Rustic Manners and Customs. 89 



found himself the leader of a large retinue of neighbouring 

 gentry, and the master of over 100 servants, " clad in greene 

 satin doublets." The son goes to a tutor at Lewes, thence to 

 Baliol, where at the age of fifteen he distinguishes himself by 

 some graceful literary work. Toward the end of his University 

 course, the king had established his headquarters at Oxford, 

 which enabled Evelyn to avail himself of a special royal 

 licence to travel abroad. After a time he returns to London, 

 in order to qualify himself as a barrister. Thus early had 

 he exhibited those talents, and acquired the learning, which 

 ultimately gained for him the coveted Fellowship of the 

 Royal Society, and an office under Government.^ 



Not so learned, but even more practical, and therefore quite 

 as useful to his class, was Jethro Tull, who came into the 

 world before Evelyn had left it. He too had the advantages 

 of a University education, and, though unsuccessful in taking 

 his degree, was eventually called to the Bar. Following un- 

 consciously in Evelyn's footsteps, he enlarged his mind by a 

 course of foreign travel,^ and then settled upon his father's 

 farm in Oxfordshire. Too poor to take up agriculture as a 

 hobby, he sought to bring his holding into such a condition of 

 fertility as to be able to let it at a good rent, and he was 

 so far successful in this attempt that in nine years he was 

 able to obtain a tenant who paid him one-third more rent than 

 it was ever let at before. His methods of husbandry, and 

 invention of the drill, will be described further on in their 

 proper place. 



Let us take our readers for a space up into the north-west 

 of Norwich, to the district commonly known as West Norfolk. 

 There lay the three great houses of Holkhara, Houghton, and 

 Rainham, about the first of which we shall have something 

 to relate later on in this work. On the last-mentioned estate, 

 its master. Lord Townshend, retiring from office in 1730, 

 devoted the short remainder of a long life to agriculture. As 

 a statesman he is described as choleric, vindictive, and honest ; 

 as a farmer, energetic and inventive ; and as a landlord, 



^ The Diary of John Evelyn. 



* Agri. Biography, sub vac. " Jethro Tull." J. Donaldson. 



