Retrospective Criticism. ouv 



purpose. Now, the rents were not much above half of what might have been 

 got for them from a farmer ; yet it did not make labourers so happy and 

 comfortable as might have been expected. It too often led to jealousies 

 and quarrels with the adjoining farmer, to whom part of them were intended 

 to officiate as farm-labourers : when this was the case, and the cotter could 

 not get employment at home, the difference of the rent was then of so little 

 consequence, that I have known some give up the cottage to become a bailiff. 

 Besides, it has not kept them off the parish : almost every township which 

 they inhabit can point out individuals who have had parochial relief. Except 

 in very fertile districts, and where they are within reach of a town, to get rid 

 of the garden stuff, half an acre appears more than a labourer can manage 

 with a spade. They generally employ a person with a plough to assist 

 them in sowing the corn (of which they have always a part), and planting 

 the potatoes. To show how inadequate they have been found, I may say 

 that the present duke (than whom there cannot exist a more beneficent, 

 kind-hearted nobleman,) has ordered several of them to be again attached 

 to the farms, as they have become vacant, and are contiguous. I throw out 

 these hints and facts, as I am afraid you may be led away, by warmth of 

 feeling in favour of the labourers, to recommend measures which may turn 

 out much to their disadvantage, like the present poor laws, which have 

 done infinite mischief to those they were intended to benefit. The first ques- 

 tion, therefore, must always be, Is there likely to be sufficient employment near 

 the intended site, or a town at such a distance as may take off crops raised 

 by the spade ? Lands, then, might be let to advantage to the cottager ; but 

 the farmer can raise crops with the plough at much less expense, and there- 

 fore with more advantage to the community. I have often fancied that in-door 

 mechanics make much better gardeners than the farm-labourer : where they 

 have adjoining cottages in the same village, the gardens of the former are much 

 better cultivated. It is probable that the change to exercise in the open 

 air, which is so necessary to health, may make it much more pleasant to 

 them than to the farm-labourer, who has probably been employed at the 

 most laborious work during the day. It is generally thought that a hind 

 can keep himself or son much more economically than will be admitted in 

 the farm-house. By killing a pig in the autumn (of which they sell the 

 hams), purchasing part of an ox or a sheep from their master in the 

 autumn or winter, they always contrive to have wholesome food, or, as 

 they call it, " kitchen," to their potatoes all the year : they get milk from 

 the cow during summer ; but she is considered a very bad housewife that 

 uses it new : she ought to sell 1 or ljcwt. of butter. I have heard of some 

 making 4 firkins from one cow. They scarcely ever make veal of the calf, 

 as this is a breeding country, and the calves are worth more to the farmer 

 for rearing. Some of the villagers, where there is waste land, make some- 

 thing yearly by keeping a brood goose : the goslings some immediately 

 sell at Is. or Is. 3d. ; or keep them till stubbling-time, and sell them to 

 the corn farmers, who do not choose to rear them, when they are worth 

 about double that price. The shepherds and hinds are very anxious to give 

 their children a suitable education : when not within reach of a school, a 

 hind will hire a young lad into the house for that purpose ; and when a 

 neighbour is within reachable distance, his children may also attend. Most 

 village schoolmasters find it their interest to teach a night-school during the 

 winter ; that is, two hours in the evening for lads who have been employed 

 during the day. By these, and the other more common means of charity- 

 schools on the Lancasterian and Bell systems, very few there are who cannot 

 read and write. In the Journal of a Naturalist will be found some accounts 

 of the culture of the teasel by the cottager, as also of potatoes. A custom has 

 gained ground here, within the last few years, of the farmer setting potatoes 

 for small tradesmen, mechanics, &c, who find the seed, and, in some in- 

 stances, the manure, at the rate of 101. or 12/. per acre: they only keep the 



