iSoo. during a Tour through England, 153 



that a wife Legiflature -would be jullified in taking (Irong 

 meafures to anniliilate fuch a tenure, however arbitrary 

 the meafures at flrfl fight might appear. 



As we advanced fouthward, we did not find hufband- 

 ry pra£tiled in the perfe6l manner we expe£led, and com- 

 mon-fields were conftantly occurring to oiir view, which 

 were no better cultivated than thofe we had feen former- 

 ly. An old gentleman in company aflured me, that he 

 had travelled this road in 1751, and was not fenfible of 

 any alteration having taken place in rural economy fince 

 that period : The fame remark will probably be made fif- 

 ty years hence, if a divifion-bill is not pafl'ed. To obferve 

 a fine country fo miferably managed, fickens the mind, 

 and makes it turn from the fcene with difguft. 



At Barnety we got into another climate, and the growth 

 of every thing was further advanced than in any diftri£t 

 we had pafled through. Betwixt this place and London, 

 the hay crop was in hand ; and the feveral procefles of 

 tutting, winning, and ftacking, were going brifkly for- 

 ward. The crops in general did not appear weighty, not 

 exceeding 150 ftones per acre, and all bf the kind called 

 natural or meadow-grafs. The fmallnefs of thefe crops 

 will not excite furprife, when it is confidered, that the 

 fields are fo frequently cut, which as effc£lually fcourges 

 land, as the fevered courfe of corn crops. Very little 

 land under the plough is here to be feen ; and what came 

 within our view, did not appear carrying heavier crops 

 than what may be found in other fituations, where the 

 means of improvement are not fo plentiful. 



We have now entered the great city^ where we will 

 continue for a few days ; and my next fliall contain a de- 

 tail of fome of the wonders which come under our obfer- 

 vation, though perhaps rather incongruous with the gene- 

 ral purpofes of thefe letters; And I am, &c. 



fOL. I. NO, II. S ' TO 



