( 765 = 499 ) 
THE AGKICULTUEAL LABOUREK. 
Introduction. 
would be impossible to present a faithful picture of British 
rriculture without some detailed notice of the labourer ; and 
must be my endeavour to delineate briefly the general condi- 
ns under which the actual tiller of the soil exists in Great 
itain, and to give some idea of his home, his education, and 
1 ; general worldly circumstances. 
It is almost impossible, and perhaps unnecessary, to com- 
] re his lot with the peasant of the Continent (accepting that 
t m in the ordinary sense as representing the small proprietor 
i I cultivator combined), neither do I think he can justly 
1 compared with the labourer of European countries. He 
i in fact a part and parcel of the system of English agri- 
c ture — a system, be it remembered, which has exalted this 
cintry to the very highest rank among the nations of the 
\ rid in productive capacity. 
The English laws, by encouraging the her3ditary transmission 
0 large estates, are mainly responsible for this system, whatever 
E y be its virtues or its defects. Under the threefold character of 
0 agriculture, the landlord finding the land, the tenant-farmer 
t capital and the scientific and practical knowledge, and the 
liourer the thews and sinews for the actual manual work, the 
li er is a necessity ; and I will endeavour in this sketch to 
J cribe the circumstances of this very important section of our 
b ly politic. 
CHAPTEE 1. 
Historical. 
I M met at the outset of my task by the difficulty that, owing Labouieis pre. 
tc undry causes— and not least to the variety of races in these '^°*j.4't^"|3"i* ^ 
isnds — the characteristics of the farm-labourer in different in diVeient 
p:ts of the kingdom are often distinct and dissimilar. It districts. 
Wild, for instance, be unjust to the educated and thoughtful 
