30 FIFTY YEARS AGO IN ESSEX.
The rector of my parish was a pluralist and non-resident, and the
vicar of the adjoining parish acted as his curate, so that neither of
these parishes had more than one service weekly, alternately morning
and afternoon, and there was no parochial visiting. I think, however,
the general good conduct of the parishioners, notwithstanding these
disadvantages, would compare favourably with that of their present
successors. At the time of which I am speaking, the alteration in
the poor laws had not taken place, and the working classes had a claim
on the parish for either work or relief, as they could not be compelled
to go to work in the next parish, even if there was plenty of em-
ployment to be had there. The workhouse, usually a cottage or
cottages, was also in the parish, and the discipline was not very strict.
I believe the old poor-law has had more to do with the perma-
nence of families, and names, and habits, in particular districts, than
any other cause.
There is one other matter of which our district affords a good
example; I allude to the changes which have taken place in the
character of diseases prevalent there. Bilious fever, as it was called
from its most prominent symptoms, has disappeared; the present
type of the disease being entirely different, although they were both
the same specific disease, namely, typhoid. Ague, again, was once
very rife; it has now, in comparison, almost left its old haunts. It is
said that sanitary improvements in the way of drainage, felling of
timber, and so on, have produced this result. This I do not at all
believe, as even in the adjacent marshy islands, the same diminution
of this disease is remarked. Even if drainage and other sanitary
improvements have caused the decrease of this disease on the
uplands, how can these alterations have affected the islands, where
there has been no alteration in the drainage, and where trees and
woods never had any existence? I do not at all undervalue the
importance of sanitary measures; in fact I am quite sure that the
sanitary knowledge and improvements of the last half century have
contributed, by controlling zymotic diseases, to an increased average
duration of human life, and they may have had considerable influence
in the stamping out of ague in some districts; but that they are the
sole cause of its disappearance I do not believe, as in many parts
where the diminution of this disease is greatest, sanitary alterations
have been carried out less than elsewhere.
The decrease of ague has been progressive, and began before
the birth of sanitary science. Of sanitary laws little was known