1338] 



PARMKRS REGISTICR 



eS9 



duties rarely exeniplifie^i in persons upon whom 

 knowleiiiie and relio;ion have more amply sheJ 

 their uniied iiithuMice. The laliortT will seldom 

 rera>e any asj^istaiice which is ort'ereil by private 

 charitv, bat in urenera! he is by no moans intrusive, 

 and hears his privations witii Juriitude ami resijr- 

 nation. Some of iheai resort to expedients to re- 

 lieve their wants bj- petty oHeiices ; but examples 

 of crimes, of great magnitude, are not, olten Ibund 

 amonirst them. 



Means of imprnving them. — The best mode of 

 paying the laborer is, permiliing him lo work by 

 the piece. He then exe-ts his full strength and 

 talents, and irains something more than his cus- 

 tomary daily pay. It leaves the time of working 

 ana the arranirement as to his meals, more to his 

 choice, and, on some occasions, the best and rea- 

 dies! mode of perlbrming his labor is left to his in- 

 genuity. The plan is quite practica. le in most 

 departments of farming, and is often advantage- 

 ous both to the master and the workman. 



Medical aid. — The most useful charitable assis- 

 tance which can be afforded to laborers is a medi- 

 cal adviser. Their destitution prevents their ap- 

 plication to the surgeon or apothecary, unless such 

 person is provided for them; and diseases which 

 miijht be easily subdued in their early stage, are 

 thus suH'ered to increase; and in the case of fevers 

 often spread the contasion through a village. 

 There is no assistance for which ihey are more 

 grateful, and none which the public are more in- 

 terested by policy and humanity in affording. 

 The poor learn from the resrular practitioner the 

 remedies ibr common complaints, and common 

 bodily injuries, and are taught by hiin the necessi- 

 ty of cleanliness, from the want of which their dis- 

 eases often originate. Thej' abandon the use of 

 quack medicines, and their own useless or hurtful 

 nostrums. In the parish alluded to, the apotheca- 

 ry is paid a salary, and the duty is perlbrmed with 

 regularity, and satisfaction to the poor; from him 

 the best testimony is obtained as to their wants, 

 and he is a useliji mediator for them with the 

 overseer and the magistrate. 



Gardens. — The nature of the soil in this district 

 does not render it advisable to give the head of a 

 family a portion of land larger than that which is 

 suited to be a gar.ien In rich soils, and in graz- 

 ing countries, the experiment of allowing each 

 cottager to rent sufficient land to maintain a cow 

 may be tried; but a larger extent oi' land, of the 

 nature before described, than that which can be 

 cultivated by the spade, would remain unemploy- 

 ed. This land bears nothing useful spontaneous- 

 ly. It is only by manure, cultivation, and consi- 

 derable labor, that any valuable produce can be 

 obtained. A plot of ground, from thirty to f!)rty 

 poles is as much as the laborer in general desires. 

 and as much as he can keep in condition. But 

 such an ext-nt of land is of essential service to 

 him. It adds some change of food to his table: 

 the work necessary to render it profitable fills up 

 his leisure hours; it employs his children: and, by 

 furnishing a spot where filth may be deposited 

 and buried, prevents its accumulation in the im- 

 mediate vicinity of the house. 



Separate dwelling. — The expedient, however, of 

 allotting land as gardens for the laborers is farli-om 

 being generally applicable at present, as a mode 

 of relief. A garden, to be protected, must be close 

 to the residence, and few laborers are maslv;rs of 

 Vol. V— 87 



a separate cottage. Ditlereui families are, as it 

 has been stated, usually accumulated under the 

 same roof. 'I'his conununity of existence and 

 possession, in vvhu'li the good and the bad are mix- 

 ed without distinction, deprives the iadustroue of 

 their excitement to labor. They are harrassed by 

 interruption of the idle; they are exposed to pil- 

 lage, and invariably to the dispiriting hazard of 

 not reaping what they had sown. 



These aiigregations of the poor are attended 

 with all the disadvantages ot" a work-house, with- 

 out the regularity which results from its rules, and 

 the authority ol" the master. They are filled with 

 dissension and discontent. They promote im- 

 mortality by the contiguity of the young of both 

 sexes, and, by a fiimiliarity of manners and ex- 

 amples of indecency, deprive even childhood of the 

 interest which innocence usually excites. 



Whatever attempts are made to ameliorate the 

 condition of the poor, ttiey must be accompanied 

 by a redress of this destructive grievance. Un- 

 less a father has the means of protecting the mo- 

 rals of his children, he cannot be made responsi- 

 ble for their conduct, and if he finds the means 

 are not within his power, he releases his con- 

 science from the obligation. The reproaches for 

 the offences which emanate from these semina- 

 ries of disorder attach to the body of the individu- 

 als thus promiscuously thrown together; the vir- 

 tuous lose the credit which belongs to them, and 

 share the imputations with the guilty. Despon- 

 dency often seizes on the minds of the portion 

 whom nature or habit had formed to feel disgust at 

 vice and immorality, and they linger on in a state 

 of apathy, careless of the present, and hopeless of 

 the future. 



It is not easy to suggest remedies for disorders 

 which threaten to sink the agricultural poor into a 

 state of barbarism, and a long lapse of time will 

 be required to re-establish this class of persons in 

 their former state of comparative comfort. Their 

 excess, however, in numbers, (if it be true that it 

 exists,) originated in causes, and sprung from a 

 combination of circumstances, not likely again to 

 arise, and against the recurrence of which the in- 

 creasing intelligence of the country and the \s-eiglit 

 of public opinion will certainly guard. 



Residence of landlords.— \n measuring the quan^ 

 tiiy of evil which affiicts, comparatively, the difV 

 lerent sections of this district, it is impossible not 

 to [lerceive, that, generally, those in which the 

 owners of the land and persons of edecution are 

 resident, are subjected to the least share of the 

 common calamity. It is difficuh for persons of 

 any refinement in their feelings, to live in the 

 midst of a population, dependent in a great mea- 

 sure on their control, and not to interest them- 

 selves in its suffering. Wiierever such interfer- 

 ence is conducted with good sense and aclivityj 

 au hority and example will always succeed in 

 efleciing the execution of any which affords a 

 prospect of improving the condiiicm of the poor, 

 The farmer has only a temporary mteresi in the 

 siiil he rents, he has no permanent bond of con^ 

 ncxion with the laborer of Uie parish, and cannot 

 lie actuated by (he enlnrged views which should 

 lead the laiulloid lo consult his own advantage, 

 by contributing to ihe welfare of the present. 



The owner of land who absents himself from 

 hip property without compulsion cannot easily 

 justify his conduct. The ways both ol good and 



