Gold, Silver and the ( >ia<je of the Silver Dollar. . 291 



In the year 1363, a statute of Edward III, of England, provided 

 that no man shall give To a parish priest more than ten pounds a year, 

 or else his board and lodging and four pounds a year. 



By this it seems that the yearly board and lodging of a parish priest 

 was counted at six pounds. At that date the pound sterling contained 

 about twice and one-third the weight of silver it now contains, which 

 would make the salary of the parish priest equal £23, or $116 of present 

 currency; and his annual hoard about $70. 



Bishop Fleetwood, speaking of the year 1439, claims that a clergyman 

 could maintain himself respectably for ten pounds a year. This sum, 

 as the coinage stood at that date, is equal to a little less than $100, gold 

 value of to-day. If rendered into the equivalent of silver bullion, it is 

 only $75. 



In 1470, English cruisers seized seven Spanish ships loaded with 

 merchandise for Flanders. Their owners demanded redress of the 

 king, and presented a sworn statement of the burden and value of the 

 ships, including their stores and provisions. The list makes the aver- 

 age tonnage of the seven ships something over ninety-five tons each, 

 and their value £114 each, which would be equivalent to £175 of 

 the present currency of Great Britain, or $875 each ship. We may 

 feel reasonably assured that, under the circumstances, the owners did 

 not intend to undervalue the ships.* 



The English statutes, in early times, fixed the price of labor and of 

 staple commodities. "In 1352 it was provided that in hay-making 

 none should pay above one penny a day, and that for threshing of one 

 quarter of wheat or rye, none should pay above 2d a day; and for 

 threshing of a quarter of oats, barley, peas and beans, about^l l-2d; 



day; a master-freemason but 4rf, a tyler 3d; but either of their servants 

 a penny half-penny. All this in summer-time, for in winter, wages less- 

 ened, and without meat or drink, or^ any other ^courtesie^ ^ n ^ n ^jj e 



bushel ten pence, or wheat, at the will of the giver.' 



"In the twelfth year of Richard II (1389), these rates did still 



