



many of the moft fertile 
484 
hundred miles from all that is deareft to 
the focial heart. 
Having fortified the inward man with a 
hearty fupper of eggs and bacon, and re- 
fruited the animal {pirits with fome ex- 
cellent ale, we retired to our neat and com- 
cortable beds, and enjoyed the {clid flum- 
ber of content. 
Sunday 2d. We rofe between fix and 
feven o'clock; and intending to make 
fomed progrefs before breakfaft; called for 
our bill. If we were pleafed with our ac- 
commodations, we were equally fatisfied 
with the medefty of the fal For two 
beds, two fuppers, and three quarts of 
~ale, the whole demand was only 3s. 2d. 
Had we gone to one of the principal inns, 
we fhould wot have had one third part of 
the comfort, and otir éxperice would Have 
been three times as much. 
' The only onject of cufiofity 
ficke is the ee of Holy Ghe fC wate. Tt 
Rands of a gentle hill on th ib north fide of 
the town, bf ‘ebicl it commands a pleafant 
view. Canheatd with it is-a free fchool, 
on avery literal foundation, the prelehit 
mafterof which 1s Mr. Williamfon, curate 
of the parifh. The ruin has the appear- 
ance of sredt De len bi but ie i$ neither 
{pacious nor picturefque 5 and is totally 
diflitute of that venerable mantle of ivy 
which fometimes gives attra¢tion to the 
meaneft trag onients.. 
It was our intentidn to banquet this 
mo rning on a breakfaft of new milk: a 
luxury which the inhabitant of great towns 
is apt to fuppofe every cottager in the 
country can enjoy at pleafure. But in 
counties'in Eng- 
aid the ve ery reverie is the’ ‘cafe. - We 
‘walked no le{fs than five rile’, j inquiring at 
every. habitation we cameé tc, before we 
met either with a cottager who couid, or a 
farmer who woz2ld, felt us 4 bafon of tiis 
beverage. Among the cottagers, indeed, 
the very mention of milk produced an evi- 
dent irritation, which convinced us that 
they had not forgotten the time when this 
was not thought too great a luxury for 
the laborious poor. At one of the cet- 
tages, in perticular, whiere we He NS 
our enquiry, the anfwer thrilled us to the 
heart. *© Milk ! milk’? exclaimed tke 
pocr woman, with a fort of frenzy of irri- 
tation, ‘* J havea fick child, and there is 
not a crop of milk to be had.”” What is 
the reafon of all this? Why, thecottagers 
keep no caws ; fearcely a little cabin is to 
be found that has a bit of a field, or pri- 
vilege of pafiure; and the great, monopo- 
lizing, calculating farmer has difcovered, 
that it is te his intereftto ufe up bis whele 
at Bafine- 
A PedlefiFian Toit? in Exgland and Wales. 
dairy in butter and cheefe, and feed hig. 
pigs with the whey ; and as for the children 
of the poor, they muft make fhift with 
parfley, or fuet-broth, i. e. a handful ef 
fuet or parfley thrown into a cauldron of 
waters witha little falt, and a few bread 
crumbs. 
At length we approached, a little Boutes 
whofe owner furnifhed us with the article 
we wanted. But as our fenfations con- 
vinced us that milk is not as good a 
biedkfatt to, travel upon as tea, we re- 
peated the experiment no more. We did 
not, however, neglect to inquire for milk 
in every neighbourhood we paffed through, 
during the remainder of our journey ;. and 
the refult of thefe inquiries was almof uni- 
formly the fame. 
About feven miles from Bafingftoke (on 
rhe Andover road) you pafs through the 
ullage of Overion : a long, ftraggling, po- 
ot lous, wretched- lookibe place, where dirt 
and raggednels ftare you in the face; even 
on that day when all -afpire to decency. 
But the mifery of Overton ceafed to fur- 
prife us, when we learned that it was a 
manufacturing village ; and, turning to the 
right, beheld two flately edifices (a filk- 
mill, and a {pacious dwelling houfe) in one 
of which the multitude produce, while 
in the other a fingle family exjoys, what we 
call the wealth and profperity of the ha- 
tion. I mean nothing perional to the pro- 
prietor. I know fome eminent manufac- 
turers who have hearts that do honour to 
their fpecies; and this may be a man of 
the fame deleription. 
as at prefent regulated, it is not refpect for 
individuals that fhail forbid a tongue to 
my feelings. What is a huge manufac- 
tory, but a common prifon-houfe, in which 
a hapleis multitude are fentenced to pro- 
fligacy and hard labour, that an individual 
may rife to unwieldy opulence? The filk- 
mill in contemplation is, in current lan- 
guage, the principal fupport of the neigh- 
bourheod. It employs a few mez who 
can earn from gs, to 10s. 6d. per week ; 
a number.of women, who may get from i; 
to as. 6d. by conftant work ; and a ftill 
st eater number of children, from 5 years 
of age torg¢oris. They have as. per 
week during the firft year they are employ- 
ed, and an addition of 3d. per week every 
year that they continue at this employ- 
ment. The Pass8 are from 6 in the 
morning to 7 or $ at night. 
And what is to become of thefe children 
when grown to man’s eftate ?—fo many of 
them, at leaft, as furvive the contagion of 
their prifon- Houle, their confinement, and. 
; fentence 
[ November, 
But convincéd as £ _ 
am of the evil of the manufaGturing fyftem, 
¥ 
