CHAPTER IX 

 I 540-1 600 



PROGRESS AT LAST.— HOP GROWING. — PROGRESS OF 

 ENCLOSURE.— HARRISON'S 'DESCRIPTION ' 



The period we have now reached was one of steady growth 

 in the value of land and its products. In 1543 Henry VIII, 

 who had given away or squandered, in addition to the great 

 treasure left him by his thrifty father, all the wealth obtained 

 from the dissolution of the monasteries, debased the coinage in 

 order to get more money into his insatiable hands, and prices 

 went up in consequence. But there were other causes : the 

 influx of precious metals from newly discovered America into 

 Europe had commenced to make itself felt, and the population 

 of the country began to grow steadily. Also, it must not be 

 forgotten that the seasons, which in the early part of the 

 century had been normal, were for the next sixty years fre- 

 quently rainy and bad. It is unnecessary to say that this must 

 have largely helped to raise the price of corn. The average 

 price of wheat from 1540-1582 was 135-. 10^^. a quarter; from 

 1583-1702, 395-. o\d. Corn was still subject to extraordinary 

 fluctuations : in 1557, Holinshed says before harvest wheat 

 was 53J. 4d. a quarter, malt 44J. After hai-vest wheat was 5^., 

 malt 6s. Sd., the former prices being due to a terrible drought in 

 England. Oxen in the period 1583-1703 were worth 75^. instead 

 of under ;^i in the period 1 400-1 540. Wool was from gd. to 

 IS. a. lb. instead of about 3^^., and all other farm products in- 

 creased with these.^ Hops were from 1 540-1 582 about 26s. Sd. 

 a cwt., and from 1583-1700, 82J. g^d. In 1574 Reynold Scott 



' See table at end, and Thorold Rogers's prices in Vol. V. of his great 



work. . . 



^^A.^<Jc 



