the proportion of one for every two cows annually. This "scarcity of victual," notwithstanding the conversion of arable land into pasture immediately before complained of, seems to indicate increased demand for rather than a decrease in the supply, as is assumed by the framers of the Act. The people earned more, and were enabled to consume food of higher price and quality, and hence probably the apparent deficiency which the above legislation sought to remedy. increase of There does, however, appear to have been a general increase in money prices during the preceding halfcentury, partly occasioned perhaps by the influx of the precious metals from the New World. On referring General to Sir Frederic Eden's table of prices, we find, in 1500, prices. the price of an ox set down at 11s. 8d. In 1511, 13s. 4d. is given as the price of a fat beeve, and 8s. as the price of a lean one. In 1531 the price of a large ox is £1, 6s. 8d.; and in 1551 a best fat ox is set down at £2, 13s. 4d., a middling one at £2, 3s. 4d., and an inferior one at £1, 13s. 4d. These prices are, of course, not to be regarded as an accurate measure of the alteration which had taken place, so much depending on the size and condition of the animals; but they warrant the conclusion that there was an actual increase of price within the above period, and this is confirmed by an examination of other items in these tables. Thus, a wether sheep, unclipped, is valued at 1s. 8d. in 1500; in 1529 a wether is valued at 2s. 4d.; and in 1551 the price of a best lean sheep is set down at 3s. 4d., and a best fat sheep at 5s.the inferior sort of each being valued at 2s. and 3s. respectively. In 1500 the price of a goose is 4d.; of a dozen pigeons, 4d.; and of a hundred eggs, 6d. In 1541 it is for a goose, 7d.; for a dozen pigeons, 10d.; and for a hundred eggs, 1s. 2d. The price of wheat within this period exhibits extraordinary variations.— Thus, in 1500 it was 3s. 4d. a quarter; in 1501 it VOL. 1.-10 was 6s. 8d. and 7s. 4d.; in 1504 it was 5s. 8d.; in 1511 it was 6s. 8d.; in 1516 it was 6s. and 10s. 8d.; in 1521 it was 20s. and 26s. 8d.; in 1527 it was 15s. and 20s.; in 1528 it was 26s. 8d. and 9s. 6d. ; and in 1530 it fell to 5s. 4d. and 6s. 5d. It rose again in 1537 to 13s. 4d.; in 1541 to 18s. 8d.; and in 1544 to 25s. 4d. In 1550 it was 13s. 4d.; and in 1551 it sunk to 8s. In 1552 it was 21s. and 14s.; but in 1553 it again fell to 8s., and so continued, without material variation, till the latter end of 1555, when it was for a short time at 25s. In 1556 the price of wheat ranged from 8s. the quarter in the early part of the year, to 53s. 4d. before harvest, and 5s. the quarter immediately after harvest. If the extreme variations above indicated be regarded as referable to unproductive seasons, and therefore exceptional, the average price at the commencement of the half-century may, as has been stated,1 be taken at 6s. the quarter, and at the end of it at 10s. This is probably about the ratio of increase in the price of commodities generally during the period, which may be considered as being fully one-half in excess of what it was at the commencement of the century. But with regard to these prices, Sir Frederic Eden, in a note at the foot of his table, observes, that "in noting the money prices of provisions about this time, it should be remarked that this year (1550) the shilling was reduced by proclamation to sixpence, as the coin had been much diminished by clipping." This would be another element of disorder in estimating the change, the precise amount of which it is now impossible to ascertain, for the proclamation seems only to have given a sanction to that change in the value of the coin which had already taken place; but when or how long the change had been in progress, does not appear. 1 Ante, p. 110. 66 Death of The chief or leading circumstance of Mary's reign, 1558. at the end of which we are now arrived (she died Mary. on the 17th November 1558), was her unceasing endeavour, from the hour she ascended the throne, to put down every vestige of the Reformation. No effort was spared for the accomplishment of this object. Means the most cruel, and which earned for her the unenviable title of Bloody Queen Mary," were resorted to, to alarm the timid and to punish the obstinate; and the struggle ended, as such struggles for the most part have ended, in strengthening that which it was endeavoured to destroy. What might have been the condition of this country if the efforts made in Mary's reign to restore the Roman Catholic religion had been successful, it is impossible to say; but it may be assumed as in the highest degree probable, that the public spirit, intelligence, and advancement of every kind, social, moral, and religious, which sprang, as it were, into life immediately after the final settlement of the Reformation under Elizabeth, would not have taken place. The restrictive influence of the Church of Rome would most likely have prevented it. At Mary's accession, nearly half the people were perhaps more or less favourable to the old religion, or at least, were not very unwilling to follow their queen in adopting it; and before the end of the first year, the kind of popularity which usually attends a new sovereign, together with efforts made and the influences used, may be said to have neutralised all that had been done for the Reformation in the time of Edward VI. The subsequent Acts of Mary's reign may therefore have been necessary for showing the people the real character of that religion. If Mary had been less of a bigot, less zealous in punishing those whom she regarded as heretics or schismatics, the final and nearly unanimous establishment of our Reformed National Church might not have taken place under her successor. Such indeed seems to be the view taken by Mr. Hallam, who, in commenting on the Reformation, observes, "But what had the greatest efficacy in disgusting the English with Mary's system of faith, was the cruelty by which it was accompanied. A sort of instinctive reasoning told the people, what the learned on neither side had been able to discover, that the truth of a religion begins to be very suspicious when it stands in need of prisons and scaffolds to eke out its evidences. Under Mary, many are said to have become Protestants, who, at her coming to the throne, had retained the contrary persuasion; and the strongest proof of this may be drawn from the acquiescence of the great body of the kingdom in the re-establishment of Protestantism by Elizabeth, when compared with the seditions and discontent on that account under Edward." Thus a great positive good was worked out of a great apparent evil, by a series of opposing influences, such as are often called into action by Divine Providence for its own beneficent purposes; and we of the present day are reaping the fruits. CHAPTER IV A. D. 1558-1603 Accession of Elizabeth-First compulsory assessment-Service and wages -Sturdy beggars-Aged and infirm poor-Overseers-Bastardy law"Collectors and governors" -- Houses of correction — “Censors and wardens"- Gipsies Exportation of corn- -Preservation of gameRegulation of buildings-Vagrancy in London-Overseers of the poor -Rate in aid-Liability of parents and children-Rogues, vagabonds and sturdy beggars-Scotch and Irish vagrants-Shipwrecked mariners, etc.-Progress of legislation-Provisions of 43 Elizabeth-The Reformation-Progress of legislation with respect to the poor-State of the country-Condition of the people-Prices of provisions-Rates of wages Social improvement-Death of Elizabeth. Elizabeth. ELIZABETH was in her twenty-fifth year when she Queen succeeded to the throne (November 17th, 1558), and 1558-1603. from an early age she had given promise of the superior talent by which she was afterwards distinguished. She was known to favour the Reformation, and all who held to that persuasion hailed her accession with delight. The first Act of her reign was the assertion of the supremacy of the Crown in matters ecclesiastical, and "abolishing all foreign power repugnant to the same.” By the second Act, the Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments, of the time of Edward VI., was re-established. The third Act formally recognised the queen's title, and the fourth the restitution of tenths and first- fruits to the Crown. These Acts were sufficiently indicative of a determination to prevent papal interference in England; but the Roman Catholics were still numerous, and after a time began to manifest discontent, and to stir |