420 
FIELD GARDENING FOR 
as his condition has been found to become 
deteriorated according to the steps which have 
been taken to deprive him of his holding, it 
becomes necessary to urge its being returned 
to him, and to trace the fair and palpable 
effect such a measure has had upon him where- 
ever introduced under proper restrictions. 
But why apportion him land ? it may be 
asked. The answer to this question is, I 
think, simple and easy. Eelief, to be a real 
spur and benefit to a labourer, must be preca- 
rious and conditional, depending on his own 
exertions. The doles that were distributed at 
the gates of our rich monasteries previous to 
the Reformation, were a mere bribe to lazi- 
ness, extinguishing all solicitous care for the 
future, and leaving the recipients in an infi- 
nitely more helpless condition than those 
whose sole dependence was upon their own 
industry and frugality. That system made 
them not only lazy, but immoral ; for though 
when cast out on the world, many of them 
were no doubt necessitated to steal, it appears 
that " no less than 72,000 of those men, great 
and petty thieves, were put to death in the 
reign of Henry VIII."* Reconcile a man to 
the idea of receiving a support which he has 
not worked for, and with that reconciliation 
are prostrated all his best abilities, all effort, 
and all emulation. Indolent habits become 
his besetting sin, and the energy of the coun- 
try gives place to a vicious ease and de- 
pendence. 
Before the plan recommended can be car- 
ried out, all grasping at the few remaining 
small patches held by poor labourers, must of 
course be abandoned as defeating its own end ; 
such a system being hurtful alike to private 
individuals and the stability of the state. 
Nay further, the right of the poor must be 
recognised, and earnest and hearty steps 
taken to invest them with that right. Govern- 
ment, indeed, might interfere, and with the 
force of law compel landowners to appropriate 
a portion of land in each parish for the behoof 
of the labouring population ; but this step, it 
is to be feared, would prove to be of little use, 
severing the link of good-will between the 
high and low, and introducing a system of 
antagonism which would end in the discom- 
fiture of the dependent. The law of kindness 
ought to take the place of legislative enact- 
ment, not exercised as a mere piece of charity, 
but as a moral duty, in the same way that a 
father provides for, and cares for his children. 
The fate of Greece and Rome, and other 
nations of antiquity, are leading some, through 
fear, to do something in the way of bettering 
the condition of our labouring classes ; and 
it is to be hoped that, in so acting they will 
* Description of Enr'ard, vol. i. p. 
18 b'. 
learn to see that their efforts are demanded 
by every principle of justice. Compulsory 
beneficence is at best a very questionable act, 
and loses what should form its chief beauty 
and effect by the manner in which it is admi- 
nistered. 
The first thing of importance is not to dis- 
tract the agricultural labourer by any new 
employment; but to retain him in that to which 
he has served a long apprenticeship. Tliesoil, 
then, as his birthright, must be apportioned 
to him in such measure as his circumstances 
may demand ; and lest any one should sup- 
pose that I consider even the best system of 
allotments as an universal panacea, applicable 
to every labouring man, I pause to state that 
beyond what I have seen of their effects not a 
jot shall be added to their value as a relief to 
him. What instances I shall give showing 
their applicableness to his situation, I shall 
invariably support by a reference. Some 
men, I am aware, have at once condemned 
the whole system as Utopian. Its enemies 
have done so. Inconsiderate friends, again, 
in talking and writing about it have pro- 
nounced it to be the realization in a great 
measure of the state of perfect existence 
which poets have prefigured and sighed for, 
and that which will sooner or later possess 
the whole land. To the first class, or those 
who condemn a set of poor men in a circum- 
scribed piece of ground, at hard work, watch- 
ing, stimulating, perfecting, and finally 
gathering in the sheaves of corn, I would re- 
commend judgment to be deferred until the 
plan is more fairly developed under its best 
form, and its effects more generally ascertained. 
To the other class, I may be allowed to ob- 
serve, that poets are but ill-qualified judges 
of what is practically beneficial ; and that in 
the allotment system there is no poetry except 
that which springs from hard, well-directed 
work, concentrated upon a small piece of 
ground. If anything will possess the whole 
land, it is the same hard work ; if aught will 
deepen the green hue of our crops, or cause 
them to wave more luxuriantly over the 
glebe, it is the contents of the manure-tank, 
carefully and judiciously applied ; and cer- 
tainly, if white and trim cottages are to rise 
in the wake of the industrious, as they usually 
do, it would be difficult to find a reason why 
they should not in the case of those systematic 
workers who labour in their own allotments. 
If such things form suitable themes, poets are, 
welcome to praise them ; but it is mere folly 
to connect the results with aught except the 
"sweat of man's brow," and the important 
accompaniments of economy, forethought, and 
skilful management. Those who expect to 
see eveiy man indiscriminately enjoying him- 
self " under his vine and fig-tree," are sadly 
