kingdom, and transferring the
manufactories to foreign countries, do daily bring into this land,"
etc. Then follows a statement of the inferior grades of fabrics thus
introduced, which the complaint said was "to the great detriment and
utter destruction of the said craftes; which is like to cause great
idleness among the young gentlewomen and other apprentices to the same
craftes." The petition that the importation of these goods should be
prohibited was granted, and we hear no more of these estimable ladies
and little of their infant industry. It was then thought no disgrace
for a lady of quality to conduct such household manufactories.

The town-dwelling woman looked down upon her rural sister, a fact that
is not at all surprising when the difference in the condition of the
two classes of women is considered. The town-dwelling woman had the
privileges of guild association and the liberties which it gave her,
while the woman in the agricultural districts was but a drudge.
The former were identified with manufactures and commerce, while
the latter were tied to the soil. Even after the rise of copyhold
tenure of land, the grievances of the agricultural population were
considerable, and of many sorts. While the villains flocked to London
to demand legal exemption from the old labor obligations which went
along with such servile condition, the cottars claimed freedom from
labor rents for their homes, and the copyholders of all kinds demanded
that they should not be compelled to grind at the lord's mill the
corn which they raised for their household needs. The rising tide of
industrial revolution represented a climax of centuries of grievance;
and when the revolt did come, it was as a demand for the manumission
of property held in villanage. There was at the time hardly any
personal servitude demanding such strenuous measures for betterment.
The popular agitation seemed to be enlisted against class impositions,
and so the following lines:

"When Adam delved and Eve span,
Who was then the gentleman?"

became the slogan of the insurgents.

It is not possible to ascertain how particular grievances in Kent and
Essex became identified with the general movements of the peasantry
south of the Thames and in many parts of the midland. The vast
movement, however, extended throughout the agricultural districts, and
included burgesses of towns, rural priests, yeomen and farm laborers.
It is unlikely that a personal grievance s