88 History of the English Landed Interest. 



appreciation. A very different state of affairs prevailed, we 

 are told, in the neighbouring parish, where a feud existed be- 

 tween parson and squire. There is sad reason to believe that 

 the result in reality would not be any different from what the 

 Spectator represents as taking place. The parishioners are 

 easily won over to the seignorial side, and show their partisan- 

 ship by becoming atheists and tithe-stealers. This was but 

 human nature, for the squire could shower benefits or render 

 life miserable, whichever and whenever he pleased ; whereas 

 the parson was too poor to be generous, and too insignificant to 

 inspire awe ; and though the villagers would have, if properly 

 handled, allowed him his say in their spiritual concerns, any- 

 thing requiring judgment or advice carried them off to the 

 manor-house, as though its great entrance hall had been still 

 the judicial court of the district. 



Let us examine another type of the seignorial class of these 

 times. Mr. Evelyn may be regarded as the leader of that 

 small band of landed gentry whose activity and cultivation of 

 mind placed them far in advance of their fellows. He in- 

 herited all the tastes of the English squire, but none of his 

 extravagances. Lo^^al to the core and an intimate friend of 

 more than one of the Stuart kings, he was never blinded to 

 their failings. He travelled abroad, "not merely," as he him- 

 self said, '' to count steeples," but to widen his intellectual 

 views. His tact, learning, and moderation gained him friends 

 in every grade of society, and in every school of thought. He 

 could retail Court gossip to the county dames, and discuss 

 empiric agriculture with the bumpkin; while his letters, essays, 

 diary, and works on arboriculture and farming placed him on 

 a level with all the most elegant and scientific writers of his 

 day. The account of his career reads like that of some public 

 man of the present age. His early surroundings are identical 

 with those of any landowner's son now in the sixth form at 

 Eton or Harrow. His father, a man of temperate judgment 

 but retiring disposition, lived a country life on a well-wooded 

 estate, whose rent-roll amounted to i:4,000 per annum. He 

 sat on the bench, and fulfilled the ofiice of sheriff for two 

 counties. In the latter capacity, much against his will, he 



