by laying an information against his neighbour, within six months from the commission of the offence the penalties are remitted, and he entitled to a reward for his breach of good faith and honesty. The quantities that are weekly sent to the metropolis, may be imagined when it is stated that one salesman sold on an average 500 head week during the season, and that in

one year he sold no less than 9,628 head of Game.

With regard to certain other noxious birds and animals there were pro- . visions made by an ancient statute, namely: VIII Elizabeth. c. 15. entitled "an act for the preservation of grain" which it will be desirable to consider with a proper idea of the difference of the value of money between that time and the present, by which it was required that the churchwardens, should buy with money raised on assessment, and pay for the heads of every three old crows; choughes or six eggs of each of them 1d. for every twelve Stair's heads 1d.; for every head of marten, hawkes, fursekytte, moldkyte, busardi, chagge, cormoraunt or ryntale, 2d.; for two eggs of these ld; for every iron, or osprays heads, 4d; and for the head of every wodwall, pye, jay, raven, kyte or King Fisher Id; bulfyme, or other birds that devoureth the blowth of fruit, 1d.; for the heads of every fox or grey, 12d.; and for the head of every fytchewe, polcat, wezel, state fayne, bade or welde cat, Id.; for the heads of every otter or hedge hogg, 2d.; for the heads of three rats or twelve mice, 1d.; for the head of every want or moldworp one halfpenny; and by another ancient statute, XXIV. Henry VIII. c. 10., every township was required to keep a crow net, to destroy crows, rooks and choughs, there is some shadow of these regulations, still remaining in a few parishes, where they give a reward for destroying several of the above noxious fowl and vermin, and it is to be regretted so little knowledge and experience is used by our conntry people in the destruction of many of their greatest benefactors, as it appears that rooks and moles in a remarkable manner benefit the labours of the husbandman by destroying the wire worm and several other injurious reptiles that work under the surface of the earth, which could not be effected by any other means but there is no doubt taking all things into consideration, they may in some places get over stocked. The hawke and several of the rapacious tribes to which he belongs, was by ancient law privileged to be used exclusively as a companion of the Sportsman, and on account of this distinction, their preservation was almost as valuable in point of law, as the life of a man The punishment for killing either being the same, but since that time the sportsman has discarded the services of the hawke and falcon for the use of fire arms. The hawke it is believed now in its wild state destroys more game than all the sportsmen in the Kingdom.

FFF 2

CHAP. XXVI.

THE PRESENT CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE.

The present condition of the people, compared with the ancient inhabitants of Briton-the clothing and lodging of the inhabitants of cities-the Emperor Alexander's idea of English manners--the streets and shops of London, Leeds, &c.--the prices of corn influencing the condition of society-the dearths of 1796 and 1800-the monopoly of farms occasioning the employment of many labourers-Whitbread's idea of diminishing the price of wages-riots in consequence of the high prices of provisions-the round system-selling the labour of the poor by auction-the magistrates of Berkshire-table of rates of wages-Dr. Burn's description of the office of an overseer.-the direction of an act of Elizabeth, about building cottages-the middle classes-poverty induced by idleness--the economy of the Scotch, an example-the want of an efficient policethe insecurity of the cities and country-the number of pigs forfeited and seized-the houses falling to decay-the poorer classes suffering through bad example-London the resort of all kinds of profligacy- the classes receiving high wages—the want of education-Charity schools, -and the little notice taken of the people, by the Clergy-Sunday schools -the Methodists the only teachers of the poor--the precarious means of the lower classes-the impolicy of Government, granting letters of mark -the disbanded soldiery-the mobs of the period-the first Sheriff who ventured to see justice executed.

THE history of the condition of the labouring population may emphatically be styled a history of progressive improvement; The constant impulse given to the public mind, produces a corresponding change in the condition of society. We have observed, that in the beginning of the 12th. century, the peasants of this country were in as degraded a condition as the general population of many of the Eastern

nations are at the present day, being often subjected to the tyranny of a few armed foreigners, whose yoke they patiently and dispiritedly endured. A strong distinction of caste separated the victorious Normans from the subjugated Saxons; the great mass of the population were in a state of slavery enshrouded in the grossest ignorance while the superstitious practices of the age tended if possible to increase their degradation and wretchedness and enabled their superiors to exercise over them, unlimited authority and controul. In the course of

seven centuries to what a pitch of greatness has this debased and degenerate race attained, they have become the most powerful and highly civilized people in the world; they have spread their dominion and commerce, over every quarter of the globe, they have scattered the seeds of future mighty Empires, over vast continents; the very existance of which were unknown or unthought of by Ptolemy or Strabo, they have created a maritime power, such as would have speedily annihilated the navies of ancient Tyre, Athens, Carthage, Venice, and Genoa; they have acquired such a knowledge of the healing art the various means of locomotion, the diversified utilities of mechanism, and of every species of manufacture which can contribute to the convenience or add to the comforts of life, and have brought them to such a state of perfection, that they justly merit the admiration and astonishment, of every foreign nation; nor are their works of literature

inferior to the richest bequests of ancient Rome or Greece. The laws by which the Heavenly bodies are regulated, and contemplated by the sublime science of Astromony have not only excited attention, but satisfactory conclusions and demonstrations are arrived at, and they have speculated with exquisite sublimity on on the operations of the human mind.

The improvements which have taken place during the last century in the clothing and lodging of the people of Great Britain, are more remarkable than those which have taken place in their food as represented in the history of agriculture. The unparelled abundance and cheapness of cotton goods caused by the extraordinary progress made in the manufacture, have been in this respect of vast importance. To estimate this advantage to the bulk of the people, let us remember that the wife of a labouring man may now buy at a retail shop, a neat and good print as low as 4d. per yard, and allowing 7 yards for a dress, the whole material will only cost 2s. 4d.; common plain calicoes may be bought at 24d. per yard, elegant cotton prints for ladies dresses sell at 10d. to Is. per yard, and printed muslins from 6d. to 4s., per yard; the higher priced having beautiful patterns in brilliant and permanent colours. So that the humblest classes have now the means of displaying as much neatness and taste in dress as the middle and upper classes of the last century; and the peasant cottager may have at this day with good management, furniture as handsome for beds, windows, and tables, as could be seen in the houses of rich tradesmen sixty years since. So remarkable appeared the clothing of the common people of the metropolis to the Emperor Alexander of Russia, when he visited England in 1815, that he said the English were a nation of Gentlemen as it regarded their dress and manners compared with any nation he had seen on the continent Since the middle of the last century an extraordinary change for the better has also taken place in the habitations of all classes; any one must notice this who compares the houses in the old streets and lanes in all our great towns with the buildings of the present day. In London, before the fire of 1666,†

The progress of the merchantile classes in wealth and importance was shown by their ambition for aristocratic distinction as well as by other evidences. All who were of any importance or even respectability claiming the title of Esquire. Even clerks at last assumed these envied distinctions. Steel complains that England had now become, Populous Armigerorum, a nation of Esquires.-Tatler.

+ See the description of Ancient Cities in page 126.

the streets, particularly those of the ancient city, were unpaved, narrow and crooked, the tops of the houses nearly touched those on the opposite side of the street; and the best part of London at this time was in a worse condition than the dirty and unwholesome lanes that are now everywhere to be met with. In fact even so late as the begining of the reign of George III., many of our streets were unpaved, and each tradesman paved the entrance to his shop, according to his own fashion, the foot path consisted of one or two feet paved off, by parts for the protection of foot passengers. The kennells which were on both sides of the streets, swelled into rivulets in wet weather, and streams of water came down from the gutters over head. The houses were generally built of timber, there were very few regular built streets, and the palaces and mansions of the Aristocracy made the difference more striking. The shops of the Tradesmen and the Merchant's warehouses were not so well furnished as the meanest shops of the present day. But they went extravagant lengths for sign posts and signs, some of those in the strand and Ludgate hill, are reported to have cost more than one hundred pounds, and as soon as plate glass became generally known, the places of public resort were glazed with a variety of glass. The improvements in houses with respect to conveniences and comfort during the last thirty years is surprising. They are in every respect superior and constructed on a larger scale; the apartments are more numerous and lofty, better ventilated, and supplied with water to an extent our ancestors could hardly have conceived possible.

To this cause we may in a great measure attribute the great freedom of our large towns from epidemical diseases which are now almost exclusively confined to the close and badly ventilated lanes. The same improvements are apparent in almost all the provincial towns; the principal streets are well paved, having handsome houses and shops, and the sewering well conducted though in some of the manufacturing districts large streets of houses have been even recently erected without pavements. Take the town of Leeds as an instance. Out of 586 streets, only 68 are paved by the local authorities, and of these 29 are either not sewered at all, or only partially so, numbers of streets have been recently formed, and houses erected without pavements, and hence without surfaces, and drains without sewers, in fact whole neighbourhoods have arisen in which there is neither water, out offices, nor any convenience for the absolute domestic wants of the inhabitants. The method of building houses back to back occasions these incon

Necessary offices were almost unknown on the continent before 1814, in most country places or farm houses there was no place provided prior to 1800 the only accomodation was a pit dug in the corner of the garden with a large stick fixed across to sit upon.