tched means of
communication. At Newark, for instance, in 1692-3 wheat was from 36s.
to 40s. a quarter, while at Brentford it touched 76s.; next year in
the same two places it was 32s. and 86s. respectively. In 1695-6 hay
at Newark was 13s. 4d. a ton, at Northampton it was from 35s. to 40s.

In 1662 was passed the famous statute of parochial settlement, 14 Car.
II, c. 12, which forged cruel fetters for the poor, and is said to
have caused the iron of slavery to enter into the soul of the English
labourer.[357] The Act states, that the reason for passing it was the
continual increase of the poor throughout the kingdom, which had
become exceeding burdensome owing to the defects in the law. Poor
people, moreover, wandered from one parish to another in order 'to
settle where there is the best Stocke, the largest commons or wastes
to build cotages, and the most woods for them to burn and
destroy.'[358] It was therefore determined to stop these wanderings,
and most effectually was it done. Two justices were empowered to
remove any person who settled in any tenement under the yearly value
of L10 within forty days to the place where he was last legally
settled, unless he gave sufficient security for the discharge of the
parish in case he became a pauper.

It is true that certain relaxations were subsequently made. The Act of
1691, 3 W. & M., c. 2, allowed derivative settlements on payment of
taxes for one year, serving an annual office, hiring for a year, and
apprenticeship; while the Act of 1696, 8 & 9 Wm. III, c. 30, allowed
the grant of a certificate of settlement, under which safeguard the
holder could migrate to a district where his labour was required, the
new parish being assured he would not become chargeable to it, and
therefore not troubling to remove him till there was actual need: but
the statute acted as an effectual check on migration and prevented the
labourer carrying his work where it was wanted.[359] It became the
object of parishes to have as few cottages and therefore as few poor
as possible. In 'close' parishes, i.e. where all the land belonged to
one owner, as distinguished from 'open' ones where it belonged to
several, all the cottages were often pulled down so that labourers
coming to work in it had to travel long distances in all weathers. We
shall see further relaxation in the law in 1795, but it was not until
modern times that this abominable system was destroyed. The
agricultural labourer's difficu