346 Tradesman and Merchant — Commercial Population 



With the rise of manufactures in England it was possible through 

 division of labor to have concentration of population in towns. The 

 denser population and its dependence upon exchanges made per- 

 manent country shops possible, though not necessary: a d^'rect barter 

 economy at periodic public markets continued to be the prevailing 

 system. But in the larger towns permanent shops did arise. The 

 gild regulations of the \dllages deal much with buying and selling in 

 shops. Every master who kept shop or who made a business of buy- 

 ing, wholesale or retail, anything which he did not produce above a 

 certain amount, was constrained to contribute and enroll as a mer- 

 chant gildsman.^ In 1650 there were butchers' shops in Wirksworth, 

 Derby. This was a lead-mining town, and in the moot hall (lead- 

 mining court hall) under the court room were built six butchers' 

 stalls and two butchers' shops for rent.- Here again the concentra- 

 tion of population and specialization of industry occasioned perma- 

 nent shops. As in London, the shopkeepers in the country towns 

 confined themselves to distinct streets and the streets were usually 

 named from the predominant occupation.^ Sometimes they were 

 grouped about or under the churches and public buildings, and the 

 rentals were used for the upkeep of these.' 



During the period of prosperity following the Restoration shops 

 tended to gain on markets in the ascendency of importance to trade. 

 By 1760 it was said, with much exaggeration, that there were 

 "hardly any markets in our country towns," and that country shop- 

 keepers and hucksters bought of the farmer and sold again at an ad- 

 \anced price.^ Pococke's characteristic description of a good town 

 contained five elements — "good shops," "manufactures," "consid- 

 erable markets," "a thorough-fare," and "pubKc houses."^ The 

 shops are said "to supply the country, the markets and fairs." An 

 example of how necessary a larger population is for the maintenance 

 of permanent stores is cited by the traveler at Lanidlos on the Severn 

 in 1750, "a small poor town, in which most of the shops are kept by 

 the tradesmen of Newtown, and are open'd only by market days, which 



' Sec regulations at Beverley in sixteenth century; Selden, XIV, 415. 



- Houghton, Comp. Miner; V. C. H., Derby, 11, 339. 



^ For example, at Worcester; Nash, Worces., II, app. XCVI. 



''Note the above case at Wirksworth; see the illustration at Kendall; Pococke, 

 11,2. 



< "Thoughts on Public Reg. Gran.," 33-4. 



* See, for instance, Pococke, I, Totness, p. 105; Truro, p. 110; II, K>Tieton, p. 

 222; Hereford, p. 227; Badminster, p. 250; Bendley, p. 272; Warwick, p. 284; and 

 Abergaveney, p. 29. 



