Part of a house, sufficient for a small family, unfurnished, may be had
for 14 l. a year; and the most elegant in the city, in the best
situation, for 60 l., including coach-house, stable, cellar, &c. A horse
may be kept well for 14 l. a year. The wages of a coachman are 8 l., a
housemaid 8 l., a noted cook 16 l., and a lady's-maid 10 l. The price of
a chicken is 7-1/2 d.; a partridge 1 s.; a hare 2 s. 6 d.; a duck 1 s.;
a turkey 2 s. 6 d.; the best bread 1-1/2 d. per lb.; common ditto 1 d.;
a bottle of wine 3 d.; brandy is sold by the lb. of 16 oz. and costs 6
d.; grapes 1/2 d. per lb.; meat 3 d.; butter 4 d.; cheese 6d; 50 lbs.
carrots 10 d.; other vegetables at the same rate. A dozen very fine
peaches now cost a halfpenny; pears 3 d. a dozen; labourers, who work
from sunrise to sunset, are fed by the proprietor, and have 6 d. per
day, which, in this part of the country, will go further than three
times the sum in England. The horses and oxen used about the farms are
fed chiefly on straw, and do not consume more than 3 d. a day. The
labouring people make a very nourishing diet from maize flour, which is
fried with grease; and this, with beans, forms the principal part of
their food. They neither use nor wish for meat; but at this season they
have figs and grapes almost for nothing--_Original Letter_.