in the fpring, and the feafon exceedingly dry, I {hould 

 not wonder to fee the fame land-tajier err againft 

 the land twenty fliillings per acre, and reduce it 

 down to ninths. I fliall not enter into the arcana of 

 this fpeculative agricultural quackery, becaufe a prac- 

 tical marfli-farmer will treat it with the contempt it 

 fo juftly deferves. But, for the comfort of the in- 

 habitants of the flat part of Somerfet, they have 

 reafon to be thankful that a fet of men, diilinguiftied 

 by the term of land-tajlers , have been fent into this 

 country. For, however notably thefe land-empirics 

 might have acquitted themfelves' in their own neigh- 

 bourhood, it is very certain, that when called hither 

 to judge of our rich land, they have commonly 

 erred one hundred per cent, againfl their employers; 

 and hence it is that you may find in the freeholders* 

 book the names of fo many farmers, now living in 

 the flat part of Somerfet, very comfortably upon 

 their own freeholds; and who, from very fmall be- 

 ginnings, have acquired fuch large fortunes as to en- 

 able the parifli- officers to return their names to the 

 {herifF as gentlemen, and entitle them to rank as 

 grand-jurors of the county. Should fo great a profit 

 create aflonifliment, let us recollect the ten pariflies 

 in this neighbourhood, the names of which I have 

 already mentioned; and as no gentleman will, with 

 his name, fay they are not worth one hundred thou- 

 fand pounds per annum, they mufl:, at thirty years 



purchafe, 



