spect in the last years of Lord
Liverpool, when Lord Wallace and Mr. Huskisson were astonishing the
world, he had relapsed, after the schism of the Tory party, into
orthodoxy, and was satisfied that the tenets of the economists were mere
theories, or could only be reduced into practice by revolution.

"But it is a pleasant life, that of a farmer," said Mr. Ferrars to Job.

"Yes, but life should be something more than pleasant," said Job, who
always looked discontented; "an ox in a pasture has a pleasant life."

"Well, and why should it not be a profitable one, too?" said Mr.
Ferrars.

"I do not see my way to that," said Job moodily; "there is not much to
be got out of the land at any time, and still less on the terms we hold
it."

"But you are not high-rented!"

"Oh, rent is nothing, if everything else were right, but nothing is
right," said Job. "In the first place, a farmer is the only trader who
has no security for his capital."

"Ah! you want a lease?"

"I should be very sorry to have a lease like any that I have seen,"
replied Job. "We had one once in our family, and we keep it as a
curiosity. It is ten skins long, and more tyrannical nonsense was never
engrossed by man."

"But your family, I believe, has been on this estate for generations
now," said Ferrars, "and they have done well."

"They have done about as well as their stock. They have existed," said
Job; "nothing more."

"Your father always gives me quite the idea of a prosperous man," said
Mr. Ferrars.

"Whether he be or not I am sure I cannot say," said Job; "for as neither
he nor any of his predecessors ever kept any accounts, it is rather
difficult to ascertain their exact condition. So long as he has money
enough in his pocket to pay his labourers and buy a little stock, my
father, like every British farmer, is content. The fact is, he is a serf
as much as his men, and until we get rid of feudalism he will remain
so."

"These are strong opinions," said Mr. Ferrars, drawing himself up and
looking a little cold.

"Yes, but they will make their way," said Job. "So far as I myself am
concerned, I do not much care what happens to the land, for I do not
mean to remain on it; but I care for the country. For the sake of the
country I should like to see the whole thing upset."

"What thing?" asked Mr. Ferrars.

"Feudalism," said Job. "I should like to see this estate managed on the
same principles as they do their great establishments in t