204 History of the English Landed Interest. 



must be attributed to its increased distance from London, the 

 chief centre of the corn consumption. Thus 100 miles from 

 the metropolis it was IkZ., thence up to 200 miles it was \\d.^ 

 and beyond that distance \d} 



"Wheat, however, was not the only material used for making 

 bread. In the districts of Leeds, Fremington, Shenstone, and 

 Newcastle-under-Lyme, its substitute was oats ; in that of the 

 other Newcastle, rye ; about E,aby, Alnwick, Belford, Helton, 

 Fenton, and Rathbury, a mixture of barley and pease ; and 

 in other districts various combinations of barley, rye, pease, 

 and beans. Towards the close of the eighteenth century, Eden, 

 in his History of the Poor^ went to much trouble in enumer- 

 ating the various substitutes for wheaten bread used through- 

 out Great Britain. Besides " the healsome porritch, chief of 

 Scotia's food," he mentions buttered sowens, pease-kail, carl- 

 ings, and bannocks as the diet of the Caledonian labourer ; 

 and riddle-cakes, crowdie, skilling, and frumenty as that of 

 England's northern peasant. He points out that though all 

 these were preparations of cereal or leguminous products, not 

 one was composed of wheat. He further speaks with regret 

 of the Southern labourer's prejudice against the relaxing pro- 

 perties or bitter taste of such wholesome foods, and demon- 

 strates how the simple yokel would take as much barley into 

 his stomach as his Scottish brother, though unfortunately be- 

 fore he would touch it it had to be malted. 



It was said that a larger demand among the poorer classes for 

 wheaten bread, not entirely met by the extension of the area of 

 corn husbandry, had towards the close of the century a decided 

 influence on our fiscal policy ; but it would be more interesting 

 could we have ascertained if the influence of our protective 

 policy towards corn husbandry had brought about these varia- 

 tions in the price of bread in different parts of the kingdom, 

 or the frequent instances where substitutes for wheat flour 

 remained in fashion. 



We have now brought this particular portion of our narra- 



' Six Months^ Tour through the Northern Counties, vol. iii. p. 278. 

 A. Young. 



