42 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. 



with as much mOre in odd vessels going about the house ; three or four feather-beds ; so 

 many coverlets, and carpets of tapestrie ; a silver salt ; a bowle for wine, if not a whole 

 neast; and a dozen of spoones to furnish owte the sute." {Harrisons Description of 

 England, p. 188.) 



223. The condition of a yeoman, before or about Elizabeth* s time, is exemplified in the 

 case of Bishop Latimer's father. " My father," says Hugh Latimer, '< was a yeoman, 

 and had no land of his own ; only he had a farm of three or four pounds by the year at 

 the utmost ; and hereupon he tilled so much as kept half a dozen men. He had a walk 

 for a hundred sheep ; and my mother milked thii-ty kine, &c. He kept his son at 

 school till he went to the university, and maintained him there ; he married his daugh- 

 ters with five pounds, or twenty nobles apiece ; he kept liospitality with his neighbours, 

 and some alms he gave to the poor ; and all this he did but of the said farm." [Gilpin s 

 Life of Latinier.) 



224. Cattle were not plentful in England at the beginning of Elizabeth's reign. In 1563 

 it was enacted that no one should eat flesh on Wednesdays or Fridays, on forfeiture of 

 three pounds, unless in oase of sickness, or of a special license, neither of which was to 

 extend to beef or veal. {Stat. 5 Eliz. cap. 4. ) Great pains were taken in the act to prove 

 that it was a political, not a religious measure. 



225. The vast number of parks in the kingdojn are complained of by Harrison. " There 

 are not less," he says, " than an hundred in Essex alone, where almost nothing is kept 

 but a sorte of wilde and savage beasts, cherished for pleasure and delight." And pursuing 

 the same subject, he says, " that if the world last a while after this rate, wheate and rie 

 will be no graine for poore men to feed on." {Description of Britaine, p. 168.) 



226. In Scotland the civil dissensions, and even anarchy, which prevailed until a late 

 period in the sixteenth century, operated as a harsh check on every improvement in 

 agriculture, and the total expulsion of ecclesiastical landholders increased this evil ; 

 as the monks were easy landlords, and frequently not uninstructed in georgical know- 

 ledge. The tillers of the earth in Scotland had at least their full share of their country's 

 misfortunes, when private vengeance for private wrongs superseded the regular but timid 

 proceedings of public justice. A statute was then formed for their particular benefit, 

 whereby {Stat. 110. Pari. 7. Jac. 6.) " the slayers and houchers (houghers) of horses 

 and uther cattel," with their employers and maintainers, are declared " to have incurred 

 the paine of death, and confiscation of alle their gudes movvabil. " A second act passed 

 in 1587 for the further protection of husbandmen, declaring all such as destroyed or 

 maimed horses, oxen, &c., cut or destroyed ploughs or plough-geers (in time of tilling), 

 or trees and corn, should suffer death. {Stat. 83. Pari. 2. Jac 6.) Several acts of parlia- 

 ment were made to protect the farmers from petulant tithe-gatherers ; the proper times of 

 notice were herein pointed out, and liberty given to the tiller of the land to proceed in 

 his work if this notice were neglected. The last {Stat. 84. Pari. 2. Jac 6.) confirmed and 

 explained the others. {Andrew's Continuation of Henry s Hist., ii. 124.) 



227. Great attention was still jmid to the breed of horses in England ; but, during the 

 reign of Elizabeth, it was found necessary to lower the standard appointed by Henry VIII. 

 for stallions, from fourteen hands to thirteen. This modification, however, was only to 

 take place in the counties of Cambridge, Huntingdon, Northampton, Lincoln, Norfolk, 

 and Suffolk. (18 Eliz. cap. 8.) No stallion of less height could be turned out on com- 

 mons, forests, &c., for fear of deteriorating the breed. Harrison extols the height and 

 strength of the English draught-horses ; five or six of them, he says, will with ease draw 

 three thousand weight of the greatest tale for a long journey. 



228. An English traveller, who visited Scotland in 1598, observed a great abundance of 

 all kind of cattle, and many horses ; not large, but high-spirited and patient of labour. 

 {Morysons Itin., part iii. p. 154.) Great care, indeed, was taken by the English, while 

 the kingdoms were separate, to prevent the Scots from improving their breed by southen 

 stallions; it was even made felony to export horses thither from England. (1 Eliz. 

 cap. 7.) This unneighbourly prohibition was answered by a reciprocal restriction in 

 1567, as to the exportation of Scottish horses {Stat. 22. Pari. 1. Jac. 6.) ; but France, 

 rather than England, seems to be aimed at by that statute. One circumstance, 

 pointed out by a curious antiquary {Paper ajmd Transactions of Sc Ant. Soc, vol. i. 

 p. 171.), is a convincing proof of the modern improvement in the breed: for many 

 years past eight nails have been used to each horse's shoe in the north ; six used to be the 

 number. 



229. The proper seasons for turning horses to grass was thought a consideration worth 

 the attention of the Scottish government, avowedly to prevent the waste of corn. All 

 horses were, therefore, ordered to be put to grass from May 15th to Oct. 15th, on 

 pain of forfeiting each horse, or its value, to the king. Gentlemen of 1000 marks, 

 yearly rent, and all upwards, are excepted. {Stat. 122. Pari. 7. Jac. 6.) The 1st of 

 June was substituted in a subsequent act {Stat. 56. Pari. 2. Jac. 6.) for the 15th of 

 May. 



