6 ESTATES. 2. 



1. 



ESTATES. 



FORMERLY, in this Diilria:, were many 

 fmall Owners — Yeomen — provlncially called 

 " Hatcfmcp/' who cultivated their cwn eilates. 

 — I'hcre were infcances of entire pariihcs be- 

 ing occupied by this refpeclable clafs of 

 men. But, among other evil e.^efts of that 

 inordinate paffion for farming, which pre- 

 vailed fome years ago, the decline of the 

 indeoendency of this country is a ftriking 

 one. 



I'he vecmanrv, heretofore indepemlant and 

 refpeilcd, feeing men, whom they had lately 

 held as their inferiors, raifcd, by an excef- 

 five prone which had recently been made by 

 farming, to a degree of affluence fnperior to 

 their own, and living in a Piyle of exnava- 

 gance their anceQoTs had been ftrangers to,- 

 became diiHrtisfied with the homelincfs of 

 their ficUation in life, and either launched out 

 into extravagances ill luited to their income, 

 or voluntarily fold their comparatively fmall 



pa- 



