Rural Depopulation 147 



rooms to more than one family, and the 

 " undersitters " were to be turned out and 

 sent into the decayed parts of the country. 

 A similar proclamation was issued in 1593, 

 calling attention again to the overcrowd- 

 ing in tenements, and the dangers of the 

 plague, through the insanitary conditions. 

 Up to the great fire in 1666 we find 

 constant efforts made by proclamations and 

 statutes directly to check the growth of 

 building in London. For example, by an 

 Act of 1656 a fine of one year's rent was 

 imposed on all houses with less than four 

 acres of ground which had been erected 

 in London, or within ten miles of it, since 

 1620; and a fine of ;fioo to the State and 

 £iQ per month to the poor was imposed 

 on all houses erected on new foundations 

 after 1657. 



In a few years after the great fire the 

 city was larger than ever, and the same 



