JULY 291 



rhymes, for he talks of the taking over of farms at Michaehiias as 

 a familiar thing : 



At Michaelmas lightly new farmer comes in, 

 New Husbandry forceth him new to begin ; 

 Old farmer still taking the time to him given, 

 Makes August to last until Michaelmas even. 



Good farm and well stored, good housing and dry, 

 Good corn and good dairy, good market and nigh ; 

 Good shepherd, good tillman, good Jack and good Jill, 

 Make husband and huswife their cofters to fill. 



Nor does the country — he farmed in Suffolk and at East 

 Dereham, in Norfolk — seem to have been so lonely as might be 

 imagined, for he talks of journeys to market, and of the visits of 

 chapmen or dealers. Indeed, I believe that the enormous increase 

 of the population in England has taken place in the towns only, 

 and that the country was almost as thickly populated in the times 

 of the Henrys as it is to-day. The size and number of the churches 

 show it, as do the death entries in the earlier registers. 



This ancient Denton farm has fitting tenants in the aged 

 couple who occupy it. Their name is Skinner, and they are 

 eighty, or over, both of them, but still hale and handsome ; we 

 discovered them sitting in the quaint porch of the house reading 

 the Bible, as old folks should do on Sunday afternoon. They have 

 been connected with this property, or in the service of its owners, 

 all their lives ; indeed, the old man's father was gardener to this 

 house and died here, while so far back as fifty years ago he himself 

 was steward to my father-in-law. Major Margitson, managing for him 

 the land which I now farm. When he dies, which I trust may not 

 be for many years, there will vanish a fine specimen of the old 

 stamp of tenant-farmer, of whom so few remain ; one who loved 

 his land, and did not look upon the landlord as his natural enemy. 



I walked over the farm with the old gentleman, and found it 

 cultivated like a garden. I think that his beans and beet are quite 

 the best that I have seen this year. 



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