15 



have been named and agreed to without any cal- 

 culation at all; the landlord being guided in 

 naming a rent, by no other rule than the success- 

 ful examples of other landlords ; and the tenant 

 contenting himself with an opinion, that what 

 another can afford to give, he can afford to give 

 also; but still the current price of land originated 

 in calculation, although frequently adopted and 

 extended in application without it; andthe found- 

 ation of that calculation upon arable farms 

 must have been laid in the actual or presumed 

 price of wheat. 



The price of wheat must be always subject 

 to variations. In bargains for the hire of land, 

 exemptions from corresponding variations in rent 

 are by implication stipulated for ; and the bar- 

 gain must be held to proceed upon an equitable 

 adjustment of the chances and probabilities be- 

 tween the parties ; the one (viz. the landlord) 

 directing his views by the expectation that the 

 actual or presumed price will not be materially 

 advanced ; and the other (the tenant) placing 

 his confidence for the successful discharge of his 

 engagement, upon the assumption, that the 

 price will not materially be depressed. A corn 

 rent may therefore be deemed to be virtually 

 always in force. 



Nor let the landlord hastily imagine that if 

 his land has been let during the last seven years, 



