452 ON THE PRICE OF FOREIGN PRODUCE. 



The English traders established factories or depots in many of 

 those islands which the Dutch had partially occupied, with the 

 effect of seriously compromising the relations between the 

 Governments of each nation, and in the end of grievously 

 injuring the Dutch. In 1615 it was computed that the 

 English Company brought nearly half a million pounds of 

 pepper annually into England, and had reduced the price from 

 8j. a pound (the highest which I have found is 55. ^d. in 1569 

 and 1597) to 2s., at which it certainly stood from time to time 

 at the date of Sir Dudley Digges' pamphlet *. 



It will be seen on turning to the tables at the end of this 

 chapter, and particularly to the decennial averages, that the 

 contention of Digges is fairly substantiated. Three out of the 

 decades are void of information. But while in the first twenty 

 years, there being a quotation for every year, the average 

 price by the dozen is 45^. 9^., or 3^. q\d. a pound, the price 

 is reduced to 2,8s. 2\d. in the next decade, to 2,6s. io\d. in the 

 fourth, to 22s. q\d. in the fifth, and is at 24$. ^d. in the sixth. 

 In the eighth, pepper is at 2os. ^d., in the eleventh at 2$s. nd. t 

 and in the last at the low average of ijs. %d. the dozen. There 

 is therefore no cause for wonder that the land route to Aleppo 

 could not compete against these rates, nor, looking at the price 

 in India, at the enormous profits which the East India 

 Company made, or at the fact that they could afford to spend 

 large sums of money in bribing members of Parliament in 

 order to secure their chartered monopoly, not only against 

 interlopers, but also against Parliamentary criticism. 



During one of these periods, 1653-1662, there are three 

 entries of pepper at the prices of 16^., 9^., and 36^. the dozen 

 respectively. The first two of these come from Mounthall, 

 where prices are given at is. ^d. and gd. the pound, the latter 



1 According to Mun (1621), the price of pepper in India was 2%d. the pound, of 

 cloves 9</., of mace &/., of nutmegs 4^., at Aleppo 2s., 45. gd., 4$. gd. and 2s. ^d., 

 and the selling price of the same articles in England, (I presume at the Com- 

 pany's wholesale sales), was i s. Sd. t 6s., 6s. and 2s. 6d. The retail prices are higher, 

 and include of course a dealer's profit. Macpherson, ii. 298. 



