SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY 



Suffolk, and drew from his experience there and in his native county of 

 Essex material for his praise of inclosures. The effect of inclosure upon the 

 condition of the labourer and the improvement of husbandry struck him as 

 extremely favourable, and he urged other counties to take example in the 

 matter by Suffolk and Essex : — 



Mast, covert, close pasture, and wood, 

 And other things needful as good, 

 All these do enclosure bring. 

 Experience teacheth no less. 



More plenty of mutton and beef, 

 Corn, butter, and cheese of the best, 

 More wealth anywhere (to be brief), 

 More people more handsome and great, 

 Where find ye ? (go search any coast) 

 Than there where enclosure is most. 



The surveys hereinafter quoted bear ample testimony to the truth of this 

 poetic statement, both as to the large amount of inclosed land, and the fact 

 that inclosure was going on steadily all through the i6th and 17th centuries. 

 During the latter period the Privy Council issued frequent orders for pressing 

 on the draining of land on the north-west, and the reclaiming of sea-lands on 

 the eastern coasts ; the numerous Inclosure Acts at the beginning of the 

 19th century dealt chiefly with the commons and wastes. 



CuUum points out in his History of Hawsted*^ that during the reign of 

 James I land-rents in Suffolk became almost double what they had been at the 

 close of Elizabeth's reign, yet during the latter the foundations of advance 

 were laid ; the progress of agriculture in Suffolk was but a wave of the same 

 tide of prosperity which swept over the whole country. 



' Yet will the farmer think his gains very small,' wrote Harrison,'" 'if he 

 has not six or seven years' rent lying by him, therewith to purchase a new 

 lease ; besides a fair garnish of pewter on his cupboard, three or four feather- 

 beds, so many coverlets and carpets of tapestry, a silver salt, a bowl for wine 

 (if not a whole nest), a dozen of spoons to furnish up the suit.' 



The prosperity of the cloth-making population during the i6th century 

 may be regarded as the primary reason for the prosperity of the agricultural 

 population, to whom they looked for their food supply. ' This country hath 

 evermore had sufficient to feed the populous number of their own inhabi- 

 tants.' " A certain amount of corn was carried to foreign markets, but the 

 trade in dairy produce with London had scarcely begun. 



Another factor to be considered in the advance in agricultural prosperity 

 is the setting free of large areas of soil by the dissolution of the monastic 

 establishments and the sale or re-grant of their lands ; church property in 

 Suffolk was very extensive, and the Dissolution came at the right moment for 

 the introduction of a more individual and progressive system of cultivation 

 than was possible under semi-feudal arrangements. Where property continued 

 to be held under the Church, or by collegiate bodies, the i8th century (as in 

 the case of Framlingham, presently to be considered) found the land still 

 making totally inadequate returns to its owners. At the end of the reign of 



'" Op. cit. 212. '*' Ibid. 213 ; Harrison, Descr. of Britain, 189. 



" Reyce, Breviary ofSuff. (ed. Hervey), 29. 



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