Expence: And, among others, the Queen of Henry VI. allowed 2000 l. a Year out of her Jointure for this Purpose [1].
In this Place likewise the famous Statute of the 4th of Hen. VII. c. 19. inflicting the Penalty for decaying of Houses of Husbandry, or not laying of convenient Land for the Maintenance of the same, deserves particular Attention. About this Time, says Lord Bacon [2], Inclosures began to be frequent, whereby arable Land, which could not be manured without many Hands, was turned into Pasture, which was easily managed by a few Herdsmen; and the Tenancies for Years, Lives, and at Will, on which most of the Yeomanry subsisted, were turned into Demesnes. This bred a Decay of People, and by consequence, a Decay of Towns, Churches, Tythes, and the like. This, in the End, was attended with a Diminution of Subsidies and Taxes: For the more Gentry, the lower is the Book of Subsidies. To remedy this Inconvenience, the Legislature devised a very prudent Expedient. They did not absolutely forbid Enclosures, for that would have been forbidding Men to improve their Patrimony: Neither did they compel Tillage, for that would have been to strive against Nature: But they took a Mid-way, which redressed the Grievance by way of Consequence. For they enacted, "That all Houses of Husbandry, which were used with twenty Acres of Ground and upward, mould be maintained and kept up for ever, together with a competent Proportion of Land to be used and occupied with them." By this Means the Houses being kept up, did of necessity enforce Inhabitants; and the Proportion of Land to be occupied with them, did require such Inhabitant to be a Man of Substance, who might keep Servants, and contribute to the Improvement of Agriculture. This tended greatly to increase the Military Strength of the Nation; as by Means of these Farms, a great Part of the Lands of the Kingdom were thrown into the Hands of the Yeomanry or middle People, who were of a Condition between Gentlemen and Peasants, and made excellent Infantry [3]. Harrington and other Political Writers, very justly consider this Act among the principal Causes which concurred to throw the Power into the Hands of the People. Indeed it was the ruling Policy of this Prince, to raise the Commons by depressing the Nobility. With this View were the Statutes made against Retainers, which deprived the Lords of their Dependants, being mostly young Gentlemen of Family, who made excellent Horsemen. Thus, as by these Laws the Nobility lost their Cavalry, so by the Statute before mentioned, they were also deprived of their Infantry: And the Weight of both was thereby thrown into the popular Scale.
We proceed, in chronological Order, to the memorable Act of the 4th of Hen. VIII. c. 8. concerning Richard Strode. This has been marked, both by Mr. Hawkins and Mr. Cay, as a Private Act. Nevertheless it has been by great Authorities considered as a general Law. Lord Coke says, that the latter Branch of the second Clause is general,
- ↑ Cotton's Post. 168
- ↑ Lord Bacon, Vol. II. P. 294
- ↑ It is submitted to Public Consideration, whether some Provision is not requisite at this Time, to prevent the engrossing of large Farms into one Hand: For though it may be more for the present Ease and Benefit of the Landlord to have one overgrown opulent Tenant, than to have several of moderate Circumstances; yet such a monopolizing of Farms seems to have a manifest Tendency to depopulate the Kingdom.
