100 IMPROVEMENT OF 



both in a moral and physical light. To 

 the labourer this is more particularly the case. 

 The fact of the labourer's cottage being con- 

 tinually under the eye of the farmer induces 

 him to pay more deference to the value of 

 moral character. Not only is the character of 

 the labourer himself more narrowly examined, 

 but also that of his wife and family. Well-dis- 

 posed servants have a twofold interest in assist- 

 ing their masters in this selection. They not 

 only procure good fellow-workmen, but also 

 honest and exemplary neighbours. They are 

 thus relieved from the curse of the village 

 system, the ensnaring influence of bad example. 

 The farmer is also in some measure necessitated 

 to cultivate the moral and physical welfare of 

 his subjects ; but whatever interest he and his 

 wife may take in the management of their 

 domestic affairs, and the comforts of the cottage, 

 which are seldom overlooked during periods of 

 sickness or adversity, their immediate presence 

 daily among them exercises a powerful and 

 salutary influence. It checks the many way- 

 ward propensities of children incites and 

 supports the timely authority of parents, and 

 indirectly, as it were, trains up the rising gene- 



