SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY 



from pound without payment of fine, &c., and perhaps sheep-stealing was 

 more characteristic of that time than of our own. Wool-combing appears to 

 have been, particularly during the second half of the century, a very con- 

 siderable home-industry ; and cases are very frequent of wool-combers 

 convicted for delivering ' false or short yarn.' An Act was passed in i Anne, 

 for the punishment of persons ' reeling false or short yarn.' Another Act, 

 dealing generally with questions between masters and servants, and specially 

 mentioning the offence of reeling false yarn, was passed 22 George II ; but 

 this seems to have needed supplementing by an Act 14 George III (1774), 

 after which we find convictions frequent. As this Act also mentioned frauds 

 in the manufacture of hats, it doubtless had in view the offence of sending in 

 short lengths of straw plait. The enforcement of the law with reference to 

 yarn was again emphasized by the formation of a Committee of Manufacturers 

 of Wool and Yarn, and the appointment of inspectors, followed by the passing 

 of a number of local Acts, one of which^-25 George III — was local for 

 Bedfordshire and other midland and eastern counties. The offenders were, 

 naturally, women, and the usual fine for the first offence was 5J. 



Among cases illustrative of the period, was that, in 1737, of the con- 

 viction of a man for attempting to induce a certain William Willis to go to 

 Potsdam and enlist in the service of the King of Prussia (Frederick William) . 

 We are not told what was the stature of Willis ; but he doubtless was 

 intended to be one of the Potsdam Grenadiers, known as the ' Potsdam Giants.' 

 The penalty inflicted was a fine of ^^5, three months' imprisonment, and 

 subsequently to find sureties for good behaviour for three years. Another 

 curious case was that of uttering ' base coin of Portugal,' in 175 1. In 1736, 

 a man was convicted of felony ' within benefit of clergy,' and was let off with 

 a fine and a brand on his hand. In 1739, we find the vicar of Willington 

 summoning a man and a woman (the servants of a James Cox, who had sent 

 them out of the way) to appear at the Northill Petty Sessions, on the charge 

 of refusing to pay the Easter offerings due by the custom of the parish. 

 Another case is probably connected with the agitation in favour of the 

 principles of the French Revolution which marked the early 'nineties of the 

 18 th century, and which was rather strongly represented in certain parts of 

 Bedfordshire. At the Easter Sessions of 1791, a James Bull was charged, on 

 suspicion, with writing and publishing a letter of a treasonable and seditious 

 nature. What happened does not appear. 



Attempts — probably local and spasmodic — were made to suppress the 

 use of profane language. In 1756, a man of Harlington was convicted for 

 * swearing thirty profane oaths.' In 1758, two Luton men were convicted, 

 the one for swearing five and the other two 'profane oaths.' In 1765, a 

 Bedford man had to pay 4^. for four oaths. In 1791, both county and 

 borough magistrates issued notices that they were determined to suppress stage 

 fighting or boxing matches. It is reasonable to see in these things a symptom 

 of the Evangelical revival which was rather pronounced in the county during 

 the latter half of the century, and which influenced both the Anglican and 

 the Free Churches. 



The cases of gambling are interesting, not so much on account of their 

 number, which is small, as on account of the character of one or two of the 

 games. Of course, we read of ' keeping a dice table,' of ' gaming,' of playing 



lOI 



