LABOUR AND WAGES. 649 



6s. for felling trees. In 1597 Oriel College gets the work 

 done at 35. 6d. In 1600, 1601 and 1603 it costs 4?., felling 

 wood in the last year being 6s. In 1605 Oriel College pays 

 5^. i\d. ; in 1606, 6s. ; in 1610, $s. ; in 1611, 6s. ; while cutting 

 timber, generally 6s. t is sometimes 4^. 6d. In 1612 wood- 

 cutting is 5-y. and 6s. ; in 1614, 6s. ; in 1618 and 1619, $s. In 

 1632 felling timber is 8s. ; in 1645, 6s. ; in 1671, 6s. yd. and 6s. ; 

 in 1671, 6s. These are all by the week. 



In 1659 Eton pays the winter wages of 6s. for cutting trees, 

 though I presume that the greater part of the woodman's 

 work was always done during the winter months. In 1691 

 wood-cutting at Oxford is at 8s. a week ; in 1692, Js. 6d. at 

 Halting; and in 1694, 6s. io\d. at the same place. In 1697 

 the Harting rate in January is 6s. 6d. I have found timber 

 felled by the acre in 1595 at 8s., and in 1616 at 13^. 4^., but 

 such a price is necessarily vague unless one knew how large 

 the product was. 



The price of splitting wood by the week varies from 4^. to 

 TS. 6d. An average of ten entries between 1585 and 1699 is 

 5s. 6\d. 



Another estimate of wood-cutting is by the load, or re- 

 puted ton. In 1586, 1587, 1588 Oriel College pays 4^. for 

 this quantity. In 1591 Magdalen College pays 6d. for cut- 

 ting and splitting a load ; in 1593, $d. ; in 1598 and 1599, $\d. 

 From this date I find no entry till 1622, when Oriel College 

 pays is. 8d. a load for cutting, in this case I presume not 

 firewood, but timber. From 1624 till 1635, only one year 

 being missed, the price is i s. ; and here it is certainly firewood. 

 In 1638 King's College pays is. ; and no further entries are 

 found. 



It is not easy to explain this singular rise in price, for it is 

 quite clear that what this College paid ^d. for at the beginning 

 of the time, it had to hire at is. forty years later. 



It is difficult to understand again the record of faggot- 

 making by the hundred. Faggots were certainly very dif- 

 ferent in size, quality and price, as I have noted before in 



