Ch. v. in Switzerland. 361 



not the same bad effects as the parish-rates of 

 England. Of late years much of the common 

 lands belonging to parishes have been parcelled 

 out to individuals, which has of course tended to 

 improve the soil, and increase the number of peo- 

 ple ; but from the manner in which it has been 

 conducted, it has operated perhaps too much as 

 a systematic encouragement of marriage, and has 

 contributed to increase the number of poor. In 

 the neighbourhood of the richest communes, I 

 often observed the greatest number of beggars. 



There is reason to believe, however, that the 

 efforts of the Economical Society of Berne to 

 promote agriculture were crowned with some 

 success ; and that the increasing resources of the 

 country have made room for an additional popu- 

 lation, and furnished an adequate support for the 

 greatest part, if not the whole, of that increase 

 which has of late taken place. 



In 1764 the population of the whole canton of 

 Berne, including the Pays de Vaud, was esti- 

 mated at 336,689. In 1791, it had increased to 

 414,420. From 1764 to 1777, its increase pro- 

 ceeded at the rate of 2,000 each year ; and, from 

 1778 to 1791, at the rate of 3,109 each year.* 



* Beschreibung von Bern, vol. ii. p. 40. 



