The acts of Parliament from the Plantagenets to the Tudors
teach us alike the price of provisions and the rate of wages;
and we see in a moment that the wages of those days brought as
much sustenance and comfort as a reasonable man could desire."
"I know how deeply you feel upon this subject," said Egremont
turning to Sybil.
"Indeed it is the only subject that ever engages my thought,"
she replied, "except one."
"And that one?"
"Is to see the people once more kneel before our blessed
Lady," replied Sybil.
"Look at the average term of life," said Gerard, coming
unintentionally to the relief of Egremont, who was a little
embarrassed. "The average term of life in this district among
the working classes is seventeen. What think you of that? Of
the infants born in Mowbray, more than a moiety die before the
age of five."
"And yet," said Egremont, "in old days they had terrible
pestilences."
"But they touched all alike," said Gerard. "We have more
pestilence now in England than we ever had, but it only
reaches the poor. You never hear of it. Why Typhus alone
takes every year from the dwellings of the artisan and peasant
a population equal to that of the whole county of
Westmoreland.
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