24^ -^ Rt^fol Sketch of the County of Lcincnjler. July 



may be added to the (lock of public utility. Many of our 

 modern tourifts, amidft a multitude of pages, do nothing 

 more than perform the part of triflers; they unhappily abound 

 in verbofity of manner, to the ncgletl of unfolding (lores of 

 fenfc, and interelling occurrences, to the eye of the world j 

 perhaps from a perfuafion, that man feeks, at times, to be a- 

 mufcd in the foreft, no Icfs than to be ferioufly employed in 

 the fertile iieKl. 



During a refidence of three months In Lancafliire, a multi- 

 tude of divcrfilied obfervations were made, and Qiall be de- 

 tailed without order or partiality, freih and glowing as they 

 were written on the mind. 



Lancafhire is one of the leading counties of England, me- 

 riting regard, not fo much for extent of furface, as for the 

 degree of population, and the active fpirit of the inhabitants 

 of all def;:riptions. According to the latefl: calculations, it 

 claims 425,000 inhabitants, and 1,129,600 acres *. Not- 

 ■withftanding a late prodigious decreafe of people, Lancafhire 

 appears flill to be inferior in population to Middlcfex only. 



A traveller is ftruck with furprife and forrow, to obferve 

 fo extenfive, delightful a diftriti^, in an uncultivated condi- 

 tion, decked with invariable green. The love of pafturage 

 prevails. Agriculture, the mother of a thoufand conveniences 

 and comforts, though not defpifed, is much neglected. The 

 whole tra6l of land, lov/ and fertile, is favourable to aration; 

 but few fields are allowed to fufFer or to enjoy the preflure of 

 the plough. It is not by proper periodical tillage, but rather 

 by perpetual reft given the grounds, that riches are expect- 

 ed. A park is covered with corn once in twelve years, or 

 feldomer, if the old grafs is not fo deteriorated as to be unfit 

 for pafture. 



Manufactures and commerce completely triumph over a- 

 gricultural purfuits. The fadtory brings more money than 

 the farm. All the ingenuity, the zeal, the perfeverance of 

 man, are vigoroufly exerted to invent or perfect various arts 

 of life i while the firft, the fimple art of operating on the 

 foil, obtains tranfient attention. The fame perfon cannot, 

 at the fame moment, both navigate the ocean, and cultivate 

 the earth. Put Manchelter and Liverpool together, you form 

 another London. United, they may be confidered not lefs 

 the emporium of the weft, than the metroplis is of the ead 

 of Britain. 



Th? 



* Middleton's Review pf Middlefex. 



