INTRODUCTION. XVll 



tlie diftriiSls in which they live. Such perlbns are too oftea 

 found to be horfe or Iheep- dealers, and nocturnal ravagers 

 of field crops, gardens, and hen-roofts : And hence, by ex- 

 citing juft fears among regular farmers and village houfe- 

 keepers, of having their property plundered, thefe perfons 

 are difcouraged from raifing for market thofe fmall articles of 

 provifion, which otherv.ife their difpofition would induce 

 them to raife, in greater abundance ! 



All claffes, it is certain, afford fome inftances of fuperior 

 management, and fuperior rectitude; otherwife fociety would 

 more rapidly degenerate into wickednefs and barbarifm, not- 

 ■yvithftanding the neceffary controul of laws ; and charity 

 would induce us to hope that individuals may be found, in 

 the clafs alluded to, to whom thefe ftriflures will not apply. 

 But if we compare the generality of thofe remote and " in- 

 " dependent cottagers" fo frequently pleaded for, with fuch 

 as are regularly employed in country labour, or with the 

 a6tive labourers in trades and manufadtures, we fliall cer- 

 tainly find, on the whole, that the former are greatly lofers 

 by the comparifon, in morals, in reputation, and in domefhc 

 comfort. Neither does the mifchief end with them, but 

 is extended into national difadvantage, of a ferious and 

 malignant nature ! 



Another objection which feveral well-meaning gentlemen 

 have urged, in the converfations with which I have been 

 favoured, on the topic in queftion, is this : 



idly. " 1 hat the commonable lands, in many uninclofed 

 <' parts, now bearing abundance of grain, would be thrown 

 " too much into the power of the occupiers j for that they, 

 f in order to leffen the burden of tithes, would be induced 

 ^' to convert arable into pallure, becaufe by fuch converfion 

 f they could make more oi fuch lands, Vv^hich would mate- 



" rially 



