agine, an insurmountable barrier in the way of his
enfranchisement. It followed from thence, and is positively said by
Glanvil, that a villein could not buy his freedom, because the price he
tendered would already belong to his lord.[404] And even in the case of
free tenants in villenage it is not easy to comprehend how their
uncertain and unbounded services could ever pass into slight pecuniary
commutations; much less how they could come to maintain themselves in
their lands, and mock the lord with a nominal tenure according to the
custom of the manor.

This, like many others relating to the progress of society, is a very
obscure inquiry. We can trace the pedigree of princes, fill up the
catalogue of towns besieged and provinces desolated, describe even the
whole pageantry of coronations and festivals, but we cannot recover the
genuine history of mankind. It has passed away with slight and partial
notice by contemporary writers; and our most patient industry can hardly
at present put together enough of the fragments to suggest a tolerably
clear representation of ancient manners and social life. I cannot
profess to undertake what would require a command of books as well as
leisure beyond my reach; but the following observations may tend a
little to illustrate our immediate subject, the gradual extinction of
villenage.

If we take what may be considered as the simplest case, that of a manor
divided into demesne lands of the lord's occupation and those in the
tenure of his villeins, performing all the services of agriculture for
him, it is obvious that his interest was to maintain just so many of
these as his estate required for its cultivation. Land, the cheapest of
articles, was the price of their labour; and though the law did not
compel him to pay this or any other price, yet necessity, repairing in
some degree the law's injustice, made those pretty secure of food and
dwellings who were to give the strength of their arms for his advantage.
But in course of time, as alienations of small parcels of manors to free
tenants came to prevail, the proprietors of land were placed in a new
situation relatively to its cultivators. The tenements in villenage,
whether by law or usage, were never separated from the lordship, while
its domain was reduced to a smaller extent through subinfeudations,
sales, or demises for valuable rent. The purchasers under these
alienations had occasion for labourers; and these would be free servant