LABOUR AND WAGES. 657 



engages a silversmith to make 245 ounces of plate at is. an 

 ounce, and this I conclude was something more elaborate than 

 ordinary. In 1651 there is a curious entry in the Winchester 

 College account. A silversmith is engaged to work up silver 

 into plate at 6d. an oz., and 'is allowed i\d. an ounce for 

 waste,' which seems to me to be an indirect way of paying him 

 7\d. an ounce for his labour. 



The ordinary manipulation of lead by the plumber on piece- 

 work is entered under three heads. ' Laying ' it by the pound, 

 melting it by the hundredweight, and casting it by the 

 hundredweight. The first and third process appear to me 

 to be the same, and the work to consist in reducing pig-lead 

 or old remelted lead to sheet. Thus in 1583 and 1594 lead 

 is laid at a farthing a pound, in 1666 at a half-penny. These 

 rates of course are 2s. 4d. and 4*. Sd. the cwt. Now in 1609 

 lead is cast at 2s. the cwt. ; in 1611 at 2s. 4d. and 2s. ; in 1624 

 as low as is. icd. In 1635 the price rises to 3^. 4*/., and 

 continues at that rate till 1639, when some is cast at ST., 

 probably pipes, of which hereafter. In 1672 S. John's College, 

 Cambridge pays $s. a hundredweight. In London the charge 

 of casting is less, from 2s. to 3^., as is shown partly by what is 

 actually paid, and partly by the difference between the price 

 of mason's lead and sheet during the last thirty years of the 

 period. 'Melting' lead is priced three times, in 1651, 1653 

 and 1655, at is. $d. t is. $\d. and is. 6d. the cwt, and appears 

 to be half the process. In 1666 the cost of making lead-pipe 

 is set at +d. a pound. Apart from the material then, lead- 

 piping cost a good deal more than twice as much as sheet-lead 

 costs the purchaser. 



In 1658 a painter is paid 2s. 2d. a day. By the yard he 

 gets is. 6d. in 1609. This job probably required nice and 

 careful work, for he only gets Sd. a yard in 1691, and yd. in 

 1699. In 1662 colouring and varnishing wainscot costs <\d. a 

 yard. In 1666 the man who carved the timber in the Eton 

 gallery is employed for 13$ days at 2s. 6d. a day. In 1646 a 

 house-painter gets 2s. a day, and in 1 646 a whitewasher and 

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