FRANCE. 55 



he looked out for more confiderable bufi- 

 nefs. It was then that he accidentally 

 heard of a purchafe that was to be made, 

 being the whole of the parifti of Bellay, 

 except the lands belonging to a convent of 

 Francifcan friars : this he bought. His 

 new eftate, he found, confided of not one 

 acre that was cultivated ; there were only 

 two tenants upon it, neither of whom had 

 a (ingle acre of arable land. Their rent 

 was paid by the fale of the wool of a mifer- 

 able flock of flieep. The whole rental 

 was only 54!. a year, for which the two 

 tenants had above fourteen acres of land ; 

 and, fo far was this from being a great bar- 

 gain, that each of them was as poor as Job. 

 The purchafe was 1400!. and he was reck- 

 oned to pay dear for it. Some hundred 

 acres of it had the appearance of never ha- 

 ving been cultivated, from the richnefs of 

 the fpontaneous growth of gofs, ling, furze, 

 &c. and the (heep-walks were over-run in 

 the fame manner. Upon concluding the 

 purchafe, he entered on the lands himfelf, 

 and the tenants were as ready to quit a as 

 he was to come in. He began his opera- 

 tions, by making fome fmall improvements 

 4 tq 



