558 A, D. 1363. 



individual. Plougbmen and others employed in country work, and 

 people not pollelling property to the value of 40/", were to clothe them- 

 ielves in blanket and ruflet lawn. Servants of lords, tradefmen, and 

 artifl^ns, were allowed cloth of the value of £1 : 6 : S per piece. Arti- 

 ficers and yeomen might give £2 for their piece of cloth. Gentlemen 

 having /^loo a-year, and merchants and tradefmen worth ^500 of clear 

 property, might wear cloth of ^3 per piece. Gentlemen having ^200 

 a-year, and people in trade worth above /^i ,000, were only intitled to 

 cloth of £^ : 6 : 8. But knights having 200 marks of income might be- 

 ftovv £4. for their piece of cloth : and thofe having above 400 marks 

 a-year might wear whatever they chofe, except ermine. The clergy 

 were to have their cloth equal to that of the laity of the fame income. 

 And all women were to drefs in proportion to the incomes of their 

 hufbands, fathers, &c. But it would be too tedious to go into the mi- 

 nutiffi of thefe fhort-lived and futile regulations, efpecially thofe for the 

 drefTes and trinkets of the women. We learn by them, that veils were 

 •worn, even by the wives and daughters of fervants, who were not al- 

 lowed to give more than twelve pennies for them. [Stat. 37 EJiv. Ill, 

 cc. 8-14.] We are told that the plunder brought from France furnifhed 

 the materials of a great part of the extravagance now complained of, 

 and an infectious example for the reft of it. \JValftngham, p. 168.] 



Thefe regulations were immediately followed by another, worthy to 

 accompany them. The clothiers were ordered to make a fufficient 

 quantity of cloth of the feveral prices required ; and the ftiopkeepers were 

 ordered to provide a proper ftock of them to fupply the demand. [Slat. 

 37 Edw. Ill, c. 15.] This law, however, feems to infer, that there was 

 now a fufficient quantity of cloth made in England to fupply every 

 confumer, except thofe of the higheft clafles, whofe number being 

 fmall, their confumption of foreign-made cloth could have no influence 

 in depreffing the home manufadure. 



This year the king commanded, that no man fhould export cloth, 

 butter, cheefe, flieep, malt, or beer. But the German merchants might 

 export worfteds and ftreight cloths, and thofe of Gafcoigne might carry 

 woollen cloths to the value of the wines imported by them. [Cotton's 

 Ahridgenmit , p. 96.] In the following year feveral licences were grant- 

 ed for exporting cloths ; and the merchants of Bofton, in particular, 

 were allowed to export wooled, fliort, and ftreight (perluaps narrow), 

 cloths*. \Rot. pat. prim, ■^'i Edw. Ill, mm. i, 2, 5, 17.] From theie 

 prohibitions and limited permiftions it may be inferred, that Englifti 

 cloth was already in great demand abroad. Probably the quantity made 

 in Flanders was now diminiflicd in confequence of more Englifti wool 

 being worked up at home than formerly. 



a • • Paiinos lanutos, curtos, et ftrI£lo9.' 



