NAILS. LEAD. 485 



by weight would be dearer than ordinary iron work, but 

 cheaper than the amount of actual labour expended on them 

 would suggest. The highest priced wrought-iron-work which 

 I have found other than wire is nuts and screws at iod. the 

 pound, ordinary iron-work at the time being valued at ^d. 



Nothing illustrates the change of manners in the seven- 

 teenth century better than the cessation of these purchases. 

 In my earlier volumes, especially those of the fourteenth 

 century, the purchase of raw and manufactured iron for 

 domestic and agricultural purposes is exceedingly common, 

 indeed universal. I was able to construct tables, and generally 

 without gaps, not only of iron and iron-work, but of such 

 articles as plough-clouts and wain-clouts, plough-shoes and 

 nails. These implements, or conveniences, were bought in 

 bulk, served out as need arose, and treasured. It appears that, 

 in the general rise of prices, iron goods were fully affected by 

 the causes which influenced other products in demand. But 

 the workman has become a dealer on his own account, a 

 small capitalist with a stock of goods, which he sells by retail, 

 or quotes according to their price in his contract and bill 

 of particulars. The numerous storehouses of the manor-house 

 or corporation cease to be a feature in the business of the 

 establishment, and the record of values could only be fully 

 recovered if bills of particulars, the most perishable of all 

 details of particulars because of the most ephemeral interest, 

 were recovered. 



METALS. LEAD. Information as to the price of lead is 

 fairly full. The various corporations purchased it in large 

 quantities from time to time, either in sows or pigs, or ready 

 rolled, or fashioned into pipes and gutters, hiring the migratory 

 plumber in the former case to cut or roll it, and paying him 

 generally by the piece. Buildings were very frequently roofed 

 with lead, and even when tiles or local slates were used, lead 

 was often needed for gutters and pipes. Thus occasionally 

 very large purchases were made, as at King's College, Cam- 

 bridge, over two tons are bought in 1588, and a similar 



