7 6 DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH IX ENGLAND 



But the position of the poorest is unchanged. The wealth of 

 York and Lancashire was as yet undeveloped, and these 

 parts of England, which have within the last century made 

 such notable progress, were at this time the most backward 

 in the kingdom. 



In three of these assessments, those of 1641 and the two in 

 1649, certain cities and towns are separately valued. In all 

 these cases, the motive is probably to be found in the fact that 

 a considerable rural district was attached to the town, under 

 the name of the County of the Town of Norwich, &c. Some- 

 times the area is large. In York, the county of the city is 

 2720 acres, and the size of others is known. The order then 

 does not give an exact account of the comparative opulence 

 of the town or city proper. It will be seen too that the list 

 is much larger in 1641 than it is in 1649. 



Norwich 1 comes after London, having regained its place of 

 second city in the kingdom. It is followed by York, though 

 in the first of these assessments this city is not rated much 

 higher than Gloucester and Exeter. Bristol is at a little 

 lower amount than Exeter. But the most remarkable valua- 

 tion is that of Canterbury. In 1503 it was the twelfth city, 

 here it is the seventh. 



During the later parliaments of Cromwell, Scotland and 

 Ireland were united to England, and a new system of re- 

 presentation for the whole Commonwealth was introduced, 

 which did not however outlive the Protector. In this the 

 small boroughs were extinguished, the county representation 

 was largely increased, and the franchise was bestowed on those 

 who had 200 worth of land or goods. I find on examination 

 that in a rough way representation was proportionate to the 

 taxes paid by the counties. Hence I have given a table of 

 the number of acres in each county which supplied or had the 

 services of a member. 



I have also appended to these valuations of England and 



1 The revival of Norwich was due to the development of a new woollen trade in 

 light fabrics. See Macpherson, 1650. 



