108 THE EFFECTS OF CHAP. xx. 



perty so much exposed as that of the cultivator 

 is, which is derived from that cause. After the 

 termination of the wars between the houses of 

 York and Lancaster, England remained in a state 

 of internal tranquillity. The wars with Scotland 

 were mere border warfare, and the effect of them 

 was scarcely felt except in the northern counties. 

 The internal disturbances in Norfolk, in Devon- 

 shire, in Yorkshire, and some other parts, were 

 local and transient ; and taking the whole of the 

 period from the ascession of Henry VII. to the 

 civil war in the reign of Charles I., England may 

 be said to have enjoyed such domestic peace as 

 was quite sufficient to give general security to pro- 

 perty and general confidence in its continuance. 

 Whilst thus for more than a century and a half, 

 during the period in which the greatest advance 

 in prices had been making, no hostile foot had 

 trodden the English soil that could put the labours 

 of the cultivators in jeopardy, and whilst one 

 monarch ruled the whole kingdom, the countries 

 on the continent were desolated by continual 

 wars, and their internal arrangements subject to 

 constant disruptions from the number of petty 

 sovereignties into which they were divided. 

 France indeed, at the early part of the period, had 

 been enabled to unite into one kingdom the duke- 

 dom of Britanny, the earldoms of Provence and 

 Daupheny, and the kingdom of Navarre ; but the 

 civil wars on account of religion, and the state of 

 internal disquiet which extensively prevailed, ren- 



