298 AGRICULTURE [HISTORICAL for manufacturing it were introduced into Scotland from Holland towards the beginning of the last century. To the third edition, published in 1655, are subjoined Dr Beatie s Annotations with the writer of the Legacy s answers, both of them ingenious, and sometimes instruc tive. But this cannot be said of Gabriel Plattes s Mercu- rius Laetificans, also added to this edition, which is a most extravagant production. There are also several communi cations from Hartlib s different correspondents, of which the most interesting are those on the early cultivation and great value of clover. Hartlib himself does not appear much in this collection ; but he seems to have been a very useful person in editing the works of others, and as a collector of miscellaneous information on rural subjects. It is strange that neither Blythe nor Hartlib, nor any of Hartlib s correspondents, seem ever to have heard of Fitzherbert s works. Ray and Among the other writers previous to the Revolution, we Evelyn. shall only mention Ray the botanist, and Evelyn, both men of great talent and research, whose works are still in high estimation. A new edition of Evelyn s Silva and Terra was published in 1777 by Dr Hunter, with large notes and elegant engravings, and reprinted in 1812. The preceding review commences with a period of feudal anarchy and despotism, and comes down to the time when the exertions of individual interest were protected and en couraged by the firm administration of equal laws; when the prosperity of Great Britain was no longer retarded by in ternal commotions, nor endangered by hostile invasion. LAWS. The laws of this period, in so far as they relate to agri culture and rural economy, display a similar progress in improvement. nilage, From the beginning of the reign of Henry VII. to the L188. end of Elizabeth s, a number of statutes were made for the encouragement of tillage, though probably to little purpose. The great grievance of those days was the practice of laying arable land to pasture, and suffering the farm-houses to fall to ruin. " Where in some towns," says the statute 4th Henry VII. (1488), "two hundred persons were occupied and lived of their lawful labours, now there are occupied two or three herdsmen, and the residue fall into idleness ;" therefore it is ordained, that houses which within three years have been let for farms, with twenty acres of land lying in tillage or husbandry, shall be upheld, under the penalty of half the profits, to be forfeited to the king or the lord of the fee. Almost half a century after- %vards, the practice had become still more alarming ; and in 1534 a new Act was tried, apparently with as little suc cess. "Some have 24,000 sheep, some 20,000 sheep, some 10,000, some 6000, some 4000, and some more and some less ; " and yet it is alleged the price of wool had nearly doubled, "sheep being come to a few persons hands." A penalty was therefore imposed on all who kept above 2000 sheep ; arid no person was to take in farm more than two tenements of husbandry. By the 39th Elizabeth (1597), arable land made pasture since the 1st Elizabeth shall be again converted into tillage, and what is arable shall not be converted into pasture. Vagabonds. Many laws were enacted during this period against va gabonds, as they were called ; and persons who could not find employment seem to have been sometimes confounded with those who really preferred idleness and plunder. The dissolution of the feudal system, and the suppression of the monasteries, deprived a great part of the rural population of the means of support. They could not be employed in cultivating the soil, for there was no middle class of farmers possessed of capital to be vested in improvements; and what little disposable capital was in the hands of great proprietors could not, in those rude times, be so advantageously embarked in the expensive and pre carious labours of growing corn, as in pasturage, which required much less skill and superintendence. Besides, there was a constant demand for wool on the Continent ; while the corn market was not only confined by laws against exportation, but fettered by restrictions on the internal trade. The laws regarding the wages of labour and the price of provisions are a further proof of the ignorance of the age in regard to the proper subject of legislation. By the statute 1552 it is declared, that any person that Forcstn shall buy merchandise, victual, &c., coming to market, li n g> !- or make any bargain for buying the same, before they shall be in the market ready to be sold, or shall make any motion for enhancing the price, or dissuade any person from coining to market, or forbear to bring any of the tilings to market, &c., shall be deemed a forestaller. Any person who buys and sells again in the same market, or within four miles thereof, s!::i!i be reputed a regrater. Any person buying corn growing in the fields, or any other corn, with intent to sell again, shall be reputed an unlaw ful ingrosser. It was also declared, that no person shall sell cattle within five weeks after he had bought them. Licenses, indeed, Avere to be granted in certain cases, and particularly when the price of wheat was at or under 6s. 8d. a quarter, and other kinds of .-rain in that proportion. The laws regarding the exportation and importation of Corn tr corn during this period could have had little effect in encouraging agriculture, though towards the latter part of it they gradually approached that system which was finally established at arid soon after the J ! .-volution. From the time of the above-mentioned statute against forcstallers, which effectually prevented exporta . ion, as well as the freedom of the home trade, whet! corn was above the price therein specified, down to 1688, there are at least twelve statutes on this subject ; and some of them are so nearly the same, that it is probable they were not very carefully observed. The price at which wheat was allowed to be exported was raised from 6s. Bd. a quarter, the price fixed by the 1st and 2dof Philip and Mary (1553), to 10s. in 1562; to 20s. in 1593; to 26s. 8d. in 1604; to 32s. in 1623; to 40s. in 1660; to 48s. in 1663; and at last, in 1670, exportation was virtually permitted without limita tion. Certain duties, however, were payable, which in some cases seem to have amounted to a prohibition ; and until 1660 importation was not restrained even in years of plenty and cheapness.* In permitting exportation, the object appears to have been revenue rather than the encouragement of production. The first statute for levying tolls at turnpikes, to make Tolls, 1 or repair roads in England, passed in 1662. Of the state of agriculture in Scotland in the 16th and Scotlan the greater part of the 17th century very little is known; 16th an no professed treatise on the subject appeared till after tha* *. 6 Revolution. The south-eastern counties were the earliest " improved, and yet in 1660 their condition seems to have been very wretched. Ray, who made a tour along the eastern coast in that year, says, " We observed little or no fallow ground in Scotland ; some ley ground we saw, which they manured with sea wreck. The men seemed to be very lazy, and may be frequently observed to plough in their cloaks. It is the fashion of them to wear cloaks when they go abroad, but especially on Sundays. They have neither good bread, cheese, nor drink. They cannot make them, nor will they learn. Their butter is very indifferent, and one would wonder how they could contrive to make it so bad. They use much pottage made of coal- wort, which they call kail, sometimes broth of decorticated barley. The ordinary country-houses are pitiful cots, built
of stone and covered with turfs, having in them but one
