184 Slaney on Rural Expenditure. 



result, to which my own reading has led me. It is the party 

 attempt of a man accustomed to different studies ; and one 

 can neither pardon the presumption of obtruding such a 

 slovenly performance on a subject where the utmost diligence 

 was required, nor the affectation with which he apologizes 

 for ' descending from the dignity of philosophy.' (Hallam 

 vol. ii. p. 17. note, 4to edit.) This is plain and strong censure ; 

 but, as far as our reading goes, it is by no means unmerited. 



Mr. Hallam remarks that within these few years " a very 

 laudable industry has been shown by antiquaries, in the pub- 

 lication of account-books belonging to private persons, 

 registers of expences in current returns of markets, valuations 

 of goods, tavern bills, and in short every document, however 

 trifling itself, by which this important subject can be 

 illustrated." 



In applying such a table to an illustrative comparison of 

 the condition of the labourers, and of other classes, at different 

 periods, we ought to attend to one special caution. If we 

 estimate the changes in the value of money by its command 

 over the few articles required by the labourer, we shall find 

 its actual depi-eciation much greater than they would prove 

 to be if estimated by its command over the various articles 

 purchased by those in a higher rank of life. A rise of 50 

 per cent in corn and meal is of comparatively little con- 

 sequence to a man who spends only one tenth of his income 

 on these articles ; whereas it is of infinite moment to the 

 labourer, three fourths of whose wages are laid out on them. 

 The same table, therefore, when applied to the expenditure 

 of the rich, may point out a depreciation in the real value of 

 money, only to the amount of 1 5 or 20 per cent ; whereas, 

 when applied to the expenditure of the poor, it may prove a 

 depreciation of 50, 60, or 70 per cent. 



The following is the result of Mr. Hallam's " endeavour 

 at a sort of approximation of the value of money for the 

 thirteenth and fifteenth centuries. In the reigns of Henry III. 

 and Edward I., previously to the first debasement of the 

 coin by the latter in 1301, the ordinary price of a quarter 

 of wheat appears to have been about four shillings, and 

 that of barley and oats in proportion. A sheep was rather sold 

 high at a shilling, and an ox might be reckoned at ten or 

 twelve. The value of cattle, is of course dependant upon 

 their breed and condition, and we have unluckily no early 

 account of butchers' meat; but we can hardly take a less 

 multiple than about thirty for animal food, and eighteen or 

 twenty for corn, in order to bring the prices combining the 



