RURAL LIFE. 247 



sibilities of the landlord, whilst the parish clergyman, 

 wishing to be on good terms with all classes, readily 

 acquiesced in the usual parochial system ; and yet, in 

 spite of this species of mental stagnation, rural England 

 was happy in her institutions, and gloried in her country 

 life. All parties seemed to be bound together in their 

 parish existence, and when the rivalry of adjoining 

 parishes was stimulated by the annual cricket-match or 

 the bell-ringing of treble bob majors, everything connected 

 with the event was carried out with mutual good-humour. 

 The squire and the parson, with their families, especially 

 the lady department, spread refinement amongst the 

 homes of their tenants, and a portion of that refinement 

 entered the dwellings of the poor. But the advent of 

 that mighty reformer, the steam-engine, coursing along 

 through many a secluded hamlet, and the inevitable 

 railway station, created a restlessness and almost a 

 rebellion against established customs, and brought what 

 is called civilization and enlightenment amongst the 

 primitive inhabitants. Artificial manure, "gohanner," 

 as the immortal Jorrocks called it, took the place of the 

 old farm-yard muck ; oil-cake, locust-beans and various 

 spiced feeding stuffs, all of them tending to enrich the 

 land, were brought almost to tlie doors of many of the 

 more intelligent farmers. The schoolmaster was abroad ; 

 books were published, local newspapers started, advo- 

 cating opinions which forced new ideas into the houses 

 of all farmers as well as of the landlords. This great 

 outburst of kindling fire illumined the darkest recesses 

 of every country village as much as it did the manu- 

 facturing town ; the countrymen were slower perhaps to 



