THE DEAR OLD TIMES.
It is interesting to look over household and personal accounts of, say, a hundred and fifty years ago. Some of these, which deal with the expenses of Mr. Gervase Scrope, and of his son Thomas, both of Cockerington, Lincolnshire, lie before me; and from them I find that "my dark-coloured cloth suit, trimmed with silver buttons and loops, was made November 21st, 1730, and cost in all £17 17s. 6d."
This included two pairs of breeches. The cloth for the suit cost 18s. a yard; but Mr. Scrope had a cloak in 1732, the cloth of which cost £1 2s. a yard. In 1729, however, he procured a cheap knockabout suit of clothes for £9 0s. 6d.
Economy seems to have been necessary, for in 1731, "Tommy had a pair of breeches made out of an old scarlet riding-coat of mine."
Boots and wigs were both dear; so also were hats. The squire's window-tax in 1748 amounted to £2 17s.
Only in the matter of certain articles of food were the old days cheaper than the new. In 1754, eight lbs. of veal cost 2s. 4d., or 3½d. per lb.; a tongue cost 1s. 10d.; 31 lbs. of round and rump of beef cost 12s., or about 4½d. per lb.; a leg and saddle of mutton cost 4s. 7d.; a quarter of lamb cost 1s. 6d.; 22 lbs. of pork were bought for 5s. 6d.; and rabbits ranged from 6d. to 1s. a couple, according to size. But coffee was 6s. a lb., and lump sugar was 10d. Soap at this time cost 7s. 6d. a stone.
Bread was sometimes cheap, but whenever war broke out, the price always went up to a terrible height, and much misery and distress must have resulted.
In 1886, the average price of wheat in England was 39s. 4d. per imperial quarter; in 1810 it was 106s. 5d.; and in 1801 it was 119s. 6d.; or more than three times as much as it was two years ago. Those were indeed dear old times.—Cassell's Saturday Journal.