IRON. 481 



There are a few entries of old iron sold, at from \\d. to id. 

 the pound, i. e. from 14^. to qs. ^d. the cwt. The price does 

 not differ materially from that of raw iron, and taken with 

 wrought iron, one can infer that generally the cost of forging 

 or working iron was from id. to i\d. the pound in most 

 articles, but higher when special skill was needed or special 

 difficulty arose. 



There are only two entries of steel, one by the gad (so 

 familiar and common in earlier times) at 4,d. in 1583, another 

 at $d. the pound in 1625. I conclude that by this time the 

 smith knew how to produce steel, especially if he used, as he 

 evidently could use, charcoal-smelted iron. Steel was used 

 for the edges of cutting instruments. 



The residue of my entries, from which I have compiled such 

 yearly evidence as I have discovered and have drawn the 

 decennial averages, is of wrought or fashioned iron only. The 

 variations in price from year to year are very great, as might 

 be expected from the very various character of the work which 

 the smith supplied. Thus in 1592 the iron-work at Eton and the 

 window-bars at All Souls College give an average of 26s. the cwt. 

 But next year King's College pays at the rate of 46^. 8*/. for 

 a casement, in which of course neater and more careful work 

 was needed. Wheel and cart clouts and wheel tires were 

 rough work, and the price is relatively low, as one may see by 

 turning to the years 1603 and 1604. But iron trivets are a 

 very different affair, and cost by weight twice as much as 

 c commoner articles do. 



Since writing this paragraph, I have discovered among the 



Rawlinson and Gough MSS. a few accounts which illustrate 



the price of iron in the seventeenth century, and generally at 



its close. The most significant are three in number, all being 



London accounts. The first is the cost incurred by the City, 



in rebuilding Newgate gaol, in 1630, 1631 ; the second is of 



the purchases made on behalf of the city churches, rebuilt 



veen 1671-1692 inclusive; the third, those for the repair 



of Westminster Abbey, beginning in 1697, and continuing to 



VOL. V. I i 



