VII 



EVIDENCES AS TO EXACT DATES WHEN THE 

 SMALL LANDOWNER DECLINED 



WE have stated that the consolidation of landed property 

 and the disappearance of the small landowner progressed 

 with rapid strides from the close of the seventeenth century 

 onwards, and have dealt with theories as to the causes of 

 that momentous phenomenon. We have now to attempt 

 an inquiry as to the exact dates during that period when 

 the movement was most pronounced. 



The evidence on this point is twofold : the statements 

 of contemporary authorities and such statistics as we may 

 have. That afforded by contemporary authorities must be 

 accepted with caution. Few contemporary writers possess 

 that calm judgement which is necessary for an impartial 

 estimate. They are under the influence of prejudice and often 

 see what they wish to see. Fewer have a complete know- 

 ledge of the whole country, and these are prone to imagine 

 that the local circumstances of their own district are those 

 of others, and thus to generalize too hastily. Thus it 

 behoves us to test their statements by reference to statistics. 

 But here again we must beware. Anything, it has been 

 said, may be proved by statistics even when they are com- 

 plete, which unfortunately is not always the case. ^ ' 



I have already said that from early Stuart times to the 

 middle of the eighteenth century we have at present little 

 data, and even after that date I at first despaired of much 

 success. I began by approaching the great landowners of 



