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34 tillage to pasture, the lords of the fee had authority to seize half of all profits until the farm- buildings were reconstructed. If the immediate lord did not do his duty, the lord next above him was to do it; and the evil still increasing, the Act, twenty years later, was extended further, and the King had power to seize. Nor was this all. Sheep-farming had become an integral branch of business; and falling into the hands of men who understood each other, it had been made a monopoly, affecting seriously the prices of wool and mutton. Stronger measures were therefore now taken, and the class to which the offenders belonged was especially pointed out by Parliament.

'Whereas,' says the 13th of the 25th of Henry VIII., 'divers and sundry persons of the King's