214 Notes and Sketches. 



Along with abounding poverty of means and resources, 

 we find that industry was stagnant, and unprogressive, 

 and that the ordinary rural life of the time was strongly 

 tinctured with superstition, or simply in the state of 

 uninquiring indifference as regards its spiritual beliefs. 

 It had nevertheless its own features of attraction, as 

 contrasted with the life that has followed it. There 

 was a sense of quiet leisureliness about the manner 

 in which each man held his position and transacted 

 the business of his daily life; an absence of hurry 

 and headlong competition, and a feeling of neigh - 

 bourliness and hospitality amongst the constituent 

 membership of each small community that did much 

 to make life not merely tolerable, but rationally enjoy- 

 able. The changes that have occurred in these respects, 

 we may warrantably say, have not all been in the 

 nature of an unqualified social gain. 



