THE MIDLAND COUNTIES. 251 



from year to year. Nevertheless the farmers go to con- 

 siderable expense for improvements ; and although rents 

 have doubled since 1770, they do not complain of their 

 landlords. When both are making profit, everything 

 goes on smoothly. Wages in their turn participate in 

 this prosperity, the rate being on an average 20d. per 

 working day. 



A Warwickshire farmer commonly cultivates one hun- 

 dred and fifty acres, for which he pays a rent of 240, 

 besides taxes, which amount to 60 ; he gives good wages, 

 and, without much care or trouble, makes an income of 

 120. Of course, he is not such a great man as the 

 wealthy Norfolk or Lincolnshire farmer ; but in the eyes 

 of us Frenchmen, who prefer moderate riches, such a con- 

 dition is more satisfactory, inasmuch as it provides for a 

 larger number more equally. The land, in the aggregate, 

 is more productive ; both the gross and net produce are 

 higher, and a denser population enjoys at least an equal 

 amount of moderate comfort. A tour through this smiling 

 county is very pleasant. Kenilworth and Warwick, 

 with their historical associations, and the delightful 

 banks of the Avon, are additional attractions to such an 

 excursion, which may be crowned by the wide field of 

 interest afforded by the manufactures of Birmingham ; 

 and that nothing may be wanting, the shade of the 

 great Shakespeare attends you through this, his native 

 county. 



In the present state of our fields, there is probably no 

 part of France which will bear comparison with War- 

 wickshire : we have nothing nearly so well dressed by 

 the hand of man. The English are acquainted, moreover, 

 with all the good things they possess, while we do not know 

 ours. There is no English landscape fresher or more 

 fertile than the rest which is not immediately known to 



