[177] See England in the Fifteenth Century, p. 105: 'The undrained neglected soil, the shallow stagnant waters which lay on the surface of the ground, the unhealthy homes of all classes, insufficient and unwholesome food, the abundance of stale fish eaten, and the scanty supply of vegetables predisposed rural and town population to disease.'
[178] Cunningham, Industry and Commerce, i. 448.
[179] McCulloch, Commercial Dictionary (1852), p. 412. In 1449 Parliament had decided that all foreign merchants importing corn should spend the money so obtained on English goods to prevent it leaving the country.—McPherson, Annals of Commerce, i. 655.
[180] Cunningham, Industry and Commerce, i. 191.
[181] Much of the weaving, however, was done in rural districts.
[182] See 3 Edw. IV, c. 5; Rot. Parl. v. 105; 22 Edw. IV, c. 1.
[183] Cunningham, op. cit. i. 456.