NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE.

I. Affairs of the Company.

I leave our accounts now wholly in the hands of Mr. Walker and Mr. Rydings, reserving to myself only the usual—as I understand—and proper functions of Director,—that of spending the Company’s money. I have ordered, as above stated, repairs at Barmouth, which will somewhat exceed our rents, I fancy; and a mineral cabinet for the Museum at Sheffield, in which the minerals are to rest, each in its own little cell, on purple, or otherwise fittingly coloured, velvet of the best. Permission to handle and examine them at ease will be eventually given, as a moral and mineralogical prize to the men who attain a certain proficiency in the two sciences of Mineralogy and Behaviour.

Our capital, it will be observed, is increased, by honest gift, this month, to the encouraging amount of £16 16s.;—the iniquitous interest, of which our shareholders get none, I have pretty nearly spent in our new land purchase.

Cash Account of St. George’s Company.

(From June 15th to Aug. 15th, 1876.)

1876. Dr. £ s. d.
June 29. To Mrs. Jane Lisle 1 1 0
30. To,, Chas. Firth 1 1 0
Aug. 7. To,, G. No. 50. 10 10 0
12. To,, Miss Sargood 2 2 0
” Miss Christina Allen 2 2 0
15. To,, Balance due Mr. Ruskin 14 14 5
£31 10 5
1876. Cr. £ s. d.
June 16. By Balance due, Mr. Ruskin 31 10 5
£31 10 5

[[296]]

The Union Bank of London (Chancery Lane Branch) in Account with the St. George’s Fund.

1876. Dr. £ s. d.
March 15. To Balance 157 11 10
May 3. To,, Cash Paid Mr. John Ruskin 17 11 0
6. To,, Ditto draft at Bridgwater (J. Talbot) 9 19 3
9. To,, Ditto draft at Douglas (E. Rydings) 24 18 9
June 9. To,, Ditto Cash 5 0 0
13. To,, Ditto, draft at Bridgwater (F. Talbot) 20 12 6
” To,, Ditto, draft at Bilston (Wilkins) 50 0 0
17. To,, Ditto, Cash 20 0 0
July 6. To,, Dividend on £8000 Consols 118 10 0
£424 3 4
1876. Cr. £ s. d.
July 28. By Cheque to Mr. John Ruskin 330 0 0
Aug. 15. To Balance 94 3 4
£424 3 4

II. Affairs of the Master.

It was not my fault, but my printers’ (who deserve raps for it), that mine came before the Company’s in last Fors.[4] It is, I think, now time to state, in general comment on my monotonous account, that the current expenses recorded in the bills of Jackson, Kate, Downs, and David, represent for the most part sums spent for the maintenance or comfort of others; and that I could if need were, for my own part, be utterly at ease in the sunny parlour of a village inn, with no more carriage or coachman than my own limbs,—no more service than a civil traveller’s proper share,—and the blessedness of freedom from responsibility from everything. To which condition, if I ever reduce myself by my extravagance, and, (indeed, just after paying my good Mr. Ellis for [[297]]thirteenth-century MSS.,[5] etc., a hundred and forty pounds, I am in treaty to-day with Mr. Quaritch for another, which he says is charged at the very lowest penny at three hundred and twenty)—it will be simply to me only occasion for the loadless traveller’s song; but as it would be greatly inconvenient to other people, I don’t at present intend it. Some day, indeed, perhaps I shall begin to turn a penny by my books. The bills drawn by Mr. Burgess represent now the only loss I incur on them.

£ s. d.
Stated Balance, July 15th 617 11 3
Repayment and other receipts, July and August 406 6 5
1023 17 8
Expenses 427 5 0
Balance, August 15th £596 12 8
£ s. d.
July 16. Geoghegan (blue neckties) 4 0 0
” Naval School 5 5 0
17. David 65 0 0
” Downs 25 0 0
30. Jackson 50 0 0
” Kate 50 0 0
Aug. 1. Herne Hill ground-rent 23 0 0
14. Burgess 40 0 0
15. Ellis and White 140 0 0
” Lucy Tovey (gift) 10 0 0
” Self (chiefly gone in black quartz from St Gothard Tunnel) 15 0 0
£427 5 0

III.

“My dear Sir,—I duly received your very kind note referring to the ‘notice to quit’ to Lord Lonsdale’s farmers in West [[298]]Cumberland, and have delayed to reply till I had made special inquiries, and find that, as a rule, these tenants have no leases, but have held their farms from year to year only.

“Formerly, I am told, some had leases; but as these expired they were not renewed, and the supposition now is that all such have run out, and that all now as yearly tenants have had the notice given them simultaneously.

“The notice is clearly given to allow a re-valuation to be made; and when the new rents are arranged, it is expected that leases will then be granted, though it is plain to be seen that all the increased prosperity that the prosperity of recent years of the coal and iron industries have caused to farming, may thus be secured to the landholder; and the farmers, with or without leases, but with higher rents, may be left to bear alone the ebb of the tide that is evidently on the turn; and in any or every case, the general public—the consumers of these farmers’ produce—will have to pay the extra rent, whatever it may be, that Lord Lonsdale may see fit to lay upon the land.[6]

“I have been studying this matter—the increase of land-rents—for many years, and consider it is very much to blame for the present high prices of all land produce, and the distress amongst the poorest of our population, as well as being a great hindrance to the carrying out of any schemes that have for their object the application of more of our own labour to our own soil. In [[299]]a letter to my son a few weeks ago, I ventured to say that the man who was the first to demonstrate by actual experiment that English soil could be made to double or quadruple its produce, would earn the name of a new Columbus, in that he had discovered another America at our own doors. This son, my oldest, having shown a turn for mathematics, I was induced to send to Cambridge, my hope being that a good education might fit him to solve some of the problems that are so pressing us for solution (and which I had been essaying myself in the pamphlet on ‘Labour and Capital’); and as he now, on the completion of his second term, holds the second place in his year at St. John’s, there is a hope that he may take a good place in the mathematical tripos for 1878; and yet, since we got introduced to your books—two years ago—both he and I think he had best, so soon as he completes his course, go into farming; and hence the reference to growing crops that appeared in his letter last week, and which I am most happy to find has met with your approbation.” (Yes;—and I trust with higher approbation than mine.)

IV. The following paragraphs from a county paper gladden me exceedingly, by taking from me all merit of originality in any part of the design of the operations of St. George’s Company, while they prove to the most incredulous not only the practicability, but the assured good of such operations, already, as will be seen, carried to triumphant results on a private gentleman’s estate.

The ‘Agricultural Gazette’ gives, as one of a series of papers on “Noteworthy Agriculturists,” a sketch of Mr. William Mackenzie, Achandunie, who, acting for Mr. Matheson, has carried out so many improvements on the Ardross estates. The sketch is in the form of an autobiography, which, as the ‘Gazette’ remarks, carries with it a most pleasant impression of [[300]]directness and simplicity of character no less than of industry, energy, and success. It is accompanied by a portrait of Mr. Mackenzie, which his friends will recognize as a fair likeness. Mr. Mackenzie states that he was born in 1806, in the parish of Urquhart, Ross-shire, where his ancestors had resided for many generations. His father, who occupied a small farm, died about five years ago at the advanced age of ninety. In 1824, he (Mr. William Mackenzie) entered as an apprentice at Belmaduthy[7] Gardens, and after serving there three years, removed to the nurseries of Dickson and Co., Edinburgh, where he remained only a few months. He then went to the Duke of Buccleuch’s gardens at Dalkeith, serving under Mr. Macdonald, who was in advance of his time as a practical gardener. There he assisted in carrying out the improvements which were made in the gardens and pleasure-grounds. New ranges of hothouses and a fine conservatory were erected, into which the hot-water system of heating was, it is believed, first introduced in Scotland. Next Mr. Mackenzie assisted in laying out gardens and grounds at Barcaldine, the seat of Sir Duncan Campbell, in Argyllshire; and coming in 1835 to Rosehaugh, as head-gardener, forester, and superintendent of estate works, he carried out the construction of new gardens, both at Rosehaugh and Kinlochluichart, and the remodelling of private grounds and approaches. These large gardens at Barcaldine and Rosehaugh were made with great care, especially in selecting and preparing the soil for the wall and vinery borders, so that after the lapse, in the one case of thirty years, and in the other of forty years, no decay or canker has appeared among the fruit trees.[8] [[301]]

“In 1847 Mr. Matheson commenced the improvements at Ardross, the property of Alexander Matheson, Esq., M.P. for the county of Ross.

“Ardross proper is surrounded by high hills, and with trifling exceptions was in a state of nature, the whole surface of the district being covered with coarse grass and heather, stunted birches, morass or quagmire, and studded with granite boulders drifted from the hills. The place was under sheep and a few black cattle, and, owing to the coarseness of the herbage the cattle were subject to red water. The tenants’ houses were mere hovels, without chimneys, and with little or no glass in the windows. The population of the district of Ardross proper was, in 1847, only 109 souls; and now, in 1875, the population on the same area is 600, and the number of children attending school is about 140.

“In giving a summary of the improvements, we will begin with the pleasure-grounds.[9] They extend to about 800 acres. In forming them, waggons on rails were used for two years in removing knolls, forming terraces, and filling up gullies. The banks of the river and of the burns flowing through the grounds have been planted with upwards of a hundred different varieties of the finest and hardiest ornamental trees that could be procured, from the tulip-tree to the evergreen oak, and from the native pine to the Wellingtonia. Evergreen shrubs cover about 25 acres in detached portions on the banks of the river which flows immediately beneath the castle, as well as on the banks of two romantic burns, with beautiful cascades, and in ravines. The garden is enclosed with a brick-lined wall, and so boggy was the site that the foundation of the wall is more than 6 feet below [[302]]the sills of some of the doors. The south side is enclosed by a terrace wall 12 feet high, and the north wall is covered with glass, which includes vineries, conservatory, and orchard houses, besides a range of pits, all heated with water. The soil of the garden was prepared and carted a considerable distance,[10] as there was none to be got on the site.

“Upwards of 5000 acres of moor ground have been planted, chiefly with Scotch fir and larch, the thinnings of which are now being shipped for pit props, the plants of the oldest woods only having been taken out of the nursery in 1847.

“The extent of arable land may be best explained by stating that there are twenty-seven farms with thrashing mills, paying rents from £50 to £800 each; and upwards of a hundred ploughs are used in cultivating the lands improved. The steam plough is also to be seen at work on some of the farms.” (St. George does not, however, propose entertaining the curious spectator in this manner.) “Cattle reared on the reclaimed land have taken prizes at the Highland Society’s Shows, and at all local shows; and for cereals and green crops, they will bear a favourable comparison with any part of Scotland.

“At one of the detached properties, great care had to be taken, and engineering skill used, in the drainage. Recently a low-lying part of the lands, a mile and a half long by three-quarters broad, was a mixture of the lower stratum of peaty bog, marsh, and spouty sand, charged with ochrey-coloured water, impregnated with sulphur and saltpetre. Attempts made by former occupants to drain this place were fruitless, from want of depth and proper outfall. We found all the pipes in their drains completely choked by deposited ochrey matter. The [[303]]whole subsoil was running sand. In order to make the drainage perfect, a main leading drain was made, 800 yards long, and in some places 8 feet deep, in which were laid ‘spigot and faucet,’ vitrified pipes 10 to 15 inches in diameter, jointed with cement to prevent sand from getting in, with junctions to receive pipes of smaller sizes, from 10 inches down to 6 inches. Minor drains are from 3½ to 4 feet deep, with tiles of 2 to 4 inch bore, the smaller sizes having collars on the joints. Large stone cisterns are formed to receive the silt, and ventilating shafts with iron gratings are built to give circulation of air. By these means the whole flat is drained effectually, and where bog rushes were the prevailing produce, crops of the richest wheat now grow. The stunted herbage and water were so poisonous that black cattle were known to have turned gray in a season (?).[11]

“More than fifty miles of private roads have been made, and twelve miles of walks through the pleasure-grounds. One walk is six miles continuous, along the windings of fine scenery of the Alness. Upwards of forty miles of stone dykes and eighty of wire fences have been erected, enclosing the arable land and plantations.

“For twenty years from three to four hundred men were employed; two hundred of them lived in a square of barracks for nearly eleven years, and so orderly were they that the services of a policeman were never required. There are still a number of men employed, but the improvements are now coming to a close.

“All the assistance I had in the engineering and planning was [[304]]that of a young man only seventeen years old when the works were begun, and we never had occasion to employ a man for a single day re-doing work.

“I may further add that I have now the great pleasure of seeing my liberal employer reletting all his farms on the Ardross estate to the same tenants, on a second nineteen years’ lease,” (at increased rents, of course, my friend?) “the second leases having been renewed between two and three years before the expiry of the previous leases, and none of the farms were ever advertised.

“I cannot leave this part of the present brief sketch without noticing a feature in the important work so successfully carried out by my enlightened employer, and one which cannot fail to be a source of great satisfaction to himself. Among the first things he did was to establish a school in the district, with a most efficient teacher, and the result is that sons of the small farmers and labourers are now in respectable positions in various walks of life. They are to be found in the capacities of gardeners, artizans, and merchants, students of law, medicine, and divinity. One of them, Donald Ross, carried the Queen’s prize of £100 in the University, and is now one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Schools. Another is the chief constable of the county. Others are in the colonies of Australia, New Zealand, and America, all doing well; and out of hundreds working for themselves, to my knowledge, not one has gone astray.[12]

“I will now advert to the improvements on the west coast estates. A mansion-house was built in the parish of Kintail, with pleasure-grounds and gardens, the former being chiefly reclaimed from the sea. Two islands, which were surrounded by water 11 feet deep on the shore side, are now part of the lawn, the intervening spaces having been filled up by the removal of a hill of rotten rock. [[305]]This house is let to a shooting tenant. The garden is excellent for fruit, including peaches, nectarines, and apricots, which come to perfection. At Duncraig, recently, a new mansion-house has been built, with all the modern appliances. New gardens have also been made at Duncraig, the site of which was originally a narrow gully running between high ridges of rock. The gardens are upwards of two acres within the walls. The soil is composed of virgin soil and turfy loam, the whole having been carted a considerable distance. The gardens were completed in 1871, and the different kinds of fruit trees, including pears, peaches, and apricots, are now bearing.

“Duncraig is rarely to be surpassed in scenery and beauty. The view is extensive, embracing the Cuchullin hills in Skye,” (etc., etc.) “There are two fresh-water lakes within the grounds, one covering thirty-seven acres, and the other about sixty acres, abounding with excellent trout and char. One of them supplies Duncraig House with water, having a fall of about 300 feet. The pipe in its course supplies the gardens; the livery stables and laundry have also connections for applying hose in cases of fire.

“The conformation of the ground is a mingling of winding valleys with high rock hills, on which grow natural wood, such as birch, oak, ash, and mountain ash. Several of the valleys have been improved and laid out under permanent pasture, making the landscape, as seen from the front of the house, with wood, rock, and winding grassy bay, very picturesque.

“There are twelve miles of private drives and walks—miles of them cut out of the solid rock, and in some places in the face of precipices 100 feet sheer up above the sea. A home-farm is in course of being improved at Achandarroch, a mile south of Duncraig House.”

The ‘Gazette’ adds: Mr. Mackenzie himself farms some of the land which he has reclaimed, and nowhere probably is there a better example of what is possible in the way of agricultural improvement under a northern climate. Excellent crops of [[306]]barley, clover, wheat, and roots are grown where nothing but a marshy wilderness once existed. Here obviously are the circumstances and the experience which should guide and stimulate the efforts of estate owners and improvers in the way of the reclamation of land which is now waste and worthless.

“Holme Head, Carlisle,

“July 6th, 1875.

“Dear Sir,—When I read the number of ‘Fors’ for last April, and came to your account of the rose-leaf cutting bees, I recollected that I had seen one of these bees making its fragmentary cell in a hole in a brick wall, and that I had often seen the remnants of the cut leaves; but I never had a chance of watching them when at work till last week; and thinking the result may be interesting to you, and may correct the omission you refer to at the foot of page 104 in the April ‘Fors,’ I take the liberty to send them to you.

“I had the opportunity of seeing a great many bees—often half a dozen together—at work upon a solitary dog-rose in front of a house at a small watering-place (Silloth), and I observed that they cut various shapes at different times. I picked off a great many of the leaves that they had been at, and send you herewith one or two specimens. I find that these have occasionally cut through the midrib of the leaf; but this is a rare exception. I found they carried the cuttings to some adjoining sand-hills, where they had bored small holes in the sand; and in these they built their leaf-cells. The pollen in these cells was not purple, but yellow, and may have been gathered from the Hawkweed which covers the banks where their nests are made.

“Since we came home, I have found some more leaves in my own garden similarly cut. The leaves I find to be cut in this way are the rose, French bean, and young laburnum.

“Yours truly,
“W. Lattimer.”

[[307]]

V. Part of a letter from the lady who sent me Helix virgata:—

“We live in a poor neighbourhood, and I have come to know the history of many poor working people lately; and I want to understand so much about it, even more than I used to long to understand the mysterious life of shells and flowers. Why aren’t there public baths, etc., for children as much as public schools? They want washing more than teaching. ‘Hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and bodies washed in pure water,’ is continually sounding in my ears.” (Well—why don’t you go and wash some, then?)

“A poor woman, whose father was a West Country carrier,” (very good, but what is she?—the gist of the story depends on that: at present it’s like one of those French twisty Bulimi, with no beginning to it,) “was so delighted the other day to find we knew the ‘West Country;’ and when I was saying something about our intending to take the children down in May to pick cowslips, her face gleamed with delight as she said, ‘Oh, the years since I’ve seen a cowslip!’ We used to make ‘tisties’ ” (twisties?) “of them, and it sent a thrill of remembrance through me of my own birthday treats, and cowslip-ball days.

“But I’m so glad you like the shells. No, there is nothing about vegetables in the word Bulimus; but ‘empty-bellied’ generally is hungry, and hungry generally eats a great deal when opportunity offers. Now these ‘Bulimi’ eat a great deal, (of vegetables, it happens,) so I suppose some one who named them thought they must be very hungry or ‘empty-bellied.’ That’s the way I read the story.” Well, it’s very accommodating and ingenious of you to read it that way; but many snails, thrushes, blackbirds, or old gentlemen of my acquaintance who ‘eat a great deal,’ appear to me more suggestive of the epithet ‘full-’ than ‘empty-’—waist-coated, shall we say? [[308]]

VI. Week’s Diary of a Companion of St. George:—

“First day.—Received from Sheffield a dainty ‘well-poised little hammer’ and three sharp-pointed little chisels: felt quite cheerful about porphyry-cutting.

“Second day.—Sent to the village in the morning for a slab of freestone; employed man in the afternoon to chisel a hole in it, and to fix the porphyry therein with plaster-of-Paris; drew a straight line, thinking it wiser not to begin with an asterisk; turned the points of two chisels without making the least impression on my line;—the process turned out to be skating, not engraving. Tried the third chisel, and, after diligent efforts, made a cut equal in depth to about two grains of sand. This is the Hamite bondage of art. Felt an increasing desire that the Master should try it, and a respect for the ancient Egyptians. Bore patiently the scoffs of the Amorites.

“Third day.—Sent chisel to the village to be hardened. Was recommended a lead hammer. Finally, a friend went to the village and brought back with him an iron hammer and two shorter chisels. Was asked by an Amorite gardener how I was ‘getting on’—unconcealed pleasure on his part to hear that I was not getting on at all. Later, accomplished a beautifully irregular star-fish, which looks mashed out rather than cut, not the least like ‘sharp cliff-edged harbours,’ as the Master kindly supposes. I begin to feel for the ancient Egyptians: they must have got a great deal of porphyry-dust into their eyes. I shall rise in the morning to dulled points and splintered chisels; but ‘when you have cut your asterisk, you will know,’ etc., and this is not the voice of a syren, (see ‘Eagle’s Nest,’) but of my honoured Master.… A terrible suspicion occurs to me that he thought no one would or could cut it! Obedience is a fine thing! How it works in the midst of difficulties, dust, and worst of all—doubt!

“Fourth day.—I think porphyry-cutting is delightful work: it [[309]]is true that I have not done any to-day, but I have had my chisels sharpened, and two new ones have arrived from the blacksmith this evening, made out of old files. Also, I have covered my chisels with pretty blue paper, and my hammer with blue-and-white ribbon. I feel the importance of the step gained. Surely I may rest righteously after such labour. If they sing ‘From Egypt lately come,’ in church, I shall think it very personal.

“Fifth day.—My piece of porphyry is now enriched by a second star-fish, with a little more backbone in it, and two dividing lines. I worked on the lawn this morning, under the chestnut tree;—the derision of the Amorite gardener (who was mowing the grass with a scythe) was manifested by the remark ‘Is that-t all!’ I told him about the Egyptian tombs, but he probably thinks me mildly insane; he however suggested a flat edge instead of a point to a chisel, and I will try it.

“Sixth day.—Had lead hammer cast, and waited for chisel.

“Seventh day.—With third hammer and seventh chisel will surely charm the porphyry.

“But, no! my latest asterisk is jagged in outline instead of sharp. I wonder what attempts others have made. Any one living in or near a blacksmith’s shop would have an advantage, for the chisels are always wanting hardening, or rectifying in some way; and my blue papers soon disappeared. If obedience for the sake of obedience is angelic, I must be an exalted creature. One Amorite’s suggestion was, ‘You would do a deal better with a softer material.’ This was the voice of the tempter.

“What is gained?—(besides a lifelong affection for porphyry)—a knowledge of one more thing that I cannot do; an admiration (to a certain extent) of those who could do it; and a wonder as to what the Master will require next of (amongst others) his faithful and obedient disciple.” [[310]]

VII. Portion of valuable letter from Mr. Sillar:—

“Kingswood Lodge, Lee Green, S.E.

“August 7th, 1876.

“My dear Mr. Ruskin,—It may interest your correspondent, ‘A Reader of Fors,’ and possibly yourself also, to know that interested persons have altered old John Wesley’s rules to suit modern ideas.

“Rules of the Methodist Societies (Tyerman’s Life and Times of Wesley, p. 431).

“Rule.—Leader to receive once a week what members are willing to give towards relief of the poor.

“Altered to ‘support of the Gospel.’

“Going to law forbidden, is altered to ‘brother going to law with brother.’

“Original Rule.—The giving or taking things on usury, the words have been added, ‘that is, unlawful interest.’

“Mr. Tyerman remarks, ‘the curious reader will forgive these trifles.’

“I for one do not at all feel disposed to do so.”

(Nor does St. George; nor has he either leave, or hope, to say, “God forgive them.”)

[[311]]

[1] What can be done, ultimately, it is not yet in human imagination to conceive. What has been done, by one sensible man, for the land he had under control, may be read in the fourth article of our correspondence. [↑]

[2] Most London theatre-goers will recollect the Butterman’s pity for his son, in “Our Boys,” as he examines the remains of the breakfast in their lodgings. [↑]

[3] The law of symmetry, however, rests on deeper foundations than that of mere order. It is here, in Greek terms, too subtle to be translated except bit by bit, as we want them.

Τίς οὖν δὴ πρᾶξις φίλη καὶ ἀκόλουθος θεῷ; μία καὶ ἕνα λόγον ἔχουσα ἀρχαῖον, ὅτι τῷ μὲν ὀμοίῳ τὸ ὅμοιον ὄντι μετρίῳ φίλον ἂν εἴη, τὰ δ’ ἄμετρα οὔτ’ ἀλλήλοις οὔτε τοῖς ἐμμέτροις.—(Plato, Laws, Book IV.) [↑]

[4] Note by printer:—“We did this to avoid an unseemly division of balance-sheet, and of two evils thought this the least.” [↑]

[5] One of these is a perfect English Bible, folio, and in beautiful state, sent to Sheffield for the first volume of our Museum library. Of course I must make St. George a present of it. [↑]

[6] As I correct this sheet, Fors places another Carlisle paper in my hand; from which I gather that Lord Lonsdale’s conceptions of what is fit, and not, are probably now changed. But my correspondent is wrong in assuming that the public will have to pay the extra rent. Very probably they will if the farming improvements are fallacious; but if indeed produce can be raised at less expense, the increased rent may represent only the difference between past and present cost of production. In this sense, however, the public do pay Lord Lonsdale’s extra rent, that their market prices, but for his Lordship, would have been lowered. As matters stand, they may be thankful if they are not raised. [↑]

[7] I can’t be responsible for these Scotch names. I sent the slip of paper to my printers, and ‘on their eyes be it.’ [↑]

[8] Italics mine (throughout the article, the rest of which is in Mr. Mackenzie’s own words). Have the vine-proprietors of Europe yet begun to look to the Earth—not the air, as the power that fails them? (See note [d].) [↑]

[9] It will, I hope, not be thought an absurdity in the St. George’s Company to retain on their estates ‘pleasure-grounds’ for their tenants, instead of themselves. In this one respect, and in this only, their public work will differ from this admirable piece of ‘private enterprise.’ [↑]

[10] Supposing the labour of all navvies, gold-diggers, and bad architects, throughout the world during the last fifty years, had been spent entirely in carting soil to where it was wanted for vegetables,—my dinnerless friends, you would have found the difference, by this time! [↑]

[11] This passage, in capitals, being wholly astounding to me, I venture to put a note of interrogation to it. I have long myself been questioning the farmers in Westmoreland about the quantity of rank bog grass they let grow. But their only idea of improvement is to burn the heather; this being a cheap operation, and dangerous only to their neighbours’ woods. Brantwood was within an ace of becoming Brantashes last summer. [↑]

[12] The name of the—certainly very efficient—teacher of these young people, and the general principles of their tuition, would have been a desirable addition, St. George thinks, to the information furnished by Mr. Mackenzie. [↑]