480 ON THE PRICE OF MATERIALS. 



been treated as wrought and finished iron. The highest rate 

 is that paid occasionally for anchors. 



Lord North, whose accounts illustrate the earlier period, also 

 buys raw iron at 13^. ^d. the cwt. in 1583, at 12s. $d. in 15X4, 

 at 12s. in 1586, at ijs. ^d. in 1587, at 14*. in 1588. These are 

 probably purchases of Spanish iron. There are few other 

 entries of raw iron by the cwt., as at Cambridge in 1591 and 

 1598 at i2s., and iqs. $d. in Oxford in 1690, and I cannot help 

 thinking that the old custom was revived in the latter purchase, 

 as the price is given by the hundred at 14^. $d. and i6s. id. 

 Shuttleworth buys by the cwt. in 1601, 1605, 1610 and 1618. 



Lord Pembroke buys by the stone at is. 6\d. in 1583, and 

 at is. %\d. in 1584 and 1587. In 1616 Shuttleworth gives 

 is. 6d. the stone. The note of prices in the same year by the 

 pound proves that the stone was of fourteen pounds. 



In 1627 some iron shot described as saker shot is purchased 

 at ijj. the cwt., and in 1654 large quantities of shot, a hundred 

 tons in London and 60 tons in Portsmouth, are bought at IL 

 and 12 the ton. These are probably of cast-iron. In 1675 

 minion round shot in London costs >\i the ton. In 1674 

 iron ordnance is at 21 s., in 1675 at i6s. the cwt. In 1658 

 a 'cast-iron plate' is bought at the rate of i$s. the cwt., the 

 only entry of cast iron under the name which I have found. 

 I have some suspicion that the brewhouse grate of 1591, 

 nearly half a ton in weight at i2s. a cwt, is cast-iron also. 

 I have found cast-iron at an earlier period. See vol. iv. p. 399. 



There are a few entries of iron wire, generally bought for 

 the college clock, and at high prices. In 1634 it is at is. ^d. 

 the pound, in 1645 at u., in 1653 at is. ^d. An iron bell- 

 clapper is bought in 1661 at is. id. the pound, and I have 

 omitted this entry from the year's average, as I have also 

 the screws and nuts at Cambridge in 1700, where the price 

 would have given a false impression of the averages. But I 

 have included, though with hesitation, another clapper of 

 Spanish iron in 1637 at *jd. the pound. But I have omitted 

 an entry of iron work at y\d. the pound in 1632. 



