ther a bushel of corn sells for six _pence_,
or six _shillings_, but, what _time_ a man must labour before he
can earn one?

If, by the moderate labour of thirty-six hours, in the reign of Henry
the Third, he could acquire a groat, which would purchase a bushel of
wheat; and if, in the reign of George the Third, he works the same
number of hours for eight shillings, which will make the same purchase,
the balance is exactly even. If, by our commercial concerns with the
eastern and the western worlds, the kingdom abounds with bullion, money
must be cheaper; therefore a larger quantity is required to perform the
same use. If money would go as far now as in the days of Henry the
Third, a journeyman in Birmingham might amass a ministerial fortune.

Whether provisions abound more or less? And whether the poor fare better
or worse, in this period than in the other? are also questions dependant
upon trade, and therefore worth investigating.

If the necessaries of life abound more in this reign, than in that of
Henry the Third, we cannot pronounce them dearer.

Perhaps it will not be absurd to suppose, that the same quantity of
land, directed by the superior hand of cultivation, in the eighteenth
century, will yield twice the produce, as by the ignorant management of
the thirteenth. We may suppose also, by the vast number of new
inclosures which have annually taken place since the revolution, that
twice the quantity of land is brought into cultivation: It follows, that
four times the quantity of provisions is raised from the earth, than was
raised under Henry the Third; which will leave a large surplus in hand,
after we have deducted for additional luxury, a greater number of
consumers, and also for exportation.

This extraordinary stock is also a security against famine, which our
forefathers severely felt.

It will be granted, that in both periods the worst of the meat was used
by the poor. By the improvements in agriculture, the art of feeding
cattle is well understood, and much in practice; as the land improves,
so will the beast that feeds upon it: if the productions, therefore, of
the slaughter house, in this age, surpass those of Henry the Third, then
the fare of the poor is at least as much superior now, as the worst of
fat meat is superior to the worst of lean.

The poor inhabitants in that day, found it difficult to procure bread;
but in this, they sometimes add cream and butter.

Thus it appears, that through