CHAP. I.] CLIMATE, SEASONS, &C. 6? 



1818. 



Feb. 16. can be nothing in the shape of proof; 

 for no actual enumeration was ever 

 taken till the year 1800 We know 

 well, that London, Manchester, 

 Birmingham, Bath, Portsmouth, 

 Plymouth, and all Lancashire and 

 Yorkshire, and some other counties, 

 have got a vast increase of miserable 

 beings huddled together. But, look 

 at Devonshire, Somersetshire, Dor 

 setshire, Wiltshire, Hampshire, and 

 other counties. You will there see 

 hundreds of thousands of acres of 

 land, where the old marks of the 

 plough are visible, but which have 

 not been cultivated for, perhaps, 

 half a century. You will, there see 

 places, that were once considerable 

 towns and villages, now having, 

 within their ancient limits, nothing 

 but a few cottages, the Parsonage 

 and a single Farm-house. It is a 

 curious and a melancholy sight, 

 where an ancient church, with its 

 lofty spire or tower, the church suf 

 ficient to contain a thousand or two 

 or three thousand of people conve 

 niently, now stands surrounded by 

 a score or half a score of miserable 

 F 2 



