TOBACCO. 469 



imported could only have been 25,140 pounds in the first 

 return, and 30,000 pounds in the second. Smoking was I 

 believe mainly a luxury of the middle classes in towns. 



In 1696 I find a pound of chocolate at 3*. 3!^., in 1697 one 

 of coffee at 4^. 6d. 



In the subjoined tables I have given the prices of three 

 kinds of wine, eight kinds of spice, three kinds of fruit, two 

 kinds of sugar, and of rice, with decennial averages as far as 

 they can be gathered. I had hoped to fill up the gaps in 

 these tables from the archives of some of the City companies, 

 notably the Grocers ; but unfortunately the records have not 

 been preserved. I must acknowledge here the courtesy and 

 labours of Mr. Kingdon, lately Warden of the Grocers' 

 Company, for the searches which he has made in the archives 

 of that ancient guild, though they have been fruitless for my 

 present purpose. 



For the trade of the East India Company the reader is 

 referred to the price of its stock, both of the Old and the 

 English, taken from Houghton's collections. 



