i2 4 ENGLISH RURAL LIFE 



by new methods. Enclosure by Act of Parliament 

 began, and in the XVIIIth century became a usual 

 way of procedure. At first these enclosures by Act 

 of Parliament were a rarity, but later on they 

 became a common practice. ) In all, before the middle 

 of the XlXth century there were some four thousand 

 special Acts of Parliament * (including special awards 

 under general acts), and these accounted for the divid- 

 ing up of some six million acres of open arable fields, 

 meadows, commons, woods and wastes. The method 

 pursued to obtain these statutory enclosures, and their 

 results, requires careful consideration. (These enclosures 

 were secured by bills relating to some particular area, 

 and were carried through Parliament on, as a rule, the 

 initiative of a local lord of the manor, or other big 

 landholder, with whom were sometimes associated the 

 rector or vicar of the parish, and perhaps some big 

 farmers and other local persons who were prepared 

 to support the scheme. The act, when passed, ordered 

 the redivision and fencing in of such open arable 

 land and lot meadows, commons, woods or wastes as 

 were included in the scheme of the act, and appointed 

 commissioners to carry out this division. In the settle- 

 ment in Parliament of the provisions of these statutes 

 the small farmers and the labourers had little or no voice. 

 As a result, their interests were neglected. It is there- 

 fore not surprising to learn that the enthusiasm amongst 

 the new agriculturists for these statutory enclosures 

 found no response among the smaller men. ) Their atti- 

 tude is well expressed by a passage from the Annual 

 Register for 1797, which referred in the following 

 words to one of those occasions on which the peasantry 

 had succeeded in making their voices heard : " On 

 1 See Appendix, p. 169. 



