it to individual indolence, or to a more active degree of vice. But, as the custom is uniform, we confess that it is, to us, impossible to discover any other cause for the lamentable fact than that of the tardily-given rise in wages, or remuneration, not proving adequate to the advanced price of the necessaries of life.* The effect of enclosures does not appear to have lessened the comforts of the peasant's condition, in general; but, still, there were some under the old system of commonage, who were enabled to keep a cow; a benefit of which they are now deprived. These instances are few; but so are the poor man's privileges; and it is matter of deep regret when public interest causes one source of his enjoyments to be taken away. It has been often recommended by theorists, for a certain proportion of land to be lett, at a moderate rate, to labourers, especially in the instance of enclosures; but nothing of that kind has taken place in practice. Still it is satisfactory to observe that nearly the whole of the Oxfordshire cottages have a well-sized and fruitful garden attached to them. A respectable resident of Oxfordshire says, "If the proprietors of land had obliged their tenants to have paid their labourers fourteen, sixteen, or eighteen-pence a day, in proportion to the size of their families, instead of racking the rents up to a degree which can scarcely be borne, it would have reflected upon them immortal honour." We readily admit that the honor accruing to the feelings of landholders who had acted in such a way, would have been great. But why should the possessors of land thus prevent the value of their fee-simple from moving in progressive steps with the decreased estimation of money? A system of barter in regard to the procuration of tenantship was first introduced by the farmer, and the enlarged size of farms, and the improved modes of culture, are sufficient advantages to enable him to pay his own labourers, without an appeal to the landlord.--These things must find their level in the course of time. The farmer will, at length, discover that it is quite as easy, in regard to circumstance, for him to pay the labourer in the shape of advanced wages, as in that of parochial rate; but, meanwhile, the peasant is far from being in a manly or comfortable situation, and it will take ages to renovate within him an honest dignity of selfdependence. them. The rent of the peasant's cottage is likewise usually moderate, unless it be in the neighbourhood of a populous and commercial town. There is one instance in which a dignified individual has adopted so salutary a mode of procedure, in regard to the poor, that it merits particular notice. The Bishop of Durham, who resides at Mongewell, has built six pairs of cottages, in a substantial way, and on a judicious plan, for each of which tenements he requires the annual rent of 21. 2s. To every habitation is attached a good garden, and convenience for the keeping of pigs. But rent, in money, is not his Lordship's object: it is his great wish to form a race of neighbouring tenantry, who shall be conspicuous for moral habits, and a judicious order of domestic œconomy. To atchieve this great aim, every workman employed on his estate is encouraged to deposit in the hands of the bailiff, at harvest-time, a sum of not less amount than 11. 11s. 6d.; in consequence of which provident reserve in the hour of comparative plenty, the labourer is permitted, through the following winter, to receive barley from the bailiff at two shillings per bushel under the market price, or any other grain needed by his family, at a proportionate rate of reduction. His Lordship, accurately observing, that half the misery of the poor arises from the impositions, as to badness of article, deficiency of weight, and allurements to run into debt, practised by little country shopkeepers, has established a village shop on his own foundation, in which not only his own neighbouring tenants, but all other poor in the vicinity, may purchase what they need at a reduced price, for ready money. Flax is delivered to the females of the cottage family, in any quantity required; and when they return it spun into thread, they are paid a good price for their labour. These practices require little observation. Money given to the poor is often au incitement to indolence; but that, by placing the labourer in a ready way of supporting himself with comfort, and by encouraging him in frugal and industrious habits, you call forth the best principles of his nature, and teach him to look with honourable blushes on any resemblance of a gift, is evident, from this circumstance:-the labourers under the Bishop of Durham never seek relief from the parish. Only a small portion of the labouring part of a county can hope to meet with such judicious patronage: a fact unpleasantly proved by the large sums levied in the shape of POOR'S RATES throughout Oxfordshire. These, of course, vary according to incidental circumstances. In some few parishes they are often as low as two shillings in the pound; in others as high as ten or eleven shillings; and in the scarce years of 1800 and 1801 they amounted, in one parish, to twenty-nine shillings on the pound. The total sum raised by the poor's rate," and other rate, or rates, within the year ending Easter 1803, was 103,5591. 10s. 6d.” The number of persons relieved from the poor's rate permanently, out of houses, not including children, was, in the same year, 6539. Ditto, in houses 1243. The number of friendly societies, at the same time, was sixty-nine. And it may be remarked, that the annual interest, or produce, of monied charitable donations, incidental to the county, was, in 1786, the sum of 7061. 13s. 3d.; and that arising from land 33471. 2s. 11d. According to the returns made to Parliament in 1803, the average of the poor's rates of the county was 4s. 8d. in the pound; and it is usual, in most parts of Oxfordshire, to levy the rate on the rack-rental. MODES OF TENURE, ESTATES, PRICE OF LAND, &c. No variety occurs from the mode of tenures prevalent through the south of England, unless that arising from the frequency of church and college leases. The fine usual on a renewal of this species of tenure is a sum equal to the amount of rent for the term of one year and a half; but, in some instances, the rent itself is raised on the expiration of a lease. There are to be found, in the northern parts of the county, many of that moderate and comfortable class of landholders termed yeomen: persons who have a patrimony of some four or five hundred acres, and hold the chief part in their own hands: thus attaining, by means of one possession, the various blessings of health, peace, and real plenty. In every part of the county many small proprietors are likewise to be met; men who either are relics of the ancient yeomanry, a race presumed consequential if inheriting a single hundred of acres, or who have been enabled to purchase small ranges of land, by the exercise of rural or commercial industry. But the bulk of Oxfordshire is not vested in such moderate proprietors as the preceding. "There is one estate that produces 20,0001. a year, on the table; one of 12,0001.; one of 7,000!.; one of 6,0001.; one of 5,500l.; two of 4,0001.; and several of above 3,0001."* The general mode of estimating the value of Jand is to place it at twenty-six years' purchase. Thus, at a fair rent, it will produce about three and a half per cent. on the money invested. The Principal Landholders, when the Survey was made by order of William I. are thus noted in Domesday Book:† King William. Archbishop of Canterbury. Bishop of Winchester. Bishop of Salisbury. Bishop of Exeter. Bishop of Lincoln. Bishop of Baieux. Bishop of Lisieux. Abbey of Abingdon. Abbey of Battel. Abbey of Winchecombe. Abbey of Pratellis. Church of St. Denys of Paris. Earl Hugh. Earl of Moreton. Earl of Eureux. Earl Aubery. Earl Eustace. Walter Gifard. William, son of Ansculf. William de Warene. William Peverel. Henry de Fereires. Hugh de Bolebech. Hugh de Ivry. Robert de Stadford. "Vide Bawdwen's "Translation of the Record called Domesday," &c. Ralph de Mortemer. Richard de Curci. Wido de Reinbodcurth. Gilo, brother of Ansculf. Swain, the Sheriff. Alured, grandson of Wigot. Wido de Oilgi. Walter Ponz. William Leuric. William, son of Manne. Ilbod, brother of Ern. de Hes Robert, son of Murdrac. Benzelin. Countess Judith. The wife of Roger de Ivri. Turchill. Rich. Iugania, and servants of the King. Land of Earl William. The chief Landholders at the present period, (independently of the Church, and different Corporate Bodies of the University,) will be found among the Families named as Proprietors, or occupiers, of Blandford Park ...... Duke of Marlborough; but used as a hunting-seat by the Duke of Beaufort. |