78 GLEANINGS ON GARDENS. 



whole families be devoured, to serve the appetite of 

 an insatiable patron.' 



"W. "Withers, of Holt, in his late letter to Sir 

 W. Scott, forcibly remarks : * Here, Sir Walter, I feel 

 the want of your pen, to enable me to appeal with 

 effect to the great landed proprietors, and to prove to 

 them, how closely their interests are bound up with 

 the welfare of the labouring classes ; to show how 

 much more it would be to their advantage to be 

 surrounded by industrious, well-fed, happy, and con- 

 tented labourers, devoted to their interests, rather 

 than have their estates encumbered by idle, half- 

 starved, discontented paupers, and frequently engaged 

 in acts of plunder and violence, and ripe, at all times, 

 to avail themselves of any opportunity for wreaking 

 their vengeance upon those, whom, under other cir- 

 cumstances, they would sacrifice their lives to protect. 

 This is no exaggerated picture of the condition and 

 feelings of the majority of the labouring classes, no 

 supposititious or imaginary evil, no chimerical or false 

 notion ; but a real, palpable, existing, and notorious 

 deformity in the present state of society. I have 

 opportunities of knowing, and I do know, the feelings 

 of the labouring classes towards their employers and 

 superiors ; and I have no hesitation in saying that, 

 bad as is their condition, though they have suffered 

 much, and have but too frequently been ill-used, 



