262 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 



are rented at an average of 30s.; and in the immediate 

 environs of Liverpool and Manchester arable land lets as 

 high as 4 per acre. There are not many soils in the 

 most sun-favoured lands which can boast such rents. At 

 the sight of such wonders one is almost tempted, with 

 the Latin poet, to exclaim, " Hail, Saturnian land, the 

 fruitful mother of harvests and of men ! " 



" Salve, magna parens fruguin, saturnia tellus, 

 Magna virfrm ! " 



At one time Lancashire was a country of large property 

 and large farming ; the same ccfndition of property still 

 remains, but farming has become more divided with the 

 increase of population. And still, in the midst of this 

 dense population, there is room for a number of noble- 

 men's parks : such are Knowsley, belonging to Lord 

 Derby ; Croxteth, to Lord Sefton ; Childwall Abbey, to 

 the Marquess of Salisbury, &c. These parks take away 

 large tracts from farming, properly so called, and begin 

 to excite murmurs among the Manchester school. An 

 association has been formed, under the auspices of the 

 celebrated Cobden, for the purpose of purchasing large 

 properties, and cutting them up into small lots. This 

 society numbers many thousand adherents, and a very 

 large amount of subscriptions. 



This populous district is the seat of democratic and 

 bourgeois opinions I might almost say of a revolutionary 

 spirit, if such an expression were compatible with the 

 moderation always maintained by the English in their 

 most violent agitations. They there talk in the most 

 unceremonious way of the necessity for a change in pro- 

 perty as well as in political influence : if such language 

 were held on the Continent, it would most certainly indi- 

 cate approaching disorders. Fortunately, the English are 

 well aware that it is better to be patient, and progress 



