In 1608 a series of measures concern the supply of grain to the poor. In 1607 there had been serious disturbances in Northampton and elsewhere on account of enclosures. The harvest in 1608 was bad and the Council appear to have feared further disorder. They were careful to issue a book of orders containing regulations similar to the orders of 1587 and 1594. Two proclamations followed. The first commanded the careful execution of the Book of Orders and the return of gentlemen to their households[319]; the second prohibited the making of more malt than was necessary "in order that the poor may have sufficient store of barley to make bread for their sustenance at reasonable prices in this time of scarcity of wheat and rye[320]." In 1608, however, the price of barley was not much affected and the action of the Council was discontinued. [319] _Ib._, No. 88. This proclamation states that special orders had already been issued for preventing and remedying the dearth of grain. The orders are stated to command the punishment of engrossers &c., and the prevention of the transportation of corn; the furnishing of the markets rateably and weekly &c. [320] _Ib._, No. 94. 12th Dec. 1608. In 1621 to 1623 the sufferings of the poor were much more serious, and the measures of the Council concerned both the supply of corn and the direct relief of the poor. As early as January 1619/20 a commission was drawn up for the due execution of the laws for the relief of the poor in almost exactly the same terms as that of January 1630/1[321]. Apparently the distress was then due chiefly to the beginning of a crisis in the cloth trade, for in May 1620 an inquiry was ordered into the decay of cloth-making in Wiltshire[322]. During the three following years the poverty of the poor increased. [321] Drafts of this commission are in existence both in the British Museum and Bodleian, and its issue was therefore contemplated, but it does not follow that it was actually issued. Brit. Mus. MSS. No. 12,504, Tanner MSS. lxxv. 175. [322] _Privy Council Register_, 12th May, 1620. The Merchant Adventurers in reply said the vent of cloth was so little because so many difficulties were thrown in the way of their sale of gold and silver thread and the glass goods of the Levant. The harvests of 1619 and 1620 had been exceptionally favourable, those of 1621 and 1622 were unusually bad[323]. In Somerset four or five hundred people assembled and took corn from those that carried it to market, and in many other parts of the country there were similar disturbances[324]. [323] The average prices given by Prof. Rogers are as follows: 1619 1620 1621 1622 Wheat per quarter 25_s._ 10½_d._ 25_s._ 5_d._ 40_s._ 9_d._ 51_s._ 1_d._ Barley " " 14_s._ 11½_d._ 11_s._ 4½_d._ 21_s._ 2¾_d._ 27_s._ 2¼_d._