LON 
d. 
4 
3 
3 
to 
6 
6 
The heft coney, with the {kin, at - - o 
One ditto, without the fkin, - - - o 
The heft hare, without the fkin, at - o 
The beft kid, from Chriftmas to Lent - o 
Ditto, at other times of the year - - o 
The beft lamb, from Chriftmas to Lent - o 
Ditto, at other times of the year - -040 
It was alfo ordained, “ That no huckfter of fifti, (or 
fifhmonger,) who fells fifti again toothers, go out to meet 
thofe that bring or carry fifti to the city, to make a fore- 
fra 11 thence ; nor have any partnerfhip with a ftranger 
who brings fifti from fea to the city; but let them feek 
for fifti in their own (hips, and permit foreigners to bring 
it, and to fell when they are come, in their own (hips ; 
becaufe, by fuch partnerfhip, they who are of the city, and 
have known the (late of the city, and the defect of vic¬ 
tuals, will hold the fifh at a greater dearnefs than fo¬ 
reigners, who fliall not have known it ; and alfo, that they 
who are of the city, when they cannot fell as they will, 
lay it up in cellars, and fell dearer than the ftrangers 
would do, if they came without partnerfhip, and knew 
not where they might be harboured ; nor let them buy 
any thing in the city, until the king’s fervants, See. have 
bought, and not before three o’clock. Anil, if they who have 
brought fifh fliall come after three o’clock, let them not fell 
that day, but let them fell on the morrow morning. And, 
if they expeft more, let the fifti be taken into the lord the 
king’s hands; and let them keep no fifti, except fait fifh, 
beyond the fecond day of their coming ; which if it fliall 
happen to be found, let them lofe their fifh, and be at the 
mercy of the lord the king [to fine them]. And thus let 
the huckfter of fifti buy, that they afford, 
s. 
The beft plaife, at - - - o 
The beft ibles, the dozen, at - - - o 
The beft frefti mulvel, at • - o 
The beft fait mulvel, at - - - o 
The beft haddock, at - - o 
The beft barkey, at - - - o 
The beft mullet, at - - - o 
The beft conger, at - - 1 
The beft turbet, at - - - - o 
The beft dorac, at - - - o 
The belt bran, ftird, and betule, at - - o 
The beft mackarel, in Lent, at - o 
Ditto, out of Lent, at - * o 
The beft gurnard, at - - - o 
The heft frefh merlings, four for - - o 
The beft powdered ditto, twelve for - o 
The beft pickled herrings,twenty for - o 
The beft frefh herrings, before Michaelmas, fix for o 
- o 
- o 
Ditto, after ditto, twelve for 
The beft Thames or Severn lamprey, at 
The beft Buge ftock-fifli, at 
The beft Mulvil ftock-fifh, at - 
The beft croplings, three for - - 
The beft freth oylters, a gallon for 
The beft frefh falmon, from Chriftmas to Eafter 
Ditto, after ditto, at - 
A piece of rumb, grofs and fat, at 
The beft new pickled balenes, the pound 
Ditto, of the preceding year, the pound, at 
The beft fea hog, at - - 
The beft eels, a ftrike, or aquarter of an hundred 
The beft lampreys, in winter, the hundred, at 
Ditto, at other times, the hundred, at 
The belt fmelts, the hundred, at 
The beft roche, in fummer, at 
Ditto, at other times - - - - 
The beft lucy, at - ... 
The beft lamprey of Nauntes, at firft 
Ditto, a month after, at 
The Thames or Severn ditto, towards Eafter, at 
W 
Vot. 
have irvferted the whole 
XIII. No. 882 . 
of this curious tariff, 
?• 
2 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
2 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
3 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
2 
o 
in 
D O N. <5i 
order that the reader may judge of the difference which 
an influx of gold, filver, and brafs, and laftly the immenfe 
fums iffued in paper-money, have created in the price of 
provifions fince the reign of Edward I. but he muft recol¬ 
lect at the fame time, that a day's labour was paid in pro¬ 
portion, which was about two-pence, the ufual price for 
a nice chicken ; a proportion which hasexifted ever fince 
to this day, when a chicken cofts between four and five 
flnilings, the film which a journeyman receives in general 
for his day’s labour. 
In 1284, Lawrence Ducket, a goldfmith, having wound¬ 
ed Ralph Crepin, in Cheapfide, then called Weft-cheap, 
took fanftuary in Bow-church ftecple ; Crepin’s friends 
furprifed him in the night, and hanged him fo artfully in 
one of the window s, that the coroner’s inqueft gave their 
verdift felo de fe, and ordered the body to be drawn by 
the feet, and buried in a ditch without the city. How¬ 
ever, a boy, who lay with Ducket that night, and had con¬ 
cealed himfelf during this barbarous aft ion, at laft gave 
information againft the murderers. Many were appre¬ 
hended, of whom fixteen were hanged ; and a woman, 
the contriver of the murder, was burnt alive: other per- 
fons of diftinftion concerned therein were amerced in pe¬ 
cuniary fines; and the difgraced body was taken up, and 
buried decently. 
The following year was remarkable for the divifion of 
the city into twenty-four wards, or diftrifts ; each ward 
retaining the right to choofe their own alderman, and 
certain of the inhabitants to be of council to them. Thefe 
regulations did not prevent the Londoners from indulg¬ 
ing themfelves in riots and robberies, or even in commit¬ 
ting atrocious murders, to fuch a degree, that it occa- 
lioned a ftatute enjoining that “ none be found in the 
ltreets, either with fpear or buckler, after the curfeu-bell 
of the parfon of St. Martin’s le Grand rings out, except 
they be great lords and other perfons of note; alfo that 
no tavern, either for wine or ale, be kept open after that 
bell rings out, on forfeiture of forty pence ; nor any fenc- 
ing-fchool be kept in the city, or non-freeman be refident 
therein.” 
The reign of Edward II. was marked with ftrong fea¬ 
tures of feverity againft London from the beginning ; yet 
the good city often gave this monarch fubftantial marks 
of attachment and loyalty, by paying his debts and lend¬ 
ing him money. At this period, 1315, a great fca.rcity 
of provifions took place; and a famine fo dreadful'fol¬ 
lowed, that, according to Stow and Speed, parents ate 
their own children, and malefactors devoured each other 
in prifon; and this was, in the common courfe of nature, 
accompanied by fuch a peftilence and mortality, that the 
living were fcarcely fufficient to bury the dead. The bo- 
fom of the city was torn by diffenfions at the latter end 
of this reign; and thefe broils ended in the resignation of 
the king, and the murder of the Spencers his favourites ; 
the head of the younger of whom was fent to London, 
where it was received with brutal triumph, and ftuck 
upon the bridge. In fpite of thefe horrid commotions, 
commerce ftiil flourilhed ; and the increafe of ,gold and 
filver in England, as well as the decline of the feudal lyf- 
tem, are evident proof of its influence every where, but 
efpecially upon the city. 
King Edward III. on the commencement of his reign, 
granted to the city two charters ;'by the firft, all the anci¬ 
ent privileges were confirmed and additional ones bellow¬ 
ed ; by the other, the village of Southwark was granted 
to the citizens in perpetuity. In 1348, the terrible pefti¬ 
lence, which, breaking out in -India, fpread itfelf weft- 
ward through every country on the globe, reached England. 
Its ravages in London were fo great, that the common 
cemeteries were not fufficiently capacious for the inter¬ 
ment of the dead; and various pieces of ground without 
the walls were affigned for burial-places; amongft thefe 
was the wafte land now forming the precindt of the Char- 
ter-houfe, where upwards of 50,000 bodies were then de- 
pofited. This deftrucrive diforder did not entirely fubfide 
S till 
Z 5 
