The further back, indeed, that we go, the wider becomes

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1



I30 LANDOWNING IN WHERSTEAD

the contrast between the territorial properties of to-day
and the manors, farms, and holdings of the earlier part of
our period. Then life could not be maintained without
land. For the bulk of the nation there was no other means
of living. Wages at that time had not become sufficiently
regular and sufficient in amount to support families through-
out the year. The demand for labour was not continuous.
In this matter of landowning the turning-point, the fact
that ever after governed the course things took, was the
poor-law of the 43rd of Elizabeth. Labour was thence-
forth endowed with a first and indefeasible claim on the
produce of the land. From that day the possession of land
ceased to be the one condition necessary for the mainten-
ance of life. The bulk of the people no longer troubled
themselves about retaining or acquiring land. They had a
government guarantee for their support under all con-
tingencies. Had it not been for this, the system which
everywhere else obtains of making the land as accessible
as possible to all must have been maintained here. Under
that condition our territorial estates would have been
impossible.
