Only a six months’ interval was allowed later to give the new establishments time to develop. All through his reign Frederick set his face firmly against any attempt to bridge over the gulf which divided the country from the town. The tobacco and sugar with which the peasant solaced himself, the clothes he wore, the plough and hoe which served him to till the fields were all made more costly in order that the towns might thrive. The vast majority of handicrafts might be practised only within their walls. On the other hand, the King’s ordinances against artisans who meddled with farming were so severe that they could not be strictly carried out. He also tried many measures with a view to conferring upon the peasant a secure position on the soil. He was successful in preventing the nobles from buying up the holdings of the class below them. He established some three hundred new villages by breaking up outlying farms. But in other directions even his autocratic power failed to overcome the passive resistance of the rural population. In theory, Frederick was a champion of human freedom. He condemned slavery in strong terms and viewed askance the legal position of the Prussian countryfolk whom their lords regarded as so many head of labour. But he dared not shake the pillars of his army and of his treasury by giving the peasant leave to quit the soil. He desired to retain serfdom, but only in its mildest form. He set his heart on making every serf a hereditary tenant at a money rent. This was, however, repugnant both to the nobles, who feared that they would not be able to secure labourers for hire, and to the peasants, who feared that they would in future be obliged to bear the loss when their cattle died and to pay their arrears of taxation themselves. The proposed reform, as well as an attempt to assign limits to the labour that the lords might lawfully exact, had therefore to be given up.