THE CORN-RIGS OF BEAMSLEY FELL 107 



centuries of change. Curiously enough, among the 

 things which abide with us is political and social rest- 

 lessness. Almost every age has dimly felt that it was 

 on the eve of startling changes. Such changes have 

 come and passed, and left the old fabric standing. 

 Wat Tyler and John Ball in the fourteenth century 

 were followed by Jack Cade in the fifteenth, by the 

 pilgrimage of Grace and Robert Kett in the sixteenth, 

 by the Levellers and Clubmen in the seventeenth, 

 and by the Luddites and Chartists in the nineteenth. 

 The hopeful and the ignorant and the clamorous are 

 always full of" a good time coming," which will never 

 come, it is to be feared, until men learn self-denial. 



Some things have changed for the better during 

 three centuries. Among these are food, lodging, 

 clothing, education and medical treatment. People 

 feed much better and live much longer than they did. 

 If they are not a good deal wiser, it is their own 

 fault. 



Take one thing with another, I would rather live in 

 Yorkshire in 1895 than in 1495, 1595, or 1695. Be- 

 tween. 1795 and 1895 it would be harder to choose. 

 The changes of the last hundred years are very con- 

 spicuous, but they are very hard to equate. 



THE CUCKOO. 



April 19. This morning I heard for the first time 

 this year the " two-fold shout " of the Cuckoo. One 

 male Bird is certainly here. I see him fly to and fro 

 across the fields, as if seeking a mate. 



