606 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816. 



means, and before the end of the 

 second year he found it necessary 

 to give it up, ha\ing exhausted 

 almost all his little property. He 

 then removed to a cottage, wliere 

 wiih two acres of land and his 

 right of common he ke|)t two 

 cows, and lived in comfort for 

 nine years : at the expiiation of 

 that time tlie connnon was en- 

 closed, and he luul to seek a new 

 habitation with six children, and 

 his wife ready to lie-in again. In 

 tliis state he lijjplied to Mr. Fair- 

 fax, and told him that if lie wcmld 

 let him have a little bit of groiuid 

 by the road side ' he would siiovv 

 him the fash ivnn on it.' Tlic .slip 

 of land for which he asked was 

 exactly a rood ; Mr. Fairfax, 

 after iiujuiring into liis character, 

 suffered him to have it ; the 

 neighbours lent him some little 

 assistance in the cai-riage of his 

 materials ; he built liis house, en- 

 closed tlie ground with a single 

 row of (juickset, which he cut 

 do\vnsix times when itw as ycmiig, 

 and jdanted the garden. The 

 mamjci- in which he set to work, 

 and the way in \\hich tlie work 

 was performed, pleased Mr. Fair- 

 fax so nuich, that he told him he 

 should be rent-free. His answer, 

 as Sir Thomas Bernard justly 

 says, deserves to be rtiiiemberetl. 

 ' Now, Sir, you have a pleasure 

 in seeing my cottage and garden 

 neat ; and w by should not other 

 squires have the same pleasure in 

 seeing the cottages and gardens 

 as nice about them ? The poor 

 \vould then be happy, and would 

 love them, and the. place where 

 they lived : but now every nock 

 of land is to be let to the great 

 farmers, and nothing left for the 

 poor but 10 go to the parish.' 



' Though my visit,' says Sir 

 Thomas, ' was imexpected, and 

 he at the latter end of his Satur-' 

 day's work, his clothes were neat 

 and sufHciently clean. His coun- 

 tenance was healthy and open ; 

 he was a little lame in one leg, 

 the consequence of exposure to 

 wet and weather. He said he 

 had always worked hard and weW ; 

 but he would not deny but that 

 he had loved a mug of good ale 

 when he could get it. When I 

 told him my object in inquiring 

 after him, that it was in order 

 that other poor persons might 

 have cottages and gai dens as neat 

 as his, and that he must tell me 

 all Ilia secret how it was to be 

 done, he seemed extremely pleas- 

 ed, and very nuich affected : he 

 said, ' nothing A\ill make poor 

 folks more happy than finding 

 that great folks thought of them : 

 that he wislied every poor man 

 had as comfortable a home as his 

 own, — not but that he believed 

 there might be a few thoughtless 

 fellows who would not do good 

 in it.' 



Britton Abbot was at this time 

 sixty-seven, and had lived happily 

 with his wife for live and forty 

 years. He earned fi'om twelve to 

 eighteen shillintrs a week bv task 

 woik, ' but to be sure,' he said, 

 ' / have a grand character in all 

 this country!' Five of his children 

 were living, and having been well 

 brought up, were thriving in the 

 world. Upon his rood of ground 

 he had fifteen a])ple trees, one 

 green-gage, two winesour plum- 

 trees, two apricot trees, currants, 

 gooseberries, and three beehives j 

 he reared also from this garden 

 abundance of common vegetables, 

 and about forty bushels of j)ota- 



toes 



