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This paper deals with two aspects of long-run fertility trends in England. First detailed and widely comparable fertility measures (Coale's indices) are reconstructed for England from the mid-sixteenth century to the present. Secondly the extent and nature of local and regional variation in those indices is discussed. The calculation of Coale's indices has never previously been attempted for so long a time span. Doing so requires the use of several different sources of information and a new method for combining them. The results provide significant insights into the development of the distinctive English demographic regime. The analysis of spatial patterns makes it apparent that local, rather than regional, variation was the main source of different fertility patterns in the nineteenth century. These patterns are obscured when counties or larger units are made the framework for analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the origins of genre painting, which depicts daily life, in the 16th century. The author discusses proverb artworks by Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder and market and kitchen scenes by Dutch painter Pieter Aertsen. Other topics include classical architecture in the Renaissance, the influence of the ancient traditions of ancient satire and Stoicism on genre painting, the depiction of food in art, and the idea of the artist as the observer of daily life. Artworks discussed include Bruegel's 1558 drawing "Ice Skating before the Gate of St. George," Bruegel's Seven Virtues series of prints, Aertsen's painting "Meat Stall," and Bruegel's drawing "Prudentia."

The article presents a study on social history of philanthropy in relation to mercantilism in Colchester, England. It investigates the poverty from the early sixteenth century to the seventeenth century, the impact of population growth to economic growth especially in agricultural productivity and food prices, wage rates and the problems of unemployment and underemployment. It highlights the analysis of the probate evidence in Colchester over the two centuries, which was supplemented by the borough documentation, that will chart the rise and fall of private philanthropy and will attempt to assess its changing contribution to the mixed economy of welfare during the epoch of substantial economic growth.