2 History of the English Landed Interest. 



that tlie existence of a Teutonic family "without it is quite a 

 conceivable possibility. And yet these are bold assertions 

 when we come to consider how closely Feudalism has twined 

 its tendrils about our very existence, so that possibly we Eng- 

 lish and Germans shall never be altogether free from its 

 customs and associations, as long as we continue to inhabit 

 ground so deeply impregnated with its usage. At this period 

 of the Stuart dj^nasty it was seemingly as dead throughout 

 England as the economy of the patriarchal era ; and yet at this 

 identical moment, William the Deliverer was being crowned at 

 Westminster with almost as many details of the old pageantry 

 as accompanied the coronation of his namesake, the Conqueror. 

 Eouge Dragon, Clarencieux, and Norroy were all present, the 

 coats with the embroidered lilies and lions were put on, and 

 garter king at arms was shouting out the fact at the gates of 

 AVhitehall Palace. It was not an opportune moment to omit 

 any demonstration of this event which might be likely to catch 

 the vulgar eye, sincQ.iai another sense it signified the final suc- 

 cess of 'ah und'er{a'^irig ' to which the Jacobites applied such 

 ugly; texitis^ iis. f conspiracy " and " revolution." And this is a 

 typical instance where a feudal incident was allowed to become 

 a national institution, not so much by reason of its ornamental 

 surroundings as of its practical value to the new economy 

 which slowly but surely was now being adopted. 



Notwithstanding the legislation of Charles II., Feudalism 

 died no sudden death, for it faded away not one whit less 

 gradually than the fresh methods of conveyancing and leasing 

 crept in. Englishmen were strongly conservative in their 

 ideas of land tenure, and clung to the old practices until de- 

 prived of them by State intervention. Even then they framed 

 substitutes as similar as laws would permit. The strict family 

 settlement took the place of the feudal entail, and the farmer 

 that of the villein ; but the hereditary policy of families re- 

 mained uninterrupted, and was handed down, together with the 

 estates, from father to son. The agricultural tenants were 

 just as disposed to regard their landlord in the light of a pro- 

 tector as the manorial farming community had done ; and, as a 

 consequence of this sentiment, evidence still exists of farms 



