the degree 

 of success with which the English consumer was supplied with 

 an article which in its place of origin is so common that it is 

 worth on the spot little more than the cost of collection, pre- 

 paration, and packing. The price then, a moderate sum being 

 deducted for this charge, represents mainly freight, risk and 

 profit ; and we are informed that when the voyage was made 

 without loss or material delay, the profits were enormous. 



Macphereon, ii. 218. 

 G g 2 



