[Footnote 7: "humour" corrected from "honour" by erratum in Issue
170.--Transcriber.]
_Wages in the West in 1642._--The Marquis of Hertford and Lord Poulett were
very active in the West in the year 1642. In the famous collection of
pamphlets in the British Museum (113, 69.) is contained Lord Poulett's
speech at Wells, Somerset:
"His lordship, with many imprecations, oaths, and execrations (in the
height of fury), said that it was not fit for any yeoman to have
allowed him from his own labours any more than the poor moiety of ten
pounds a-year; and when the power shall be totally on their side, they
shall be compelled to live on that low allowance, notwithstanding their
estates are gotten with a great deal of labour and industry.
"Upon this the people attempted to lay violent hands upon Lord Poulett,
who was saved by a regiment marching in or by at the moment."
What was Lord Poulett's precise meaning? Do we not clearly learn from the
above, that the Civil War was due to more than a mere choosing between king
and parliament among the humbler classes of the remote country districts?