7. (_a_) Make a list of the ten or fifteen largest towns in modern England. [Statesman’s Year-Book, index, England, cities and towns.] (_b_) Compare this with a list of towns in early times and discover what large towns are of recent origin. [Cheyney, English towns, pp. 35-39. Beware of the large figures of population, p. 38; they are misleading.] 8. Write a report on the economic and social life of a medieval town. [See M. D. Harris, Life, or the original local customs in Cheyney, English towns, pp. 2-6.] 9. Write a similar report on the merchant gilds. [Harris, Life, chap. 7; Cheyney, English towns, pp. 12-20.] 10. Reviewing the list of trades in the text, try to realize how the people managed in the manorial period, when professional specialists in these trades were lacking. 11. Study the list of craft gilds in York, 1415; find from dictionary and encyclopædia the meaning of each trade mentioned; arrange them in classes, as for example: food, clothing, building utensils, personal service, etc. [Cheyney, English towns, pp. 29-32.] 12. Write a report on the town artisans and the craft gilds. [Harris, Life, chap. 13; Cheyney, English towns, pp. 21-29.] 13. Compare medieval and modern ideas on the regulation of trade. [Farrer, The State in its relation to trade, N. Y., Macmillan, 1902, $1.] BIBLIOGRAPHY Gross, Sources, §§ 24_a_, 72. GENERAL.—For the significance of towns in the development of the industrial organization the student may be referred to two important books, differing in details: Schmoller, Merc. system; Bücher, Indust. evolution. Chapters on the rise of towns and town life will be found in Adams, *Civ.; Emerton, Med. Eur.; Robinson, Middle Ages; Munro, Hist.; etc. Greater emphasis is, of course, laid on the economic (including commercial) aspects of town life in **Ashley and *Cunningham. Jessopp, *Coming, gives a vivid picture of urban and rural life of the period. Mary D. Harris, **Life in an old English town (Coventry), London, 1898 (N. Y., Macmillan, $1.75), should be very useful to student and teacher. Green, **English Towns, is valuable and interesting for the English towns of the fifteenth century. SOURCES.—Cheyney, **English towns and gilds, Penn. Translations, Phila., 1895, $.20, gives an excellent selection, which can be used to advantage with advanced students. CHAPTER VII LAND TRADE