Fwd: "three pairs of Baulkes costing 12, 16 and 18 guineas each"

[Joel S. Berson]

Someone on another list asks:

>Does anyone know what might be meant by
>"baulkes" in this text [see Subject] from 1785?
>They'd been bought by Thomas Robinson, Lord Grantham, on behalf of his
>friend Carlos José Gutiérrez de los Ríos y
>Rohan-Chabot, sixth count of Fernán
>Núñez, and were being shipped to Lisbon, where the count was Spanish
>ambassador. I know of "balks" as beams but am surprised that they should be
>sold by the pair.  By the way, in the same letter Robinson mentions that he'd
>bought "several pairs costing 25 guineas each" for Louis de Visme.

Joel

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