must be reserved for a future, more comprehensive work. For
the moment, we must limit ourselves to the little that is necessary for
understanding the facts that follow, for comprehending the present state
of the English proletariat.

Before the introduction of machinery, the spinning and weaving of raw
materials was carried on in the working-man's home. Wife and daughter
spun the yarn that the father wove or that they sold, if he did not work
it up himself. These weaver families lived in the country in the
neighbourhood of the towns, and could get on fairly well with their
wages, because the home market was almost the only one, and the crushing
power of competition that came later, with the conquest of foreign
markets and the extension of trade, did not yet press upon wages. There
was, further, a constant increase in the demand for the home market,
keeping pace with the slow increase in population and employing all the
workers; and there was also the impossibility of vigorous competition of
the workers among themselves, consequent upon the rural dispersion of
their homes. So it was that the weaver was usually in a position to lay
by something, and rent a little piece of land, that he cultivated in his
leisure hours, of which he had as many as he chose to take, since he
could weave whenever and as long as he pleased. True, he was a bad
farmer and managed his land inefficiently, often obtaining but poor
crops; nevertheless, he was no proletarian, he had a stake in the
country, he was permanently settled, and stood one step higher in society
than the English workman of to-day.

So the workers vegetated throughout a passably comfortable existence,
leading a righteous and peaceful life in all piety and probity; and their
material position was far better than that of their successors. They did
not need to overwork; they did no more than they chose to do, and yet
earned what they needed. They had leisure for healthful work in garden
or field, work which, in itself, was recreation for them, and they could
take part besides in the recreations and games of their neighbours, and
all these games--bowling, cricket, football, etc., contributed to their
physical health and vigour. They were, for the most part, strong, well-
built people, in whose physique little or no difference from that of
their peasant neighbours was discoverable. Their children grew up in the
fresh country air, and, if they could help their parents at w