DEPRESSION 269 



had lost his by-industries, his bit of land and rights of 

 common, and would have had a very different tale to tell 

 from that of the framers of the reports above quoted. 



In spite of the complaints made that the improvements 

 of the coaches and of the roads drew the countryman to the 

 towns, many stirred hardly at all from their native parish, and 

 their lives were now infinitely duller than in the Middle Ages. 

 The great event of the year was the harvest home, which 

 was usually a scene of great merry-making. In Devonshire, 

 when a farmer's wheat was ripe he sent round notice to the 

 neighbourhood, and men and women from all sides came 

 to reap the crop. As early as eleven or twelve, so much ale 

 and cider had been drunk that the shouts and ribald jokes 

 of the company were heard to a considerable distance, attract- 

 ing more helpers, who came from far and near, but none were 

 allowed to come after 12 o'clock. Between 12 and i came 

 dinner, with copious libations of ale and cider, which lasted 

 till 2, when reaping was resumed and went on without 

 interruption except from the squabbles of the company till 5, 

 when what were called ' drinkings ', or more food and drink, 

 were taken into the field and consumed. After this the corn 

 reaped was bound into sheaves till evening, when after the 

 sport of throwing their reaping hooks at a sheaf which had 

 been set up as a mark for a prize, all proceeded to supper 

 and more ale and cider till the small hours.^ 



No wages were paid at these harvestings, but the unlimited 

 amount of eating and drinking was very expensive, and about 

 this date the practice of using hired labour had largely super- 

 seded this old custom. 



The close of this period was marked by two Acts of great 

 benefit to farmers: the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1H34 

 (4 & 5 Wm. IV, c. 76), which reduced the rates,^ and marked 



^ Moore, History of Devonshire, i. 430. 



* By this Act and the various amending Acts the law of settlement, so 

 long a burden on the labourer, is now settled thus : a settlement may be 



