Goo A. D. 1388. 



iheir beft endeavours to accommodate it ; and, if they could not con- 

 ciUate matters, the merchants were to be allowed a year to withdraw 

 with their property from either country. [^F^dera, V. vn,pp. S'^S^ 579' 

 581, 588, 599. — Rot. pat. prim. 9 Ric. II, m. 1 1 — Hakluyt, V. i, p. 148.] 



The Englifh ambafladors, who were fent to Pruflia, were aUb direft- 

 ed to adjuft fome difputes with the merchants of the Hanfe. \Fcedera, 

 V. vji,^. 602.] 



September — Ever fince the infurredions in the year 1381 the court 

 and parliament had been intent upon depriving the inferior clafles of 

 the people (or rather the people, for the barons and clergy were but a 

 fmall part of the whole population) of any opportunity, or even hope, 

 of bettering their condition. In this fcflion the parliament enacted, that 

 no fervant {hould remove from one hundred to another, unlefs traveling 

 upon his mailer's bufinefs, and not even in pilgrimage for the good of 

 his foul, without a teltimonial under the king's feal, which it muil have 

 been next to impofllble to obtain. — The penalties for taking more than 

 the prefcribed wages were renewed ; and the wages for country labour 

 were fixed by law *. — Boys and girls, who were employed in hufbandry 

 till they were twelve years of age, were to be confined to it for life f . — 

 Servants in hufbandry were prohibited from carrying armour, except 

 bows and arrows for pradice on Sundays and holidays. — No beggars 

 were permitted to travel about, except certified people of religion, her- 

 mits, and ' fcholers of the tiniverfities' having the letters of the chan- 

 cellors. Impotent beggars were to be provided for by the people of the 

 towns, if they were able and willing. — Beggars, alleging that they had 

 been imprifoned beyond fea, were required to have teftimonials. — The 

 ftatute of labourers was to be in force, as well in cities and burghs as in 

 the open country. \Stat. 12 Rk. 11, cc. 3-9.] 



It was enafted that llriped or coloured cloths and half cloths, made in 

 Briflol and the counties around it, fhould be agreeable to the law of 

 the year 1373 in length and breadth. \Stat, 12 Ric. II, c. 14.] This law 

 is mentioned here, only becaufe it proves that the country around Briflol 

 was then, as it has ever fince continued, the chief feat of the clothing 

 trade. 



The ftaple was ordered to be removed from Middleburg, and to be 

 again eflabliftied at Calais by the firft of December. [^Stat. 1 2 Ric. II, 

 c. 16.] 



1389 — In the year 1379 a general privateering commifiion was given 

 to the people of Dartmouth. [^Rot. pat. prim. 3 Ric. II, in. 10.] In 1385 

 they brought away fome rich vefi^els from the mouth of the Seine, one 

 of which, called CUflbn's barge, had not its equal in England or France. 



• See them in the Appendix. vvho put llicrr cliiklrcn apprentices, wlien very 



f Tliis law was made for preventing tlie cliild- young, to trades, which they afterwards folloivcd 



rcn of villeins from becoming free by being ar- or not, a» inclination or circumftanccs dlretted. 



tifans in burghs. It was evaded by the yilleins, 



