^ 



14 THE ENCLOSURES IN ENGLAND [170 



sively used by historians. The whole story of this move- 

 ment as it is usually told is based upon tracts, sermons, 

 verses, proclamations, etc. of the sixteenth century — upon 

 the literature of protest called forth by the social distress 

 caused by enclosure. Until very recently the similar liter- 

 ature of the seventeenth century has been neglected, al- 

 though it destroys the basis of assumptions which are funda- 

 mental to the orthodox account of the movement. Much 

 of significance even in the literature of the sixteenth century 

 has been passed over — notably certain striking passages in 

 statutes of the latter half of the century, and in books on 

 husbandry of the first half. Details of manorial history 

 derived from the account rolls of the manors themselves, and 

 contemporary manorial maps and surveys, as well as the 

 records of the actual market prices of grain and wool, have 

 been ignored in the construction of an hypothetical account 

 of the movement which breaks down whenever verification 

 by contemporary evidence is attempted. 



The evidence is in many respects imperfect. It would be 

 of great value, for instance, to have access to records of 

 grain production over an area extensive enough, and for a 

 long enough period, to furnish reliable statistical indications 

 of the trend of productivity. It would be helpful to have 

 exact information about the amount of land converted from 

 arable to pasture in each decade of the period under con- 

 sideration, and to know to what extent and at what dates 

 land was reconverted to tillage after having been laid to 

 grass. There are no records to supply most of this informa- 

 tion. It is possible that the materials for a statistical study 

 of soil productivity are in existence, but up to the present 

 time they have not been published, and it is doubtful if this 

 deficiency will be supplied. It is even more doubtful whether 

 more can be learned about the rate of conversion of arable 

 land to pasture than is now known, and this is little. Pro- 



