(49) 



weather and softness in the air that you would have said 

 it was the pleasant time of summer rather than winter 

 (M. of W.). 



Corn of all kinds cheap. Wheat, $s. $d. per qr. ; oats, 

 2S. o\d. (.Rogers). 



About the time of the Purification of the Virgin, when 

 there ought to have been fine spring weather, there was a 

 continuance of snow and frost for a fortnight, that no 

 one for many years had seen such a contrariety of seasons 

 and weather. On July 27th, a most violent thunder- 

 storm, attended with flashes of lightning, alarmed the 

 north country, and a thunderbolt falling at Evesham 

 greatly damaged the church (M. of W.). 



1262 Wheat, 6s. -id. per qr. ; barley, 3^. zd. ; oats, is. 8^. ; 

 rye, 35. 8</. (Rogers}. 



The frost began about St. Nicholas' Day (December 6) 

 and continued for the space of a month and more so 

 extremely that the Thames was frozen so that men passed 

 over on horseback (Holinshed). 



After England had been now for six years and more 

 oppressed by a general failure of the crops, at last, in this 

 present year, the earth recovered its fertility, and a joyful 

 and fertile time returned to the productive fields. About 

 the time of the Feast of St. Andrew the Apostle there 

 was a violent storm of wind, which threw down not only 

 houses and trees but also towers, whether built of wood 

 or stone, including the church of Croyland, which over- 

 whelmed five men who were standing under it (M. of W.). 



1263 A great dearth by reason of the wet harvest preced- 

 ing, so that the corn was quite marred and corrupted 

 before it could be got beside the ground (Holinshed). 



Wheat, $s. n|^. ; barley, 35-. 6|^. ; oats, is. %d. ; peas, 

 $s. ; vetches, 3-f. per qr. (Rogers). 



July 29. A very marvellous and wonderful prodigy 

 appeared in the firmament about midnight in the direc- 

 tion of the north (M. of IV.). 



E 



