hing to have Mr. Oppenheim's high
authority for this, because he is not generally favourable to
the Queen, though even he admits that it 'is a moot point' how
far she was herself responsible.

[Footnote 68: _The_Administration_of_the_Royal_Navy,_
_1509-1660_. London, 1896.]

If necessary, detailed arguments could be adduced to show that
to get the present value of the sums allowed in 1588 we ought
to multiply them by six[69] The sum allowed for each man's daily
food and the 'establishment charges'--increased as they had been
in 1586--did little more than cover the expenditure; and, though
it does not appear that the contractor lost money, he nevertheless
died a poor man. It will be hardly imputed to Elizabeth for iniquity
that she did not consider that the end of government was the
enrichment of contractors. The fact that she increased the money
payment again in 1587 may be accepted as proof that she did not
object to a fair bargain. As has been just said, the Elizabethan
scale of victualling was more abundant than the early Victorian,
and not less abundant than that given in the earlier years of
King Edward VII.[70] As shown by Mr. Hubert Hall and Thorold
Rogers, in the price-lists which they publish, the cost of a week's
allowance of food for a man-of-war's man in 1588, in the money of
the time, amounted to about 1s. 11-1/2d., which, multiplied by
six, would be about 11s. 9d. of our present money. The so-called
'savings price' of the early twentieth century allowance was
about 9-1/2d. a day, or 5s. 6-1/2d. weekly. The 'savings price'
is the amount of money which a man received if he did not take
up his victuals, each article having a price attached to it for
that purpose. It may be interesting to know that the full allowance
was rarely, perhaps never, taken up, and that some part of the
savings was till the last, and for many years had been, almost
invariably paid.

[Footnote 69: See Mr. Hubert Hall's _Society_in_the_Elizabethan_
_Age_, and Thorold Rogers's _History_of_Agriculture_and_Prices_,
vols. v. and vi. Froude himself puts the ratio at six to one.]

[Footnote 70: It will be convenient to compare the two scales
in a footnote, observing that--as I hope will not be thought
impertinent--I draw on my own personal experience for the more
recent, which was in force for some years after I went to sea.

WEEKLY

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