( 134) 



don in the shallowest. Many cattle and some men and 

 women were overwhelmed in the drifts in the country and 

 lost. It snowed till the 8th, and froze till loth, then 

 followed a thaw with continual rain a long time after, 

 which caused such high waters and great floods that the 

 marshes and low grounds were drowned for the time, 

 and the water of the Thames rose so high into West- 

 minster Hall that after the fall thereof fishes were found 

 to remain in the said Hall (Holinshed). 



1580 Wheat is dearer. In Yorkshire the price is 225. 

 Wheat, 205-.; barley, 14*. 2\d.; oats, 5$.; rye, iSs. 2\d.\ 



beans, I2S. id. ; malt, 14^. ^\d. (Rogers). 



The frost was very intense in England and Denmark 

 Chambers). 



April 6. A great earthquake in most parts of Eng- 

 land (Somerset Magazine, vol. xviii.). 



May i. An earthquake felt in divers parts of Kent 

 (Holinshed}. 



June. Great storms of thunder, lightning, and hail 

 (Holinshed). 



Wonders seen in the air in Wiltshire and Somerset- 

 shire (Holinshed). 



October 8. Immediately after the new moon there 

 appeared a blazing star, which was nightly seen more 

 than two months (Holinshed). 



Great famine in Ireland about this time. People 

 driven to eat horses, dogs, and dead carrions, and also 

 the carcases of dead men (Holinshed; John Hooker). 



1581 Wheat is iyj. 6d. at Cambridge; 14.$-. nf^. at Pem- 

 broke ; but higher in Yorkshire. 



Wheat, 2is. 5^. ; oats, 6s. 4\d.- } rye, 2os. - } beans, 

 i2s. Sd. ; peas, los. 8d. ; malt, 13^. 2\d. per qr. (Rogers). 



Unskilled labour, 8d. per day. Carpenter, \2\d. per 

 day (Rogers). 



Great hailstorm at Dogdean. Hailstones fell as big as 

 a child's fist of three or four years old (Aubrey). 



