30 Journal.— February. [Part 1. 



the fostering nature of their government; though, just 

 now, they are preaching up the vile and foolish doctrine 

 of Parson Malthus, who thinks, that there are too 

 many people, and that they ought (those who labour, 

 at least) to be restrained from breeding so fast. But, 

 as to the feet, I do not believe it. There can be nothing in 

 the shape of proof ; for no actual enumeration was ever 

 taken till the year 1800. We know well, that London, 

 Blanchester, Birmingham, Bath, Portsmouth, Plymouth, 

 and all Lancashire and Yorkshire, and some other 

 counties, have got a vast increase of miserable be- 

 ings huddled together. But, look at Devonshire, So- 

 mersetshire, Dorsetshire, Wiltshire, Hampshire, and 

 other counties. You will there see hundreds of thou- 

 sb.7ids of acres of land, where the old marks of the plough 

 are visible, but which have not been cultivated for, per- 

 haps, half a century. You will there see places, that 

 were once considerable tovms and villages, now having, 

 within their ancient limits, nothing but a few cottages, 

 the Parsonage and a single Farm-house. It is a curious 

 and a melancholy sight, where an ancient church, 

 with its lofty spire or tower ; the church sufficient to 

 contain a thousand or two or three thousand of people 

 conveniently, now stands surrounded by a score or half 

 a score of miserable mud-houses, with floors of earth, 

 and covered with thatch ; and this sight strikes your eye 

 in all parts of the five Western counties of England. 

 Surely these churches were not built without the ex- 

 istence of a population somewhat proportionate to their 

 size ! Certainly not ; for the churches are of various 

 sizes, and, we sometimes see them very small indeed. 

 Let any man look at the sides of the hills in these coun- 

 ties, and also in Hampshire, M'here downs, or open 

 lands, prevail. He will there see, not only that those 

 hills were formerly cultivated ; but, that banks, from 

 distance to distance, were made by the spade, in order 

 to form little flats for the plough to go, without tumbling 

 the earth down the hill ; so that the side of a- hill 

 looks, in some sort, like the steps of a stairs. Was this 

 done without hands, and Avithout mouths to consume 

 the grain raised on the sides of these hills ? The Fund- 

 ins and Manufacturinsf and Commercial and Taxing 



