Farming of Devonshire. 
491 
operations of the farm arc princijially performed by men, and 
although women frequently work on the land, yet their employ- 
ment is far less prevalent than in neighbouring counties ; the 
manufacture of lace giving employment to a large number of 
females, which, although rather less remunerative, is more suitable 
for them. 
The dwellings of the farm-labourers vary much in quality : 
some present every appearance of cleanliness and comfort, whilst 
many are wretched hovels quite unfit for the occupation of man ; 
within a few years the latter have decreased in number, and in 
some instances their places have been supplied by others suffi- 
ciently commodious. Tlie small number and the untenantable 
state of many of the cottages compel a large proportion of the 
workmen to reside in the nearest town or village — a circumstance 
unfavourable to his comfort and morals, as well as those of his 
family, and a loss of time and labour to his employer. Here we 
find discomfort at home drives the father to the ale-house; the 
sons, from a similar cause, forsake their homes, and meeting with 
others similarly circumstanced they too often congregate together 
and lead each other on to the committal of crime, and facts of 
daily occurrence unfold to us the gross immoralities that arise 
from such a state of things. Contrast with these the condition of 
the labourer who occupies a comfortable cottage, with its ad- 
joining allotment of land, a corresponding degree of decency and 
order is observed in his conduct and that of his family ; he feels 
he has a home to enjoy, a character to lose, that he occupies a 
station in society, that he holds a situation in which his happi- 
ness is centered; whilst the former, lowered to a degree that 
overcomes his better desires, and unable to free himself from his 
degraded position, becomes heedless of his course, as the prison 
or the workhouse can scarcely afford a harder lot than he now 
endures. It cannot be too forcibly impressed on the minds of the 
proprietors and occupiers of land, that in the same degree as we 
increase the comforts of the labourer's home, and lead him 
there to centre his affection and happiness, so shall we render 
him a more sober, attached, and industrious servant. Humanity 
and justice alike demand that our exertions should be used for 
promoting the comfort of our dependants, for it is by their labour 
and industry that we receive remuneration for our capital and 
judgment : — 
O give these sons of poverty their cots, 
Attach them fondly to their native spots ; 
Amidst their thorny paths entwine a flower ; 
Theirs soft submission, thine attempered power. 
It may now be interesting to notice any peculiarities in the 
construction of cottages in this county, and to see in what manner 
2 K 2 
