64 



barrassed circumstances into which their lord may 

 fall. A declining property produces a necessitous 

 peasantry, and such may sometimes be induced to 

 try their fortune under another proprietor. 



A gentleman with whom I formed an acquaint- 

 ance, had been compelled to take an estate which 

 was mortgaged to him. He found no peasants on 

 it ; the land was neglected, and the buildings dilapi- 

 dated. As no tenant would take it at any rent, he 

 was under the necessity of farming it. To induce 

 peasants to come to him, he granted them a larger 

 portion of land than was customary on that quality 

 of soil, built them houses, supplied them with oxen 

 and implements, sowed the corn of the first year, and 

 fed them till it was fit to be converted into food. By 

 these means, though he was enabled to get his labour 

 performed, yet he assured me it was by persons of 

 the least skill, industry, and sobriety. 



The want of peasantry is a general subject of com- 

 plaint, especially among those (who are the far greater 

 number) whose estates are loaded with mortgages or 

 other incumbrances ; such sometimes lose them, but 

 cannot command the means of inducing new ones to 

 settle on the lands. 



Though no longer slaves, the condition of the pea- 

 sants is but little practically improved Jpy the change 

 that has been made in their condition. When a 

 transfer is made, either by testament or conveyance, 

 the persons of the peasantry are not indeed expressly 

 conveyed, but their services are, and in many in- 

 stances are the most valuable part of the property. 



It is said, that when the Freedom of the Peasants 

 was first decreed, it was viewed by them with great 

 distrust. They were alarmed with the apprehension, 

 that in age or sickness, or other incapacity, they 

 should be abandoned by their lords, and left to perish 

 in want. By the form that society has taken in the 

 course, of the thirty-four years that have passed since 



