Statutes of the Realm, vol. i. p. 262.

"Item. Whereas before this time a horseman was wont to have his passage of the sea at the port of Dover for two shillings, and a man afoot for sixpence, and now of late have the guardians of passage and passagemen taken more, to the great damage of the people; so it is agreed that in the said port and all others, and also in all the other passages of the land, so well in fresh waters as in arms of the sea, the passengers shall pay henceforth as anciently they were wont, and more they shall not be charged, nor shall the passagemen nor guardians of the passages take any more."

The present steam-packet fares between Dover and Calais are, chief-cabin eight shillings, fore-cabin six shillings, and horses twenty-five shillings; i.e. for a man about seven shillings, and for a man and horse about thirty-two shillings.

Hence it would appear, that the value of a shilling was sixteen times greater, five hundred years since, than it is at present. A pound troy of standard silver, from the Conquest to the 28th year of the reign of Edward I., A.D. 1300, was coined into twenty shillings; and from that time to the 23rd of Edward III., A.D. 1349, into twenty shillings and three pence. The standard of silver coin was then 11 oz. 2 dwts. pure silver, and 18 dwts. alloy, as it is at present; but a pound troy of standard silver is now coined into sixty-six shillings. Therefore, without taking into consideration the smaller fractions of a penny, the shilling, from the Conquest to the middle of the reign of Edward III., contained the same quantity of silver as do three shillings and three pence halfpenny of our present money. The sixpence paid by a passenger at the date of the above quoted statute, contained a quantity of silver equal to that contained in one shilling and seven pence three farthings; and the two shillings paid for the passage of a man and horse contained a quantity of silver equal to that contained in six shillings and seven pence of our present coin of the realm.

Hence it appears that, whether it be for a man only, or for a man and horse, we now pay, for a passage between Dover and Calais, nearly five times as much silver as was paid for the same passage five or six hundred years since. It would therefore seem, that the value of silver, measured by this kind of labour, was then nearly five times greater than its value in the present day.

I suspect however that silver was then really worth much more than five times its present value; and in order to arrive at a more correct conclusion, I shall be much obliged to any correspondent of "N. & Q." who will inform me what were the usual fares by sailing-vessels before, or at the time of, the introduction of steam-packets between Dover and Calais.

J. LEWELYN CURTIS.

POPULAR STORIES OF THE ENGLISH PEASANTRY, NO. II.
(Continued from p. 363.)

I am much pleased with MR. STERNBERG'S Oxfordshire version of Die kluge Else (Vol. v., p. 363.). I have heard another in that county, and think the variations may be acceptable to those who are interested in our rather scanty country legends.

An old couple lived in the country on a nice bit of land of their own, and they had an only daughter whose name was Mary, and she had a sweetheart whose name was John. Now there was a garden at the back of their house with a well in it. One day, as the old man was walking in the garden, he thought a thought. He thought, "If John should have Mary, and Mary should have a child, and the child was to go tittle-tottle by the well, and to fall in, what a thing that would be;" so he sat down and cried. A little while after the old woman came into the garden and saw him, and asked him why he cried. And he told her he had thought, "If John should have Mary, and Mary should have a child, and the child should go tittle-tottle by the well, and fall in, what a thing that would be." "So it would," said the old woman; and she sat down and cried.