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appear incredible, and if the concurrent teſtimony of all the Hiſtorians of thoſe times did not agree in ſuch a fact, we might even doubt the poſſibility of it.
It is no part of my plan to explain the cauſes of theſe extraordinary variations; though thoſe, who are converſant in the early hiſtory of this kingdom, will, probably attribute them to the imperfect ſkill of our anceſtors in huſbandry, to their little preſcience in guarding againſt the inclemencies of ſeaſons, to their improvidence in diſpoſing of their corn at the firſt opportunity, and chiefly, perhaps, to the turbulence of their times, when property had, ſcarcely, any other ſecurity than the perſonal ſtrength of it's poſſeſſor. It is enough for me to have proved, that the difference in the value of money is not to be diſcovered by the comparative prices of wheat.
The price of cattle will neither aſſiſt us much in the preſent ſpeculation;for though this was not in ſo fluctuating a ſtate as that of corn, (owing, perhaps, to the little art which was neceſſary to produce and rear them) yet we cannot rely on the difference of value between a fat ox at the time of the Conqueſt, and a fat ox of our own times: It was then valued at about ſeven or eight ſhillings (of our preſent ſtandard), which would carry the difference of the value of money
