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In years of scarcity, the difficulty and uncertainty of

subsistence make all such people eager to return to service. But

the high price of provisions, by diminishing the funds destined

for the maintenance of servants, disposes masters rather to

diminish than to increase the number of those they have. In dear

years, too, poor independent workmen frequently consume the

little stock with which they had used to supply themselves with

the materials of their work, and are obliged to become journeymen

for subsistence. More people want employment than easily get it;

many are willing to take it upon lower terms than ordinary; and

the wages of both servants and journeymen frequently sink in dear

years.