THE ENGLISH LABOURER. 
423 
soil. Rebecca, who was the only daughter of 
a shepherd prince, was wont to go to a consid- 
erable distance to fetch water for her father's 
flocks and herds ; and it is evident from the 
address and readiness with which she let down 
her pitcher from her shoulder and gave drink 
to Abraham's servant, and afterwards drew 
for all his camels, that she had been accus- 
tomed to that employment. Jacob, though 
the son of a shepherd prince, kept the flocks 
of his maternal uncle ; and his own sons fol- 
lowed the same occupation both in Mesopo- 
tnmia and in the land of Canaan. Both 
Homer and Virgil have described the labours 
of the field as most honourable, and some of 
their greatest heroes are represented as peri- 
odically engaging in the work of tilling the 
land. The bulwark, then, which modern 
artificialism attempts to rear between the la- 
bourer and his employer, is in reality as flimsy 
as it ought to be. But to return more im- 
mediately to the subject.. 
For a considerable time after the Conquest, 
the working population of England was divided 
into two classes; the larger class being agri- 
cultural, depressed it is true by severe ser- 
vitude, yet permitted in some instances to 
rent small farms sufficient to support them- 
selves and families, or to have the benefit of 
a cottage with a small allotment of land from 
the common on which they might feed their 
cows and sheep, and provide poultry, eggs, 
&c, for the use of the baronial proprietor's 
table. The other class consisted of slaves or 
thralls, principally employed in domestic 
offices, fed by the lords, and regularly dis- 
posed of as articles of merchandise.. History 
is almost silent as to what domestic comforts 
were enjoyed by this class of people; and from 
the fact of there having been no legislative 
provision for them, it has been thought by 
some that, though poor, they were in the en- 
joyment of the necessaries of life. In all 
probability, fish, bread, and beer, formed the 
Staple commodity of their diet; butcher-meat 
being reckoned a luxury indulged in only on 
special occasions of rejoicing, such as harvest- 
home, &c. At any rate, it appears that during 
the reign of Edward I. the condition of the poor 
people hecame so far ameliorated as to enable 
a great proportion of them to hold a tenure in 
lands, a privilege which hitherto formed the 
exception rather than the rule. Even this 
privilege was so far restricted as to involve 
the services of the poor at certain seasons of 
the year in sowing and reaping the lord's 
corn, felling and carting timber, and prose- 
cuting improvements around the mansion. 
During those seasons, the labourers were fed 
by the landowner in whose work they were 
engaged ; and in many respects their situa- 
tion resembled that of the cottar population, 
a few years since, in the counties of Eoss, 
Inverness, and Sutherland, in Scotland. 
Their houses were built of turf, or mud, 
without chimneys, and the chief articles of 
furniture consisted of a brass or iron pot, a 
chair, table, and bed. Aided by the impulse 
of commerce and the humanizing tendency of 
Christianity, the reigns of Edward III. and 
Richard II. were distinguished by a loosening 
of the grasp of feudal masters, so that the 
labouring classes might at this period be 
considered as fast emerging from a state of 
compulsory servitude. The progress of manu- 
factures at this time, had also the salutary 
eifect of changing the manner of living in- 
dulged in by the chief landowners.. Riotous 
and extravagant hospitality ceased in a great 
measure : the number of useless retainers, 
which went to keep up a sort of barbaric 
splendour, was curtailed : and the funds which 
they absorbed were spent in purchasing the 
productions of art. The barons vied with 
each other in furnishing their houses : cities 
became their residences, and the}' were thus 
exposed to multifarious expenses which were 
formerly kept within their own demesnes. 
As might naturally be expected, the conse- 
quences were two-fold — a greater freedom 
bestowed on the cottar politically considered, 
and a more certain course pursued by him in 
cultivating his land. But though productive 
of good in the respects alluded to, the manu- 
factures of this earlj' period led to similar 
results as have been witnessed during the last 
quarter of a century on the Sutherland estates 
in the northern districts of Scotland. Spots 
of land which had hitherto smiled under the 
minute care of the labouring man, were ob- 
literated : the little seats of husbandry, with 
all their interesting associations, were broken 
up, and presided over in one continuous tract 
by the shepherd or herdsman. Such was the. 
consequence of a demand for wool to supply 
the new manufactures. The extent to which 
this process prevailed was just as far as the 
lords of the soil had the power to carry it, 
which in most cases extended over the demesne 
around the mansion. Beyond this point, 
there were a numerous bod}' of tenantry 
whose right of occupation was indefeasible, 
and to them a certain number of the outcasts 
applied for relief, and were so far successful 
as to be permitted to build a house and occupy 
a fragment of land on their small holdings. 
Some resorted to manufactures, whilst the 
remainder were left to form the germs of 
pauperism in this country, which, though 
formally provided for only in Elizabeth's 
time, was in existence for centuries before. 
A general impression exists that the. condi- 
tion of the labouring poor was aggravated by 
the dissolution of the monastic institutions of 
