It should be remembered that a comparison between England of the present day with England in the decade 1830-1840 is eminently favourable to a theory of progress.

The period from 1790 to 1840 was the most miserable epoch in the history of the English working-classes.

Much of the gain must be rightly regarded rather as a recovery from sickness, than as a growth in normal health.

If the decade 1730-1740, for example, were to be taken instead, the progress of the wage-earner, especially in southern England, would be by no means so obvious.

The southern agricultural labourer and the whole body of low-skilled workers were probably in most respects as well off a century and a half ago as they are to-day.
2.