 The cost of keeping lunatics in jails and workhouses had previously been charged to their parish of birth, and continued indefinitely as there was no attempt to cure them.To make matters worse, the Corn Laws kept food prices high while the Enclosure Act of 1813 removed the right of poor people to use the common lands to support themselves, causing added mental distress to the already impoverished.Concern grew about the disproportionate number of lunatics in Middlesex.