DREI VOLKSWIRTHSCH AFTL. DENKSCHRIFTEN A. D. Z EIT HEINRICHS Vni. 27 



A mervelous sigbt to see, England for lakke of the lyvely grace of Godd 

 lyveth like as a beste, which, beeng woundyd of the sere greff and smert, 

 the members hath sensible felyng, biit of the cause therof they have no 

 descrivyng. So the pore wrechid bestly membris of the body of the 

 reame, every meting with other in Company, compleynyth of ther sore 

 greff of nede and necessite of Vitalis clothyng and money. They sensibly 

 feie scarsite, so lyvyng in mysery. But they know not the cause therof 

 which causith theym to niurmur and grudge daily, redy to doo any mys- 

 chief , if they thought, it rnyght be any remedy. Such mysorder in the 

 reame is not convynyent in the body of a kyng^] An exemplum is to 

 see, how within a sixty yers, that Londoners hath become Staplers, oon 

 Stapler in London hath distroyd the labours and levyng of 4000 or 5000 

 comen peple and hath distroyd the plenty of vitall of the holl reame, 

 wher Godd hath ordenyd by his gift, that comen peple shuid werk to 

 receyve no more staple wolle yerly, than of thos shepe, to the which 

 Godd gevith liefF on such leyrs , wher staple wolle are , to be therupon 

 bredd and brought up by werke of husbondry. So as all peple shuld 

 werke the erthe to receyve both mete for bodily levyng and clothyng 

 togeders, not for clothyng to distroy bodily levyng, for the lesse to distroy 

 the more. That wisdome is of the dewlis") depe witt owt of the depist 

 risyng. But so they have distroyd village and the labours and lyvyng of 

 comen peple. Some oon pasturer of shepe for his own singularite hath 



byn many housys and churchys, to the honowre of God, now you shal fynd no thyng 

 but schypcotys and stabullys , to the ruyne of man ; and thys ys not in one place 

 or two, but generally throughout thys reame. 



1) Schon in More's Utopia p. 28 ed. Glasgow 1750 sagt Raphael: oves vestrae, 

 quae tunc mites esse , tamque exiguo solent ali , nunc (ut fertur) tarn edaces atque 

 indomitae esse coeperunt, ut homines devorent ipsos, agros, domos, oppida vastent 

 et depopulentur. Später Latimer in der Predigt am 8. März 1549, Works I, 100: 

 For where as have been a great many householders and inhabitants, ther is now 

 but a shepherd and his dog: so they hinder the king's honour most of all. Ueber 

 die Acte 25 Henr. VIII. c, 12. 13 (1533. 1534) und ihre Fruchtlosigkeit Nasse 1. c. 

 57. 58. 



2) the devil's. 



D2 



