… is a rare repeat. This quotation first (and last) appeared in this spot on December 4th, 2013; it’s from the Preface to Thomas Hardy’s marvelous 1886 novel, The Mayor of Casterbridge and refers to the time before the repeal, in Britain, of the infamous corn laws, which were import restrictions on grain; on this date, June 25th, in 1846 the corn laws were mercifully repealed, enriching the mass of Britain’s citizens:
Readers of the following story who have not yet arrived at middle age are asked to bear in mind that, in the days recalled by the tale, the home Corn Trade, on which so much of the action turns, had an importance that can hardly be realized by those accustomed to the sixpenny loaf of the present date, and to the present indifference of the public to harvest weather.
DBx: On the 175th anniversary of the corn-laws’ repeal, Doug Irwin and I wrote – in a famous journal that was launched as part of an effort to repeal the corn laws – about that momentous event.
