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proves that the money could not be appropriated for the pay of another.
It is probable, that the knowledge of agriculture remained ſtationary till the reign of Henry the eighth, or perhaps of Queen Elizabeth (at the latter end of whoſe reign money was brought to the ſame ſtandard as at preſent), and that, conſequently, the value of the manors continued of the ſame eſtimation from the time of Domeſday to that period, a proper allowance being only made for the increaſing plenty of money. In the ſixteenth century, the improvement of lands began to be ſtudied, but the progreſs of improvement was extremely ſlow, and we may aſſert, that it did not arrive to any conſiderable degree of perfection, till the reſtoration of Charles the ſecond; ſince which area, the converſion of paſture lands into meadows, by the means of draining and drowning; a ſuperior ſkill in the management of woods; the profitable doctrine of manures; and, in later times, the univerſal introduction of artificial grafes upon our arable lands, which are now ſcarcely ever in wade, and which are,even enriched by their intermediate produce have improved the eſtates in ſo wonderful a manner, that we may ſafely aſſert, that the preſent produce ariſing from them, and conſequently their intrinſic value, has been,
