ich arose from
the wholesale evictions of the people. The laws of Henry VII and Henry
VIII., enforcing the tillage of the land, preceded the suppression of
religious houses, and the act of the latter monarch allowing the poor to
beg was passed before any steps were taken to close the convents. That
measure was no doubt injurious to the poor, but the main evil arose from
other causes. The lands of these houses, when no longer applicable to
the purpose for which they were given, should have reverted to the heirs
of the donors, or have been applied to other religious or educational
purposes. The bestowal of them upon favorites, to the detriment alike of
the State, the Church, the Poor, and the Ignorant, was an abuse of great
magnitude, the effect of which is still felt. The reigns of the Tudors
are marked with three events affecting the land--viz.:

1st. Relieving it of the support of the army;

2d. Burdening of it with the support of the poor;

3d. Applying the monastic lands to private uses.

The abolition of retainers, while it relieved the land of the nobles
from the principal charge thereon, did not entirely abolish knight's
service. The monarch was entitled to the care of all minors, to aids
on the marriage or knighthood of the eldest son, to primerseizin or a
year's rent upon the death of each tenant of the Crown. These fees were
considerable, and were under the care of the Court of Ward and Liveries.

The artisan class had, however, grown in wealth, and they were greatly
strengthened by the removal from France of large numbers of workmen in
consequence of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. These prosperous
tradespeople became landowners by purchase, and thus tended to replace
the LIBERI HOMINES, or FREEMEN, who had been destroyed under the wars
of the nobles, which effaced the landmarks of English society. The
liberated serfs attained the position of paid farm-laborers; had the
policy of Elizabeth, who enacted that each of their cottages should have
an allotment of four acres of land, been carried out, it would have been
most beneficial to the state.

The reign of this family embraced one hundred and eighteen years, during
which the increase of the population was about twenty-five per cent.
When Henry VII. ascended the throne in 1485 it was 4,000,000, and on the
death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603 it had reached 5,000,000, the average
increase being about 8000 per annum. The changes effected in the
condition