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AGRICULTURE political unrest of the latter part of the century checked the improvement. In the various assess- ments of the counties made in the 17th century the position of Rutland varies considerably, but it is more often high on the list in comparative value than otherwise, and in the poor rate of the end of the reign of Charles II it comes second, with 25^ acres to the £ ; Notts, and Leicester paying at the rate of about forty-four acres to the j^. It is probable therefore that the agriculture of the county was still in a flourishing condition. We are enabled to obtain a clear and reliable account of the wages paid in the i6th and 17th centuries from the assessment of wages drawn up by the magistrates of Rutland in pursuance of the famous statute of 1562, 5 Eliz. cap. 4, which amended the previous law on the subject, a practice continued until the commencement of the 19th century. In the preamble of the assessment of 1563 the prices of linen, woollen, leather, corn, and other victuals, are stated to be 'great, wheat being nearly £1 a quarter, an enormous price then, though next year it dropped to 10s. lo^d. The magistrates stated that a bailiff in husbandry, having charge of two plough-lands at the least, should have wages by the year 40J. and for his livery 8i. A chief servant in husbandry 'which can eire (plough), sow, mow, thrash, make a rick, thatch, and hedge the same, and can kill and dress a hog, sheep and calf,' 40J. by the year, and for his livery 6j. a common servant in husbandry ' which can mow, sow, thrash, and load a cart, and cannot expertly make a rick, hedge and thatch the same, and cannot kill and dress hog, sheep and calf,' was to have 335. i.d. by the year, and 51. for his livery. A mean servant in husbandry 'which can drive the plough, pitch the cart, and thrash, and cannot expertly sow, mow, nor make a rick, nor thatch the same,' 24J. a year, and 5s. for his livery. A chief shepherd, who now gets more than a ' mean ' or a ' common servant in husbandry,' then only received 20s. by the year and 55. for his livery ; all the above wages were obviously for men who were also boarded and lodged in the house. By the day a mower with meat earned $d., without meat 10^. ; a man reaper with meat ^d., without 8^. ; a woman reaper 3^/. and 6d.; a man haymaker with meat -^d., without td. ; a woman haymaker 2d. and f,d. The ordinary labourer was to have i>d. a day in winter, "jd. in summer, and from id. to od. in harvest-time, 'finding himself The same statute of Elizabeth which enabled magistrates to fix wages, among other regula- tions settled, or tried to settle, the working hours of the labourers by the day or week, who from the middle of March to the middle of September were to be and continue at their work at or before 5 in the morning, till between 7 and 8 at night, with two hours and a half for breakfast, dinner and drinking; that is half an hour for breakfast, and for each 'drinking,' and one hour for his dinner; and for his ' sleape when hee is allowed to sleape,' that is from the middle of May to the middle of August, half an hour, while from the middle of September to the middle of March they were to work from the spring of the day until night ; and for every hour's absence from work they were to lose id.^ In 16 10 there was another assessment by the magistates at Oakham,^ by which a bailiff was to have 52J., but there is no mention of livery ; a man servant 'of the best sort' 50^., a common servant 40^., a mean servant 2()s., all without livery. Mowers and haymakers received the same wages as half a century before, except that the man haymaker was advanced to 4^. with meat, and 8</." without, and hedgers and ditchers were paid 8^. without meat. The ordinary labourer's wages were also unaltered, yet wheat in that year averaged 325. "jd. a quarter, and for the ten years 1603-12, 35J. 3ii. The year 1630-1 was the commencement of a series of dear seasons, when for nine consecu- tive years the price of wheat did not fall below 40J. a quarter, actually touching 86;., and the justices of the county of Rutland certified ' that they have according to his majesty's commands appoynted the most substantialist inhabitants within the several hundreds of the said county to estimate and certifie to them the quantitie of all men's corne and graine inhabitinge in this countie.' The substantial inhabitants certified accordingly, and said there was scarce enough corn in the county to sustain their families and seed the land. They also certified that the markets were served according to the king's command and that wheat was 6j. id. a strike,^" rye 5J., barley 4$. ^d., malt 6j., oats 2s. 6d., and the markets were to be sufficiently supplied. Soon after Sir John WingfielJ writes that he has ' taken order that ingrossers (monopolizers, or, as we should say, men who have made corners) of corne should be carefullie seen unto and that there is no Badger " (corn dealer) licensed to carrye corn out of this countye, nor any starch made of any kind of graine. They have also refrayned the maulsters from excessive making of mault and have suppressed 20 alehouses . . . and further that they have taken order for the strict execution of the laws for the reliefe of the poore, punishing rogues and sturdie beggars.' '^ ' Thorold Rogers, op. cit. iv, 1 20 and Six Centuries of Work and Wages, 389. « Statutes of the Realm, iv (i), 416. ' -^rch. xi, 200 et seq. '" The strike w.is gener.illy a bushel, stricken off level, not heaped up. " Badger, originally one who was licensed to buy corn in one market and sell in another. " Leics. and Rut. N. and Q. iii, 1 1 ; CV. S.P. Dom. 1629-31, p. 414. I 241 31