unpopular; there is less evidence that it dissatisfied consumers. When prices rose, it was human, since natural causes were beyond control, to blame the method of setting the Assize. The year 1757 was one of scarcity; by the Bristol tables the penny loaf weighed only 4 oz. 14 dwt. There was an immediate demand for a change in the law. In 1758 a new Act was passed (31 Geo. II. c. 29), codifying the existing law, and introducing alterations which seem to have been unduly favourable to bakers. Bread was to be made of two qualities only, wheaten and household; the number of pounds to be sold per quarter was reduced from 417 to 365; bakers were allowed to choose whether they would sell in their shops "assized "loaves, which varied in weight but were fixed in price, or “prized" loaves, varying in price but fixed in weight. The Statute fixes by a table of proportion the weight of the ld. loaf of wheaten and of household bread, regulated by the price of wheat and the baker's allowance. It also settles in the same way the price of the "prized" loaf. By a later Act the wheaten bread was to be stamped with W and the household with H. The "prized" loaf was the "peck loaf," made from 2 gallons of wheat or 14 lbs. of flour, and weighing 17 lbs. 6 oz., and its subdivisions-the half peck loaf (8 lbs. 11 oz.); the quarter peck or quartern (4 lbs. 5 oz.); and the half quartern (2 lbs. 2 oz.). To prevent fraud, no baker was allowed to sell in the same shop "assized" as well as "prized" loaves. The Assizes were to be periodically proclaimed according to the fluctuations in prices, and were not to remain in force more than 14 days.

The Act of 1758 fell on troublous times. The period 1765-74 was one of scarcity. The high prices of bread were attributed to the malpractices of bakers and millers. It was alleged that the changes in the law had allowed them unusual opportunities for making excessive profits. It is possible that this was the case. No assay of flour was attempted. Consequently, millers were able to return their product as being of superior quality, though they continued to supply the inferior grades, and bakers conformed to the Assize by adulterating the standard of both the legalised classes of bread. An agitation was begun, which resulted in the Act of 1773 (13 Geo. III. c. 62). The number of pounds of bread to be sold out of each quarter of wheat was restored to its former basis; regulations were made prescribing the method in which flour was to be dressed; the old standard wheaten bread, which, "according to the antient order and custom of the realm," had existed "from time immemorial," was again legalised, and was to be stamped S.W. There were, therefore, once more three qualities of bread-wheaten, standard wheaten, and household. The proportionate cost of the three kinds was also regulated. The same weights of wheaten, standard wheaten, and household were to be sold respectively at 8d., 7d., and 6d. No attempt was made, except in the case of standard wheaten, to define the quality of the different breads. Standard wheaten was to consist of the whole produce of the grain, the bran or hull only excepted, and the flour of which it was made was to weigh three-fourths of the wheat from which it was ground.

The new Act may have been as easily evaded as the old. But the fall in prices after 1774 cheapened bread, and the contented consumer probably attributed his relief to the success of the new law. The extraordinary rise in prices which took place from 1794 to 1812 revived the whole question of the efficacy of Assizes of Bread in aggravated form. In 1812 at Grantham the weight of assized bread to be bought for one penny was only 4 oz. 6 dwt., bringing the cost of the quartern loaf to ls. 4d. The rise was so unprecedented, that millers and bakers were suspected of every variety of misdemeanour. Bakers especially were charged with reducing the weight, and raising the price of bread beyond the limits justified by the advance in the price of wheat. There was a general demand for the enforcement of the

THE ASSIZE OF BREAD

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Assize of Bread. In some districts, justices prohibited the sale of any kind of bread except the standard wheaten. In others, they set the table of prices so low that bakers refused to bake. The Assize was either disregarded, or public subscriptions were raised to induce bakers to continue their trade. The regulations naturally failed to lower prices, though some effect may have been produced in compelling bakers to follow their variations. Among other devices to reduce the price of wheat was the authority given to bakers in 1795 (36 Geo. III. c. 22) to make and sell bread, stamped with M, which was mixed with other ingredients than corn. But the people, for whose relief the mixed bread was designed, resolutely refused to touch it. They rejected even standard wheaten and household bread, and demanded the finest and whitest bread. It was in vain that members of Parliament, Privy Councillors, magistrates, aldermen, and vestrymen endeavoured to set the fashion by eating the coarser qualities themselves. The people clung to their improved standard of living, and bakers could only satisfy the tastes and pockets of their customers by the production of white bread which was artificially whitened by wholesale adulteration.

Efforts were made to improve the system of setting the Assize. In consequence of the Report of a Select Parliamentary Committee, an amending Act was passed in 1813 (53 Geo. III. c. 116). But the feeling was becoming more and more general that regulations affecting prices of food were mischievous, that legislation was powerless, and that, where laws failed, free competition might succeed. Another Select Committee was appointed to consider the " Laws relating to the Manufacture Sale and Assize of Bread." On their Report in 1815, an Act was passed (55 Geo. III. c. 49), which applied only to London and a metropolitan area of ten miles round. Bakers were permitted to sell loaves of specified weight at any price they chose. In provincial towns the Assize still lingered. In 1821 a Report in favour of complete freedom of trade was presented to the House of Commons by a Committee appointed to consider the " Regulations relative to the Making and the Sale of Bread." The immediate result of their Report was the Bread Act of 1822 (3 Geo. IV. c. 106), which finally abolished all regulations of weight or price in London. Its remoter effect was the application of a similar Act to the provinces. In 1836 (6 and 7 Wm. IV. c. 37) the Assize of Bread was at last, after an existence of nearly six centuries, finally abolished.

D. EXPORTS AND IMPORTS OF CORN (1697-1801).

APPENDIX IV.