STATE OF AGRICULTURE IN EUROPE. 21 



labourers of Spain." We need scarcely remark, 

 that in a state of agriculture like this, the peasantry 

 cannot be either well fed or well clothed. " The 

 mountaineers live principally upon roasted acorns 

 and goat's milk, and those of the plain (from Barce- 

 lona to Malaga) on bread steeped in oil, and occa- 

 sionally seasoned with vinegar."* 



It is wide of our subject to examine the causes 

 of the degradation which marks the agriculture of 

 Spain. Well-informed writers have ascribed it to 

 the expulsion of the Moors and Jews, to the weight 

 of taxes and imposts, to the mesta or common right 

 of pasturage, to the discovery of America and its 

 consequences, to the effect of climate, and the ill- 

 judged charity of bishops and convents, but princi- 

 pally to the great manorial grants and unequal divis- 

 ion of the soil which followed the conquest. "We 

 often find six, eight, ten, and even fifteen leagues of 

 extent belonging to one master. The nobility and 

 clergy possess nearly the whole country. One 

 third of Spain belongs to the families of Medina 

 Celi, D'Alba, De 1'Infantado, D'Aceda, and to the 

 archbishops, bishops, and chapters of Toledo, Com- 

 postella,Valentia, Seville, and Murcia. A great pro- 

 portion of these lands remain untilled and untenant- 

 ed, and those which are let in corlijo or farms are 

 double or treble the quantity that can be occupied 

 in tillage."! 



VI. The agriculture of Portugal has been sub- 

 jected to the same evils as that of Spain, to which 

 may be superadded her connexion with Great Brit- 

 ain, under whose policy she has become a raiser 

 of fruit instead of grain. 



VII. France is probably the country of Europe 



or miridiana, after which they returned to the combat with new 

 vigour and enraged fury. If habits can thus control the passions, 

 to what important uses might not a wise legislation t'irn them? 



* See preceding note. 



f Le Horde's Itineraire de PEspagne, vol. i. 



