The countrie inclosed I praise the tother delighteth me not, There swineherd that keepeth the hog there neetherd with cur and his horne, There shepherd with whistle and dog be fence to the medowe and corne, There horse being tide on a balke is readie with theefe for to walke, Where all things in common doth reste corne field with the pasture and meade, Tho' common ye do for the best yet what doth it stand ye in steade? More plentie of mutton and beefe corne butter and cheese of the best More wealth any where (to be briefe) more people, more handsome and prest (neat.) Where find ye? (go search any coaste) than there where enclosure is most. More work for the labouring man as well in the towne as the fielde. For commons these commoners crie inclosing they may not abide, Yet some be not able to bie a cow with her calf by her side. Nor laie (intend) not to live by their wurke, But thievishly loiter and lurke. What footpaths are made and how brode Annoiance too much to be borne, With horse and with cattle what rode is made thorowe erie man's come.
But the rich graziers boasted that they did not grow corn because they could buy it cheaper in the market; and they are said to have traded on the necessity of the poor farmer to sell at Michaelmas in order to pay his rent, and when they had got the corn into their hands they raised the price. The corn-dealers of the time were looked upon with dislike by every one; many of the dearths then so frequent, and nearly always caused by bad seasons, were ascribed to 'engrossers buying of corn and witholding it for sale'. By a statute of 1552 the freedom of internal corn trade was entirely suppressed, and no one could carry corn from one part of England to another without a licence, and any one who bought corn to sell it again was liable to two months' imprisonment and forfeited his corn. Although we shall see that this policy was reversed in the next century, the feeling against corn-dealers survived for many years and was loudly expressed during the Napoleonic war; indeed, we may doubt if it is extinct to-day.
Many of the fruits and garden produce, which had been neglected since the first Edward, had by now come into use again, 'not onlie among the poor commons, I meane of melons, pompions, gourds, cucumbers, radishes, skirets (probably a sort of carrot), parsneps, carrots, cabbages, navewes (turnip radishes (?)), turnips,[219] and all kinds of salad herbes, but also at the tables of delicate merchants, gentlemen, and the nobilitie.'[220]