584 PHILOSOPHICAI, TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1775. 



scribed to be one and the same, to show there was no alteration made or intended. 

 And thus, by the laws of assize, from William the Conqueror to the reign of 

 Henry vii, the legal pound weight continued a pound of 12 ounces, raised from 

 32 grains of wheat, and the legal gallon measure invariably to contain 8 of those 

 pounds of wheat, 8 gallons to make a bushel, and 8 bushels a quarter; the 

 bushel therefore contained 64 of those pounds of wheat, and the quarter 512 

 pounds. 



These were the legal weights and measures for common use, during that pe- 

 riod. The first alteration really made therein, was in the 12th year of Henry vii. 

 That the laws of assize were often infringed, is very evident from the frequent 

 complaints, mentioned in Cotton's Abridgment of the Tower Records, against 

 the king's purveyors; particularly in the 14th of Edward iii, for remedy against 

 outrageous takings of purveyors; and in the 45th of Edward iii, that the king 

 should be served by common measure; and in the 3d of Henry 5, that the 

 king's purveyors do take 8 bushels of corn only, to the quarter striked. The 

 general answers to which were, that the statutes should be observed. It appears 

 also, that others infringed the laws of assize. For the statute of 27th of Ed- 

 ward III says, some merchants bought Avoirdupois merchandises by one weight, 

 and sold by another; which plainly implies, they bought by some weight heavier 

 than the legal, and sold by the legal weight which was lighter. The statute 

 therefore, to enforce observance of the laws of assize, only wills and establishes, 

 that there be one weight, one measure, and one yard, through all the land. 

 This can be understood to mean no other than the legal assize, which preceding 

 statutes had enacted. And further, in the reign of Henry vi, we see that 

 buyers of corn, bought by a vessel, called a fat, of Q bushels, which contained 

 72 gallons; and like those merchants before mentioned in the statute of Edward 

 III, we may presume they sold by another measure, the legal quarter of 8 bushels, 

 containing but 64 gallons: for the statute of Qth Henry vi forbids the buying 

 by that vessel, called a fat. The prohibition implies the illegality of the vessel 

 and its use, and implies also the enforcement of the laws of assize. Taking 

 therefore all the several statutes together, in one connected view, those that fix 

 the laws of assize, with those to reform abuses committed against them, we are 

 led to conclude, that those laws of assize continued uniformly one and the same, 

 till Henry vii altered them. Having thus shown by those laws, that the old 

 pound weight was a Saxon pound of 12 ounces, raised from 32 grains of wheat, 

 and was equal only to 5400 of our present Troy grains; and that the measure 

 of capacity was a gallon, to contain 8 of those pounds of wheat, and 8 of those 

 gallons made a bushel : I shall now endeavour, by help of figures, to demon- 

 strate what was the cubical contents both of the gallon and bushel measures. 



We know that the present Troy pound consists of 576oTroy grains, and that 



