^ S82 ^ 



MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS. 



The Land of Nineneh, a fragment ; 

 oddressed to thcfarmers of Great 

 Britain and Ireland, by a friend to 

 husbandry ; from the Annals of 

 Agriculture. 



AND there lived a king in thf. 

 land of Nineveh, who ruled 

 the country in peace, and he distri- 

 buted his favours among his people, 

 giving to one great auUiority, and 

 to others situations of emolument ; 

 but no man was oppressed thereby, 

 for he gave but his own, and what 

 the laws of the land permitted. 



And his nobles confederated to- 

 gether and said, ♦' Why suft'er we 

 this thing ? This man placeth over 

 us whom he listeth, and giveth 

 away what he pleaseth to others, and 

 pays no proper respectto our claims : 

 Let us endure it no longer : liCt us 

 displace him: Let us divide his pos- 

 sessions and authority amongst us, 

 and we shall be happy." And they 

 did so, and the king fled, and lived 

 in another country, and the nobles 

 returned triumphing each to his 

 own home. 



And the husbandmen of the 

 country heard this, and they assem- 

 bled together, and said, " Behold 

 the king that reigned over us has 

 fled, and his nobles has seized 

 every thing he had, and they claim 

 tlie inheritance of the land. What 

 giveth them a right to do so ? 



What iTiattereth their wax or their 

 parchments ? The land is ours, for 

 we till it, and we will pay them 

 their heavy exactions no more." 

 And the nobles were few in num- 

 ber, and no man could trust ano- 

 ther, and they fled, and the hus- 

 bandmen took each man the land he 

 possessed, and he kept it as his own, 

 and he lived in his own house re- 

 joicing. 



And these husbandmen hadmany 

 servants, who were employed iu 

 tilling the land ; and the servants 

 said unto one another, " Whence 

 cometh this ? The king that reigned 

 over us has fled, aiid his nobles are 

 driven from their estates, and the 

 husbandmen possess the soil, and 

 they claim the whole land as their 

 own ; but what right have they to 

 do so ? Where are their deeds or 

 parchments i Are their titles bet- 

 ter than ours ? Surely not. Let 

 us then join together, let us drive 

 these wicked men from our bounds, 

 andlet usdividc theland among us.'* 

 And they did so, and the husband- 

 men fled every where, and none of 

 them retained a spot of the land 

 tliey had formerly possessed, and 

 the servants said, " There is none 

 now to contest with us, we shall 

 .soon become rich and happy, we 

 formerly tilled the land of others, 

 we shall now cultivate our own," 



And 



