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could wear or how many guests you could invite to your wedding. The middle class scarcely existed except in large towns and even there was often excluded from government.

It seems to be generally agreed that the population in Europe increased greatly during the 18 th century, but exactly how much is obviously difficult to determine. This is usually attributed to a decline in the incidence of some infectious diseases, and to a few improvements in medicine and nutrition. The death rate was nevertheless still appallingly high: according to David Ogg about half the children born died before the age of 25, and half those who survived that long died before they reached fifty. He attributes this mainly to bad sanitation, particularly in the case of infant mortality. Three of Bräker's seven children died under the age of 20 and twelve of his eighteen grandchildren died at less than 5 years old. But people with exceptionally tough constitutions could have long lives even by modern standards: Bräker's widow lived to be 87.

The increase in population made great demands on agriculture, already by far the most important sector of the economy and perhaps the most conservative of all. It was subject to fluctuations that could not be predicted or prevented; good or bad harvests determined food prices, which in turn affected employment, wages and the price of other goods. Much resentment was caused by better-off farmers who took advantage of the less fortunate by sharecropping, laying-off of workers and hoarding in order to obtain a higher price (hence Bräker's frequent bitter outbursts against the "Korn-Juden" ["Jews of corn dealers"]). Some innovations did take place, such as the introduction of potatoes and non-food crops such as flax and tobacco.

There was a considerable increase in the opportunities offered in the worker's alternative to agriculture: home-based industry. This too was subject to fluctuations over which the worker had no control, but it gave employment to very large numbers of people, and could be combined with seasonal work on the land. Factory-based industry sometimes existed alongside it, often carrying out different processes in the same industry, and it too tended to be based in rural areas where labour was plentiful and the trade guilds had no jurisdiction. Large factories were still uncommon and were found mostly in countries where forced labour could be exacted from serfs, convicts or vagabonds. Trade developed more quickly than industry or agriculture, but it was still hampered by poor communications and local restrictions. Roads were generally so bad that transport by water, even long sea journeys, was easier and cheaper. (Coxe mentions a Swiss road so bad that it took him eight hours to cover twenty miles - on horseback.) On land, many customs duties and tolls had to be paid, and there were many difficulties arising from the lack of standard weights and measures, and from an excess of different coinages.

The 18th century is often cited as an age of disillusionment with religion, and this is probably true enough where long-established religious institutions were concerned. Many rulers showed a desire to curb the powers of the churches, and to turn their wealth to more obviously useful ends such as education. Even in Roman Catholic countries rulers began to control the religious life of their subjects rather than leave it to the Papacy. The Jesuit order, once a great international promoter of religion and scholarship, declined and fell out of favour. The devastation caused by the religious wars of the 17 th century also brought disillusionment about disputes on theological questions, and this to some extent increased tolerance in matters of religion. In most of Europe heretics of any persuasion might be exiled, or banned from certain positions in society, but were now less likely to be in danger of their lives. On the other hand, increased tolerance could lead to stagnation: the history and literature of the 18 th century include many complaints about clergy who were distracted from their work by other interests or simply ignorant and lazy.

Another cause often cited for disillusionment with religion is the rise of scientific knowledge. In fact, however, scientific knowledge progressed slowly and unevenly at this time, it took place predominantly in the fields of physics, mathematics and astronomy, and much of it was popularisation of discoveries made in the 17 th century. The discoveries made by Isaac Newton (1642-1727) in particular were especially widely and somewhat uncritically acclaimed as proving that all nature was subject to unchanging laws which could be understood by human

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