On the other hand, as food is dearer in England than in any other part of Europe, the English labourer, especially if he have a large family, necessarily loses on this part of his expenditure a part of the benefit of his higher wages, and, if the relative dearness of food were very great, might lose the whole. On comparing, however, the answers to the 14th English and 8th Foreign question, it appears probable, that even in this respect the English family has an advantage, though of course less than in any other. Of the 687 English parishes which have given an answer, from which the diet of the family can be inferred, 491, or about five-sevenths, state, that it could obtain meat; and of the 196 which give answers implying that it could not get meat, 43 are comprised in Essex and Sussex, two of the most pauperised districts in the kingdom. But in the foreign answers, meat is the exception instead of the rule. In the north of Europe the usual food seems to be potatoes and oatmeal, or rye bread, accompanied frequently by fish, but only occasionally by meat. In Germany and Holland the principal food appears to be rye bread, vegetables, the produce of the dairy, and meat once or twice a week. In Belgium, potatoes, rye bread, milk, butter and cheese, and occasionally pork. The French returns almost exclude fresh meat, and indicate a small proportion of salted meat. Thus we are told, that in Havre they live on bread and vegetables; never animal food, or very rarely. In Brittany, on buck wheat, barley bread, potatoes, cabbages, and about 6 lbs. of pork weekly. In the Gironde, on rye bread, soup made of millet, Indian corn, now and then some salt provision, and vegetables, rarely if ever butcher’s meat. In the Basses Pyrenées, on vegetable soups, potatoes, salt fish, pork and bacon, seldom or ever butcher’s meat. In the Bouches du Rhone, on vegetables, bread, and farinaceous substances made into soup, and bouillie about once a week. Their food in Piedmont is said to be the simplest and coarsest; no meat, and twice as much maize flour as wheat flour. In Portugal, salt fish, vegetable soup, with oil or lard, and maize bread. Further evidence as to the relative state of the bulk of the population of England is afforded by the ratio of its mortality. The only countries in which the mortality appears to be so small as in England, are, Norway, in which it is ¹⁄₅₄, and the Basses Pyrenées, in which it is ¹⁄₅₆[29]. In all the other countries which have given returns it exceeds the English proportion, sometimes by doubling it, and in the majority of instances by more than one fourth.