142 ENGLISH RURAL LIFE 



to keep body and soul together and there were many 

 deaths from starvation. Of those who became paupers, 

 some, especially the children, drifted into the parish 

 poorhouse, where, to quote a description given by Mr. 

 George Villiers, quoted by Arthur Young, were col- 

 lected " the aged and infirm ; the dying and even the 

 dead ; the young and able, the abandoned and the 

 well-disposed ; modest want and indigent profligacy, 

 all confounded in one wretched mass." Children 

 gathered from the poorhouses were formed into gangs 

 to be employed as * apprentices ' in the factory towns 

 or to work under gangers in the fields. 



It is interesting to compare the struggle which 

 continued for a generation at the beginning of the 

 XlXth century with the thirty years' struggle of the 

 XlVth century. In the earlier period the fight was 

 carried on by a sturdy landholding peasantry, in- 

 dependent in mind and energetic in character, with 

 the tradition and habit of combined action and the 

 support of many well-wishers. The peasants appear 

 to have been well organized, confident and capable. 

 But at the beginning of the XlXth century the main 

 part of the peasant class had sunk into a slough of 

 despond, and had no longer the sturdiness and 

 independence that had characterized their ancestors. 

 They had lost the habit of co-operating, whilst any 

 definite form of combination * was, until 1824, barred 

 by Act of Parliament. Moreover, the labourers had 

 to face strong opposition : for the farmers had the 

 landed gentry and to some extent the clergy behind 

 them, and Parliament stood behind the landed gentry. 

 On the other hand, the labourers, unlike the peasants 

 of the XlVth century, had few sympathizers. There 



1 See Appendix, p. 168. 



