76

Ch. 14.

Manners of the farmers.

Slow progress

of the agricul

DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE FARMERS

The ordinary tenant farmer of the last century, differed little from his ploughman and carter, who lived in his house and were domesticated with his family. It rarely happened that he could read or write; and a scanty capital sufficed for the rude cultivation of the few fields which he held at an easy rent. This primitive husbandman has long since merged into the labouring peasantry. Another description of cultivator, long the pride and boast of old England, the yeoman or small proprietor, has likewise almost disappeared. Some of the most respectable country gentlemen derive their origin from this class; but the greater number of the small freeholds have been gradually absorbed in the great estates. A few remains are still to be found in some of the remote counties. In Cumberland and the North Riding of Yorkshire, the independent yeoman yet lives on his paternal acres, and maintains, with just pride, the ancient and worthy order to which he belongs.

Though it cannot be denied that civilization tural classes. has, to a certain extent, penetrated the marketroom, it is certain that the natural phlegm and obtuseness of the English character are more visible in the agricultural, than in any other class. The farmer of 1857 is not so far removed from the farmer of 1757, as the shopkeeper of the one period differs from the shopkeeper of the other. A tradesman who fails to keep pace with every improvement in the articles in which he deals, or even to watch the changes of fashion, soon finds

AND THE TRADESPEOPLE.

himself in the gazette; but a farmer may go on ploughing with four horses, while his neighbour ploughs with two, and may be content to raise four crops while his neighbour gathers five, and yet obtain a livelihood. His life is passed in a monotonous round, and his ideas are seldom varied by contact with strangers, or persons engaged in pursuits different from his own. The pipe and the ale in which he indulges after the labours of the day, are much the same as they were aforetime. The taxes, the tithe, the poorrate, still trouble him. Strange political rumours sometimes perplex him; but unless Popery or the price of corn are concerned, he troubles himself little about public affairs, and is content to follow his landlord, in voting for the maintenance of " venerable institutions and the correction of proved abuses," as his father before him voted for Church and King.

our

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77

intemperate

But the rude and ignorant yeomanry were on Prevalence of the whole a better class than the gross and sordid habits. inhabitants of towns. Drunkenness was the common vice of the middle and the lower orders. In domestic habits, indeed, little or no distinction was observed between the two classes. The master tradesman lived with his servants in the kitchen; and it was only on Sundays or holidays, that the parlour was occupied. After the business of the day was over, the public-house was resorted to, and the guests seldom returned home in a state of sobriety. No loss of character was incurred

78

GENERAL INTEMPERANCE AND

Ch. 14. by habitual xcess; and it would have been considered a very strange and frivolous objection to a citizen who aspired to the dignity of Alderman or Mayor, that he was an habitual drunkard.k This confusion of ranks, together with the neglect of domestic discipline, resulted frequently in the contamination of the female members of the family. The occurrence of such an accident as the misconduct of a wife or a daughter, gave very little concern to the head of the family. The good-natured husband condoned the offence; or the father was content to take a small sum, if he could not avail himself of the opportunity to obtain a husband for his daughter. If he was selfish or brutal, he was, perhaps, not sorry to have an excuse for getting rid of a burden, and turned the offender into the street. In the transaction of his business, a country dealer was commonly a cheat; and in the exercise of his political franchise, he was rarely even a pretender to purity. Before the American war, it would be difficult to name one member for an open borough who did not obtain his seat by a large expenditure for corrupt purposes. The lower class of voters insisted on the public-houses being thrown open; and for fourteen days the town was a scene of rioting and drunkenness, often ending in bloodshed. But the decent elector, less easily disposed of, always received the

k BOSWELL'S Johnson. Report of House of Commons' Committee on Education, 1835; Place's Evidence.

DEPRAVITY OF THE PEOPLE.

price of his vote in money, or money's worth. The only approach to public spirit in an election was, when a corporate body applied the proceeds of a corrupt bargain to some local object.1

Ch. 14.

79

London mid

The middle-classes in London, vied with their Luxury of the superiors in luxury and profligacy of every descrip- dle class. tion. The more ambitious citizens, with their wives and daughters, clad in the costly fashion of the day, enjoyed the pleasure of jostling lords and ladies at Ranelagh and Vauxhall. But the town and its suburbs abounded in gardens, and places of entertainment, where shopkeepers and apprentices could dissipate their time, and emulate the vices of their betters. The consequence of these establishments was an enormous increase of crimes against property. The streets of the metropolis were infested with robbers and thieves; persons were constantly attacked; even carriages were stopped in the public thoroughfares after dark; and no unprotected person could go a mile out of town in the day-time, without danger of being waylaid. Frauds and forgeries also abounded; and the confidence in clerks and servants, without which trade cannot be carried on, was seriously impaired. At length the interposition of the Legislature was demanded; and at the immediate instance, and under the superintendence of Fielding, the celebrated Licensing

I have already related an instance in which the Mayor and Aldermen paid off a corporate debt, with the money for which they sold the representation of Oxford.-Vol. i. p. 337.

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Ch. 14.

INSECURITY OF THE STREETS.

Act was passed, in 1752. It is entitled, An Act for Better Preventing Thefts and Robberies, and for Regulating Places of Public Entertainment, and Punishing Persons keeping Disorderly Houses.' The principal provisions rendered a license from the magistrates necessary for public singing and dancing-rooms and gardens within the metropolitan district, and prohibited morning amusements at any place so licensed. This statute, however, like every other law framed for the reformation of manners, was for some time almost a dead letter. Of the few prosecutions that were attempted, the greater number failed for want of proof. The only important prosecution which proved effectual, was that of Mrs. Cornelys, in 1771; but her fickle patrons were already leaving Carlisle House, for the more splendid temple of pleasure, newly erected in Oxford Street. Means of evading the Act were, as usual, easily found. Soon after it was passed, Foote opened his theatre at the Haymarket, without a license, and by the mere form of inviting the public to tea, collected crowded and fashionable audiences, to witness performances which were specially contemplated by this Act, and expressly prohibited by the Playhouse Act, passed a few years previously. Bad manners have never yet been reformed by sumptuary laws; and the provisions of this statute, which though not strictly a sumptuary law, is one of a homogeneous character, proved wholly ineffectual to repress the particular evil against which they were