vi PREFACE. 



ulated figures exactly as they stood ; the other u 

 to supplement them as far as possible by further research 

 of my own, with the ultimate object of \\ntinLC some 

 commentary on the figures, which though it could not 

 possibly compare with the preceding volumes, might yet 

 elucidate certain points, and assist other students to 

 make profitable use of the great collection of historical 

 material that these volumes contain. The former course 

 would have had the advantage of giving the public the 

 benefit of my father's work at once. But on considera- 

 tiii it seemed that this book if of any value at all 

 would probably be of use for some time to come, and 

 that therefore a few years' delay in publication would 

 be of little consequence, if in the meantime the tables 

 of prices could be even approximately completed. Steps 

 were at once taken to discover whether any unpublished 

 manuscripts existed, from which a few prices might be 

 gleaned that would supply information for the vacant 

 period* After a few months of disappointment or, at 

 best, scanty results I had the good fortune to light 

 upon a collection of prices which fulfilled exactly all the 

 conditions that were required. 



In the earlier volumes of the History of Agriculture 

 and Prices the information was drawn, as is well known, 

 chiefly from the domestic accounts of certain Oxford 

 colleges, supplemented from the books of other founda- 

 tions. For the later periods, however, these records 

 become scarcer ; and although much was collected from 

 the account books of private persons, deposited in the 

 British Museum and elsewhere, it was found that more in- 

 formation could be obtained from published prints, such as 

 those of Houghton. Private records eventually become 

 extremely rare, while many newspapers of the eighteenth 



