OF MODERN CORPORATIONS. 55 
industry of the manufacturer, by giving the cul- 
tivator the means of rewarding it. Till the 
tranquil possession and even hereditary trans- 
mission of land was secured by the firm esta- 
blishment of law, no great increase of the popu- 
lation of cities could take place. Those of the 
fertile plains of Lombardy needed only a short 
interval of peace and regular government to be- 
come flourishing ; the South of France and the 
adjacent coast of Spain had suffered little either 
from the original invasion of the Barbarians, or 
the subsequent revolutions of the Middle Ages, 
and had besides been enriched by the commerce 
of the Mediterranean. Even in England, towards 
the end of the Saxon times, though agriculture 
was rude and manufactures of very limited ex- 
tent, the population of the towns was consider- 
able, and they do not appear to have been 
generally oppressed either by their sovereign or 
their immediate superiors. The soccage tenure, 
which was so general, gave the cultivator on 
easy terms a secure and virtually hereditary 
possession of his land. The natural fertility of 
the Netherlands rivals that of Lombardy, and 
the population of the cities was increased by the 
early establishment of woollen manufactures, 
the great source of wealth to the Western King- 
doms of Europe, before the introduction of silk 
