griculture no longer dominated the British economy, as it did in most other countries, it can be seen as the indispensable foundation for industry, for there was no other regular source of the nation's food,(see fig.1).
             Economic expansion and population growth tend to be closely associated: the former seldom occurs without the latter. The accelerating increase in population which began in the mid-eighteenth century is one of the most striking changes of this period, (see fig.2). There was no full census of population in Great Britain before 1801 and no attempt was made to collect age data at the censuses until 1821, hence the population figures for the eighteenth century are imprecise. Although there are enough data available to provide reasonable estimates of the broad trends involved, the specific turning points cannot be located. For England and Wales the estimates are based on the returns of baptisms, marriages and burials. Estimates suggest that Britain's population had been gradually rising from 1500, with periods of increase that were
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