Printing could be done
in other places than London, York, Oxford, and Cambridge.
The rich got richer and the poor got poorer. Many successful
merchants and manufacturers bought landed estates and established
a line of country squires or baronets or even peers. The fashion
started in the nobility and the richest mercantile families that
their wives should become ladies of leisure. For workers though,
there was constant underemployment. In periods of economic crisis
industrial workers lost their jobs. Much work was seasonal. Anyone
who could work most of the time was fortunate. Laboring and out-
servants, who comprised one fourth of the population, and
cottagers and paupers, who comprised another fourth of the
population, had to spend more than they earned. The poor rate
collected for the cottagers and paupers was 3d. per week. There
was an agricultural depression that was deepest in the 1680s after
the collapse of a boom. It was the only bad depression experienced
in peace time. There was famine in 1698.
Any person receiving relief from any parish and his family members
cohabiting with him was required to wear a badge with a "P" which
identified his parish. This was to differentiate them from idle,
sturdy, and disorderly beggars who were not entitled to relief.
There were more poor people and, despite the poor laws, many
became rogues or vagabonds or starved to death.
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