There is nothing so old as our newest Socialist crazes,
as is proved by a correspondent of the Daily News (Thursday), who has unearthed a prayer in favour of fair rent which was approved by the ecclesiastical authorities some three hundred and fifty years ago. It appeared in the last primer of Edward VI., published about 1550, and is as follows :—" We heartily pray Thee to send Thy Holy Spirit into the hearts of them that possess the grounds, pastures, and dwelling-places of the earth ; that they remembering themselves to be Thy tenants, may not rack and stretch out the rents of their houses and lands ; nor yet take unreasonable fines and incomes, after the manner of covetous worldlings ; but so let them out to others that the inhabitants thereof may be able to pay the rents, and also honestly to live, to nourish their family, and to relieve the poor." It will be remembered that Latimer's sermons contain much that is inspired by the same spirit. Latimer specially resented the laying-down of pas- ture where the land had been under tillage, and speaks most bitterly of the houses and fields once occupied by men and their families, where now is to be seen nothing but "a shepherd and his dog."
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