530 ON THE PRICE OF BUILDING MATERIALS. 



means by which one can test the accuracy of this inference, 

 for we cannot conceive that it came from any survey. But 

 whatever the extent was, it is certain that during the century 

 the demand on these growths was double at least what it had 

 been in Elizabeth's reign, and that the area of supply had not 

 been increased. 



BRICKS, TILES, SLATES AND CRESTS. Stone, as may be 

 seen from the prices given in the earlier part of this chapter, 

 was by no means scarce or dear at Cambridge, or indeed Eton. 

 But brick, at least from the middle of the sixteenth century, 

 was universally used at Cambridge and Eton. As soon 

 as the surviving Winchester accounts begin, it is as uniformly 

 employed by that corporation for building purposes, at least 

 for domestic use, for stone was almost always used for eccle- 

 siastical purposes, even when it was by no means easily 

 accessible. 



As I mentioned before, vol. iv. p. 729, the brick employed 

 in sixteenth-century buildings was of excellent quality. Brick 

 earth was carefully selected, exposed a long time to the 

 weather, thoroughly mixed, and worked with scrupulous 

 attention. There are many clays, but only some of them yield 

 good brick. The bricks which were employed for old buildings 

 are indestructible by weather, at least those which were 

 employed to face the buildings, for it is plain that various 

 qualities were bought. 



In dealing with these materials, I have found it necessary to 

 keep the information derivable from the Eastern Counties, 

 Eton, Winchester, and other brick-using districts, entirely 

 separate from that part of England in which stone was princi- 

 pally used for building and slate for roofing. Slates were 

 occasionally bought at Cambridge, tiles frequently at Oxford. 

 But the prices, if I interpret one of the measures correctly, are 

 so high for bricks and tiles, that no trustworthy average could 

 be procured from them if I included the occasional Oxford 

 entries in the annual prices. There is indeed one article the 

 cost of which is fairly uniform in all localities, i. e. crests or 



