LINEN. 559 



a yard to 30^. The fashion of costly dress for men as well as 

 women progressed greatly during the seventeenth century, 

 and most probably the demand for lace trimming greatly 

 raised the price. 



Two kinds of napkins, one for the use of the fellows and 

 another for the head of the College, are regularly purchased. 

 The ordinary kind varies but little in price, but slowly rises, 

 till we come to the generally dear period 1643-72, when a 

 considerable increase may be noted. During the last thirty 

 years common napkins are cheaper again. They are almost 

 invariably bought by the dozen. Though there is not over 

 the whole period a much more marked rise in the superior 

 napkins than there is in ordinary articles, they are occasionally 

 very dear, perhaps, as Antony Wood suggests, because the 

 warden or* provost's wife whom he evidently considers a 

 noxious introduction to academical life pressed the College 

 to supply her with more expensive appointments. The high- 

 priced article of 1679 was purchased for the Master's lodge at 

 S. John's College, Cambridge. 



There are also purchases of table linen, not by ell or yard, 

 or by the article, as table-cloths, cupboard-cloths, towels long 

 and round, sheets, &c., which might be analysed by comparison 

 with known quantities generally required for such conveniences. 



In 1650 and in 1651 Bering buys kandkerchiefs at 19^. and 

 21 s. the dozen, but no statement is made as to the material of 

 which they were composed, or the object for which they were 

 purchased. 



Besides these entries of linen for domestic use, I have 

 collected from certain navy accounts the price of ship's canvas 

 of various kinds between 1599 anc * 1( ^47- There are four 

 kinds purchased in bulk, one a home product, which is always 

 purchased, called Ipswich canvas, and by the bale. The other 

 three appear to be foreign, Noyales, Danske, and Vittery. The 

 former is always bought by the bale, but in the year 1630 it 

 is purchased by the bolt and the yard ; the latter occasionally 

 by the bale, more frequently by the yard. Danske Poldavies 



