OCCVll 



Protiiyro, in his book on the Progress of English Farming, mentions 

 that a " Petition in the reign of Henry VIII, states that 50,000 ploughs 

 had been put down. Each on the average maintained 13i persons. 

 Thus 675,000 persons were thrown out of work when the whole popula- 

 tion of the country did not exceed 5 millions." The diflScultios of the 

 situation were immensely aggravated by the enormous rise in the price 

 of provisions due to the discovery of the American silver and gold mines 

 and the influx of the precious metals into England ; the price of wheat, 

 which in the latter half of the sixteenth century and the first half 

 of the seventeenth averaged 9s. 2d. per quarter was 47.s. bd. a quarter 

 or more than 5 times as much in the latter half of the seventeenth 

 'century. Rents rose very high and landlords accumulated great wealth 

 at the expense of the working classes and the wages were kept 

 down by stringent labour laws. Laws were enacted also to put down 

 vagrancy, to compel the able-bodied vagrants to work and to provide 

 relief to the impotent poor. Under these regulations, " all people who 

 used subtle, crafty, and unlawful games and plays, or who feigned 

 a knowledge of physiognomy and palmistry, all those who had no 

 apparent means of support and who were fit for work, all fencers, bear- 

 traders, jugglers, pedlars, tinkers, petty chapmen, and strolling players, 

 all unlicensed scholars or shopmen who were caught begging were 

 considered to be rogues and sturdy beggars." To this period is to be 

 referred the beginning of the system of poor relief which has developed 

 to such enormous proportions in England. In the seventeenth century 

 some schemes for the reclamation of swamps were undertaken and the 

 way was prepared for the introduction of improved methods of agri- 

 culture, but the agricultural practices themselves did not undergo any 

 material alteration. The ^sturbed relations caused by the depreciation 

 of the precious metals and the consequent increase of prices had settled 

 down ; capital had accumulated ; the eflficiency of human labour had 

 increased ; the horse was substituded for the ox in ploughing ; and the 

 extension of pasture farms and cattle farming had provided increa-sed 

 manure for arable lands. In the beginning of the eighteenth century, 

 there was a rapid advance in agriculture. Several improvements were 

 adopted which, aided by good seasons, increased greatly agricultm'al 

 production. The wages and the standard of living of the labouring 

 classes rose, and wheat became a necessary article of diet in the place of 

 inferior grains. During the latter half of the eighteenth century the 

 popidation increased enormously and the progress of manufactures 

 caused a diversion of labour from agriculture to manufactures. Wars 

 and bad seasons had increased prices of food-grains and the enclosure of 

 commons and consolidation of holdings proceeded with redoubled speed. 

 At the end of the eighteenth century prices rose so high as 115s. a 

 quarter, with the result that land-owners increased their standard of 

 living, which they were unable to keep up when the prices reached a 

 normal level. The small owners suffered severely and they found it 

 profitable to sell their holdings to large owners and to seek employment 

 for their capital in manufactures, which were assuming large proportions. 

 This diversion of a large part of the population to manufacturing 

 industries rendered it necessary to grow a larger quantity of food with 

 a diminished quantity of human labour and thus materially aided the 

 introduction of machinery. The rapid changes which were taking 

 place, and principally the substitution of machinery in manufactures 



