BELL-METAL. GLASS. 499 



price of lead by the fother is 1845. 6d. in 1693, iS6s. led. in 

 1694, 214^. in 1695, and iSSs. 8d. in 1696. In 1694, the price 

 of milled lead by the cwt. is iSs. In 1693, the average price 

 of copper by the cwt. is 945. 2</., in 1694 is 94^., in 1695 is 

 115^., in 1696 is I2OJ. Block-tin by the cwt. is 64 s. in 1693, 

 66s. icd. in 1694, when there are great fluctuations in price; 

 in 1695, 76.$-. 4^d.\ in 1696, 6is. zd. I have elsewhere com- 

 mented on the fluctuations in the price of silver, gold and 

 guineas, in a work to which I refer my readers 1 . Taking into 

 account that London was always the cheapest market for lead, 

 copper and tin, Houghton's prices will be found to closely 

 correspond with those which I have registered. 



GLASS. It will be convenient in dealing with iron and other 

 metals, now almost exclusively used for domestic purposes, to 

 comment on the few entries of glass which I have discovered. 

 They would have been more numerous, but for the general 

 practice of buying quarrels or diamond-shaped panes, which 

 are almost invariably at a penny each. 



Glass has been found for only thirty-five years, and most of 

 the entries are of the earlier period. It generally costs from 

 6d. to 5^. a foot. The price is yd. in 1587-8, but it is probable 

 that as the article was mainly of foreign origin, the formal out- 

 break of hostilities with Spain had either stinted the supply 

 or suggested scarcity to the dealer. In 1604, Normandy glass 

 is bought in Oxford at 9^., but the same purchaser in the same 

 year gives 6d. for new glass. In the next year a large quantity 

 is bought at Eton at 4\d. t probably a London purchase. 



There is some evidence of heightened prices in the dear 

 years 1642-52. In 1644 Winchester buys at 8</., and in the 

 next year at 7^/., and in 1649 at 6\d., and the price never falls 

 below 6d. during the whole decade. For the rest of the time 

 the few entries are at 6d. t till the last year, when new glass is 

 bought in London at ^d. and Carcell glass at $\d. 



In 1599, Normandy glass, leaded and cemented, is bought at 

 Rochester at is. a foot. In 1616, coloured glass is bought for 



1 The First Nine Years of the Bank of England, p. 35, and p. 1 7 1 . 

 K k 2 



