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Show OF THE \VAGES OF LABOUR. [ CH. I V. ,vheat. If we take an average of the five years preceding 16.51 ,* the period to which the re~ulation ,vould probably fer the tnost part refer; It appears that the price of the quarter of wheat in the Windsor market, deducting t to reduce it to Winchester measure, \vas 3l. 4s. 7 d. t the quarter, \V hich \vould be about 8s. the bushel, and 2s. the peck. At this price of wheat, vvith wages at 14d. the labourer \vould only earn -/2 of a peck, half a peck, and -fz-. In 1661, soon after the accession of Charles I I., 'vages were again regulated by the justices in Essex, at the Easter Sessions, and the price of con11non day-labour during the sumn1er half year, with the exception of harvest ti1ne, was continued at 14d. If \Ve take an average of the price· of \vheat for the five years preceding 1661, as before, it appears that the quarter 'vas 2l. 9s. 3d. This is 6s. 2d. the l)ushel and IB{d. the peck. At this rate the labourer would earn about t of a peck. It is true that the averages of the prices of corn here taken refer to dear times; but the 'vages were appointed just at these titnes : and in the regulations of 1651 it is expressly stated, that they are appointed, " having a special regard and consideration to the prices ~t this time of all kinds of victuals and apparel, both linen and \voollen, and all other neces- • As the regulation passed in April, the year 1651 is not in-cluded in the average. ' t Encyclopredia Brit. Supp. Artie. Corn Laws, wl1ere a table is giren with the~- deducted. SEC. IV.] OF THE WAGES OF LABOUR. 277 sary charges wherewith artificers, labourers and servants have been more grievously charged \Vith than in times past."* If \Ve take an average of the t\venty years from 1646 to 1665 inclusive, \Ve shall find that the price of wheat was rather above than below that of the five years preceding 1661. ,.fhe average price of the quarter of wheat during these twenty years ".ras 2l. lOs. Oi d.'j which is 6s. 3d. the bushel, and nearly 19d. the peck. At this price, with wages at 14d. the labourer for these twenty years \vould hardly be able to earn so much as ! of a peck. After 1665 the price of corn fell, but 'vages seem to have fallen at the san1e tin::te. In 1682 ·wages at Bury in Suffolk were appointed to be 6d. in sutnmer, and Sd. in winter with diet, and double 'vithout. ,.fhis makes the sumn1er 'v-ages Is.; and according to the price of 'vheat in the preceding five years, the labourer who earned a shilling a day, could hardly command so much as{- of a peck of vvheat. The average price of the quarter of wheat frotn 1665 to. 1700 \Vas about 2/. lls. 6d. If we suppose the \Vages of labour during this period to have been about 1 s. the earnings of the labourer \Votdd be about t of a peck of "\\7heat. But there is reason to think that the average wages 'vere not so high as Is. In the regulations of the justices at War\\rick in • Eden's State of the Poor, voJ. iii. p. 98. t Vindsor Table, deducting -&· T 3 |
