uously during that long period of
time upon the farms in one parish. All their relations have been, and
still are, labourers, varied by one here who has become a tinker, or one
there who keeps a small roadside beerhouse. When this is the case, when
a man and all his ancestors for generations have been hewers of wood and
drawers of water, it naturally follows that the present representative
of the family holds strongly to the traditions, the instincts, acquired
during the slow process of time. What those instincts are will be better
gathered from a faithful picture of his daily life.

Most of the agricultural labourers are born in a thatched cottage by the
roadside, or in some narrow lane. This cottage is usually an
encroachment. In the olden time, when land was cheap, and the
competition for it dull, there were many strips and scraps which were
never taken any notice of, and of which at this hour no record exists
either in the parochial papers or the Imperial archives. Probably this
arose from the character of the country in the past, when the greater
part was open, or, as it was called, champaign land, without hedge, or
ditch, or landmark. Near towns a certain portion was enclosed generally
by the great landowners, or for the use of the tradesmen. There was also
a large enclosure called the common land, on which all burgesses or
citizens had a right to feed so many cattle, sheep, or horses. As a rule
the common land was not enclosed by hedges in fields, though instances
do occur in which it was. There were very few towns in the reign of
Charles II. that had not got their commons attached to them; but outside
and beyond these patches of cultivation round the towns the country was
open, unenclosed, and the boundaries ill-defined. The king's highway ran
from one point to another, but its course was very wide. Roads were not
then macadamised and strictly confined to one line. The want of
metalling, and the consequent fearful ruts and sloughs, drove vehicles
and travellers further and further from what was the original line,
till they formed a track perhaps a score or two of yards wide. When
fields became more generally enclosed it was still only in patches, and
these strips and spaces of green sward were left utterly uncared for and
unnoticed. These were encamped upon by the gipsies and travelling folk,
and their unmolested occupation no doubt suggested to the agricultural
labourer that he might raise a cottage upon such pl