I 



Chap. I.] Journal.— February. 29 



tling ! It is a curious thing to observe the far m-kmises 

 in this country. They consist, almost without excep- 

 tion, of a considerably large and a very neat house, 

 with sash windows, and of a small house, which seems 

 to have been tacked on to the large one ; and, the pro- 

 portion they bear to each other, in point of dimensions, 

 is, as nearly as possible, the proportion of size betweea 

 a Cow and her Calf, the latter a month old. But, as 

 to the cause, the process has been the opposite of this 

 instance of the works of nature, ibr, it is the larye house 

 which has groU'ii out of the small one. The lather, or 

 grandfather, while he was toiling for his children, lived 

 in the small house, constructed chiefly by himself, and 

 consisting of rude materials. The means, accumulated 

 in tlie small house, enabled a son to rear the large one ; 

 and, though, when pride enters the door, the small house 

 is sometimes demolished, few sons in America have the 

 folly or want of feehng to commit such acts of filial ingra- 

 titude, and of real self-abasement. For, what inheri- 

 tance so valuable and so honourable can a son enjoy as 

 the proofs of his father's industry and virtue? The 

 progress of wealth and ease and enjo_)inent, evinced by 

 this regular increase of the size of the farmer's dwell- 

 ings, is a spectacle, at once pleasing, in a very high 

 degree, in itself, and, in the same degree, it speaks the 

 praise of the system of government, under which it has 

 taken place. What a contrast with the form-houses in 

 England ! There the little farm-houses are falling into 

 ruins, or, are actually become cattle-sheds, or, at best, 

 cottages, as they are called, to contain a miserable 

 labourer, who ought t© have been a farmer, as his 

 grandfather was. Five or six larms are there nouy 

 levelled into one, in defiance of the laic ; for, there is a 

 law to prevent it. The fanner, has, indeed, a. fine 

 house ; but, what a life do his labourers lead ! The 

 cause of this sad change is to be found in the crushing 

 taxes; and the cause of them, in the Borough usurpation, 

 which has robbed the people of their best right, and, 

 indeed, without which right they can enjoy no other. 

 They talk of the augmented population of England; 

 and, when it suits the purposes of the tyrants, they boast 

 of this fact, as they are pleased to call it^ as a proof of 



