THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CENTURIES. 55 



land, as was certainly the case in the north-western counties, 

 we may, perhaps, find the elements of the calculation. 



The reader will be able indeed to disabuse himself, if 

 need be, of the impression, that c every rood of earth main- 

 tained a man,' by the facts given as to the actual rate of 

 production on the estates of Merton College. If we as- 

 sume that a quarter of wheat on the hypothesis that the 

 general food of the people was wheaten bread is needful 

 for the support of each individual, it is manifest, that, taking 

 the facts of the Merton estates as a sufficient specimen of 

 the quantity produced, an acre of wheat would have been 

 necessary for each person's maintenance. And if thirty 

 bushels are a fair crop at the present day, we shall conclude 

 that, as a rule, the rate produced in the time before us was 

 not much more than one fourth of that procured by modern 

 agriculture. 



There is a general impression, which must needs be vague, 

 and is, I believe, founded solely on antecedent probabilities, 

 that the area of arable land in England five hundred years 

 ago was much less than at present. I cannot agree with 

 such a notion for several reasons, though, as I have said 

 above, I am willing to allow a deduction for the less settled 

 parts of the country, as well as for those which were liable 

 to plundering incursions. 



Let it be admitted that some land has been broken up 

 which was never put under the plough till the last fifty 

 years j and we must set against it that which has been 

 turned into pasture, and occupied by the growth of towns. 

 In medieval times, a park or pleasure ground in the neighbour- 

 hood of a mansion was unknown. Cultivation was carried 

 on up to the very doors of the house, the more so, perhaps, 

 as proximity to the master's abode was an element of security 

 for the crop. If we walk in the grounds of a modern English 

 park, now laid out in grass, we may often see the marks of 

 ancient culture in ridge and furrow. Great part, for instance, 

 of the land near Belvoir Castle is of this kind. The lords 



