36 tTbe <3arfcen 



it was found that there was no tax more lucra- 

 tive, more readily collected, or less obnoxious 

 to the caprices of chance, than the impost that 

 was levied in exchange for it, in the shape of a 

 property-tax, extended to the poorest classes ; 

 for now the very soil itself is their surety that 

 paid the tax will be, their means are patent to 

 the light of day, and the superficial extent of 

 their possessions, whatever the weather may 

 chance to be, always remains the same. 



Cato, we find, speaks in highest praise of gar- 

 den cabbages ; indeed, it was according to 

 their respective methods of garden cultivation 

 that the agriculturists of early times were ap- 

 preciated, and it was immediately concluded 

 that it was a sign of a woman being a bad and 

 careless manager of her family, when the 

 kitchen-garden for this was looked upon as 

 the woman's department more particularly 

 was negligently cultivated ; as in such case her 

 only resource was, of course, the shambles or 

 the herb-market. But cabbages were not held 

 in such high esteem in those days as now ; in- 

 deed, all dishes were held in disrepute which 

 required something else to help them down, the 

 great object being to economize oil as much as 

 possible ; and as to the flesh-market, so much 

 as a wish even to taste its wares was visited 

 with censure and reproach. The chief thing 



