... constable rates doubled and trebled, and there were oppressive taxes on malt and horses, both nags and farm animals. A man renting a farm at £70 and keeping two farm-horses, a nag, and a dog, would ... protection, and the farmer is a notorious grumbler. It seems, however, that most landlords and tenants believed that the high prices would last for ever, and lived accordingly, and, as we have ... much frivolity and many refinements remote from common sense, was not without great operation on the productive powers of land.' Land jobbing and speculation became general, and credit came...