738 SUNDRIES. 



2s. 4d. each ; 8,666 pikes at 4^. 6d. ; 260 partisans at los. ; 780 

 halberts at Ss. ; and 520 drums at 25^. 



The horsemen are to have 1,960 pairs of pistols, at iSs. a 

 pair ; 1.960 pairs of holsters, at 5-r. ; and 1,960 suits of back and 

 breast armour, at 50^. a set. 



The dragoons are to have 1,920 snaphance muskets, with 

 belts and swivels, and the cost is to be 2os. each. 



In 1674 brass blunderbuses cost 30^. each ; musquetoons, 

 iSs. ; snaphance muskets, 12s. ; pistols are at I2s. the pair, 

 and a captain's pair is 22s. 



In 1678 Winchester College buys arms; seven muskets at 

 135.4^., a carbine at 12^., a caliver at I2s., five sets of ban- 

 diliers at 2s. 6d. } and five pairs of pistols, two pairs of holsters 

 and bags for 77^. In 1694 a new birding-gun is bought in 

 London for %cs. 



It may be convenient at this point to refer to some pur- 

 chases for navy stores and artillery which have been found. 

 Gunpowder is found by the pound (which I have as usual put 

 into the form of a dozen), by the hundredweight, and by the 

 barrel. The first of these is for private consumption, the 

 second is purchases in view of the Spanish expedition. For 

 a long time, and until saltpetre was imported from India, it 

 was difficult to obtain the materials for gunpowder, and the 

 grievance caused by the intrusion of the saltpetre men is 

 familiar to the students of seventeenth-century events. 



Gunpowder is from 8d. to 2s. the pound. But the first 

 price is in 1589, after the risks from Spain were at least 

 temporarily over, and the second is just at the outbreak of the 

 Civil War. The average price of fifteen entries is a fraction 

 over I4s. $\d. the dozen pounds, or about 6 $s. the cwt. 

 Of course in small quantities gunpowder would naturally be 

 much dearer than in bulk. The purchases by the cwt. are all 

 made in view of the Spanish Armada, and have been referred 

 to above. Those by the- barrel are in large quantities for 

 navy stores in 1653 and 1654. In the first year they are at 

 79^. 6d. the barrel. In the second three prices are given, two 



