PEASANT REVOLTS 169 



had lived hard to get on, but the more he tried, the 

 farther he got behind." 



Henry lies said that he was lucky in renting an 

 acre of land at ^3 the acre, though farmers were 

 renting better land close by at 37s. ; but it had enabled 

 him to raise himself above dependence on the farmer 

 and to bring up eight children, three of whom were 

 now out at service. 



Ann Atter said that her husband had been getting 

 9s. a week; but now he was a milker, worked on Sun- 

 days, and got 1 2s. They had to pay j;C3 a year house- 

 rent, and it had often gone to her heart when she had 

 " only a bit of bread with nothing on't to be paid out 

 among the children." 



At a meeting held in the village of Montacute, in 

 Somersetshire, William Chard, a grey-headed but 

 stalwart labourer, said he had los. a week when he 

 married. Since then he had been getting 8s., now 

 raised to 9s. with cider. He had eight children, and 

 had to pay is. 6d. per week house-rent. "He did 

 not get 3d. worth of meat from one year's end to 

 another." 



Amelia Boot said she had fifteen children. Her 

 husband got 7s. a week when they married, and was 

 now getting 8s. 



At a meeting of 200 labourers at Marlborough Mr. 

 Royce, the chairman, said that the "labourers suffered 

 profound misery. They never tasted meat for months. 

 They ate what dogs would turn away from." 



The tyrannous opposition to the Union became at 

 last a scandal. Men holding meetings were prose- 

 cuted, on the charge of obstructing the highway. 

 Sixteen women and girls were sentenced by magis- 

 trates (two clergymen) to imprisonment with hard 



