CHANGE IN ARGUMENTS AGAINST ENCLQSURES 303 



admitted.^ Individual occupation, as an instrument of scientific 

 andr practical farming and of increased production, had demon- 

 strated its superiority over commonable fields. The supply of eggs 

 and poultry may have dwindled ; but it was more than compen- 

 sated by the larger supply of bread and meat. The arguments of 

 the deserted village and of scarcity of employment were losing 

 their force, when, under the strong pressure of necessity, the reac- 

 tion had set in from pasture to extended tillage. In these directions 

 the defence of the enclosiag movement was immensely strengthened. 

 But, during the same period, the social results of the agrarian revolu- 

 tion were rapidly revealing themselves, and were attracting increased 

 attention. Those results, aggravated in their evil effects by 



1 The following works may be quoted in proof : 



1. Essay on the Nature and Method of ascertaining the Specifick Shares of 



Proprietors upon the Inclosure of Common Fields, by H. S. Homer, 1766. 



2. An Enquiry into the Reasons For and Against Inclosing the Open Fields, 



by a member of the Legislature, 1767. 



3. An Enquiry into the Causes of the Present High Price of Provisions, by 

 Nathaniel Forster, 1767. 



4. Reflections on Inclosing Large Commons and Common Fields, by W. 



Pennington, 1769. 



5. Observations on Reversionary Payments, etc., by Richard Price, 1771. 



6. The Advantages and Disadvantages of inclosing Waste Lands and Open 

 Fields, by a Country Gentleman, 1772. 



7. An Inquiry into the Reasons For and Against inclosing Open Fields, by 



Stephen Addington, 2nd edition, 1772. 



8. An Inquiry into the Connection between the present price of provisions and 

 the Size of Farms, by a Farmer [John Arbuthnot], 1773. 



9. Four Tracts, together with Two Sermons, on political and commercial 



subjects, by Josiah Tucker, 1774. 



10. Hints to Gentlemen of Landed Property, by Nathaniel Kent, 1777. 



11. An Enquiry into the Advantages and Disadvantages resulting from Bills 



of Inclosure, etc.. Anon, 1780. 



12. Observations on a Pamphlet entitled An Enquiry into the Advantages, etc.. 

 Anon, 1781 (an answer to the foregoing). 



13. Cursory Remarks on the Importance of Agriculture, by W. Lamport, 1784. 



14. A Political Enquiry into the Consequences of Enclosing Waste Lands, 

 Being the sentiments of a Society of Farmers in shire, 1785. 



15. An Enquiry into the Influence which Enclosures have had upon the Popula- 



tion of England, by John Hewlett, 1786. 



16. Cursory Remarks on Inclosures, etc., by a Country Farmer, 1786. 



17. Enclosures a Cause of Improved Agriculture, etc., by John Howlett, 1787. 



18. Suggestions for rendering the Inclosure of Common Fields and Waste 



Lands a source of Population and Riches, by Thomas Stone, 1787. 

 An apparent exception is one of the most interesting works on the subject, 

 namely : 



19. The Case of Labourers in Husbandry Stated and Considered, by David 

 Davies, 1795. 



But the material was collected in 1787. The high prices of com, 1765-74, 

 seem to have given an impulse to enclosures and produced a crop of hterature. 



