THE LAW AND CUSTOM OF PRIMOGENITURE 371 



for his dependants, is usually a kind-hearted and tolerably 

 educated gentleman, concentrates in himself a variety of rights 

 and prerogatives, which, in the aggregate, amount to little short 

 of patriarchal sovereignty. The clergyman, who is by far the 

 greatest man in the parish next to himself, is usually his 

 nominee and often his kinsman. The farmers, who are almost 

 the only employers of labour besides himself, are his tenants-at- 

 will, and, possibly, his debtors. The petty tradespeople of the 

 village community rent under him, and, if they did not, might 

 be crushed by his displeasure at any moment. The labourers, of 

 course, live in his cottages, unless, before the Union Charge- 

 ability Act, he should have managed to keep them on his 

 neighbour's estate ; but this is by no means his only hold upon 

 them. They are absolutely at his mercy for the privilege of 

 hiring allotments at an "accommodation" rent; they sometimes 

 work on the home farm, and are glad to get jobs from his 

 bailiff, especially in the winter ; they look to him for advice in 

 worldly matters as they would consult the parson in spiritual 

 matters ; they believe that his good word could procure them 

 any favour or advancement for their children on which they may 

 set their hearts, and they know that his frown may bring ruin 

 upon them and theirs. Nothing passes in the parish without 

 being reported to him. If a girl should go wrong, or a young 

 man should consort with poachers, or a stranger of doubtful 

 repute should be admitted as a lodger, the squire is sure to hear 

 of it, and his decree, so far as his labourers and cottage tenants 

 are concerned, is as good as law. He is, in fact, the local repre- 

 sentative of the law itself, and, as a magistrate, has often the 

 means of legally enforcing the policy which, as landlord, he 

 may have adopted. Add to all this the influence which he may 

 and ought to acquire as the leading supporter and manager of 

 the parish school, as the most liberal subscriber to parochial 

 charities, as the patron of village games and the dispenser of 

 village treats, not to speak of the motherly services which may 

 be rendered by his wife, or the boyish fellowship which may 

 grow up between the youth of the village and the young gentle- 

 men at the Hall, and it is difficult to imagine a position of 



