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In England, however, notwithstanding the flourishing state of its

woollen manufacture, the price of English wool has fallen very

considerably since the time of Edward III. There are many

authentic records which demonstrate that, during the reign of

that prince (towards the middle of the fourteenth century, or

about 1339), what was reckoned the moderate and reasonable price

of the tod, or twenty-eight pounds of English wool, was not less

than ten shillings of the money of those times {See Smith's

Memoirs of Wool, vol. i c. 5, 6, 7. also vol. ii.}, containing,

at the rate of twenty-pence the ounce, six ounces of silver,

Tower weight, equal to about thirty shillings of our present

money. In the present times, one-and-twenty shillings the tod may

be reckoned a good price for very good English wool. The money

price of wool, therefore, in the time of Edward III. was to its

money price in the present times as ten to seven. The superiority

of its real price was still greater.