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truth, even at this day. But I ſhall, preſently, enter a little more largely on this ſubject.
As I have quoted Fleetwood on the ſubject of a labourer's pay in 1351, I muſt take ſome notice of an inference which he draws from Ingulphus (who wrote in the time of the Conqueror), and which implies a contradiction to the quotation above mentioned. The inference is, that the daily pay at the time of the Conqueror was three halfpence, which was equal to four pence halfpenny of our money
He ſays, at page 124 of the Chronicon, from Ingulphus, "that all the men of Croyland, who will have any turf out of the Abbot's marſh, muſt either work a day's work, or give three halfpence for one to cut turves for Croyland Court." This would render the ſmall pay of 1351 incredible: but the paſſage ſeems to be careleſsly underftood by Fleetwood, for it appears in the original, that theſe three halfpences were a fine or penalty upon the Tenants of the Abbey, for non-performance of their duty, and not a compoſition for others to do it for them; and, probably, the fine was ſo heavy, that it was ſeldom or never incurred, Beſides, the Abbot himſelf was to receive two thirds of it, and the other part was allotted to increaſe the maintenance of the Chaplains of the Monks. This
