792 ON PRICES GENERALLY BETWEEN 1583 AND 1702. 



and is probably to be explained on the ground that during the 

 seventeenth century great progress was made with the domestic 

 manufacture of woollens. I have found that it would not be 

 possible to draw a safe comparison between those epochs, ex- 

 cept in the same material. This is supplied by the choristers' 

 cloth purchased for their use by King's College, Cambridge. 



Choristers'cloth, doz. 



I will now take the facts connected with wages. There 

 are thirteen which may be compared at the three different 

 epochs, and are by the week. 



This table of wages, and the increases derived from them, 

 require some explanations. Three of the rates of wages by 

 the week are in the second column slightly, in the third 

 largely, affected by London wages. These are the 8th, 9th, 

 and icth. Had I taken the highest rate at which the mason 

 is paid, the same result would have been exhibited in the 

 weekly wages of this artisan. But in the earlier period, i.e. 

 from 1541 to 1582, the averages of wages are derived from 

 London as well as from other prices. As a matter of fact, 

 when country work is hired, wages, from 1583 up to 1642, 

 are almost invariably %d. for agricultural hands and masons' 



