1795 DAVID DAMES; THE CASE OF LABOURERS IN HUSBANDRY STATED 069. DAMES, David. The case of Labourers in husbandry stated and considered, in three parts. Part I. a view of their distressed condition. Part II. The principal causes of their growing distress and number, and of the consequent increase of the Poor- Rate. Part III. Means of relief proposed. With an appendix; containing a collection of accounts, shewing the earnings and expenses of labouring families in different parts of the kingdom: Bath. Printed by R. Crutwell, for G. G. and J. Robinson, Pater-Noster- Row, London. 1795. 4to. 8, 200p. + errata slip. Lacking the half title. Rebound in quarter calf, grey boards. Very slight traces of damp in the outer margins only of a few leaves at the end of the volume, otherwise a fine wide-margined copy in excellent condition. GOLDSMITHS 16422. This work by Davies is considered one of the most important to argue a contrary case to that put forward by Ruggles and others. Ruggles's long researches had confirmed an impression that idleness of the poor was the chief cause of their distress. Davies, in The case of labourers in husbandry stated, put forward the idea that the distress of the Poor was due to economic insufficiencies. As rector of a Buckinghamshire parish he knew the condition of local labourers, and "could not impute the wretchedness I saw to either sloth or wastefulness"; he collected family budgets, and concluded that all families had a deficit of a shilling or two per week, thanks to the failure of wages to rise with increased prices. For a fifth of the population of a parish, relief had become a substitute for wages. This work contains an ardent plea for the regulation of wages or for pegging the price of corn. The impact of these arguments was increased by the book's appearing in 1795, a year.of scarcity.