Labourers Cottages. 



401 



How often, however, do we find a state of matters the very 

 reverse ! In some instances, no opportunity is lost of removing 

 a cottage in order to rid the property of what is deemed an 

 incumbrance; and, with the exception of the favoured villages 

 adjacent to the mansions of our nobility and gentry, Cottage 

 building — of a kind adapted to the wants and within the means of 

 our agricultural labourers — is far from being popular. 



How this neglect has arisen towards so industrious and peace- 

 able a portion of the community — how so little attention (with 

 some praiseworthy exceptions) has hitherto been paid to the 

 dwelling of the agricultural labourer, it may be well to inquire. 



We believe the omission is in a great measure attributable to 

 two causes. First, to the want of due consideration of the claims 

 of the labourer, in comparison with those of the larger occupier : 

 for, on the one hand, we have seen arise the commodious farm- 

 house, replete with every convenience suited to a refined state of 

 society, and extensive offices attached thereto, adapted to the 

 wants of every domesticated animal. On the other hand, without 

 drawing a comparison farther than we are warranted, we shall 

 find upon investigation that the labourer's cottage has not ad- 

 vanced in respect of comforts in the same proportion. Secondly, 

 it may be attributed to the want of personal knowledge, on 

 the part of our English noblemen and gentlemen, of the actual 

 state or manner in which the labouring population is in general 

 housed. 



Their sympathy may have been excited on perusing the sicken- 

 ing details of the evils arising 1 from the crowded state of the 

 dwellings of the poor, as set forth in the valuable Report on the 

 Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Classes ; but they have little 

 suspected that a careful examination of the cottages on their own 

 estates would, in all probability, have shown these to be not the 

 abodes of comfort and cleanliness, but of squalid wretchedness, 

 resulting from the unavoidable and indiscriminate mingling of 

 their numerous inmates and occupants. 



It is saddening to reflect on the demoralizing influence which 

 such a state of society must inevitably produce upon the minds of 

 the rising generation. Much, of late years, has been done to extend 

 the advantages of education to the poorer classes ; and, no doubt, 

 giving their children both religious and moral instruction is a great 

 national advantage ; but it must be kept in mind, that the lesson 

 of morality and religion taught in school will be of no avail, will 

 be neutralized, if at the same time the child is not brought up at 

 home in habits of cleanliness, order, and the external proprieties 

 of life, by which, conjoined with a sound education, and in de- 

 pendance upon the Divine blessing, we can alone hope to render 

 him a good and useful member of society. 



