604 ON THE PRICE OF PAPER, ETC. 



Southampton in 1668, and Portsmouth in 1672, the entry in 

 the latter case being that it was of ' all kinds.' The quantities 

 bought, especially at Chatham, are occasionally very large. 



The Government did not always buy rope. It occasionally 

 purchased hemp, but at very various prices. In 1647 it gave 

 ^25 the ton ; in 1664 Riga hemp is 8, Russia 10 the ton. 

 In 1672 Rhine hemp is bought at 35. In 1686 and 1687 the 

 article costs 18 and 20. Most of these entries are from the 

 papers of Pepys, the well-known Secretary to the Admiralty 

 under Charles and James. In 1698 it cost 2oj. Pepys informs 

 us that rope-makers got from is. $d. to is. 4d. a day in the 

 dockyards, and the rates of payment are for the winter of 

 1663. 



Since writing the above I have discovered, by searching in 

 the Gough catalogue in the Bodleian Library, a manuscript 

 volume of the accounts (apparently rendered to Parliament in 

 consideration of sums voted for the repair of Westminster 

 Abbey under the superintendence of Sir Christopher Wren) 

 between the years 1697-1702 inclusive, and onwards. Among 

 the particulars of expenditure, copied apparently from the 

 tradesmen's bills of the time, and each receipted in the book 

 by the tradesman who supplies goods and labour, are certain 

 entries of rope. 



From this record it is clear that at least three kinds of rope 

 were used in trade. There was a quality of from %d. to 6d. a 

 pound, which seems to have been used when the strongest 

 article was needed. There is another at 5^-> which is used for 

 cranes ; and a third, which is employed for binding scaffold- 

 poles, at from $d. to 4\d. the Ib. The parties responsible 

 for the building bought it, and the rise in the price of this 

 inferior rope seems to me to indicate that it was not found 

 very safe, as the prices of the better kinds decline. 



The account is audited by Wren and the Dean and Chapter. 

 The money granted by Parliament was not large (some of it 

 came from the coal dues), and was, it is clear, carefully spent. 

 The volume, Gough West MSS. i, is quite worthy the attention 



