No. of
   families Class.  Income.
   in class.

160 Temporal lords L3,200 0 0
800 Baronets 880 0 0
600 Knights 650 0 0
3,000 Esquires 450 0 0
11,000 Gentlemen 280 0 0
2,000 Eminent merchants 400 0 0
8,000 Lesser merchants 198 0 0
10,000 Lawyers 154 0 0
2,000 Eminent clergy 72 0 0
8,000 Lesser clergy 50 0 0
Yeoman: 
40,000 Freeholders of the better sort 91 0 0
120,000 Freeholders of the lesser sort 55 0 0
120,000 (Tenant) farmers 42 10 0
50,000 Shopkeepers and tradesmen 45 0 0
60,000 Artisans 38 0 0
364,000 Labouring people and outservants 15 0 0
400,000 Cottagers and paupers 6 10 0

He calculated that the freeholder of the better sort saved on an average L8 15s. 0d. a year per family of 7; and the lesser sort L2 15s. 0d. a year with a family of 5-1/2.  The tenant farmer with a family of 5, only saved 25s. a year, while labouring families who, he said, averaged 3-1/2 (certainly an under estimate), lost annually 7s., and cottagers and paupers with families of 3-1/4 (also an under estimate) lost 16s. 3d. a year.  It will thus be seen that the tenant farmers, labourers, and cottagers, the bulk of those who worked on the land, were very badly off; the tenant farmer saved considerably less than the artisan.  It will also be noticed that the rural population of England was about three-quarters of the whole.[354]

The winter of 1683-4 was marked by one of the severest frosts that have ever visited England.  Ice on the Thames is said to have been eleven inches thick; by Jan. 9 there were streets of booths on it; and by the 24th, the frost continuing more and more severe, all sorts of shops and trades flourished on the river, ’even to a printing press, where the people and ladies took a fancy to have their names printed and the day and year set down when printed on the Thames.’  Coaches plied, there was bull-baiting, horse and coach races, puppet plays and interludes, tippling ’and other lewd places’—­a regular carnival on the water.[355] Altogether the frost which began at Christmas lasted ninety-one days and did much damage on land, many of the trees were split as if struck by lightning, and men and cattle perished in some parts.  Poultry and other birds and many plants and vegetables also perished.  Wheat, however, was little affected, as the average price was under 40s. a quarter.  In 1692 a series of very bad seasons