T.S. Ashton has sought less to cover the field of economic history in detail than to offer a commentary, with a stress on trends of development rather than on forms of organization or economic legislation.

This book seeks to interpret the growth of population, agriculture, maufacture, trade and finance in eighteenth-century England. It throws light on economic fluctuations and on the changing conditions of the wage-earners. The approach is that of an economist and use is made of hitherto neglected statistics. But treatment and language are simple. The book is intended not only for...