II 



^ I ""HE Englishman of the past was essentially a 

 sturdy individual in mind as well as body, whilst 

 possessed of much sound common sense, which was 

 once an essentially British characteristic. 



The influx of the population into the towns is 

 probably largely responsible for the anaemic mentality 

 of latter days. 



The robust and sturdy yeomen, a class which was 

 a national asset of the highest worth, have almost 

 ceased to exist, engulfed in the maelstrom of agri- 

 cultural depression, in which " the squires " have 

 also disappeared. The latter, in spite of their faults, 

 were very often good and kindly men, who were 

 popular with their tenants and kept alight that 

 flame of local life which has now practically flickered 

 out. In the middle of the eighteenth century, it is 

 true, there were a number of useless squires, men who 

 " belted " their three bottles of port after dinner^, 

 and for the latter portion of their lives seldom knew 

 how to find their way to bed. These, however, were 

 comparatively few in number. Whatever may have 

 been his faults, the jolly squire who lived in the 

 country more or less all the year round looking after 

 his dependents and estate was a thoroughly English 



28 



