THE SOCIAL REVOLUTION 123 



their cows, sheep, pigs or fowls. Below them, again, 

 was a definite pauper class, not so large as it ultimately 

 became. There was doubtless, in most parishes in 

 England, some open and some enclosed land, and also 

 some individuals of all classes, landlords, big leasehold 

 farmers, peasant farmers, labourers with land or common 

 rights, and a few poverty-stricken wretches : but the 

 proportion differed. Nevertheless, in most places, there 

 must have been at that time, as there had been in the 

 XVth century, a practical ladder whereby a man could 

 work his way upwards from the labouring class to the 

 position of a considerable farmer. 



But this condition could not be maintained. There 

 was a widespread demand for enclosures, especially 

 from the landlords and larger farmers. This demand, 

 doubtless, appeared to these classes to be justified by 

 the nation's experience, since undoubtedly such en- 

 closures as had already taken place had resulted in 

 better crops, improved stock, higher rents and increased 

 tithes. jThe new agriculture certainly seemed to de- 

 mand enclosure for its growth, and it is not therefore 

 surprising that enclosure in all its forms continued.} 

 The sorting out of the scattered strips amongst the 

 tenants, the fencing in of the land when the strips had 

 been sorted into blocks, and the enclosing of parts 

 of the common fields, by some sort of agreement, went 

 steadily on. Moreover, the larger appropriations by 

 the lords of the manors and other landholders of 

 commons and of woodlands, wastes and fenlands must 

 have continued. Of the land which had remained open 

 at the beginning of the XVIIIth century, the greater 

 part, perhaps two-thirds, was dealt with in one or other 

 of these ways. 



But the remainder of the unenclosed land was treated 



