It appears from the accounts of the Chamberlain of Scotland, published
from the originals in the Exchequer, that in the year 1329, _loaves of
sugar_ were sold in Scotland at the price of 1s. 9-1/2d. (more than an
ounce of standard silver) per lb. Stow's _Survey of London_ states sugar
refining to have been commenced in England about 1544; and upwards of
four centuries since we find Margaret Paston writing to her husband from
Norwich thus:--"I pray, that ye will vouchsafe to send me another
sugar-loaf, for my old one is done."
------------------
CLEARNESS OF THE SKY AT THE CAPE OF
GOOD HOPE.
An observer states that in forty-two successive days at the Cape, there
were only three in which he could not see Venus in broad daylight. Sir
John Herschel assures us that he has written a letter by the light of an
eclipse of the moon. Under these circumstances, the starry heavens
presented a brilliance, of which the inhabitants of the northern
hemisphere can have no conception; the line from Orion to Antinous being
remarkably rich and brilliant, and appearing as a continuous blaze of
light; with, however, a few patches of the sky destitute of stars.
------------------