294 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book VIL 



* hafty remedy be not provided, that Ifle cannot be kept and defen- 



* ded, but will be open and ready to the hands of the King's ene- 



* mies, which God torbid.' — By this a€t it appears, that the prac- 

 tice was then begun, of making great tarms, and inclofmg great 

 tradts of ground ; to put a ftop to which, this aCt was made * j and 

 which is, therefore, very, properly called, by the Englifh lawyers, 

 an aB of population. 



Agriculture is the moft ufeful art in all countries : By it the peo- 

 ple live ; and it is an occupation more conducive to health than any 

 other ; and if it be properly carried on in fmall farms, it contributes 

 more to the population of a country than any other occupation. The 

 divifion of the lands of antient Rome into farms of two Jugeray that 

 is about an acre and a half Englifh, laid the foundation of the Ro- 

 man grandeur, and made them multiply more than, I believe, any 

 nation ever did in the fame time. 



But if the country of England were divided into fmaller farms, 

 and better cultivated than it is, there are fundry reafons why the land 

 cannot maintain fo many inhabitants as it might otherwife do. In 

 xhtjirfl place, the confumption of flefh in England is much greater 

 than, I believe, it is in any other country of Europe : For not only 

 a great deal of it is confumed in the houfes of the great and rich, by 

 the fervants as well as the mafters, but the confumption of it among 

 the lower fort of people is very great, not only in towns but in 

 the country, w^iere it is not only the diet of the farmers but of 

 their fervants, who commonly eat of it thrice a day, viz. at break- 

 faft, dinner, and fupper. Now, land, by the paflure of cattle and 

 fheep, cannot maintain near fo many people as by corn. 



But there is another ufe made of land in England, not for produ- 

 cing food to the people, but what may be called poiibn ; 1 mean bar- 

 ley 



'^ See Chancel. Bacon's Commentaries on this ?,€t. 



