CONTENTS 5 



IV 



OTHER CAUSES AFFECTING THE POSITION OF THE 

 LANDOWNING CLASSES 



PAGE 



The political, social, agricultural and industrial changes* 

 The suppression of the monasteries. The .Rebellion. Final 

 conclusion as to the position of the landowning classes in 

 the middle of the seventeenth century 75 



V 



THE ENCLOSURES OF THE EIGHTEENTH AND NINE- 

 TEENTH CENTURIES AND THEIR RESULTS 



(1) The social and political characteristics of the eighteenth 

 centuiy. (2) Attitude of ruling classes towards Enclosure. 

 The Enclosures of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries 

 contrasted with those of the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries. 

 The reasons for enclosure. The methods. Enclosure Acts. 

 Enclosure by agreement. Extent of enclosure (i) of the 

 Common Field, (ii) of the Waste. The arguments for and 

 against enclosure. The effect of enclosure on the ownership 

 and farming of land 83 



VI 



ECONOMICAL AND OTHER CAUSES OF DECLINE OF 



THE SMALL LANDOWNER IN THE EIGHTEENTH 



AND NINETEENTH CENTURIES 



(1) Enclosure only part of a wider economical movement. 

 The agricultural changes of the eighteenth century. The 

 progress of scientific cultivation and its results. (2) The 

 industrial revolution and its effects on agriculture and on the 

 ownership of land. Close connexion between the agricultural 

 and industrial movements. The capitalist landlord and 

 farmer. Effect on the small owner and farmer. (3) The 

 social and political conditions. (4) Position of the small 

 owner and farmer at the close of the eighteenth century. 

 Their future history. The history of copyholds and lease- 

 holds for lives . 107 



