68 CLIMATE, SEASONS, &C. [PART I. 



1818. 



Feb. 16. mud-houses, with floors of earth, 

 and covered with thatch ; and this 

 sight strikes your eye in all parts of 

 the five Western counties of Eng 

 land. Surely these churches were 

 not built without the existence of a 

 population somewhat proportionate 

 to their size ! Certainly not ; for 

 the churches are of various sizes, 

 and, we sometimes see them very 

 small indeed. Let any man look at 

 the sides of the hills in these coun 

 ties, and also in Hampshire, where 

 doivns, or open lands, prevail. He 

 will there see, not only that those 

 hills were formerly cultivated ; but, 

 that banks, from distance to dis 

 tance, were made by the spade, in 

 order to form little flats for the 

 plough to go, without tumbling the 

 earth down the hill ; so that the side 

 of a hill looks, in some sort, like 

 the steps of a stairs. Was this done 

 without hands, and without mouths 

 to consume the grain raised on the 

 sides of these hills ? The Funding 

 and Manufacturing and Commercial 

 and Taxing System has, by drawing 

 wealth into great masses, drawn 



