286 BRITISH RURAL LIFE AND LABOUR. 



shilling the pound, and the price of meat, as well as the rate 

 of cottage rent, is somewhat lower there than elsewhere. 

 It will be seen, therefore, that though the cost of living 

 has increased, wages have increased in greater proportion, 

 and the result is that the West Country labourer not only 

 lives better now than he did a few years since, but that 

 he lives better than he ever did before, although his pro- 

 sperity is not nearly equal, in degree, to that of the landed 

 proprietor, whose incomings whatever his outgoings might 

 have been had doubled between 1770 and 1850, and 

 have been rapidly augmenting in value from 1850 to the 

 present time." 



Coming now, after this general survey of the changed 

 position of the agricultural labourer, in something over 

 a hundred years, let us note the character of the food 

 obtained by the farm labourer in 1880 ; and we cannot 

 do better than quote from the interesting communica- 

 tions of a number of experienced correspondents, whose 

 statements confirm the facts we elicited ourselves in 

 an itinerary journey. Beginning with Wiltshire, one 

 correspondent wrote : 



" You may be sure that very little bacon (in a county, 

 it is noteworthy, famous for that item of animal food) 

 finds its way to the house of the poor toiler who has a family 

 of seven or eight children, or perhaps ten or a dozen, especi- 

 ally when it has to be purchased at the shop, which is often 

 the case, as some farmers will not allow their men to keep pigs, 

 lest their grain might be stolen to feed these animals ; and 

 certainly, when a family is so numerous as to require nearly 

 all the wages for bread and clothes and schooling, the 

 temptation to pilfer a little grain to fed the pig is somewhat 

 strong." 



From Dorsetshire a clergyman wrote to us : 



"The Dorsetshire labourerdecidedlylivesbetter than he did, 

 for he ' sees,' ' smells/ and ' tastes ' meat regularly, instead 

 of once a week as formerly. A slice of fat bacon no longer 

 satisfies, and extra fat has no superabundant charms in 

 these days." 



A correspondent from Devonshire said : 



" Devon is, of course, noted for its ' clotted ' cream, and 

 for its * junkets ' ; but both these are far beyond the reach 

 of the peasantry, who, for breakfast, have what is called 



