(63 ) 



some time after such a crop as was gathered had been 

 housed, the extent of the calamity was not known. The 

 price, though high, was not excessive till some time after 

 Christmas. About the beginning of February following 

 the real state of affairs becomes manifest. The highest 

 price recorded for wheat is 26s. %d. at Leatherhead. 

 Barley is proportionately higher than wheat. Rye 

 almost reaches the price of wheat; and seed oats are 

 exceedingly dear; and beans, peas, and vetches are as 

 deficient as other kinds of grain. Altogether the crop of 

 this year must have been a total failure ; and at no time 

 in English history has a dearth of such magnitude occurred 

 as at that immediately before us. Incessant rain during 

 the whole summer. 



Wheat, 14^. io|-^. ; barley, i$s. id. ; oats, 4$. io\d. ; 

 beans, i2s. Sd. ; peas, us. 2\d. per qr. 



A comet. Vetches, 13^.; rye, us. n%d. ; malt, j^s. 

 per qr. (Rogers). 



Wool, 95. 4tf. per tod ; fleeces, i Ib. of oz. at Heyford 

 (Rogers). 



Before Christmas a blazing star or comet appeared in 

 the north part of the element by the space of a month 

 together, and after followed dearth and death. This year 

 there fell exceeding great rain, and abundance of wet in 

 July and August that the husbandmen of the country 

 could not get in that small crop which then stood on the 

 ground, and that which they inned yielded not the hoped 

 quantity as when it came to the thrashing well appeared 

 (Holinshed). 



A bushel of wheat sold for from $s. 4^. to 4s. ; a quarter 

 of beans, 245. ; and a bushel of coarse salt, 45. Sd. The 

 mortality among the poor was dreadful, and pestilence 

 among cattle prevailed for years. At least 164 head of 

 cattle died on Newenham Abbey Farm. The animals 

 were suddenly seized with excruciating pain, and falling 

 down expired immediately (Pulmari). 



