376 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 



poor was so great that it was found to produce no sensible 

 result; while all the time it imposed a heavy burden upon 

 property. Others proposed to make a distribution of 

 the uncultivated lands among the peasantry ; but the 

 too palpable reply was, that these, for the most part, were 

 incapable of cultivation ; and that, as regarded those 

 which might be brought into condition, heavy expenses 

 would be necessary as well as time that time which was 

 wanted for everything. Numerous inquiries were made, 

 and the question discussed both publicly and privately, 

 but without eliciting anything decisive. 



The question remained to be solved by God ; and that 

 proved a terrible solution. All that long arrear of crime 

 and error was to be atoned for only by an unexampled 

 catastrophe. 



