4 TENANTRY. 



di.ite man, let him give out, and (readily adhere to it, that 

 he fliall infift on the regular and pun&ual payment of his rent, 

 but fliall take no perfonal fervice whatever. The meaneft occu- 

 pier to have a leafe, and none fliorter than twenty-one years, 

 which I am inclined alfo to believe is long enough for his ad- 

 vantage. There will arife, in fpite of his tendernefs, a ne- 

 cefllty of fecuring a regular payment of rent : I would advife 

 him to diftrain without favour or affe&ioh, at a certain period 

 of deficiency. This will appear harfli only upon a fuperficial 

 confideration. The objeft is to ettablifli the fyftem, but it 

 will fall before it is on its legs, if founded on a landlord's for- 



fiving arrears, or permitting them to encreafe. He need not 

 e apprehenfive, fmce they, who can under difadvantages, 

 pay the jobber, can certainly pay the landlord himfelf, when 

 freed from thcfe incumbrances. At all events, let him perfift 

 in this firmnefs, though it be the ruin of a few ; for he muft re- 

 member, that if he ruins five, he afluredly faves ten : he will, 

 it is true, know the fall of a few, but many with an interme- 

 diate tenant might bedeftroyed without his knowing it. Such 

 a fteady regular condut would infallibly have its effeft, in ani- 

 mating all the tenantry of the eftate to exert every nerve to be 

 punftual ; whereas favour fhewn now and then would make 

 every one, the leaft inclined to remiflnefs, hope for its exerti- 

 on towards himfelf, and every partial good would be attended 

 with a diffufive evil ; exceptions however to be made for 

 very great and unavoidable misfortunes, clearly and undoubt- 

 .edly proved. This ftern administration on the one hand fliould 

 be accompanied on the other with every fpecies of encourage- 

 ment to 'nofe, who fliewed the leaft difpofition to improve; 

 premiums fiiouid be given, rewards adjudged, difficulties 

 fmoothed, and notice taken, in the moft flattering manner, 

 of thofe whofe conduit merited it. I fliall in another part of 

 thefe papers point out, in detail, the advantageous fyftems ; it 

 is here only requifue to obferve, that whatever novelties 

 a landlord wiflies to introduce, he fliould give feed gratis, and 

 be at a parr cf the expence, promifing to be at the whole lof$, 

 it he is well fatisfied it is really incurred. From various 

 obfervations I am convinced, that fuch a condud would very 

 rarely prove unfuccefsful. The profit to a landlord would be 

 jimnenfe j he would in the courfe of a leafe find his tenantry 

 paying a high rent, with greater eafe to themfelves, than they 

 before yielded a low one. 



A few cor.fiderable landlords, many years ago, made the 

 experiment of fixing, at great expence, colonies of palatines on 

 their eftates. Some of them I viewed, and made many enqui- 

 ries. The fcheme did not appear to me to anfwer. They had 

 houfes built for them plors of land afiigned to each at a rent 

 of favour, afMed in (lock, and all of them with leafes for 

 lives from the head landlord. The poor Irifli are very rarely 



treated 



