WAINSCOT. 527 



at 4s. 6d. the yard (1671), and some (1676, 1678) at is. 6d. 

 the foot. This is the foot linear. 



WAINSCOT. This article means the best oak, generally 

 sawn into I conclude inch-thick pieces, and free from flaws 

 and cracks. It was used extensively as panelling for walls 

 and for furniture. Purchases of wainscot are made by the 

 square yard and foot, and by the piece, the dimensions of the 

 latter being uncertain, though generally it seems there was no 

 great difference between the piece and the yard. 



Wainscot is found by the yard in thirty-nine years. On 

 some occasions, as in 1617, when it was bought for con- 

 structing an organ, the price is exceptionally high, 13^. ^d. the 

 square yard. Again, in 1692 and 1700, King's College buys 

 at 9^. the yard, in the latter year for shutters, though 

 some is purchased in 1700 at is. io\d. At Winchester 

 'opus tabulatum' is purchased, very much at the price of 

 wainscot, and is finally identified with it. On one occasion 

 i594> wainscot is bought by the square ell. But ell and yard 

 had not by this time been distinguished. 



Again, it is bought by the piece. In the first year of the 

 period it is bought at ^d. the piece, these being probably 

 small squares, purchased for repairing old panels. In 1692 

 again, wainscots half an inch thick, are bought at 2s. the 

 piece. So again those of 1599 and 1600, at 8d. and is. jd. t 

 must have been only a foot or half a yard square. 



The principal purchases are for the navy, and the earliest 

 entry for this purpose states that they were 10 feet long. From 

 this year to 1645 there are ten purchases for navy stores, 

 and these exhibit that remarkable rise in the price of all 

 timber which induced in the end, as I believe, a demand for 

 foreign produce. The earliest price is 'js. 7*/., but in 1620, 

 1621, 1623 and 1624, the price oscillates between 6s. &/. and 

 js. In 1625, wainscots are between Sj. and los. ; in 1626, los. ; 

 in 1630, 13^. ; in 1642, us. ; in 1645 and 1688, 2OJ. Thus they 

 arc trebled in price within twenty years. In 1598, pieces vary 

 from is. 6d. to ios.; in 1605, from 3*. %d. to 6s. ; in 161 1, from 



