And if any many shall object,That the present rates will not,generally through the whole Kingdome,hold thus high,though they are thus rated in the parts near adjoyning to London:
It may be answered.That by the old Statutes it was provided,that in no place any higher rates than these should be given;but they might give less,where less in former times had been used to be given.
But on the other side it may be much more probably objected,That the rates are now greater than they are here set down,because it is not so strictly observed as it should be;whereas when the old Statutes were first made it is probable that that the Rates were with the largest,and were more strictly observed than they now are:and although this computation of the wages and hire of Servants and Labourers be (as I conceive)the most certain way of comparison of the prices of all things between that time of King Edward the third and this present;yet for Confirmation I will add unto it another Observation,wherein we shall find the same Proportion to hold in a Subject much more general,and therefore so exactly calculated.But therein I must appeal to the well grounded Judgment of my Reader,and that is that I will set down the entire receipts as I find them by undoubted Records of divers years of Edward the Third;and then Iwill briefly represent the actions of War in the said years,besides the ordinary expence and the said actions of War could be now maintained,but by a Proportion so much larger as the rates of wages are now encreased,which I compute between six and eight times as much a they were in the 19th year of Edward the third.
The whole receipts of the Kingdom,as appeareth by the Pell of the Introitus amounted to 72,826pound 11shillings 5pence;in that year the King sent over six hundred men of Arms,and six hundred Archers into Gascoign,under the Conduct of the Earl of Derby,and divers other great Lords,who gathering unto them the other Garrisons,did not only maintain a body of an Army in the field a great part of that year,but recovered divers Towns by Siege:all that year the King did likewise maintain some auxiliary forces of good importance,the Number is not set down,for the aid of the Duke of Brittany under the Command of Sir Thomas Dayworth.And that Year the King likewise made a voyage in great magnificence into Flanders,and continued there long in Treaty with Jacques van Arteveld and the Flemings,to withdraw them from the Homage of their Earl unto his Allegience.The 20th year of Edward the Third,the whole Revenues of the Kingdom in the Pell,amounted to 154,139pound,17shillings 5pence.This year the same forces were maintain'd in Gascoign,which did freely ransack and spoil all Xaintong and Poitou,by the favour of the Kings great Victories elsewhere.
And in July the King went over in person,and landed in Normandy,and wasted a great part of that Province,and ransacked many of the principal Towns:his forces transported thereto,are by Hollingshead reckoned 4,000men at Arms,and 10,000Archers,besides a great Number of Footmen,but not defined.In the end of Summer he fought that famous Battel of Cressey;and in the beginning of Winter did set his Siege before Calais.This Year likewise was the King of Scots taken prisoner at the Battel of Durham,by the Queen:The 21st year of his Reign his Receipts amounted unto 226,113pound,five shillings and five pence;almost all this year the King continued his Siege before Calais,having reinforced his Army,both out of England and Gascoign,and kept the Sea by his own Shipping and the Easterlings;and in the end of the year,notwithstanding that the King of France having assembled all his Puissance,sought to rescue it,the Town was yielded,and an English Colony transported thither,and Victuals besides;all this year the King continued his auxiliary forces in Brittany with great success.
Now if King Edward the Third had with his Revenue furnished out Money for these great actions of War,besides the Magnificence of his own house and other necessary expences of his Kingdom,I do appeal to the Judgment of the Reader whether the ordinary expences of the King's house,and other necessary things within his Kingdom,and the like actions of War could be maintained (not speaking of the success)at this day with any frugality without any other increase of comings in,equal in Proportion to the increase of the hire of Labourers and Servants wages;which I compute at six times or rather at 8times as much as then it was.And I am sure that whosoever shall exactly weigh all Circumstances,shall find that of the two,this latter comparison will exceed the former.
