The Goldsmiths loaned money to the king and to private persons and to the Exchequer. Receipts from Goldsmiths for storage in strong boxes had become a de facto paper currency. But when the Goldsmiths had no more money to lend, the Bank of England was founded in 1694 under whig auspices to provide money for war. It was the first institution to issue notes in excess of its total deposits. However, it was not allowed to lend money to the Crown without the consent of Parliament. It was incorporated as the first English joint-stock bank and had about 1,300 shareholders. These original subscribers were individuals from London from many walks of life, including well-to-do tradesmen and about 12% of whom were women: wives, widows, or spinsters. Not many corporations were original subscribers. Holders of at least 500 pounds could vote, of 2000 pounds could be directors, and of 4000 pounds could be Governor. The Bank issued notes payable to bearer and discounted bills, but these were not legal tender. It lent at 8% to the Crown and occasionally to corporations. Money was also borrowed by offering annuities on single lives. This was the first time the government borrowed directly from the public on a long- term basis.
In 1695 there was inflation due to over issue by the Bank because of inexperience, pressure from government, and the Bank's greed for business. After a dividend of 5% in 1695, the next year there was no dividend and so the bank stock price fell. In 1696, five pound and ten pound short term bonds were sold to the public. Also in that year was the first run on the bank. This occurred two days after clipped money lost currency; people wanted the new recoined money, but the Mint had not supplied the Bank with sufficient supplies. Interest instead of cash was given for notes. Cash was short for months. The Bank's credit was much shaken. It was then given a monopoly so that its notes would not have competition. Thereafter, its dividends were good - about 12% per year. Because of its monopoly, its dividends were about 3% above the current going rate of interest. About this time, Exchequer Bills, with interest, were started by the Exchequer and circulated by the Bank of England. They were frequently endorsed many times by successive holders.
The Bank simply took over from the goldsmiths its main everyday business of deposit, with a running cash note [cashier's note, specie note, cash note], which was payable on demand and normally did not bear interest; and a drawn note [precursor to the check, but not on special paper]. The Bank gradually convinced many of its clients to use its "check" [cheque] paper when drawing. The check paper was unique to the Bank and embellished with distinctive scroll work to serve as an obstacle to fraud. Over time the running cash note tended to be for round sums of at least twenty pounds and multiples of five pounds. The Bank of England had a monopoly on issuing notes in the London area. Country banks arose and issued bearer notes payable on demand and interest-bearing notes in their areas. The Bank of England gave to its depositors the service of paying annually to a designee without further order.
A decision of the common law courts held that bills of exchange (written orders to pay a given a sum on a given date) were transferable to other people by successive endorsements. So long distance payments no longer had to be made in coin, with all the dangers of highway robbery.
The financial revolution of the 1690s meant that the merchant elite could invest in government bonds or company bonds at 5-6%, or London leases at 10%, as opposed to income from landed estates, which was under 3%. Shareholders were no longer personally liable for company losses. Interest on loans was no longer considered sinful as long as it was not oppressive. The greater ability to borrow spurred the growth of capitalism.
All brokers and stock jobbers in London and Westminster of bank stock, bank bills, shares and interests in joint stock must be licensed by the mayor, which shall necessitate their taking an oath to exercise their office without fraud or collusion to the best of his skill and knowledge as of 1697. This is to avoid the collusion of fixing values to their own advantage.
Compilations of tables of mortality originated the science of life-statistics. This made life insurance possible. But it was administered by ad hoc offices rather than companies and was not reliable in making payments.
William Petty made a statistical study of economics and determined that the basic values of an economy derive not from its store of treasure, but from its capacity for production. Trade was studied empirically by statistics by new offices such as the Inspector General of Imports and Exports.
Charles instituted a hearth tax of 2s. per year in 1662, with constables and officers authorized to verify the number of hearths and stoves in houses. It was repealed in 1688 because it could not be enforced except by exposing every man's house to be entered and searched at pleasure by persons unknown to the people, which was oppressive and a badge of slavery.
By bribes, Charles built up a body of support in Parliament which could be relied upon for a majority. They came to be called "tories" by their opponents. "Tory" had been a term of abuse for Irish Catholic bandits. The tory and whig groups were known by their disagreement over the authoritarianism of the Crown. The tories were sympathetic to the doctrine of divine right and favored a doctrinally high church. The tories represented landed property and the established church, and usually wore blue in contrast to the purple of royalty. Many royalists became tories. The whigs refused to accept the sacrosanct character of the monarchy. The whigs opined that government depended upon consent of the people and that the people had a right of resistance. They subordinated the Crown to Parliament. The whigs represented the dissenters and the mercantile classes, and often wore red. Many former Puritans became whigs. "Whig" had been a term of abuse for Scots Presbyterian rebels and horse thieves.
The gout and venereal disease were common among political leaders. A primitive condom just introduced to the aristocracy from France helped deter syphilis, but was uncomfortable and unreliable.
Under Charles II, the Treasury as a supreme financial body separated from the Exchequer as a depository of revenue. A gold guinea coin was issued. From 1690, government policy was controlled by specific appropriations. Money bills had to originate in the Commons, and could not be amended by the House of Lords.
Boards became independent of the king's Privy Council and answerable to the secretary of state.
In the 1680s, Charles compelled some of the livery companies in London to give up their charters to him and he called in many corporation charters of boroughs whenever some light excuse could be found to justify it. This was done by the use of the writ of quo warranto [by what authority] before a court. In London he had the tory mayor revive an ancient custom of selecting a sheriff by drinking to him at the annual feast. Two tory sheriffs were installed into office. All these actions gave the king a voice in selection of the officers of London and boroughs, since Royal commissioners would then determine who the officers would be. This was to assure London's representation in Parliament by Crown loyalists as London had been whig. It also allowed influenced selection of sympathetic jurors.
Criminal seditious libel was brought into the common law courts in 1664, when Benjamin Keach was tried for writing a book containing contradictions of the doctrine of the established church. He wrote against infant baptism and asserted that laymen might preach the gospel. The justice intimidated the jury to find him guilty. He was sentenced to be fined, to spend two hours in the pillory in two successive weeks, and his book to be burned before his face. He was to be imprisoned until he found sureties for his good behavior and renunciation of his doctrine and for his future appearance in court. Juries were loath to find anyone guilty of seditious libel.
James II succeeded Charles II to the throne and fostered Roman Catholicism by appointments and by attempting to suspend laws unfavorable to Catholics. He commanded all bishops to read in the churches his Declaration of Indulgence exempting both Catholic and Protestant dissenters from all penal statutes based on religion. Seven bishops refused to obey and jointly petitioned him, stating that his action was illegal according to Parliament. He prosecuted them for seditious libel in the petition. The jury found them not guilty. James discharged the two justices of the five who had rejected the seditious libel doctrine which had been created by the Star Chamber Court. This roused the whigs and tories in turn to discharge him by joining in inviting Protestants William of Orange and Mary to take the throne in his place. James was effectively chased out of England by William's advancing army in the Glorious Revolution of 1688-9, which took away the powers of final authority from the king, but without transferring them to any other body. A "Bill of Rights" stated that
1. -The king may not suspend laws or dispense with them without consent of Parliament.
2. -The establishment of a Court of Commissioners and like bodies for ecclesiastical causes is illegal.
3. -The king may not levy money or extend an authorized levy without consent of Parliament.
4. -Subjects have a right to petition the king without prosecution.
5. -The king may not raise or keep a standing army within the country in time of peace without the consent of Parliament.
6. -Protestants may have arms for their defense as allowed by law.
7. -The elections of members of Parliament should be free.
8. -The freedom of speech or debates or proceedings in Parliament should not be impeached or questioned in any court or place outside of Parliament.
9. -Excessive bail should not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted (so no more men were whipped to death).
10. Jury selection should not be tampered with, and jurors who try men for high treason should be freeholders.
11. All grants and promises of fines and forfeiture of particular persons, before conviction, are illegal and void.
12. Parliament should be held frequently for redress of grievances and for the amending, strengthening, and preserving of the laws.
13. All Protestants may freely exercise their religion and the king will maintain the Protestant religion and the law and liberty of the realm.
The right of the peoples' representatives to select and depose the king and to change the order of succession was established. There was no divine right or hereditary right to the Crown. An English monarch was created by an act of Parliament. The king still called and dissolved Parliaments, except that Parliament continued for six months after the death of a king. From 1689, Parliament sat every year. Freedom of speech for members of Parliament was established by a resolution overturning a King's Bench felony conviction of Sir John Elliot.
By the act of settlement of 1701, no officer or pensioner of the king could be a member of Parliament. All resolutions by the Privy Council had to be signed by the members consenting to them. No one born outside the realm could be a member of the Privy Council or of Parliament, or could have any civil or military office or place of trust, or any grants of land or tenements from the king. Justices served during good behavior instead of at the pleasure of the king.
After the Glorious Revolution, Tories tended to accept of the Whig principles of limited constitutional monarchy instead of rule by divine right.
Under William and Mary, the ministers were first chosen by them but could be impeached by the Commons and then removed by the Parliament. The Commons removed anyone who disagreed with them as soon as he made a mistake. But the king could pardon anyone convicted by Parliamentary bill of attainder. This was inconsistent, so no one was allowed to plead pardon by the king in an impeachment by the Commons. Thus Parliament gained control of who would be ministers.
The Glorious Revolution favored the capitalists and the commercial magnates even though it had been started by the landed families, with whom they now intermarried. There were companies in the fishing, silk, baize [a coarse wool], sugar, rope, paper, iron, hardware, cutlery, gunpowder, saw milling, and pottery trades. These industries for manufacturing were organized on capitalist lines rather than being subject to guilds. That is, production was controlled by men with money and the means of manufacture. The largest pottery workshops employed about six men. One man shaped the pots, another made the handles and put them on, while the others did the decoration, the glazing, and the firing. New companies could be formed without royal or Parliamentary consent. Regulated companies declined. There were no more commercial monopolies. The Merchant Adventurers lost their last monopoly privileges and their entrance fees were abolished. Their method of limiting the volume of their exports of English cloth to Germany to keep up prices was obsolete. Now they tried to capture the market by selling cheap. There were more joint-stock companies and on a larger scale. They also no longer restricted output to keep prices high, but geared to export many inexpensive goods.
Drinking of gin, which had first been made by a Flemish physician, became popular under King William, who was Dutch. The year of his accession, the gin monopoly ended.
From the mid-1500s to 1700, coal production increased fourteen times. Sir Ambrose Crowley, an iron maker with coal works, established disability and medical benefits and pensions for his workers.
The capitalist organization of the mining, glass manufacture, salt, soap, wire and other monopolized industries was made possible only by government support. Salt and glass manufacture expanded. Glass drinking vessels were in common use. Mirrors of blown plate glass were manufactured in England. In 1670, Vauxhall glass works were opened with workmen brought from Venice to blow their fine glass and make mirrors. Some plate glass by casting was imported. Plate glass was a large and strong glass piece, which was formed by the liquid glass being poured on a table. This glass was not distorted, so mirrors could be made perfectly reflective. Then plate glass for coaches, mirrors, and windows became manufactured in England; this new industry was organized on capitalist lines.
The domestic or "putting out" system came into use. In this system, the worker usually owned his own machinery and the capitalist owned the material, which he put out to the worker at home. The merchant manufacturer bought raw wool and had it carded, spun, woven, fulled, and dressed at his own expense. Some farmers became spinners in the winter when outside work was impossible. The manufacture of nails was also done by this system. Accordingly, the guilds and municipal corporations in towns ceased to control the recruiting, conditions of work, and pay of industries. Only a quarter of 200 towns had any organized guilds at all. The growing town of Birmingham was not a chartered borough, so never was encumbered with guild regulations. Overall, the guild and apprentice regulations were effectively enforced only in agriculture work. Artisans became known as tradesmen. Work was usually irregular, some seasonal. In bad years, when a worker had to borrow money, he used work tools, such as his loom, as security. In this way, one's work tools often became the property of a merchant. Some merchant clothiers also owned a fulling mill and a shop where the cloth was sold. The capitalists first became owners of the materials, then of the implements, and then of the work places. But production was still confined to the known wants of its habitual market. Men used to working at home were generally not inclined to go to work in a factory. So there was an assortment of unskilled factory labor, such as country people driven from their villages by the growth of large estates, disbanded soldiers, and paupers. They had to be taught, trained, and above all disciplined.
Smiths used trip hammers powered by watermills which turned axles with cams on them. They made iron gates, fences, balconies, and staircases with hammer, anvil, and chisel. Cast iron was made by running liquefied metal into molds. This was harder but more brittle than the tough but malleable wrought iron. Tinkers went from house to house to repair metal items such as pots and pans.
The East India Company had about half the trade of the nation. Its shares were frequently bought and sold. It responded to anger over its semi-monopoly status by granting liberty to all English subjects below the age of forty to live in its Indian settlements and to trade practically everywhere. Bombay, India became subject to the East India Company. Charters gave the East India Company the right to coin money, to exercise jurisdiction over English subjects, to levy taxes, to build and command fortresses, to command English and Indian troops, to make peace and war, and to enter into alliances with Indian rulers. The Company always paid high dividends and the market price of its shares generally rose. 100 pound stock was worth 130 pounds in 1669, 245 pounds in 1677, 280 pounds in 1681, 360 and even up to 500 pounds in 1683, and then fell to 190 pounds in 1692. In 1693 a new charter for the Company included loss of monopoly status by resolution of the Commons. With this resolution, Parliament assumed the right of regulating commerce, now no longer the king's province. Thereafter the Commons regulated trade with India and determined who could participate in trade there. Political issues developed, which initiated corruption at elections by entertainment and bribes to candidates, which were later proscribed. The trade opened up to many more traders and investors. Ordinary investors came to include women and Quakers. The Stock Exchange was incorporated about 1694. Exports included grain, silk, metal wares, foodstuffs, lead, and tin. Cloth and manufactures were exported to America. Dyeing and dressing of cloth became the norm and undressed cloth exports fell sharply. Imports included linen; flax; hemp; timber; iron; raw, thrown, and woven silk; wine; brandy; fruit; coffee; chocolate, served as a drink or used in cooking; cauliflower; and oil. From America came molasses, sugar, tobacco, and dyes. Sugar was in great demand for tea, coffee, and chocolate. The East India Company imported calico, silk, pepper, spices, China tea, potions, and saltpeter. Tonnage of English shipping doubled by 1688 Exports and imports increased 50% by 1700.
When there was a surplus of grain, it was exported. About 1696, the king set up a board of trade of eight paid members and great officers of state, who nominally belonged to it, and a staff. This was to achieve a favorable balance of trade. For instance, it imposed tariffs to protect internal markets and put restraints on imports of goods producible in the country, e.g. live cattle, dairy products, and woolen goods. It also restricted the export of raw wool. England led the way in protectionist measures.
Parliament required an oath of allegiance to the new sovereigns William and Mary from all those in public functions, including the clergy. By extending this rule to the clergy, Parliament asserted a supremacy of Parliament over the church. It also asserted a supremacy over the king by requiring all monarchs to take a coronation oath promising to govern according to the statutes, laws, and customs of Parliament, to make judgments with law and justice in mercy, and to maintain the Protestant religion established by law.
England competed with other nations for land in the New World. Carolina, named for Charles II, was colonized for commerce in 1663. The Episcopal Church, an analogue of the Church of England, was established there by law. The whole coast became English after war with the Netherlands gave New York, named for Charles II's brother the Duke of York, and New Jersey to England in 1667. Presbyterians and Baptists fled from religious tests and persecutions in England to colonize New Jersey. For free passage to the English colonies, people became indentured servants, agreeing to serve the master of the ship or his assigns with a certain kind of labor for a term of a few years according to a written contract made before departure. Also, various statutes made transportation to any part of America available to any person who would pay for his transportation, for a term of years, usually seven, as a new possible penalty for offenses. In 1636, Harvard College was founded in New England to advance literature, arts, and sciences, as well as to train ministers. Some American colonists sent their sons to be educated at the Inns of Court in London.
In 1682, Quaker William Penn, son of an Admiral, founded the colony of Pennsylvania for Quakers in a "Holy Experiment" in political and religious freedom. The king had granted proprietary rights to this land to him to discharge a Crown debt to his father. When Penn refused to take off his hat before King Charles and asked why Charles took off his own, Charles, unruffled, replied that "It's the custom of this place that only one man should remain uncovered at a time". The Pennsylvania Charter of 1701 went beyond Magna Carta and England's law in guaranteeing right to counsel and giving a right to defendants to summon witnesses in all criminal cases. It gave Penn absolute authority and he established liberty of conscience, i.e.freedom of religion, and freedom from arbitrary arrest. In 1751, some Quakers founded a small hospital in Pennsylvania as an asylum for the insane, where they would be treated humanely.
Proprietary colonies, in which an individual or syndicate held under the crown a sort of feudal overlordship, were founded in America: namely, Virginia, Maryland, Carolina, New York and New Jersey in 1663, and Pennsylvania and Delaware in 1682. New Hampshire was made a royal province in 1680 to cut off the expansion of Massachusetts, which had been avoiding the trade laws. These colonies were distinguished from the corporate colonies of Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, which made their own arrangements for internal government without a royal executive. Charles persuaded the Chancery Court to declare the charter of Massachusetts void; it was given a new charter in 1691 which made it a royal province. New York was made a royal province in 1691. Maryland's proprietor gave way to a royal governor in 1692. Soon all colonies except Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania were royal provinces, with governors nominated by the Crown. This bringing of union to the colonies was done for maintenance of order, to coordinate defense, and to enforce trade laws.
In 1670, the Hudson's Bay Company was incorporated to engage in fur trade with Indian trappers in the Hudson Bay and to find a northwest passage to China.
In 1701 the founding of the "Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel in Foreign Parts" by the Church of England created many
missionaries in the colonies, where they called their churches
"Episcopalian".
Increase Mather and his son Cotton Mather were Puritan ministers in colonial Boston. Increase was for a time the President of Harvard College and participated in obtaining the new charter of colonial Massachusetts of 1691. He and his son tried to maintain the principles of the Puritan founders of Massachusetts, which included the theories of diabolical possession and witchcraft. But the thought of Presbyterians, Anglicans, and Baptists became influential also. In 1692 in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts, some hysterical girls showing strange spasms and sounds charged they had been bewitched by certain other residents. Victims were deceived, flogged, or tortured into forced confessions and then excommunicated from the church. They were then hanged and their property confiscated. One man endured being pressed to death for refusal to plead so that his property would be inherited by his family rather than confiscated due to being convicted. Eventually, some prominent citizens including judges were accused. Then the more thoughtful people began to doubt the whole phenomenon and admitted error. The excommunications were revoked. Cotton Mather came to accept Newton's science and advocated inoculation. He encouraged Puritanism into a simpler piety and charity. This influenced American Protestantism toward a generalized concern with good works, morality, and social leadership.
The Law
Treason to the king is to compass, imagine, or intend death or any bodily harm tending to death, or maiming or wounding, or imprisonment, or restraint as well as trying to depose him or levy war against him. Also included is printing, writing, preaching, or malicious speaking. Traitors shall suffer death and forfeiture as in high treason.
The fine for having, buying, or selling clipped coins is 500 pounds, one-half going to the informer, and one-half going to the king. The offender shall also be branded in the right cheek with the letter "R". He shall be imprisoned until he pays the 500 pounds. No hammered coins are lawful. Anyone except a smith in the king's mint making tools or presses or other machines that can make counterfeit coins or having such which were stolen from the mint shall be guilty of high treason.
Any malicious and willful burning or destroying of stacks of hay, grain, or barns, or killing any horses, sheep, or cattle at nighttime shall be felony and punished by transportation to the American colonies for seven years.
Any person apprehending a thief or robber on the highway will be rewarded 40 pounds from the local sheriff, to discourage the many robberies and murders which have made travel dangerous. Also, executors of persons murdered while trying to apprehend a robber shall have the reward.
Anyone killing, hurting, or taking away deer from any forest or park or other ground without consent of the owner or custodian shall pay a 20 pound fine. This was later increased to 20 pounds for hunting deer and 30 pounds for wounding or killing deer, with the pillory for one hour on market day and gaol for a year without bail for those who couldn't pay.
Any person privately and feloniously stealing any goods, including horses, by day or night, in any shop, warehouse, coach stable, or stable, whether there is a break-in or not, and whether or not the owner is present, or anyone assisting or hiring such person may not have benefit of clergy. Any person who apprehends and prosecutes such person is excused from having to serve in parish and ward offices. An offender being out of prison who informs against two other offenders who are convicted is to be pardoned. Any person convicted of theft or larceny and having benefit of clergy is to be burnt in the cheek nearest the nose instead of on the hand.
When a bill of exchange drawn to at least five pounds is not paid on demand at the time it is made payable, the person who accepted it may make a protest in writing before a notary public, which shall be served on the maker of such bill, who must pay it and all interest and charges from the date of the protest. But if a bill of exchange is lost or miscarried, another shall be given in its place.
No one may take more than 6 pounds in interest for a 100 pound
loan.
Persons seeking election to Parliament may not give or promise
money, meat, drink, entertainment, present or gift to any elector.
Because the gaols were full of people in debt due to the late unhappy times such as the London fire, all prisoners for debt were released upon taking an oath that they had no property over ten pounds nor had disposed or conveyed property to defraud creditors. Creditors not wanting them released had to contribute to their maintenance in gaol.
Any sale of land or lease or estate of freehold or copyhold shall be in writing and signed. An interest in land given orally shall have only the force of estates at will. All contracts for sale of goods or merchandise for the price of at least 10 pounds shall be in writing and signed by the parties or shall be accompanied by part payment or partial acceptance of the goods. This is to deter fraud. This statute caused many small freeholders, including yeomen, who paid rent by custom to be dispossessed.
Mortgagees can hold the land of any mortgagor who borrows money upon security of the land or obtains another mortgage without prior notice to the initial mortgagee. The mortgagor has six months to pay off the mortgage and all interest and charges or vacate the land and lose his equity therein. But a widow's dower will not be affected if she did not join with her husband in the mortgage.
If rent is not paid in a reasonable time, the renter's goods and grain may not only be distrained, but sold.
One coparcener [one person of two or more persons who inherit as co-owners of land] of a joint tenancy [land held that descends to the heir of a co-owner who dies] or tenancy in common [land held that accrues to the surviving co-owner if one dies] may have a court partition the property without the presence of other coparceners, because such coparceners are often difficult to find. This is to avoid wasting of land lying uncultivated and unmanured.
After the intestate death of a father of any sons or daughters without wives or children of their own in the life time of their mothers, the mother and every brother and sister shall share equally except the customs of London and York shall not be affected. Administrators have to make an inventory. They have to account on request by an interested person. They must be bonded by two sureties.
Executors and administrators of estates of deceased persons must pay the debts of the deceased person rather than waste or convert the goods and chattels to their own use. Creditors may recover their debts from heirs or devisees of the will of a debtor.
Men gone beyond the sea who could not be accounted for were deemed dead after seven years, so their life estates could be terminated.
Whereas lawful games are not to be used as constant callings for a livelihood, and young people are deceived and debauched and their money taken, anyone "winning" money by deceitful or fraudulent gambling shall forfeit three times his "winnings".
The making or selling of fireworks is forbidden or else forfeit 5 pounds. Firing or throwing such from one's house onto or across the street is a common nuisance with a penalty of 20s. This is to avoid the loss of life and of eyes.
No more than 20 people may petition the king nor more than 10 people may assemble to present a petition to the king, because more has been tumultuous and disorderly.
Anyone may without fee set up a hemp business including breaking, hatchelling [separating the coarse part and broken pieces of the stalk from the fine, fibrous parts by drawing the material through long iron teeth set in a board], and dressing it; or a flax business, including making and whitening thread, spinning, weaving, making, whitening, or bleaching hemp or flax cloth; making twine or nets for fishing or treating cordage for tapestry or hangings, because the daily importation of such has in effect taken the work from the poor and unemployed of England.
No sheep, wool, woolfells, shearlings, yarn, fuller's earth, or fulling clay may be exported as has secretly been done, so that the poor of the realm may have work.
Fishermen may sell their fish to others than Fishmongers at Billingsgate fish market because the Fishmongers have forestalled the market and set their own prices. The buyers of such fish may resell them in any other London market by retail, except than only Fishmongers may sell in shops or houses.
No tanned or untanned skin or hide of any ox, steer, bull, cow, or calf may be exported because the price of leather has risen excessively and leather workers can't get enough raw material to carry on their trade and because poor people cannot afford leather items they need.
The newly incorporated Company of Silk Throwers (drew the silk off the cocoon) employs many of the poor, but others practice the trade, so an apprenticeship of seven years is required to practice the trade in the realm. Winders or doublers who purloin or embezzle and sell silk from the thrower who employs him and the buyer of such silk shall make such recompense as ordered by a Justice of the Peace or be whipped or set in the stocks for the first offense.
The regulation of the Silk Throwers company restricting the number of spindles to be worked at one time is voided because it has taken livelihoods away and caused foreign thrown silk [silk twisted from cocoons into thread] to be imported.
Buttons on garments must be made of silk, mohair, gimp, and thread and by needle to keep employed the many throwers, twisters, spinners, winders, and dyers preparing the materials for these buttons. No button may be made of cloth or wood.
When a bill of exchange drawn to at least five pounds is not paid on demand at the time it is made payable, the person who accepted it may make a protest in writing before a notary public, which shall be served on the maker of such bill, who must pay it and all interest and charges from the date of the protest. But if a bill of exchange is lost or miscarried, another shall be given in its place.
No one may take more than 6 pounds in interest for a 100 pound
loan.
Persons seeking election to Parliament may not give or promise
money, meat, drink, entertainment, present or gift to any elector.
Because the gaols were full of people in debt due to the late unhappy times such as the London fire, all prisoners for debt were released upon taking an oath that they had no property over ten pounds nor had disposed or conveyed property to defraud creditors. Creditors not wanting them released had to contribute to their maintenance in gaol.
Retailers of wine may not add to imported wines cider, honey, sugar, molasses, lime, raisin juice, or herbs.
Butter sold must be of one sort and not contain bad butter mixed in with good butter. Butter pots must bear the name or mark of their potter.
Salt may be sold only by weight, to avoid deceit by retailers and wrong to buyers.
No tobacco maybe grown in England because the colonies would be discouraged from growing it and the king would not receive customs from it.
No goods are to be imported to or exported from America, Asia, or Africa except in English ships, with masters and 3/4 of the mariners Englishmen. No manufacture of Europe may be imported into any colony or territory except shipped from England in English ships manned by Englishmen. As of 1672, if bond is not given for colonial exports of sugar, ginger, tobacco, cotton, indigo, cacao nuts, or fustic [tree that yields a yellow dye] and other dye- woods going to England, a duty must be paid. As of 1696, no colonial goods are to be imported or exported or carried from one colony to another, except in ships owned and built in England, Ireland, or the colonies with the masters and three fourths of the mariners from such places. These navigation acts were strictly enforced.
Only persons with lands and tenements or estate worth over 100 pounds per year or having a lease of at least 99 years worth 150 pounds per year and owners and keepers of forests or parks may have any guns, bows, greyhounds, hunting dogs such as setting dogs, snares, or other hunting equipment. These persons may kill hare, pheasants, partridges, and other game. Gamekeepers authorized by Justices of the Peace may search houses and outhouses and seize unlawful hunting equipment. If hunting equipment or game is found in a house without good account to the Justices of the Peace, they shall impose a fine of 5s. to 20s., one-half going to the informer and one-half going to the poor of the parish.
Army officers or soldiers who desert or mutiny shall suffer death or such other punishment as decided by a court martial of senior officers rather than the usual form of law, which is too slow.
Seamen not showing up on board after notice shall serve six months without pay, but shall not suffer as deserters. Seamen do not have to perform service in the Army.
Pirates may be punished by death and loss of all lands and chattels. Any person aiding, advising, or concealing pirates may be likewise punished. Officers and seamen killed or wounded in the defense of a ship or who seize or destroy pirates may be paid by the owners an amount up to 2 pounds per 100 pounds of freight as determined by a group of disinterested merchants and the judge. The amount due to a man killed will be paid to his widow and children. This is to be done when the ship arrives in port. Any person who informs of any combinations or confederacies planning to run away with or to destroy a ship shall be rewarded by the commander or master of such 10 pounds for a ship 100 tons or under, and 15 pounds for a ship over 100 tons. The trial may be in England or the American colonies, whose authorities may issue warrants for arrest of alleged pirates. Deserters from ships, because they often become pirates, shall forfeit all wages. Masters forcing any man fit to travel to stay on shore or willfully leaves him behind shall suffer three months in prison without bail.
Persons may mine for ores on their own land, but must turn it over to the king who will give compensation for it, including gold, silver, copper (16 pounds per tun), lead (9 pounds per tun), tin (40s. per tun), and iron (40s. per tun).
By statutes of 1660 and 1662, when goods have been carried off ships without customs being paid, the Chief Magistrate of the place where the offense was committed or the adjoining place, or the Lord Treasurer, or a Baron of the Exchequer may, upon oath, issue out a warrant to any person to enter, with the assistance of a sheriff, constable or other public official, any house, shop, cellar, warehouse, or room in the day time where the contraband goods are "suspected to be concealed", and in case of resistance, to break open doors, chests, trunks, or other packages and to seize such goods, provided that if the information whereupon any house is searched proves to be false, the injured party shall recover his full damages and costs against the informer by action of trespass. This was extended to the colonies in 1696.
The penalty for cursing or swearing by a servant, day laborer, soldier, or seaman is 1s. For others, it is 2s. The fine is doubled for the second offense, and tripled for the third offense. If an adult offender can't pay, he shall be put in the stocks for one hour. If a child offender can't pay, he shall be whipped by the constable or by a parent in the presence of the constable.
The equity courts are now conceding limited proprietary rights to married women by enforcing premarital settlements or trust arrangements that designate certain property as a wife's separate estate and exempt it from control by the husband. Such protective devices generally reflected a father's desire to shield his daughter from poverty and benefited only the landed aristocracy in practice. Also, husbands are not allowed to punish and beat their wives as before. But the lower rank of men were slow to give this up. A wife could have the security of the peace against her husband. He could restrain her liberty only for gross misbehavior.
In 1685, the courts ruled that apprenticeships were necessary only for servants hired by the year, thus exempting most wage laborers.
There were many variations in religious practices for statutes to address. The Quakers and Baptists were opposed to any state church. The Independents and Presbyterians accepted the idea of a state church. The members of the established church and Roman Catholics adhered to their version the state church as they had experienced it in the past. Atheism had a bad reputation. In 1662, the Jews established the first synagogue in London. The Privy Council recognized their religious status as long as they were peaceful and obeyed the laws. They engaged in pawn-broking as well as money-lending.
There were various statutes enacted over the course of time regarding religion, as follows:
All ministers, school teachers, mayors and other town officials, including magistrates, were required to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy [of the King over the church] or be removed from office.
A great number of people refused to come to their parish church or other public place where common prayer and sacraments were administered and the word of God was preached according to the established church. The morning and afternoon Sunday services with sermons, sometimes by guest preachers, continued. So factions and schisms developed. In response, the king changed the Book of Common Prayer and its prayers were required by statute in 1662 to be read by some priest or deacon in all the churches and places of public worship wherever and whenever there was any preaching or lecturing. Attendance at one's local parish church was never again required.
Attendance at the established Church of England was never again required. Nor was preaching or lecturing constrained. Instead, a statute was passed in 1677 that: Every person shall be pious and exercise religion publicly and privately on Sunday. No work may be done or goods sold or else forfeit 5s. or the goods respectively. No one may travel or else forfeit 5-20s. In a further statute of 1688, because some ease to scrupulous consciences in the exercise of religion may be an effectual means to unite Protestant subjects in interest and affection, Protestant nonconformists who took the oaths, or declaration in the case of Quakers, and a declaration that they were not Catholic, did not adore the Virgin Mary or any saint, and did not go to mass were declared not liable for punishment in any ecclesiastical court by reason of their nonconformity to the Church of England, except Protestant dissenters meeting behind locked doors. But payment of tithes and performance of parish duties were still obligatory. Non-conformist preachers had to subscribe to the tenets of belief listed in the first eighteen Articles of Religion, but were exempted from the articles on expounding inconsistencies in scripture, the traditions of the church, homilies, and consecration of bishops and ministers of the Elizabethan statute and the statute on uniformity of prayers and sacraments of Charles II.
As of 1665, no nonconformist minister, i.e. one who endeavored any alteration of government either in church or state, was allowed to live or visit within five miles of any corporate town or any place where he had acted as minister or else forfeit 40 pounds. Persons not frequenting the established church were not allowed to teach in any public or private school or else forfeit 40 pounds.
By statute of 1670, anyone at least sixteen years old who is present at any assembly, conventile [private meeting of religious dissidents to pray and expound scripture], or meeting under pretence of any exercise of religion in other manner than according to the established Church of England at which there are at least five persons present shall be fined 5s. for the first offense and 10s. for the second offense. This does not include members of the same household meeting in their home. Anyone who preaches or teaches at such a meeting shall pay 20 pounds for the first offense, and 40 pounds for further offenses. The householder who permits such a meeting shall pay 20 pounds. A justice or Justice of the Peace or chief magistrate may break open doors and enter by force any house or other place where they have been informed of any such meeting and take persons there into custody for prosecution. This is to discourage the growing of dangerous seditious persons under pretence of tender consciences.
Religious nonconformity continued especially among the humble people. The penal statutes caused hundreds of these nonconformists to be put in gaol. From time to time, the king would release them and suspend these laws. Sometimes, Charles II allowed dissenters to meet in private for worship if they got a license from him. Religious gatherings grew in numbers, size, and geographical extent. Dissenters were then allowed by statute to meet behind locked or barred doors. But they had to pay tithes and could be prosecuted in the ecclesiastical courts for not doing so. By statute, all congregations and assemblies for religious worship had to register with the local bishop or archbishop. Disturbers of religious worship were required to find two sureties for the amount of 50 pounds.
Quakers were active in the countryside. They were about one tenth of the population and did not believe in a state church. There were some Quakers schools and some Quaker workhouses to give work to the poor. For the reason that they met together in large numbers to the great endangering of public peace and safety and to the terror of the people, and because they had secret communications and separated themselves from the rest of the people and from the usual places of worship, a statute was passed in 1662, that any Quakers who assembled to the number of five or more under the pretense of unauthorized religious worship and any person maintaining that taking an oath before a magistrate was unlawful and contrary to the word of God or refusing to take a required oath was to forfeit 5 pounds for the first offense or be imprisoned for 3 months if he couldn't pay. For the second offense, the penalty was 10 pounds or imprisonment for 6 months with hard labor. The third offense required abjuring the realm or being transported to a plantation of the king beyond the seas. The policy of Charles II was to allow Quakers to meet undisturbed, to keep their hats on before magistrates, and to not come to the parish church. But this policy was only partially adopted in the country. From 1689, by statute, the Quakers were allowed to affirm or declare instead of making the customary oath.
Many Presbyterians became Unitarians, who rejected the trinity of "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost" and doubted the divinity of Jesus, but accepted revelation. This statute was then passed in 1697: Any person having been educated in or having at any time made profession of the Christian religion who, by writing, printing, teaching, or advised speaking, denies the Holy trinity, asserts that there is more than one god, or that the Bible is not of divine authority, shall be disabled for any ecclesiastical, civil, or military office. The penalty for a second offense is being disabled from suing or pleading any action in any court, being guardian of any child, or executor or administrator of any estate, or receiving any legacy or deed of gift and imprisonment for three years without bail or mainprize.
Catholicism was always disfavored. Catholic priests were executed with little evidence. At times, Charles commuted the death penalty for them to banishment. Sometimes there were effigies of the pope burned in the streets. Such burnings were later banned. At times Charles allowed Catholics to attend mass.
By statute of 1672, all civil and military officers and king's officials must take the oaths of supremacy and allegiance and take the sacrament of the established Church of England or be incapable of office. They also had to make a declaration that they believed that there is not any transubstantiation in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, or in the elements of bread and wine, when they were consecrated. This is to prevent dangers from Papists. As of 1678, no one may be a member of Parliament if he has refused to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy and the declaration that they were not Catholic, did not adore the Virgin Mary or any saint, and did not go to mass.
Papists were made to pay higher taxes. Every temporal and spiritual person, corporation, and guild had to pay taxes to subsidize the king in the amount of 2s.8d. for every pound's worth of personal property and money. But Papists had to pay 5s.4d. for such. Persons and corporations having land worth at least 20s. yearly, had to pay 4s. for every pounds' worth. But Papists and aliens had to pay 8s. for such.
But Charles' successor, King James II was Catholic and gave many offices to Catholics. This prompted a reaction against Papists and more statutes restricting them. After James II was chased out of England, a statute of 1688 required suspected Papists in London to make a declaration that they were not Catholic, did not adore the Virgin Mary or any saint, did not go to mass, or else stay ten miles outside of London. Excluded were tradesmen and manual workers, who had only to register. All Papists had to forfeit their arms and any horse worth more than 5 pounds. Also, no King or Queen or spouse of such could be a Papist, but had to make the same declaration as members of Parliament, and join in the communion of the established Church of England. As of 1696, a person who was serjeant at law, counsellor at law, barrister, advocate, attorney, solicitor, proctor, clerk, or notary had to take the oath of supremacy and allegiance. As of 1698, Papists who kept a school or tried to educate the young were threatened with perpetual imprisonment. Also, Popish parents were prohibited from forcing their children who were inclined towards Protestantism to become Catholic by refusing them suitable maintenance. As of 1699, a reward of 100 pounds was offered to any person who apprehended a Popish bishop, priest, or Jesuit saying mass. Also, no Papist was allowed to buy land.
Judicial Procedure
After the Restoration, all legal decisions of the Commonwealth and Protectorate were confirmed subject to a right of appeal.
The Star Chamber was not restored, and Parliament assumed its control of the press. The King's Bench succeeded to most of the Star Chamber's jurisdiction. No longer could the Privy Council influence criminal cases and the general supervision of legal processes through the Star Chamber.
The High Commission court was not restored, but church courts were, but with depleted powers. They accepted subordination to the common law courts. Because the church's administration was inefficient and corrupt and its punishments inadequate, they gradually lost their power to the common law justices and Justices of the Peace. They had virtually no authority over laymen. They could still punish heresy, but lost jurisdiction over the law of libel and slander, which then were transformed by the civil courts, and over prostitution and scandalous lewdness. Local ordinances for suppression of brothels, which were run by madams, were founded on breach of the peace. In 1678, the death sentence was taken away from the church courts. In 1697, church sanctuary was abolished.
The county courts faded into insignificance, as the Justices of the Peace took on more jurisdiction.
In 1668, new justices were issued patents with "at pleasure" instead of "during good behavior" describing their tenure. Charles II and James II frequently dismissed justices not favorably disposed to the Crown. In 1697, they were to have fixed salaries instead of the profits of justice. By statute of 1701, justices' commissions were to be made with an established salary determined by Parliament and a tenure to last during good behavior. They could be removed only by the address of both Houses of Parliament. This gave them independence from the king. Their tenure lasted for the life of the monarch.
As of 1679, no man could be held in prison but on a charge or conviction of crime or for debt. Every prisoner on a criminal charge could demand as a right from the Court of the King's Bench the issue of a writ of habeas corpus which bound his gaoler to produce the prisoner and the warrant on which he was imprisoned for review as to legality. This forced trials to be speedy, which they had not hitherto been. Now it was impossible for the Crown to detain a person for political reasons in defiance of both Parliament and the courts, as Charles I had done. The writ was suspended in times of war and domestic unrest: 1689, 1696, 1708.
In 1670, William Penn was arrested for sedition for delivering a sermon in London, contrary to the statute that only the Church of England could conduct meetings for worship. The jurors would not convict him, so were gaoled and fined by the justices. The jurors filed a writ of habeas corpus in the Court of Common Pleas, which held in their favor. Thereafter the English jury had full independence to decide verdicts. By court decision of 1679, jurors were held not to be responsible to the justice for their verdict.
After 1688, hearsay was inadmissible as evidence, which Coke had recommended. The old system of original writs was abandoned, and the general concept or a wrong to person or property took its place.
A person who was sergeant at law, counselor at law, barrister, advocate, attorney, solicitor, proctor [supervisor of students taking an eexam], clerk, or notary in the courts had to take the required oaths of allegiance and supremacy.
As of 1692, persons outlawed could appear by attorney as well as in person to argue reversal of such outlawry, except in cases of treason and felony.
As of 1696, persons accused of high treason where there might be corruption of the blood or for misprison [concealing knowledge] of such treason had to be taken before a grand jury for indictment within three years of the offense. Those indicted or outlawed for such were given a copy of the whole indictment, but not the names of witnesses, at least five days before trial in order to prepare their defense. They could have a copy of the panel of jurors at least two days before trial. They could be represented in their defense by not more than two counsel learned in the law and assigned by the court. Their counsel had free access to them at all reasonable hours. They could make proof through lawful witnesses under oath. In a trial of commoners for their lives, a jury of twelve freeholders had to all agree on acquittal or conviction. In a trial of a peer, the others peers in Parliament determined the outcome by a majority vote.
Jurors were required to have at least 20 pounds income from freehold land or rents in fee, fee tail, or for life. This increase in the quality of the jury enabled it to better discern the issues in dispute.
Jury sympathy was determined by the sheriff who chose the jury. So if a sheriff was popularly elected, as in London, he chose jurors who favored individual and corporate liberty. If the king selected the sheriff, he chose tories, who supported the Crown.
Issues of bastardy or lawfulness of marriage had to be tried by a jury.
The civil suit of trespass on the case branched into assumpsit [a promise], trover [to recover goods converted to the use of another], deceit, negligence, and libel and slander. The latter supplements bad words punished by the local courts and defamation punished by the church courts. Trover becomes the normal mode of trying the title to personal property and goods as the courts oblige the defendant to answer the charge of conversion without permitting him to dispute the loss and finding of the goods by the plaintiff.
This is an example of the initiation of a suit by a writ for trespass on the case: "The King to the sheriff &c. as in Trespass to show: wherefore (e.g.:___) he fixed piles across the water of Plim along which, between the Humber and Gaunt, there is a common passage for ships and boats, whereby a certain ship, with thirty quarters of malt of him the said A, was sunk under water, and twenty quarters of the malt of the price of one hundred shillings perished; and other wrongs &c. as in trespass."
This is an example of a writ for trespass on the case in assumpsit: "The King to the sheriff greeting &c. as in Trespass to show: wherefore whereas he the Said X undertook well and competently to cure the right eye of the Said A, which was accidentally injured, for a certain sum of money beforehand received, he the same X so negligently and carelessly applied his cure to the said eye, that the said A by the fault of him the said X totally lost the sight of the said eye, to the damage of him the said A of twenty pounds, as he saith, and have there &c. wherefore whereas he the said X undertook to make and build three carriages for conveying victuals of him the said A to parts beyond the sea for a certain sum of money beforehand received, within a certain term between them agreed; he the said X did not take care to make and build the carriages aforesaid within the term aforesaid, by which he the said A hath wholly lost divers his goods and chattels, to the value of one hundred marks, which ought to have been conveyed in the carriages aforesaid, for want thereof to the great damage of him the said A as it is said: and have there &c."
This is an example of a writ for case on indebitatus assumpsit: "The King to the sheriff &c. as in Trespass to show: for that, whereas the said X heretofore, to wit (date and place) was indebted to the said A in the sum of for divers goods wares and merchandises by the said A before that time sold and delivered to the said X at his special instance and request, and being so indebted, he the said X in consideration thereof afterwards to wit (date and place aforesaid) undertook and faithfully promised the said A to pay him the said sum of money when he the said X should be thereto afterwards requested. Yet the said X, not regarding his said promise and undertaking but contriving and fraudulently intending craftily and subtly to deceive and defraud the said A in this behalf, hath not yet paid the said sum of money or any part thereof to the said A (although oftentimes afterwards requested). But the said X to pay the same or any part thereof hath hitherto wholly refused and still refuses, to the damage of the said A of ——— pounds as it is said. And have you there &c."
This is an example of a writ for case for trover: "The King to the sheriff greeting &c. as in Trespass to show: for that, whereas the said A heretofore to wit [date and place] was lawfully possessed as of his own property, of certain goods and chattels to wit, twenty tables and twenty chairs of great value to wit of the value of ___ pounds of lawful money of great Britain; and, being so possessed thereof he the said A afterwards, to wit (date and place aforesaid) casually lost the said goods and chattels out of his possession: and the same afterward, to wit (date and place aforesaid) came into the possession of the said X by finding; Yet the said X well knowing the said goods and chattels to be the property of the said A and of right to belong and appertain to him, but, contriving and fraudulently intending craftily and subtly to deceive and defraud the said A in this behalf, hath not as yet delivered the said goods and chattels, or any part thereof, to the said A (although often requested so to do) but so to do hath hitherto wholly refused and still refuses; and afterwards to wit (date and place aforesaid) converted and disposed of the said goods and chattels to his the said X's own use, to the damage of the said A of ____ pounds as it is said; and have you there &c."
The rigid writs with specific forms of action for common law cases started to fall into disuse. Later, trespass on the case bifurcates into misdemeanor and the tort of trespass.
Persons in prison on suspicion of treason could not be released on bail as of 1688.
If one of several defendants of a case was acquitted, all defendants recovered their costs from the plaintiffs. A person found guilty of malicious prosecution recovered his costs from his accuser.
Mercantile cases were decided in light of mercantile custom
rather than according to the strict rules of the common law.
Merchants and traders could settle their trade disputes by
arbitration, which decision could be enforced by court order.
The chief justice could empower persons by commission to take affidavits from people in the country for court proceedings in Westminster.
Judgments were docketed so they could easily be found e.g. by
heirs, executors, administrators, purchasers, and mortgagees.
Court judgments and fines could be challenged for error only
within twenty years.
Court decisions were still appealable to the House of Lords. In 1668, Skinner v. East India Company held that the House of Lords could not exercise original jurisdiction in civil cases between commoners as it had claimed, but retained its appellate jurisdiction. In 1675, the House of Lords acquired the new judicial function of hearing appeals from the Chancery Court by virtue of the case of Shirley vs. Fagg.
Any gaol keeper allowing a prisoner to escape in return for
money lost his office forever and had to forfeit 500 pounds.
The last burning of a woman as a penalty for an offense, which
had been only occasional, was in 1688.
The last bill of attainder, which condemned a person to death,
occurred in 1697.
The pillory was still in use.
Benefit of clergy was taken away from those who stole cloth or woolen manufactures from their drying racks or who embezzled military stores or ammunition worth at least 20s, or stole goods of over 5s. value from a dwelling house with a person therein put in fear, a dwelling house in daytime with a person therein, or by day or night a shop or warehouse.
A statute of 1661 gave jurisdiction to naval courts-martial to decide cases at sea, e.g. insubordination; failure to fight the enemy, a pirate, or rebels; not assisting a friend, mutiny, drunkenness, creating a disturbance to protest the quality of the food, quarreling, sleeping on watch, sodomy, murder, robbery, theft, and misdemeanors. Usually the penalty was to be determined by the courts-martial, but sometimes death was decreed.
In the American colonies, judges were still appointed by the royal governors and paid by the local legislatures. They still served at the pleasure of the king.
Chapter 18
The Times: 1702-1776
Dress was plainer than before. Gentlemen wore white linen shirts; waistcoats fitted at the waist and covering the trunk at least; long lawn ties wound around the throat and tied in front with the tails tucked in, knee-length coats that were wide in the skirts and in the sleeve cuffs and having large gold, silver, or bronze buttons which didn't reach to the buttonholes on the other side of the coat; knee breeches of cloth, knitted wool, thread, and silk; and silk stockings rolled up at the knee. Some shoes had metal buckles. Gold fobs with watches or seals hung from the breeches pocket. The clothes were made of silk, satin, or velvet and often in colors such as yellow, orange, scarlet, blue, violet, pink, and dull slate, and decorated with gold and silver trimmings. A slender sword was worn on the side. Short wigs, often powdered with heavily scented white or gray wheat flour, with rolls over the ears and hair tied at the back, were worn for formal occasions. Wigs were made of human, horse, goat, or cow hair, or mohair, worsted, silk, or wire. Sometimes feathers and cork were also used. There were new colors and cuts of dress for every season. By 1750, wearing a sword was just a symbol of gentility. Gentlemen often had valets to help them dress. Ladies wore fitted full-length dresses held out by hoops with shoulders hidden, sometimes with a laced bodice with stays, and lace at the neck. The waistline fashion fluctuated between high and low and in tightness. The dress could be brocade, satin, velvet, silk, etc. Some put jewels in their hair and had high elaborate hats with wide brims tilted forward. Hair was in ringlets at the side or dressed close to the head with a small top knot covered with a laced cap. They also wore wigs when dressing up, decorated with ribbons and artificial flowers. Hooded cloaks were used outdoors and hoods were used for sun or wind. They carried leather purses with gloves at elbow length. Both gentlemen and ladies wore cosmetics and face patches and used tooth powders, breath sweeteners, lip salves, and choice perfume. Some had false teeth of bone or ivory wired into place. Both gentlemen and ladies had accessories such as fans, handkerchiefs, head scratchers, and elaborately designed snuff boxes, patch boxes, and perfume containers. Both sniffed tobacco snuff but only men smoked it. They walked with tall, elegant canes, and women also carried parasols. Hats were made of wool and hair of beaver, rabbit, or camel. A popular hat was three-cornered, and usually of beaver or dark felt. There was often a rosette or such to show one's political opinion. Straw hats were worn in the summer. There were ready-made clothes and shoes, especially for children. Night gowns and night caps were worn to bed. About 1714, umbrellas for rain were introduced. They were made of waxed silk or taffeta. All but the poorest wore silk and lace. A prosperous countryman wore riding clothes consisting of breeches and boots, cut-away coat, and low top hat.
The highest class were the peers and peeresses of the House of Lords and their spouses and families. They were the nobility and held the high political offices, the high ranks in the army and navy, and owned large estates, usually scattered over the country. Some were lawyers or merchants. There was much intermarriage among these families. Indeed, many a noble family had salvaged its fortunes by marriage to a London merchant. The richest people in London were international merchants. These high class families lived in mansions with four or five living rooms, two to five acre gardens, and stables.
The next class were the gentry. Their family heads had land and were often Justices of the Peace. They were sometimes members of the House of Commons. The oldest son took over from his father, while the others had to find a living such as in the church, law, medicine, or trade. The gentry usually lived in mansions.
The old yeoman class was disappearing due to their selling their land to larger landowners. Farming on a large scale was more productive.
The next class were the "middling sort". In this class were merchants, lawyers, substantial tenant farmers, smaller freeholders, millers, innkeepers, in town traders, middlemen, clothiers, ironmongers, goldsmiths, grocers, linen drapers, apothecaries, school masters, clerks and civil servants, customs and excise men, and .shopkeepers, who now kept their wares inside and lived on the second floor. The town people lived in town houses of two stories plus an attic.
The next class were the manual workers. These were wage earners or independent craftsmen, farriers, rural smiths (who shod horses and made stair rails, window-bars, torch extinguishers, lamp irons, bells, bolts, hinges, locks, and fire-grates), sawyers, carpenters, joiners, wheelwrights, nail makers, brick makers, plumbers (made lead cisterns, kitchen sinks, rainwater heads, drain pipes and lead flats for houses and ornaments), thatchers, spinners (silk, flax, hemp, wool, hair), dyers, wool combers, weavers, shoemakers, hat makers, belt and buckle makers, dressmakers, milliners (hats, caps, bonnets, cloaks, hoods, muffs), feather workers, button makers, lace makers, steel pin makers, brewers, cutlery makers, soap makers, candle makers (made from beeswax, tallow, mutton-fat, or beef-drippings), comb makers, barber/hairdressers (shaved, cut hair, made wigs and braids, and let blood), curriers, leather workers, carpet weavers, paper makers, tin-plate makers, printers, enamel workers, braziers and coppersmiths (made kettles, saucepans, canisters, milk pails, lanterns, candle boxes, candle sticks, and lamp lighters), basket makers, jewelers (made rings, perfumes, match boxes, buckles, and tops of canes), watch and clock makers, type founders, letter cutters, trunk and chest makers, cabinet makers, saddlers, coach body builders, coach carriage makers, shipwrights, rope makers, and sail makers. These workers typically worked in their stone or brick houses in a rural setting, with gardens, a cow, a horse, pigs, and poultry around them on 2-6 acres. They now ate white or wheaten bread instead of rye bread, much meat and cheese, and drank tea. Working men could now afford leather shoes. These people also worked in the harvesting of grain. Some consolidation of work was starting. For instance, the weaver, who had furnished himself with warp and weft, worked it up, and brought it to market himself was being displaced by weavers who worked under supervision for one merchant in a town on looms the merchant had acquired. Many women and children were so employed. It was not unusual for a man to work 13 hours a day for 6 days a week. The wage earners were well above the subsistence level as long as trade was good. Real wages were higher than at any time since the mid-1400s. But eventually, as the employer came to realize how dependent the weaver had become on him, wages tended to fall. In 1757 a Gloucester weaver, with his wife to help him, could earn, when work was good, from 13s. to 18s. a week. A few years later, he could only earn about 11s. A woman spinner earned 10-15d. a day in 1764, but 3-5d. in 1780. In the same period, men's wages fell from 17d. to 10d. a day. Only certain workers, whose special occupation needed greater skill, e.g. the wool-combers, whose wool was longer and of better quality than carded wool, and shearers, were better paid. In 1770, wool combers made 13s. a week; their wage was about the same all over the country because they traveled form town to town in search of work and always supported each other. Also in 1770, Newcastle miners earned 15s. a week, Sheffield cutlers 13s.6d. a week, a Rotherham blacksmith 13s. a week, a furnace keeper at Horsehay about 12s. a week, a Staffordshire potter from 8-12s., a Witney blanket weaver or a Wilton carpet weaver 11s. or more a week, a Manchester cotton weaver from 7-10s. a week, and a Leeds cloth weaver about 8s. In this class also were ploughmen, cowmen, dairymaids of the bigger farms. They had cottages of wood, clay, and straw, with clay floors and low ceilings, and a divided ground floor. A few had homes built of stone, covered with slate or thatch.
Wages of industry were higher than those of agriculture. In 1770, a day laborer earned 5-6s. a week in winter and 7-9s. in summer, without board or lodging. In the short harvest time, he could earn 12s. a week.
Lastly were the mass of the population of London: hordes of laborers who depended on casual employment and could be dismissed at will.