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But this rice had to be paid for at a price very disproportioned

to that of bread. The burden of supplying this enormous

difference was imposed on the city: but the council of ten

resolved to send a remonstrance to the governor, on the

impossibility of sustaining such a tax; and the governor fixed,

by a decree of the 13th of December, the price of rice at twelve

livres the bushel. It is also probable, though nowhere expressly

stated, that the maximum price for other sorts of grain was fixed

by other proclamations. Whilst, by these various measures, bread

and flour were kept at a low price in Milan, it consequently

happened that crowds of people rushed into the city to supply

their wants.