working life of women seventeenth century - School of Economics ...

56 AGRICULTUREfor colonists in Virginia by the Merchant Taylors whooffer "one hundred acres for every man's person thathath a trade, or a body able to endure day labour asmuch for his wief, as much for his child, that are ofyeres to doe service to the Colony."'B. Husbandmen.Husbandmen were probably the most numerousclass in the village community. Possessed of a smallholding at a fixed customary rent and with rights ofgrazing on the common, they could maintain a positionof independence.Statute 31 Eliz., forbidding the erection of cottageswithout four acres of land attached, was framed withthe intention of protecting the husbandman againstthe encroachments of capitalists, for a family whichcould grow its own supply of food on four acres ofland would be largely independent of the farmer, as thefather could earn the money for the rent, etc., byworking only at harvest when wages were highest. Ashowever this seasonal labour was not sufficient for thefarmers' demands, such independence was not whollyto their mind, and they complained of the idlenessof husbandmen who would not work for the wagesoffered.Thus it was said that " In all or most towns,where the fields lie open there is a new brood ofupstart intruders or inmates . . . loiterers who willnot work unless they may have such excessive wagesas they themselves desire."' " There is with us nowrather a scarcity than a superfluity of servants, theirwages being advanced to such an extraordinary height,that they are likely ere long to be masters and theirmasters servants, many poor husbandmen being forcedto pay near as much to their servants for wages as totheir landlords for rent."s' Clode, (C M ) Merchant Taylors, Vol. I., p 323Pseudonismus, Constderattons concmning Common Ftelds and Enclosurcr, 1654.SPse~donlsmils, A Vtnd~catton of the Consrdcratrons concrrntng Common Fieldsand Enclosures. I 656.AGRICULTURE 57The holdings of the husbandmen varied fom sevenacres or more to half an acre or even less of gardenground, in which as potatoes1 were not yet grown inEngland the crop consisted of wheat, barley, rye, oats,or peas. Very likely there was a patch of hemp orflax and an apple-tree or two, a cherry tree and someelder-berries in the hedge, with a hive or two of beesin a warm corner. Common rights made it possibleto keep sheep and pigs and poultry, and the possessionof a cow definitely lifted the family above the povertyline.Dorothy Osborne describing her own day to herlover, gives an idyllic picture of the maidens tendingcows on the common : " The heat of the day is spentin reading or working, and about six or seven o'clockI walk out into a common that lies hard by the house,where a great many young wenches keep sheep andcows, and sit in the shade singing of ballads. I go tothem and compare their voices and beauties to someancient shepherdesses that I have read of, and find avast difference there ; but trust me, I think these areas innocent as those could be. I talk to them and findthey want nothing to make them the happiest peoplein the world but the knowledge that they are so. Mostcommonly, when we are in the midst of our discourse,one looks about her, and spies her cows going into thecorn, and then away they all run as if they had wingsat their heels. I, that am not so nimble, stay behind,and when I see them driving home their cattle, Ithink 'tis time for me to retire too."2Husbandmen have been defined as a class whocould not subsist entirely upon their holdings, butmust to some extent work for wages. Their need forwages varied according to the size of their holdingand according to the rent. For copy-holders the rent' Potatoes were already in use in Ireland, but are tcarcely referred to during thisperiod by Engllsh wnters.' O~borru (Dorotby), Lcttm, pp. 103,q. 1652-1654.