[Lord Carrington, Tory politician who sorted out Pitt the Younger’s personal finances.] Autograph Letter Signed to Robert Sparrow regarding a parliamentary bill on the subject of waste land and enclosures.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 4to. In good condition, with thin neat strip from windowpane mount adhering at edges. Folded for postage. Signed ‘Carrington’ and addressed to ‘Robert Sparrow Esq.’ He has received Sparrow’s letter, and informs him that ‘the Bill is yet [to be] brought into the House of Lords for the improvement of waste land’. All that has been done is the instructing of ‘the Committee appointed on account of the dearth of Provisions, to take into immediate consideration the subject of Enclosures in general, & of waste lands in particular.’ However important the point which Sparrow mentions may be ‘for a separate enquiry’, it ‘does not come within the limits of these instructions, nor could it be perhaps proper to mix any other subject with that above mentioned.’ Note: [Enclosures] It gained pace in the 18th century before really accelerating as a result of the General Enclosure Act of 1801. This law enabled landowners - and notably nouveau riche farmers - to enclose their land without a prior Parliamentary act, as had previously been the case.