[205] Schanz, ii. 596-8. They pray that the former laws may be put in force, ordering strangers only to dwell in the houses of Englishmen, to sell only in gross and not by retail, and to remain only a month in any town after their first coming.
[206] In the same way Bristol in 1461 forbade its weavers to employ their wives, daughters, and maidens at the loom, lest the King’s people likely to do the King service in his wars should lack employment. (Hunt’s Bristol, 82.)
[207] The customs of Coventry in this respect are exceedingly interesting.
[208] Stat. 25 Henry VIII. cap. 18.
[209] Stat. 21 Henry VIII. cap. 12. In the reign of Henry the Eighth there were complaints that Worcester, Evesham, Droitwich, Kidderminster, and Bromsgrove, had fallen into decay from the growth of the free-traders. (Stat. 25 Henry VIII. cap. 18.) See also the coverlet makers of York. (34 and 35 Henry VIII. cap. 10.)
[210] Piers Ploughman. Passus ix. 187.
“‘It is nothing for love they labour thus fast,
But for fear of famine, in faith,’ said Piers.”
Passus ix. 214, 215.
“Fridays and fasting days a farthingworth of mussels
Were a feast for such folk, or so many cockles.”