TYPHUS FEVER 99 



The greater fatality of fever among the richer classes (of course, 

 with a much smaller number of cases) has been a commonplace in 

 Ireland and is remarked by the best writers. 



Creighton in his valuable "History of Epidemics in Britain" has 

 shown some interesting facts concerning typhus in England during the 

 eighteenth century. I will follow his facts but will draw my own 

 conclusions. During the half century from 1715 to 1765 England was 

 most prosperous financially. Monied men built up great fortunes and 

 the necessities of life were abundant and cheap. With two or three 

 exceptions the harvests were rich and grain was exported in great 

 quantity. Historians state that under the first two Georges there 

 was general prosperity. Even Adam Smith speaks of "the peculiarly 

 happy circumstances of the country during the reign of George II 

 (1726-1760)." Hallam speaks of this period "as the most prosperous 

 that England had ever experienced." Lecky says : 



All the evidence we possess concurs in showing that during the first three- 

 quarters of the century the position of the poor agricultural classes in Eng- 

 land was singularly favorable. The price of wheat was both low and steady. 

 Wages, if they advanced slowly, appear to have commanded an increased pro- 

 portion of the necessaries of life, and there were all the signs of growing 

 material well-being. It was noticed that wheat bread, and that made of the 

 finest flour, which at the beginning of the period had been confined to the 

 upper and middle classes, had become before the close of it over the greater 

 part of England the universal food, and that the consumption of cheese and 

 butter in proportion to the population in many districts almost trebled. Beef 

 and mutton were eaten almost daily in the villages. 



Johnson wrote: 



There every bush with nature's music rings, 

 There every breeze bears health upon its wings. 



However, there were even at this time some who saw beneath the 

 surface of abundance and prodigality. An economist, Rogers, pointed 

 out that the prosperity was all on the side of the ruling classes and the 

 capitalists, while the laborers were in "irremediable poverty and with- 

 out hope." Their wages were artificially fixed by the quarter sessions 

 and they were kept "in a condition wherein existence could just be 

 maintained." 



