122 CHKONICLES OF A CLAY FARM. 



object ; to that relation (for present instance) implied 

 by the words * Landlord and Tenant/ how close, 

 how admirably apposite seems the quaint rule laid 

 down by the good old churchman ! ' Place yourself 

 in your neighbour's position,' he seems to say) though 

 indeed his language needs no paraphrase), * and look 

 back upon yourself from that point: the thing is 

 difficult, and there is little danger of your getting 

 too perfect in the art of looking on your interest with 

 your neighbour's eyes. Let the Antagonism between 

 you be for the time imaginary, the Mutuality real. 

 So will you see your own best interest and happiness 

 in truer light and leisure, by taking your neighbour's 

 judgment, even for his own ends, into council with 

 your own.' 



The too frequent practice is to do the exact re- 

 verse : to realize the antagonism, and make the mu- 

 tuality a fiction and a humbug. What the effect is 

 first upon the soil, secondly upon the labourer, 

 and thirdly on the public wealth, wherever this mis- 

 taken system has been long in operation, let him say 

 who has seen a country, a district, or even a single 

 acre which has been the arena of pure unmitigated 

 selfishness, on the part of its Owners and Occupiers, 

 and all who come between the two. The signs are not 



