i io ENGLISH RURAL LIFE 



tinuing the system of land settlement whereby the great 

 estates remained in the same families from generation 

 to generation, by absorbing into their class the wealthy 

 merchants, lawyers, and other townspeople who might, 

 under other circumstances, have formed a strong body 

 of opposition to their control ; and by securing for their 

 class government the support of the large farmers, of 

 the clergy, and of the country lawyers, who might, if 

 their interest had not been concerned, have been severe 

 critics of their administrative methods. 



The gathering of the control of power into the hands 

 of this small section of the community resulted in one 

 great evil. So little consideration was given by the 

 new rulers to the interests of the small peasant farmers 

 and labourers, that the men of these classes were allowed 

 to sink down, until by the early years of the XlXth 

 century they were in a condition of poverty and misery 

 which, having regard to the wealth of England at that 

 time, has no precedent in the history of the English 

 workers on the land. But it does not follow that the 

 English country squires are to be subjected to an un- 

 qualified condemnation. The course they took was the 

 outcome of their character, and this period cannot be 

 understood unless this character is grasped. Generous 

 and hospitable, good-natured when their interests were 

 not concerned, devoted to sport, adventure and pleasure, 

 fond of controlling the lives and affairs of others, the 

 English squires of the XVIIIth century carried on the 

 public work of the country-side with considerable 

 energy and some ability. But the value of their very 

 activity was largely destroyed by the defects of their 

 temperaments. For these men were almost always 

 narrow, and were usually imbued with a considerable 

 amount of arrogance and prejudice. They were limited 



