84 ENGLISH RURAL LIFE 



fall daily to theft and robbery or pitifully die for 

 hunger and cold." It appears that the flocks of indi- 

 vidual proprietors sometimes extended to 24,000 sheep. 

 The laws * passed at various times during this period 

 directed the rebuilding of farm-houses, the return of the 

 land to tillage, and especially ordered that no one 

 person was to hold more than 2,000 sheep ; whilst the 

 position of the landless men was dealt with by a statute 2 

 of Queen Elizabeth's reign which ordered that no 

 cottage was to be built unless provided with at least 

 four acres of land. These laws were constantly evaded : 

 indeed, for generations there was no one to enforce 

 them except the justices of the peace, themselves 

 perhaps offenders. Flocks were divided by the holders 

 amongst their families and servants, apportioning 2,000 

 to each, a single room in a ruined farm-house was 

 repaired, a single furrow run across the sheep-walks. 

 By such means the law was easily evaded. But the 

 government did not accept these evasions without a 

 struggle : the law courts, inspired by the Council of 

 State, undertook to protect the tenants, wherever 

 possible, by giving the force of law to the customs 

 of a manor, while the government on various occasions 

 appointed commissioners 3 both to make inquiries and 

 to see that the law was enforced. 



In some cases the peasants succumbed to the 

 arbitrary encroachments on their rights, and wandered 

 off to other manors ; in other cases, they 

 Dar g ame d for terms and got some compen- 

 sation when appropriations took place ; but 

 many independent men who were not inclined to give 

 way decided not to trouble law courts or government, 

 1 See Appendix, pp. 169, 170. * Ibid. p. 174. 3 Ibid. p. 170. 



