something weighty to say and knew so well how to say it, are still the source whence most of what is best in modern writings is usually drawn.

If we turn to the actors in those days, great lessons are to be learnt from them; not from their methodstheir methods were peculiar to the age in which they lived--but from the spirit that moved them, which was true for all time. The good and glory of our old country (old in the sense of endearment and not of decay) were their great objects. On them the spirit of cosmopolitanism-too common now-had not dawned. With them "God and country" was not a sentiment on the lips, but a living cause for which they were willing to be spent.

Lord Beaconsfield, with his alert mind, in the most charming of his books, sets out the case. "It is the past alone," he says, "that can explain the present, and it is youth alone that can mould the remedial future. The written history of our country for the last ten reigns has been a mere phantasma, giving to the origin and consequence of public transactions a character and colour in every respect dissimilar to their natural form and hue. In this mighty mystery all thoughts and things have assumed an aspect and title contrary to their real quality and style. . . . We live in an age when to be young and to be indifferent can no longer be synonymous. We must prepare for the coming hour. The claims of the Future are represented by suffering millions, and the Youth of a Nation are the trustees of Posterity."

THE END

APPENDIX I

RECLAMATION of land is a question quite apart from that of inclosure of land. The statements in Chapters VII-XI with regard to inclosures do not apply to reclamation. Landlords and others who have spent money in reclaiming useless land are public benefactors. Whatever advantages they may have gained were not gained by injuring other persons. The first Earl of Leicester, a great practical agriculturist, reclaimed large tracts of land near Holkham, and the present Earl, also a noted agriculturist, has in his turn reclaimed hundreds of acres.1 The greatest work in England of this kind was that of the " Bedford Level," where from two to three hundred thousand acres were I won from the sea and the swamps by patriotic enterprise, hard work, and lavish expenditure." An interesting account of this great undertaking is given in "The Story of a Great Agricultural Estate," by the Duke of Bedford (Murray).

On the 10th of February, 1777, a petition was presented to the House of Commons on this subject. The petition "sheweth that the Great Level of the Fens, called the Bedford Level, is a part of that Great Plain which extends into, and is bounded by the counties of Northampton, Norfolk, Suffolk, Lincoln, Cambridge, and Huntingdon, containing upwards of 300,000 acres of land." The Petition states that the drainage from these counties and the downfall in the Plain itself had for ages overflowed and drowned the land, "insomuch that no advantage redounded therefrom to mankind, but river fish, waterfowl, and reeds," that "Francis, Earl of Bedford, after many fruitless attempts by others,

1 For a short and interesting account of the Coke family (sprung from real yeoman stock) see "Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society," Vol. VI, Part 1, 1895.

actuated by the principle of public spirit, did in the sixth year of King Charles the First, undertake the great and public work of draining the same . . . that, the said Earl and his adventurers made a good progress therein with the expense of vast sums of money." The Petition goes on to show that William, Duke of Bedford (son of Francis), in 1649 continued the work, and prays for further parliamentary powers in order to complete it. According to evidence given before a Committee of the House of Commons (1821), some crops of oats were the only grain produced in the fens before this great enterprise was carried out. It is impossible to estimate the value of the splendid corn crops which these districts have since produced and added to the wealth of the county.1

Many reclamations of different kinds have been made in continental countries. In 1856 a company was formed to reclaim from the sea a large area of land on the Channel coast of Normandy, near Pontorson, in France. In 1896 I visited the land under reclamation, provided with a letter of introduction to the manager of the works, kindly given me by the late Sir Edward Blount, who was Chairman of the Company. The manager, M. Deval, most courteously placed at my disposal the plans, estimates of cost, and all other particulars of the undertaking. The concession to the Company granted by the French Government was for the reclamation of 3800 hectares (about 9500 acres) of land in the Bays of Mont St. Michel and Des Veys. At the time of my visit the work was being carried on with the greatest activity. As fast as the land was reclaimed it was divided into small farms and small holdings, and either sold or let and put immediately under cultivation. Much of it had been sold at an average price (reckoning 25 francs to the pound sterling) of £48 an acre, and a great deal had been let on nine and

1 The above particulars are from an old volume (167 pp.), dated February, 1777, which I met with accidentally in an old bookseller's shop. It was evidently published by the promoters of the work, and contains, in addition to the petition, a most interesting history of the great undertaking. Some idea is given of the extent of the work by one statement to the effect that the length of the banks within the middle and south levels alone was upwards of 170 miles. In some places the bed of the river was four feet above the level of the adjacent land.