had made a little money in the towns, and invested it in land, to which they retired to enjoy their fortune.
Towards the close of the reign there were several years when wheat was very dear. It was steadily rising. In 1557 it was £2, 13s. 4d. a quarter—or nearly five times the average price for two hundred and fifty years (1261-1540). After this, a cheap year was about double the old price. In 1574 wheat was at £2, 16s., and after this, a cheap year was three times the old price. In 1587 it was £3, 4s. in London, and as much as £5, 2s. in some other places. The year of the Armada was very abundant. But the five years from 1594-1598 were very dear, and 1597 was a famine. Wheat was £5, 4s.[1]
At last, in the 43 Elizabeth (1601) an Act was passed which was the basis of our old Poor Law. Threats and appeals to "charitable dispositions" having failed, "this Act made the relief of the poor compulsory."
Like the rest, it was evaded. A writer in 1622 says that in some parts no collection has been made for the poor "these seven years," especially in country towns. Even maimed soldiers "that have lost their limbs in our behalf are thus requited"; they are turned out to beg, or steal, "till the law brings them to the fearful end of hanging."
There is a general idea that the people have drifted off the land for one reason or another. But they did not drift—they were wrenched off. I have, perhaps, devoted too much space to the chief of these wrenchings; but it is very important. It was on so large a scale that it was impossible to readjust the social conditions it dislocated. It flooded the country with "out-o'-works," created a vast body of extreme poverty, and, by its cruel treatment of the poverty it had caused, it gave us a large degradedpopulation
- ↑ The harvest of 1545 must have been very bad, for wheat was higher than since 1316, the great famine year of Edward II. In 1546, 1547, 1548 wheat was decidedly cheap—in 1547, lower than since 15 10. Then came three dear years (1549, 1550, 1551) and two comparatively cheap. Mary came to the throne in the last year. Then three more dear years. The next two years were cheap. 1563 and 1573 were dear. The next dear year was 1586, when the price was again beyond all previous experience. The enormous prices of 1597 were not quite paralleled till 1648 and 1649. The high price was reached again in 1661-2, in 1674, and in 1709 and 1710, and not reached again till 1767, 1774, and 1795.
