some cases it rose to six. The differences in the prices of bacon in England and Virginia were not so marked, five pence a pound being its value in the latter country in 1677, while in the former it sold not infrequently for seven.[1]
In England, the price of butter fluctuated very much in the seventeenth century. During the course of the first thirty years, it rose very steadily; then, with the exception of the interval between 1643 and 1652, when it was very dear, it declined during thirty years, then rose in price again, until in the last decade it was rated at a very high figure.[2] In 1600, it commanded five pence and one-seventh of a penny a pound, or four shillings eight and a half pennies a dozen pounds; in 1650, six pence and five-twelfths of a penny a pound, or six shillings and five pence a dozen pounds; in 1700, at seven pence a pound, or seven shillings a dozen pounds.[3] In 1642, butter was sold in the Colony at eight pence a pound;[4] in 1667, when food was dear, at six pence in winter and at five in summer.[5] By the end of the century, it had sunk to still lower figures. The same fact is observed in regard to butter as in the case of other forms of food, that is to say, it grew dearer in England as the century advanced and cheaper in Virginia. The rates for milk in 1677, the only year in which a record of its value exists, were two pence in winter and one penny in summer, adopting the quart as the standard of measurement. The only reference to the price of this article in England
- ↑ Rogers’ History of Agriculture and Prices in England, vol. V, price of beef and veal, pp. 334, 388; pork and bacon, p. 343.
- ↑ Ibid., p. 358.
- ↑ Ibid., pp. 373-378.
- ↑ Hening’s Statutes, vol. I, p. 281.
- ↑ Acts of Assembly, Feb. 20, 29th year Charles II Reign, Winder Papers, vol. II, p. 99, Va. State Library.
