1551-1560 15 3¾ 10 0¼ 78 7½ 4¾ 11 0½ The rise in wages was barely 15 p.c. before 1550, though during the next ten years there is a rise of 30 p.c., so that the rise in wages is less than half that in the price of provisions. Carpenter, Mason's Sawyers, Unskilled average. Mason. labourer. pair. Tiler. Thatcher. Man. Plumber. labour. _d._ _d._ _d._ _s._ _d._ _d._ _d._ _d._ _d._ _d._ 1511-1520 6¼ 6 4 1 0 6 5¼ 4 6 3¾ 1521-1530 6 6¼ 4¼ 1 0½ 6 6 4 6½ 4⅛ 1531-1540 7 6¾ 4¼ 1 0½ 6½ 7 4½ 7 4 1541-1550 7 6¾ 4¾ 1 1½ 7½ 6½ 4½ 7½ 4⅝ 1551-1560 10¾ 10 6¾ 1 5 9¼ -- 6¼ 8½ 6 _Hist. of Agric. and Prices_, vol. IV. pp. 292, 355, 545, and 524. The effects following the break-up of the feudal system, the increase of manufactures, and the rise of prices owing to the influx of silver were in no way peculiar to England: they account quite as much for the bands of vagrants on the Continent as for those of this country. [Sidenote: (4) In England sheep were more profitable than corn.] But one cause of distress affected England more than the other countries of Europe. It had become more profitable to breed sheep than to plough the land, and England was the great wool-producing country of the world. Men, who had cultivated the soil, were evicted in order that sheep-runs might be formed, and thus agricultural labourers and small yeomen helped to swell the crowds of the unemployed. [Sidenote: 3. Old methods of charity:] The existence therefore of the crowd of vagrants can be accounted for by the social and economic changes of the time, but it was none the less dangerous on that account. The public authorities of state and town began, early in the century, to make more frequent orders for their repression, but it was soon clear that these orders could not be effectual unless the relief of the poor were better organised. [Sidenote: (1) Private individuals.]