500 PARLIAMENTARY COLBERTISM
machinery, which involved the use of water or steam power,
when the triumph of capitalism became complete.
226. While this revolution was proceeding gradually
and silently, other important changes were occurring in con-
nection with the industrial life of the country, and the signs
Te a of them were patent to the most casual observer. A very
which noticeable alteration was taking place in the local distribu-
Sponges “* tion of industry. The Eastern Counties, which had been so
a of important in the later middle ages, lost ground, while the
industry West Riding of Yorkshire was steadily developing. The
iron-works of Sussex died out altogether, while Shropshire
and Linlithgowshire made startling advances. It must suffice
to indicate the general trend of the migration, and to point
out that there is a considerable mass of material available,
for those who are interested in the question, as to the progress
or decay of particular industries in particular areas. Harri-
son and Leland have described England, as it was in the
latter part of Elizabeth’s reign ; in the charming essays, which
Fuller prefaced to his record of the Worthies of the various
counties of England, we find many details as to the resources
and industries of each in turn. Defoe’s Tour, with the
additions by Richardson, goes over much of the same ground
at later dates?; and the writings of Arthur Young, and of other
contemporary tourists, carry the information to another era.
Again and again, in perusing these books, we find evidence of
obvious decadence in some parts of the country, and of marked
progress in others.
i il In many cases these alterations in the distribution of
saplained industry can be accounted for by physical reasons. The
Ea exhaustion of the fuel in Sussex rendered it impossible to
continue the furnaces there; and the trade naturally shifted
bo districts where coal and iron were found in conjunction, so
soon as the means for utilising mineral fuel became available,
In other cases, an industry was attracted to a district where
advantage could be taken of water power? and facilities for
1 Defoe, in 1724, speaks of Bocking and Braintree as flourishing, but Richardson
in the 1748 edition of Defoe’s Tour (1. 118) gives a very different account. The
variations in the prosperity of local industries is curious; in 1724 the Guildford
rade had revived (Tour, 1724, 1. 87), but that at Cranbrook in Kent was extinct.
2 The Eastern Counties were at a disadvantage in this respect; the West of
England was much better provided with fulling mills.
A.D. 1689
—1776.
