CHAP. xii. ENTERTAINMENTS. 333 



fat hog of two years old, 10^.; a fat wether sheep 

 unshorn at 5s., if shorn, at 3*. 6d. ; a fat goose 

 for 7| d. ; a capon, 6d. ; 24 eggs at 3d. ! 



In the year 1336, every article of food fell 

 to a very low price, a circumstance attributed 

 by Knighton and by Fabian, two contemporary 

 writers, to the king, Edward III., having collected 

 together all the coin of the kingdom to carry on 

 his hostile operations against France and Scot- 

 land. He seized on all the money belonging to 

 the Lombards in England, and on all the pro- 

 perty of the alien priories. He also borrowed, 

 though not till the following years, all the gold 

 and silver plate, even gold cups set with jewels, 

 giving his written acknowledgment to pay for 

 the same as therein valued. These valuations 

 are a proof that a pound in money was a pound 

 weight of twelve ounces of silver, no gold 

 being then coined \ for in the valuations, very 

 little allowance is made for the fashion unless 

 for the precious stones that were set in the 

 plate. Some of these pieces being old and bat- 

 tered, are said to be " ponderis et pretii sex 

 librarum" of the weight and value of six 

 pounds 2 . 



The low prices of 1336, according to the 

 Chronicon, were for wheat 6$. per quarter ; an 



1 Rymer's Foedera, vol. iv. p. 510. 



2 Fcedera, vol. v. p. 39. 



