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 or 14d. for a woman reaper. We find the same discrepancies from generation to generation, showing that the demand for labour must have been much greater in some parts than in others. The Act of Settlement seems expressly framed to prevent labourers gaining any advantage from this.

The whole case for labour is given in those words of the old Intelligencer of 1649: "Labour is cheaper and food twice dearer than formerly." Prices rose, but wages did not rise in proportion. They were not allowed to do so. It is literally true that from 1563 to 1824 there was a legal conspiracy to cheat the English workman of his wages. The masters combined to keep wages down, and the law made the offence of "Conspiracy" extend to workmen who combined to raise them.

At the end of the seventeenth century, Gregory King gave the first trustworthy statistics of the state of the country. He was much troubled at the decrease in the revenue (a million less in 1695 than in 1688), and the increase in expenditure, and foresaw that "if the war continues to 1698 inclusive," the national income will have fallen £4,000,000. He gives an elaborate table of statistics. In 1696 the arable land of England was 11,000,000 acres, and the pasture and meadow 19,000,000. "Moor, Mountain, and Barren lands," another 10,000,000; and woods and forests,