the general spirit which had now manifested itself among the people prevented masters from imposing, and vassals from again submitting to the harsh and oppressive services of bondage.

While the united operation of various causes was thus gradually converting villains into free labourers, another and not less useful class of subjects, namely, tenantry, had insensibly been formed, and, like the other, seems to have been much indebted for their advancement to manufactures and commerce. At the Conquest, most of the lands in England were parcelled out among the Norman nobility. Earl Moreton acquired no less than 793 manors; and Hugh de Alrincis received from the conqueror the whole palatinate of Chester. The extensive county of Norfolk had only sixty-six proprietors. The owners of such vast possessions resided almost entirely on their estates, and in most instances, kept them in their own hands. The elder Spencer in his petition to parliament in the reign of Edward II., in which he complains of the outrages committed on his lands, reckons among his moveable property 28,000 sheep, 1000 oxen, 1200 cows, 500 carthorses, 2000 hogs, 600 bacons, 80 carcasses of beef, 600 sheep in the larder (the three last articles were probably salted provisions), 10 tons of cider, and arms for 200 men. In the following reign, in 1367, the stock on the land of the bishop of Winchester appears by inquisition taken at his death to have amounted to 127 draft-horses, 1556 head of blackcattle, 3876 wethers, 4777 ewes, 3451 lambs. It

is probable that Spencer's estate, as of the other nobility in those times, was farmed by the landlord himself, managed by his steward or bailiff, and cul tivated by his villains. From there being no costly articles of equipage or dress, for which the surplus produce of the land, beyond the lord's immediate wants, could be exchanged, he was naturally led to spend it in riotous and rustic hospitality. Commerce at length offered allurements of a different kind, and induced him, from motives of personal gratification, to lessen the number of his idle retainers and dependants, and to grant a portion of his demesnes to a tenant, on condition of receiving a rent which might enable him to extend his pursuits beyond gorgeous entertainments, field sports, or domestic warfare.

In this way, the progress of manufactures led to a salutary revolution in the manners of the great landowners, and through them to the subordinate ranks of the community. In lieu of squandering immense revenues in the support of numerous followers, they were expended in the purchase of the productions of art. For a pair of diamond buckles, or something as frivolous, Dr. Smith remarks (Wealth of Nations, b. iii. ch. iv.), they exchanged the maintenance of a thousand men for a year, and with it, the whole weight and authority which it could give them. It is not, however, to mere personal vanity, but to more rational causes, this change may be ascribed. The desire of bettering our condition, which is the parent of so many social virtues, would alike compel the lord to pre

fer comfort to barbaric splendour, and the villain to quit his livery for the independence of trade and happily these exchanges produced advantages conducive to general security and happiness. A man who, by dismissing half of his useless domestics, purchased the means of multiplying his enjoyments; who could thereby clothe himself in woollen and fine linen instead of coarse canvass and a leathern jerkin; who could add the wholesome and grateful productions of horticulture to his table; and could render a dreary castle more habitable by substituting warm hangings for bare stone, or at most, whitewashed walls; and that elegant conveniency, glass for latticed windows, would act conformably to principles which are not more natural to the masters than to the labouring part of mankind.

From the complaints of the Commons in 1406, we have evidence of the competition which had commenced between rural and manufacturing industry. To evade the statutes, passed some years before, for compelling those who had been brought up to the plough till they were twelve years of age to continue in husbandry all their lives; agricultural labourers had recourse to the expedient of sending their children into cities and boroughs, and binding them apprentices when they were under that age. In order to counteract this, it was enacted that no person, unless possessed of land of a rental of twenty shillings a year, should bind a child of any age apprentice to any trade or mystery within a city, but that children should be brought up in the occupation of their

parents, or other business suited to their conditions; they were, however, allowed to be sent to a school n any part of the kingdom, which is a proof of growing civilization, and of attention to education, even by the legislature.

In the reign of Henry VII. the race of villains was almost extinct, and wages were nearly quadruple the amount they had been in the preceding century. Civilization and the useful arts had made a wonderful progress. In the Statute of Labourers of 1496 (11 Henry VII. c. 22) bricklayers are for the first time mentioned among artificers. Tilers are noticed in the statute of 1350; and tiles were used in Suffolk as early as 1358. Another occupation is likewise mentioned in 1496, namely, that of glaziers. But Sir F. Eden very much doubts whether glass, although it had long been the ornament of churches, was used at this time in private houses. In 1567 glass was such a rarity as not to be usually found in the castles of the nobility. It is probable glass windows were not introduced into farmhouses much before the reign of James I. In Scotland, however, as late as 1661, the windows of the ordinary country houses were not glazed, and only the upper parts even of those of the king's palaces had glass; the lower ones having two wooden shutters, to open at pleasure and admit the fresh air. Previously, lattice, horn, or bevil, was the substitute for the uses to which glass is now applied.

The diet of labourers had become more wholesome and plentiful by the introduction of various useful

roots and vegetables. Their dress appears to have been simple and well-contrived, consisting of shoes, hose made of cloth, a jacket and coat, buttoned and fastened round the body by a belt or girdle, and a bonnet of cloth. Hats were not much used till a century after; though mention is made of them in a statute of Richard III., by which the price of a hat is limited to twenty pence. Sumptuary laws were in force, regulating apparel, both as to quantity and quality. In the reign of Henry VIII. it was enacted that no serving man under the degree of a gentleman, should wear a long gown or coat containing more than three broad yards, and without fur, under the penalty of forfeiture; nor any garde hose or cloth above the price of twenty pence. The fashion of wearing peaks to shoes or boots of a length exceeding eleven inches was prohibited to all but gentlemen.

The rate of wages may be collected from the statute of 1496 mentioned above, and were as follows:

AGRICULTURAL SERVANTS, WITH DIET, FOR ONE YEAR.