hy eae. 
river to wood, with a right to the ufe of both; and 
as the difpofition of much the greateft part of the 
diftrict is in this way, it fhews, that fuch difpofi- 
tion was the work of accommodation, given by 
the original grantors or fuperior lords to the gran- 
tees or inferior holders: and as a further proof that 
it was fo, there are numerous inftances in this dif 
trict, where a want of meadow, or of wood, was 
fupplied by a grant of thofe neceffary articles, taken 
out of other manors, at the diftance of feveral miles 
from the manor to which they were annexed. 
The influx of trade and commerce, and confe- 
quently of money, has tended to the divifion of 
property, and to the increafe of the number of {mall 
freeholders in many parts of the kingdom. Lords 
of manors, who were inclined to difpofe of their 
property, found they could make more of it by par- 
celling it out in fmall lots, than by felling it in en- 
tire manors. But this has been chiefly the cafe 
where land lay in the neighbourhood of great towns, 
and particularly where ircould be applied to pafture, 
In this diftrict it has been otherwife; the {mall 
number of great towns in the fouth-eaft part of 
Wilts; the difficulty of raifing quick fences in high 
and expofed fituations; the inaptitude of the land 
to turn into pafture; and, above all, the indivifi- 
bility of the manors occafioned by their aukward 
fhape, and the detached fituation of the feveral 
pieces compofing each eftate; the difficulty of get- 
ting 
