185 



posed the agricultural and town population alike to typtioid 

 diseases and left them little chance of recovery when stricken . 

 down with pestilence." The small money incomes of those 

 days may be judged from the fact that the bailijS* in hus- 

 bandry, who was a superior servant, got yearly 26s. 8d. and 

 5s. for clothing, besides meat and drink, which may be 

 estimated at 2d. a day ; the ordinary artisan had Sd. or 4d. 

 a day and the reaper Sd. a, day, with meat and drink ; so that 

 in 22 weeks of continuous work, the ordinary artisan would 

 earn as much as the bailiff did in a year. No sufficient data 

 as regards regularity of employment in those days are 

 available. The common servant in husbandry was paid 20s. 

 8d. and his wife 14s. per annum besides their food, accord- 

 ing to the highest statutable rate in the fifteenth century ; 

 so that their united earnings would provide a little more 

 than half the usual allowance for an adult's food, and out 

 of this sum they had to feed their family, pay for fuel, rent 

 and clothing. Even if they could eke out a living in the 

 common waste, says Dr. Cunningham, it is most unlikely that 

 they had a larger free income than the agricultural labourer 

 at the present day ; we could not institute an accurate 

 comparison unless we knew not only the prices of the articles 

 they used, but also the quality of the goods they were able to 

 procure. It is not easy to obtain such information in the 

 present day and we cannot hope to get sufficient data for 

 judging certainly about the distant past. So far as regu- 

 larity of employment and short hours are a test of the well- 

 being of the workman, the fifteenth century day labourer was 

 badly off ; his summer hours lasted from five in the morning 

 till half-past seven at night with breaks which amounted to 

 two or two and a half hours in all. The conditions of the 

 banking business in the fourteenth century were such that 

 banking operations were very circumscribed. The most 

 striking difference between their times and ours is the entire 

 absence of commercial credits ; there were no bank-notes 

 or cheques, or other instruments of credit except a few 

 foreign bills. Dealing for credit was little developed and 

 dealing in credit was unknown. 



The sufferings of the people have probably never been as 

 severe in this country as is d'escribed above in consequence 

 of a less inclement climate and a more fruitful soil, but the 

 wonderful improvement which has taken place in England 

 during ^he last three centuries might well inspire the hope 

 that similar improvement here is not unattainable. 



24 



