in.] DISTRIBUTION OF LAND IN ENGLAND. 13 



means of communication were very imperfect, it is 

 clear that few laymen, however extensive their 

 manors might be, could have enjoyed a considerable 

 surplus income, although they might command the 

 necessaries of life in abundance a condition in 

 which many great landowners on the Continent still 

 find themselves at the present day. 



With the ecclesiastics the case was different. 

 Their personal expenses were comparatively small, 

 and when their possessions were considerable, they 

 could devote large sums, not only to building stately 

 monasteries and cathedrals, but also to increasing 

 their revenues by bringing waste land into cultivation. 



The lavish grants made to ecclesiastics may be 

 explained, in part, by the fact that, in the hands of 

 their donors, they were, through want of capital, 

 comparatively worthless ; and a landowner might, by 

 means of a small sacrifice, become a great bene- 

 factor. Some persons appear to imagine that the 

 early occupiers of land obtained, at once, a very 

 valuable possession, forgetful that some of the best 

 land in the world may, even at this day, be pur- 

 chased in fee simple, for the cost of surveying it. 

 But land is an insatiable devourer of capital. The 

 amount annually expended on it may be small, but 

 it becomes immense in the course of ages ; and it is 

 probable that few increments of value are better 

 earned, than that which accrues to agricultural land 

 in the course of many generations. 



