Agricultural Wages 97 



as they were, in order that they might 

 be in the same position, as consumers, as 

 the family of the end of the mediaeval 

 period. Bad as this position was in 1770, 

 it was soon to become much worse, and 

 even in 1870 the agricultural labourer 

 could not obtain the same amount of 

 bread for his money wages as he could 

 four centuries before. 



It may be convenient at this point to 

 call attention to the relative amounts of 

 rent, profit, and wages, taking for the 

 purpose a farm of ^00 acres. 



The labour bill was, according to Young's 

 estimate, ;f335> the rent was ;f 250, and the 

 profit was, roughly, ^400. In the fifteenth 

 century the rent would have been only 

 £\2 I OS., the profit of the farmer about 

 ^40, and the labour bill about ;£"i5o, if 

 the same amount of labour was required, 



G 



