1 



On the Poor, and some AUempts to Lower the Price oj Con;, in 

 Somerset, 1 548—1 638. By Emanuel Green. 



(Eead November 2lst, 1877. j 



The following notes drawn largely from official MSS. are neces- 

 sarily very much compressed, yet, extending through an import- 

 ant period of our history, they show fairly the condition of 

 the so-called poor, i.e., the labourers in husbandry, a name so 

 applied peculiar to England alone, whose present movement to 

 better their condition has been generally both a surprise and a 

 novelty. 



In the earlier times the best laud only was cultivated and that 

 carelessly. When not held by the lord or owner, it was let in 

 small holdings, and worked with but little hired labour, no more 

 being used as earable than would suffice for immediate local wants. 

 Wheat was grown chiefly or entirely for the nobility and gentry. 

 There was in consequence usually but little corn in store to meet 

 emergencies, and years of scarcity seem to have conle as often as 

 years of plenty. 



On this subject, the Venetian Ambassador, writing from Eng- 

 land in 1551, makes some curious remarks. In some places, he 

 says, grain abounds, and there would be more did not the natives 

 shun fatigue, but they satisfy their wants and nothing else.* 

 Another Venetian Ambassador, writing in 1554, reported that 

 the soil produced wheat, oats and barley in such plenty tliat there 

 was usually enough for general use, but " were they to work 

 more dUigeutly and with gTeater skiU, and bring the soil into 

 higher cultivation, there might be grain for exportation, but they 

 do not attend to this, so they need sometimes assistance from 

 Flanders and Denmark, and occasionally France."t 



Live stock Avas kept only by the help of the common lands, 



* Baibaro to the Senate, Venetian Papers, p. 354. 

 t Soranzo's Report, Venetian Papers, p. 547. 



Vol. IV., No. 1. 



