1Sl6.] Claims of Lords of 



lion of the moral and physical welfare 

 of the people at large, and of the poor hi 

 fiarticular, and aftects it by touching the 

 tendercst chords of sensibility and com- 

 passion, but, at the same time, improves 

 the taste, by his easy, yet classical and 

 flowing, style. In tiiis latter respect 

 alone, hs is not undeserving of praise. 

 He who refines the public taste is a pub- 

 lic benefactor ; and it were much to be 

 wished tiiat our Edinburgh critics would 

 follow the example of their English ri- 

 vals, and become more attentive to the 

 graces of composition. If any apology 

 bo due to the editor of the Monthly Ma- 

 gazine for requesting his insertion of this 

 communication in his miscellany, it 

 may l)e found in the propriety of our 

 bestowing commondation on the useful 

 public labours of literary men. 

 " What we admire we praise; and when we 



praise 

 Advance it into notice, that, its worth 

 Acknowledged, otliers may admire it too." 



Earnestly do I wish that the objects 

 tecommended by the Quarterly Re- 

 viewer in this essay — universal educa- 

 tion — the reducing of large farms into 

 small ones — improved religious instruc- 

 tion — banks for savings — rand an ame- 

 lioration of the code of our poor laws — 

 Jttay be kept steadily in view by the 

 thinking part of the community ; and 

 that no attempt to improve the condition 

 of the poor may ever be abandoned from 

 a lazy belief that improvement is im- 

 practicable. It is this belief which, 

 oftener than once, has damped the ener- 

 gies of a nation. Educate the whole 

 body of the people; sutler none any 

 longer to go on in the paths of igno- 

 rance, moral feeling uncultivated, and 

 the social world a wilderness. Give 

 tvcry ma:-), however poor, an interest in 

 the sweat of his brow, which shall cause 

 him to look forward with hope beyond 

 the day that passes over him ; enable 

 him to lay by for himself and his family 

 5onic comforts in reserve as an allevia- 

 tion to sickness and sorrow, when Pro- 

 videuf*. sliall please to dispense them ; 

 teach him to feel, by acts of friendly 

 consideration and assistance, that the 

 rich and the poor are bound together 

 by one general lie of brotherhood. Do 

 these thijigs, and the melancholy magni- 

 Inde of public delinquency, as certainly 

 its eflVct Kucceeds fo cause, will gradual- 

 ly diminish, the religions l\u!e of the land 

 will brighten, and something more con- 

 soling to the labourer than the i)rospcct 

 ol a parish poor-house, as the last stage 



MoNriiLY Miti. No. 2!J0. 



Manors to the IVaste. 305 



on his way to the grave, will animala 

 bis humble steps as he moves aloflg 

 through life. J. C. 



Chelmsford, 



To the Editor of the Blonthhj Magazine. 



SIR, 



A CORRESPONDENT (A. Z.) in 

 your i\lagazine for the mouth of 

 Jnly, 1815, has proposed some (picstions 

 on " the extent of the claims of lords of 

 manors on what is generally termed tho 

 Waste," and has requested a reference 

 to authorities on the subject : I am not 

 aware that any reply has been made to 

 those questions, and tiicrcfore take the 

 liberty of submitting the following re- 

 marks. 



By the law of England, all lands have 

 some legal and determinate owner ; and 

 it is a maxim of that law, that the king 

 is tiie universal lord and original pro- 

 prietor of all the lands in his kingdom, 

 and that no man doth or can possess any 

 part of it, but what has mediately or 

 immediately been derived as a gift from 

 him, to be held upon feudal services. 

 2 Bl. Comm. 51. All lands therefore 

 which are not appropiiated to indivi- 

 duals, are vested in the crown, or in it.s 

 grantees, being usually the lords of 

 manors. 



But the lords of manors are not inti- 

 tled, of common right, to tiie land lying 

 between ancient inelqsed lands and a 

 highway. All roads are supposed to be 

 made through the lands of private per- 

 sons. Bac. Abr. iii. lit. Highways (A). 

 The presumption of law tiicrclore is, 

 that the soil and freehold of the highway, 

 and of the land on the sides thereof, 

 lying open thereto, belong to the owner 

 of the adjoining closes on each side 

 thereof. lb. (B.) 20, Yiner's Abr. lit. 

 Trees, (B.) pi. 5. The same doctrine 

 Itas been hoklen by liOid Mansfield, iu 

 a case reported in lA>fit*s J^eports, .368, 

 and I ha>'e seen an opinion to the samo 

 cflect by an eminent lawyer now on the 

 Bench. This presunipiioii, however, 

 like every other, may be icjiclied by 

 evidence; and, by immemorial and un- 

 disputed usage, the lords of inanors mri)/ 

 ac(piire, and, iu many places, probiiblif 

 /(«i'« acquired, a right to the open hinds 

 between the inclosures and the high- 

 ways. But still the presumption ol' law 

 is as I have above stated, and that pre- 

 sumption must pre';ail mail the con- 

 trary be proved. W. VV , jtui. 



Jiirmivaliam ; Avs;. 10. 



B r Tn 



