| s. | d. | s. | d. | ||
| Beef, per stone of 8 lb. | 3 | 0 | to | 3 | 4 |
| Mutton " " | 3 | 0 | " | 4 | 2 |
| Pork " " | 2 | 8 | " | 3 | 8 |
The summer of that year was uninterruptedly wet; some corn in the north was uncut in November, so that wheat went up to 94s. 2d., and in June, 1800, was 134s. 5d., the scarcity being aggravated by the Russian Government laying an embargo on British shipping.[525] Yet Pitt denied that the high prices were due to the war.[526] They were due, indeed, to several causes:
- Frequent years of scarcity.
- Increase of consumption, owing to the great growth of the manufacturing population, England during the war having almost a monopoly of the trade of Europe.
- Napoleon's obstructions to importation.
- The unprecedented fall of foreign exchanges.
- The rise in the price of labour, scanty as it was.
- Suspension of cash payments, which produced a medium of circulation of an unlimited nature, and led to speculation. [527]
In March, 1801, wheat was 156s.; beef at Smithfield, 5s. to 6s. 6d. a stone; and mutton, 6s. 6d. to 8s. A rise in wages was allowed on all sides to be imperative, but the labourer even now got on an average little more than 9s. a week,[528] a very inadequate pittance, though generally supplemented by the parish. Arthur Young[529] tells of a person living near Bury in 1801, who, before the era of high prices, earned 5s. a week, and with that could purchase:
| A bushel of wheat. |
| " malt. |
| 1 lb. of butter. |
| 1 lb. of cheese. |
| A pennyworth of tobacco. |
But in 1801 the same articles cost him:
| s. | d. | ||
| A bushel of wheat | 16 | 0 | |
| " malt | 9 | 0 | |
| 1 lb. of butter | 1 | 0 | |
| 1 lb. of cheese | 4 | ||
| Tobacco | 1 | ||
| ———— | |||
| £1 | 6 | 5 | |
| ======= | |||
His wages were now 9s., and his allowance from the rates 6s., so that there was a deficiency of 11s. 5d.
The increase in the cost of living in the last thirty years is further illustrated by the following table:
| 1773. | 1793. | 1799. | 1800. | ||||||||||||
| £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | ||||
| Coomb of malt | 12 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Chaldron of coals | 1 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 0 | |||
| Coomb of oats | 5 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||||||
| Load of hay | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Meat, per lb. | 4 | 5 | 7 | 9 | |||||||||||
| Butter, " | 6 | 11 | 11 | 1 | 4 | ||||||||||
| Loaf sugar, per lb. | 8 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 4 | ||||||||
| Poor rates, in the £ | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | |||||||