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CHAPTER II. 



State of Property. 



SECTION I. 



ESTATES^ AND THEIR MANAGEMENT. 



PROPERTY, in the county of Fife, is, perhaps, 

 more equally divided, and, in proportion to its 

 value and extent, distributed among a greater 

 number of proprietors, than in any other county 

 in Scotland. Here we find no overgrown e- 

 states, such as are frequently to be met with in 

 other parts of the kingdom, the proprietors of 

 which, exalted so far above the rest by their 

 princely fortunes, and perhaps by the splendors 

 also of hereditary honours, think themselves 

 entitled to take the lead in all public business, 

 and, by the influence usually attendant on rank 

 and opulence, seldom fail to secure to them- 

 selves the full power of directing all the politi- 

 cal affairs of their respective counties. In Fife 

 a large proportion of the estates run between 

 400 1. and 3000 1. per annum. From 3000 1. 

 to 6000 1. there are only a few ; and only one, 

 I believe, amounts to Soool. From 400!. down 

 to 30 1. or 40 1. per annum, there are a great 

 number of proprietors, who pay cess and other 

 public burdens, and consequently rank as heri- 

 tors ; and, although of inferior fortunes, are ge- 

 nerally men of most respectable characters > 



