APPENDIX, No. IV. 33 



that tliey may buy and fell dyed cloth, as they ivere luotit to 

 do in the time of King Henry the Fir ft *. We fhall by and 

 by have occafion to lliew that this muft have been Britifli 

 made, and not foreign cloth ; Co that the manufaflure was 

 not only of old {landing, but extremely extenfive in the 

 days of Henry I. Other notices to the fame purport oc- 

 cur. 



«' ^nfio 1225. The weavers of Oxford pay a cafk of wine, 

 that they may have the fame privileges that they enjoyed in 

 the days of King Richard and King John f ." 



The extent of the woollen manufacture in England, at 

 t^ie period of which we now treat, may be gathered from 

 other circumftances. The bufincfs of dying, as has been 

 already obferved, was then a diftindt and honourable em- 

 ployment ; and though we fhall have occafion to fhow that 

 cloth was then dyed of many colours, yet blue muft have 

 been one of the chief colours, and nvoadj as being the 

 only blue dye in thofe days. In great requeft. So great 

 was the demand for this article, that, though Britain was 

 at all times noted for its culture. It became necefTary to Im- 

 port woad from foreign parts ; and we find the following 

 fums accounted for by fundrles, as the citjioms paid for woad 

 imported in the year 12*3. That the reader may be able, 

 without trouble, to form an idea of the value of thefe fums 

 in thofe days, two additional columns are made 5 the firft de- 

 notes the prefent value of the filver actually contained in 

 the refpedtive fums, if eilimated at the fame price per ounce 

 It would fell for at prefent \ and the other the comparative 

 ^ alue of the fame fum at the time, according to the eftimate 

 of Mr Hume and others. 



E Customs 



* Mad. Hift. Exch. p. i86. f 11^- P- »S6. 



