The charge for conveyance of passengers between Dover and Calais was
fixed by a statute made in the fourth year of the reign of Edward III.,
A.D. 1330, at sixpence for a foot passenger, and two shillings for a man
and horse, as may be seen in the following extract from this statute:
"Item. Com avant ces heures homme a cheval soleit aver son passage
de la meer a port de Dovre pur ii, _s._ et homme apee pur vi, _d._
et ore denovel ont les gardiens de passage et passagers pris plus
a grande damage de poeple; Si est accorde que en dit port et touz
autres, et auxint en touz les autres passages de la terre,
auxibien en ewes douces, come en braz de meer, les passauntz
paient desore come ancienement soleint, et de plus ne soient
charges, ne les passagers ne gardiens des passages nient plus ne
preignent."
_Statutes of the Realm_, vol. i. p. 262.
"Item. Whereas before this time a horseman was wont to have his
passage of the sea at the port of Dover for two shillings, and a
man afoot for sixpence, and now of late have the guardians of
passage and passagemen taken more, to the great damage of the
people; so it is agreed that in the said port and all others, and
also in all the other passages of the land, so well in fresh
waters as in arms of the sea, the passengers shall pay henceforth
as anciently they were wont, and more they shall not be charged,
nor shall the passagemen nor guardians of the passages take any
more."
The present steam-packet fares between Dover and Calais are, chief-cabin
eight shillings, fore-cabin six shillings, and horses twenty-five
shillings; _i.e._ for a man about _seven shillings_, and for a man and
horse about _thirty-two shillings_.
Hence it would appear, that the value of a shilling was sixteen times
greater, five hundred years since, than it is at present. A pound troy
of standard silver, from the Conquest to the 28th year of the reign of
Edward I., A.D. 1300, was coined into twenty shillings; and from that
time to the 23rd of Edward III., A.D. 1349, into twenty shillings and
three pence. The standard of silver coin was then 11 _oz._ 2 _dwts._
pure silver, and 18 _dwts._ alloy, as it is at present; but a pound troy
of standard silver is now coined into sixty-six shillings. Therefore,
without taking into consideration the smaller fractions of a penny, the
shilling, from the Conquest to the middle of the reign of Edward III.,
contained the same quantity of silver as do three shillings and three
pence halfpenny of our present money. The sixpence paid by a passenger
at the date of the above quoted statute, contained a quantity of silver
equal to that contained in _one shilling and seven pence three
farthings_; and the two shillings paid for the passage of a man and
horse contained a quantity of silver equal to that contained in _six
shillings and seven pence_ of our present coin of the realm.
Hence it appears that, whether it be for a man only, or for a man and
horse, we now pay, for a passage between Dover and Calais, nearly five
times as much silver as was paid for the same passage five or six
hundred years since. It would therefore seem, that the value of silver,
measured by this kind of labour, was then nearly five times greater than
its value in the present day.
I suspect however that silver was then really worth much more than five
times its present value; and in order to arrive at a more correct
conclusion, I shall be much obliged to any correspondent of "N. & Q."
who will inform me what were the usual fares by sailing-vessels before,
or at the time of, the introduction of steam-packets between Dover and
Calais.