ARMY AND NAVY STORES. 739 



from the accounts, ygs. 6d. and 75^., the third from Pepys' 

 papers, who gives a price of 72*. 6d. for this year, when he is 

 comparing the cost of the navy during the Commonwealth 

 with that after the Restoration. The worthy secretary says 

 nothing about the comparative efficiency during the two 

 periods, or of the comparative capacity of Blake and Herbert. 

 In 1674 and 1675 Duxbury sells powder at from $$s. to 58^. 

 the barrel. 



I have found one entry only of saltpetre by the ton. It is 

 ;ioo in 1653. I have found it by the pound in 1684 at is. 6d. t 

 i.e. a little dearer than gunpowder at the same date. The 

 purchase is made in London. 



Brimstone, generally in the form of meal, is bought by the 

 cwt. and the ton for the manufacture of powder. Its price 

 varies very considerably, even in the same year. The navy 

 accounts which I have seen are in the Bodleian, and are 

 probably part of the Pepys papers. Of course, after they had 

 been audited, there was no further interest in them. Pepys 

 however had a whim for collecting papers, and Rawlinson a 

 whim for buying them. I am under great obligations to 

 both. 



Brimstone is found from 1599 to 1672. The price oscillates 

 between 19 and ^28 the ton. The highest prices are found 

 in time of war, or in preparation for war ; as in 1621, when the 

 country was anxious to assist the unlucky King of Bohemia ; 

 in 1626, when it was actually, though in a poor way, at war; 

 and in 1642 and 1645, when it was at war on a considerable 

 scale. The average price of thirteen entries by the ton is 

 23 Ss. 



Tar, purchased for naval purposes, is sold by the last of 

 fourteen barrels. An average taken from nineteen entries 

 between 1600 and 1687 is 9 12s. $d. .The price is lowest, 6 

 the last, in 1687, and highest in 1627, when it is 12. Pitch 

 is also bought by the last, and by two kinds of barrels, great 

 and small band, the latter being about half the price of the 

 former. The last of pitch varies between 6, when I suspect 



