RURAL ECONOMY IN YORKSHIRE IN 1641. Ill 



further cuttinge or waste, for that whatsoever joyst or other 

 thinge is made fitte and agreeable to the length of one of them, 

 the same is fitte for all : secondly that they bee seasoned deale, 

 and not greene ; foi* suoh deales as have had a winters seasoninge, 

 as some of them lye oftentimes two or three yeares in the pile 

 before they gette vente for them, such deales (I say) are farre 

 more pi-ofittable and fitter for present use then those newe-deales, 

 which are bought and sold immediately after they be brought 

 over, whiles the shippe that brought them is yett in the haven. 

 For in buyinge of seasoned deale, the buyer cannot be deceived 

 in his size ; besides that to whatsoever use hee putteth them, 

 they will keepe att the inarke, and not shrinke ; then againe for 

 carriage, they are much lighter then newe and greene deale ; 

 for the sixty greene boardes which weare brought in each waine 

 had allmost broken all our waines in comminge of five miles ; 

 and, lastly, such boardes as are (in any sorte) defective, may ere 

 nowe bee discovered. Robert Bonwicke of Wansworth de- 

 maunded for everie deale a pennie, for bringinge them from 

 Hull to Parson-pooles, alledginge that every deale weighed three 

 stone, and that he went pm-posely for them, and had noe other 

 carnage, and that hee was above two dayes and two nights in 

 goinge and comminge : liee would have had the two hundreth to 

 have come just to 20s., l)ut wee gotte him putte of with 13s. 4d. 

 The deales which are piled up are neyther the best, nor the 

 worst, but the middle sorte, and such as are most for table, viz ; 

 12 feete in length and 12 ynches in breadth ; for the narrowest 

 and shortest, and oftentimes the white deale, are sette up on 

 ende against some wall or howse side, and bought att a cheap 

 rate by the half-score or score ; such deales as are exti'aordinary, 

 for eyther length, breadth, or thicknesse, are usually carryed 

 and layd into some chamber, and solde to the jojTiers for mak- 

 inge of tables, joysts, or sealinge worke : the common deales, 

 which they putte in theire piles, may be bought usuaDy for 9d. 

 a deale i. e. U. 10s. the hundreth ; there are deales againe, of 14 

 foote longe and 14 ynches broad, att 12<:/. a peece, and soe 

 up to I8d. and five gi'oates a deale ; but these are extra- 

 ordinary every way. Robert Bonwicke will not (now of late) 

 take under 8c?. the hundreth for bringinge of firr-deales from 

 Hull hither ; hee seldome goeth above once a weeke, unlesse hee 

 unload aboute Parson-pooles/ or that it bee upon some special] 



* Neither my own enquiries, nor those of Mr. Brown, an intelligent local anti- 

 quary, to whom I am indebted for mformation, (especially in the Glossary) have 

 ascertained the position of Parson-pooles. Possiblj- it disappeared at the time some 

 alteration was made in the navigable course of the river Hull. Arthur Jegon, of 

 Wansworth, was second husband of Anne, daughter of Robert (^rompton, of Great 

 Driffield, by his third wife Ceziah, daughter of Walter Strickland, of Boynton. She 



