The Emancipation of Labour. 509 



and better educated ; so tliat in frugality, faithfulness and in- 

 dustry, they compared favourably with their brethren in the 

 south. The writer of the Report for the county of Hereford 

 corroborated this view, and stated " that if a certain propor- 

 tion between the price of labour and the average price of 

 wheat could be fixed by law, so as to render the applications 

 for parochial relief necessary only in cases of very large fami- 

 lies, of unusual sickness, of scanty seasons, or any other real 

 emergency, the measure it is presumed would be honourable 

 to the country,, would stimulate industry and fidelity, check 

 dishonesty, and endear to their native soil a numerous class of 

 useful persons." 



This principle of co-operation would have made an ally of 

 the peasant instead of an antagonist, in the struggle over the 

 Corn Laws, It would have kept him from a daily or weekly 

 visit to the markets, where he would be likely to pick up 

 dangerous doctrines from the stump orator, and spend money 

 uselessly on the whims of the moment. The practice of hav- 

 ing his employes on the premises, so that they slept and 

 lodged in a portion of the farmhouse, brought them into 

 such close contact with the husbandman that an identification 

 of interests ensued. Instead of going to a public-house for his 

 meals, the labourer lived a great deal more comfortably and 

 cheaply under his master's roof, was always available when 

 wanted, and lost no valuable time in going to and from his 

 place of abode. 



Where, however, as in Surrey and other southern counties, 

 the labourer was hired by the day instead of the year, he 

 was far more independent of the goodwill of his employer, 

 less sober and provident, and constantly becoming reduced to 

 that condition of want which rendered him a burden to his 

 parish. At the period of harvest, while he was working by 

 the acre, he was unusually flush of money, which tempted him 

 to indulge in an improvidence which he must have bitterly 

 rued during other periods of the year. 



The rate of wages varied considerably in different districts 

 and at different periods. During the last twenty ^^ears of the 

 eighteenth century it had considerably increased, and the 



