50 FACT AGAINST FICTION. 



said tliat ^^ the poor man oiiglit to bo allowed to 

 do what lie likes with his own little garden plot/' 

 just so the same right to do what he likes with 

 his larger possession, his larger garden (as much 

 his own as the ^'garden plot" is the poor man's), 

 is justly vested in the owners and lords of estates 

 and manors. 



If I had a thousand estates, I would not let one 

 farm iipon them on lease. Landed property has 

 drawbacks enough ujDon it, without the owner of 

 the property being saddled with a disagreeable 

 tenant, — a man established close to his own door, 

 who has, perhaps, a temper which is never satisfied 

 except wlien it is in hot water. I have seen as 

 p'ood farmino' done by tenants at will as I ever 

 saw done under a lease ; and, moreover, I have 

 known tenants at will remain on their farms as 

 long and very frequently for a longer period 

 than any lease woidd be ^Tanted. I have known 

 the same family go on from sire to son in the 

 same farm for more than one hundred years, 

 witiiout the slightest approach to ill will between 

 tliem and the landlord ; and I never knew so much 

 ill will arise between landlord and tenant, and so 

 much discomfort exist, as in cases where leases 



