90 DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH IN ENGLAND 



the second is the number of persons in a family, derived 

 probably from the same source ; the third is the product of 

 the first and second multiplied together; the fourth is the 

 yearly income of each family ; the fifth is the product of the 

 first and fourth multiplied, and the sixth is the rate of the 

 fifth divided by the first ; the seventh and eighth are 

 necessarily conjectural ; they are of the yearly cost of each 

 person to a family and the yearly saving of each ; the last is 

 the sum of the difference between the seventh and eighth, and 

 the aggregate is the yearly accumulation of wealth in the 

 country, which he sets at 3,023,700. This is all derived from 

 500,586 families. These estimates are no doubt primarily 

 gathered from the numerous direct taxes levied in the reign of 

 Charles II. 



King tells us that the average income of a temporal lord is 

 3200, of a bishop 1300, of a baronet 880, of a knight 

 650, of an esquire 450, and of a gentleman 280 ; and as 

 these persons derived their income from land, and as the rent 

 of land was about one-tenth of what it stood at in recent times, 

 it is very likely that King was here pretty accurately informed. 

 But I cannot but think that he greatly underrated the average 

 income of merchants on a large and a small scale, which he 

 sets down at 400 a year and 198, though he credits them 

 with considerable powers of saving. One may doubt too 

 whether the earnings of lawyers were not on an average more 

 than 154 a year, though the fees paid even to eminent 

 counsel were very moderate. It seems to me also, that the 

 income of eminent and less richly endowed clergymen, 72 and 

 50, is understated. 



King gives a total of 160,000 freeholders, the better off with 

 an income of 91 a year, the poorer with one of ^55, and 

 150,000 farmers with one of 42, los. Shopkeepers are credited 

 with an income of 45 a year ; artisans with one of 38 ; 

 while the average of a naval officer's pay is 80, of a military 

 officer's 60. These with placeholders, whose means are from 

 240 to 120 a year, and persons engaged in the liberal arts 



