ama.

18900.] Rufticus en the Bread Laws. 305

the preſent ſcarcity, Was conſoled* by this new law; and after repeated diſappointments, fill fancies, that reftritions and re- gulations on millers, bakers,&c. tend dire&@ly to cheapen the commodity. In other trades, thé competition.of dealers ſor cuſtomers is allowed to keep their goods at a proper price, and the fear of tempting ſome young tradeſman to ſet úp a cheap ſhop, ſufficiently deters from any violent impoſition on the pub- lic. Thoſe people who’ have ever ſeen“heap Bread Shops,” may thence(if they lay aſide their prejudices) ſee that wthout an aflize of bread, the public‘would always have their bread as cheap as poſſible, becauſe the“other bakers muſt[ell at the loweſſt price, or be ruined for want of cuſtomers.

However, the aſlize of bread is not very ¿njurious, and its continuance pleaſes the people; and to give pleaſure, 1s to do good.—But the particular arrangements ſeem ſtrangely complex in an every-day matter, which ought to be quite ſimple.—T'he two-penny and’three-penny loaves. infer(of couríe) a variation of weight, with every variation of the: corn-market, and their weight is therefore ſeldom known to the public; and 1f known, always contains drachms, or ſmaller iîractions.—Certainly, the weight ſhould be fxed, and the price alter, as in the quartern "loaf, to whoſe preſent weight there is nothing to objec, but the fra&tional quantity which néedleſsIy has‘reference to the mea- ſure of flour ſuppoſed to- be uſed in making it. In London, at preſent, there is alſo conſiderable inconvenience from the cuſtom(for I believe it is not law) of making no intermediate ſize between the quartern and three-penny loaf; though one is now ſix times as large as the other.—Thus in a fnall family (of two or: three, for inſtance) the bread of three days; mult be bought at once, or two or three three-penny loaves. ſent for. In both caſes, it muſt be very ftale; fór the ſmall ſize of the three-penny loaf ſuffers its moiſture to evaporate in a few hours, Certain it is, that in both caſes,‘it is not uſual to weigh the loaf.— The mode of remedying ali impoßhition in bread, is this: Let the aflize of. bread(ſince there muſt be an aſize) be ſet at ſo much per pound; and the whole bread laws be compriſed in this; that baker#hall not make any loaves but ſuch as weigh a certain number of pounds, at their option; but, to admit of no fraGtion, except nder the one pound loaf, ſuppoſe'hâlf, and a quarter of a pound for rolls,&c. Indeed, under 2 pourid, na great damage would accrue, by ſuffering a fxed price and zn- certain weight.—None but the opulent need to eat them, and it is to the poor only,” breadis of conſequence.

In the propoſed arrangement, bread would appear only in one, two, three’ pound loaves,&c. and the only compulſion reguiſite on the baker is, that he conſtantly have a«pair of ſcales on his counter, and proper weights.—And to the public, the only cautioù neceſſary is, that ſervants be ordered to buy no loaf without weighing ztt.—In fa, it is an extraordinary cuſtom