6 AWAKENING OF ENGLAND. 



the countryside will remain devoid of in- 

 dustrial life. 



I had walked from Basingstoke to Kings- 

 clere, nine miles along the turnpike road, and 

 passed in all but seven cottages. From 

 Kingsclere to Ecchinswell I passed only one 

 cottage, and this was built in a disused chalk- 

 pit ; and but one person between Ecchinswell 

 and Whitmay, and that a child, in a distance 

 of four miles. The country from Basingstoke 

 to this point, that is, Highclere Park, is largely 

 in the hands of two noble lordsi The hedges 

 are rarely trimmed and many of the fields are 

 gateless. I pitied the man who had to drive 

 cattle to market along this turnpike road ! 

 Working alone in large fields, Hodge is an 

 isolated unit living under the roof of a farm- 

 tied cottage rented by his employer, the big 

 farmer, who rules with an unchecked hand of 

 iron the whole of this countryside. 



When you reach Highclere you come into 

 closer contact with the owners of the land and 

 their retainers than in the hedgeless land 

 through which we have just passed. Brand- 

 new antique mansions are being built as 

 residences for the new race of squirearchy. 

 An iron gate of princely splendour flung 



