797-1 
The monopoly of fmall farms mz/ de- 
traét from the fum of national profpericy. 
I grant that capitals are equally neceifary 
in agriculture as in commerce: but 
thofe capitals muft be more generally dif- 
fufed, before real public benefit can re- 
fult. Although it is laudable in the man, 
who employs a large capital to extend his 
agricultural fpeculations; yet if the 
fame means were, even in a lefler de- 
gree, granted to the {mall farmers, the 
advantages of {peculation and experi- 
ment would be more univerfally felt. 
I am forry to obferve, that a defire of 
abfolute authority and power has made 
great inroads into the minds of fo many 
of che large land-holders in this nation ; 
“—men, who ramble over their vaft ter- 
ritory, puffed with the vain idea of be- 
ing “monarchs of all they furvey’— 
who confider the labourer as a being un- 
worthy their notice ; but let {uch reflect, 
from whence their riches fpring—let them 
view the wrinkled brow of .the induftri- 
ous hufbandman, and remember, that his 
hands have filled their coffers—let them_ 
confider alfo, the fcanty pittance he 
earns, who toils through life’s long day,” 
the {corn of arrogance, and the victim 
of unfeeling monopoly. 
It is, therefore, earneftly to be wifhed, 
that the number of fmall farms may he 
increafed ; by which, the labourer will 
reap a reward in proportion to the {weat 
of his brow—concent and happinefs 
would beam on the countenance of the 
ruftic—the diftrefs of the cottager would 
be mitigaced—and the coffers of the large 
farmer experience no abatement of their 
treafure. B. D. 

For the Monthly Magazine, 
ON THE HAPPINESs OF YOUTH., 
Gay Hope is their’s, by Fancy fed, 
Lets pleafing when poffe ied 5 
The tear forgo? as foon as fhed, 
The funfhine of the breatt ; 
Their’s, buxom Health, of rofy hue, 
Wild Wit, Invention, ever new, 
And lively Cheer of Vigour born. Gray. 
OE childhood and youth are the 
* appropriate feafons of happinets, 1s 
an opinion, that, fomehow or other, has 
gained almoft univerfal affent. Whe- 
ther it is, that man looks back upon the 
fcenes of his paft life, through a me- 
dium which at once maynifies the bright, 
and diminifhes the dark {pots ; or that 
the relith of life ceafes with its novelty : 
it-is certain, that we daily hear from the 
man of bufinefs, opprefled by care—the 
man of leifure, burthened with the 
— Happinefs of Youth. 
439 
weight of his own mind (which unlike 
every other recipient, weighs more hea- 
vily, as it approaches more nearly to 
em ptinef{s)—and indeed from every other 
clafs of fociety, ftrong expreffions of re- 
gret, that che /primg of life is gone. The 
jJuitice -of fuch regret, is however dif- 
puted, and the happinefs of youth de- 
nied, by Mr. Gopwin, in his Exguirer. 
The rank and eftimation of Mr. G, asa 
moral philofopher, certainly adds to the 
intereft which the ttudent of man mut 
feel in examining the grounds of fuch 
an oppofition tothe general opinion. An 
examination of which, | truft, the Edi- 
tor of the Monthly Magazine will wil- 
lingly permit his fheets to be the ve- 
hicle, 
The enquiry involves obfervation 
(which includes experience) and rea-' 
foning ; with refpect to the former, it is 
ufelefs to difpute ; every one will draw 
nis faéts from his own recolleétions, and 
the examples ever before him. ‘hough I 
think Mr. G. has too highly coloured his 
defcription of the Pains of Youth, I will 
wave an unavailing controverfy concern- 
ing appearances, and examine his de- 
ductions from his own ftatements. 
He begins with ebferving, that the 
opinion he oppofes, has arifen ‘ from 
the gratifying appearance of young per- 
fons ; the {prightly eye, «he elaftic limb, 
their kind temper, franknefs. gaiety, and 
inexhauftible fpirits. And are not thefe 
the unerring fymptoms of that internal 
condition, whofe exifteace, he, notwith- 
ftanding, denies? The body may con- 
tain the feeds of inveterate and mortal 
difeafe, and the exterior be yet bloom- 
ing, But— 
The thoughtlefs day, the eafy night, 
The {piri s pure, the flumbers light, 
That fly the approach of morn, 
are incompatible with the * fury paf- 
fions,’’ thofe ‘* vultures of the mind,’” 
by which man, as he defcends the vale of 
years, is inceffantly attacked, and ulti- 
mately deftroyed. To acknowledge the 
frequency of thofe appearances in 
children, and yet deny their happinefs, 
fecms to me, to be afirming exiftence 
and non-exifience at one time. 
But the child “ feels he is nobody,” 
and is fubject to parental tyranny.— 
Granted.—fie feels too, that he cannot 
fly with the {parrow, or make ftone walls 
yield to his preflure. The incapacity 
arifing from bodily weaknefs, and from 
the reftraints of his parents, are equally 
irremediable by him; and he has not 
learned to diftinguifh between them : 
Zl 2 he 
