'LANDLORD AND TENANT.' 123 



easily mistakable; beggared labourers, beggared 

 parish funds, and beggared public finances can be 

 recognised afar. They reach every sense : the eye 

 can see it, the ear can hear it, the nose can smell it, 

 the hands can handle it. In time the perception 

 reaches the inner senses : and the mind begins to 

 understand that this corruption is the work of mis- 

 taken selfishness. The social laws of Nature press 

 gently and agreeably around a man, till he offends 

 them by long neglect, and the selfish notion that 

 they can be starved and stinted, harmlessly. Then 

 they come in force : and evince their presence and 

 reality by pain, instead of pleasure. Then the great 

 problems of society begin to work themselves out 

 under high pressure. 



In the early stages of the world they are simple 

 enough. When every man tilled his own field, the 

 duties of Landlord and Tenant needed small defini- 

 tion. But advancement complicates relations : pre- 

 sently the time comes when you begin to see one 

 man cultivating the soil of another: and that not 

 only without wages, but paying the owner for leave 

 and license ! Mouths have increased upon the land ; 

 but the land measures the same. Acres don't grow. 

 New inclosure eases the pressure for awhile ; and 



