shares in the mirth, or soothes the
troubles of the household, and rules the mind of the noble by securing
the confidence of his wife. Out of doors, there are the retainers, by
whatever name they may be called. Their poor dwellings are crowded round
the castle of the lord; their patches of arable land lie nearest, and
the pastures beyond; that, at least, the supply of human food may be
secured from any enemy. These portions of land are held on a tenure of
service; and, as the retainers have no property in them, and no interest
in their improvement, and are, moreover, liable to be called away from
their tillage at any moment, to perform military or other service, the
soil yields sorry harvests, and the lean cattle are not very ornamental
to the pastures. The wives of the peasantry are often left, at an hour's
warning, in the unprotected charge of their half-clothed and untaught
children, as well as of the cattle and the field.--The festivals of the
people are on holy days, and on the return of the chief from war, or
from a pre-eminent chase.

Now, what must be the morals of such a district as this? and, it may be
added, of the whole country of which it forms a part? for, if there be
one feudal settlement of the kind, there must be more; and the society
is in fact made up of a certain number of complete sets of persons,--of
establishments like this.--There is no need to go back some centuries
for an original to the picture: it exists in more than one country in
Europe now.

This kind of society is composed of two classes only; those who have
something, and those who have nothing. The chief has property, some
knowledge, and great power. With individual differences, the chiefs may
be expected to be imperious, from their liberty and indulgence of will;
brave, from their exposure to toil and danger; contemptuous of men, from
their own supremacy; superstitious, from the influence of the priest in
the household; lavish, from the permanency of their property; vain of
rank and personal distinction, from the absence of pursuits unconnected
with self; and hospitable, partly from the same cause, and partly from
their own hospitality being the only means of gratifying their social
dispositions.

The clergy will be politic, subservient, studious, or indolent,
kind-hearted, effeminate, with a strong tendency to spiritual pride, and
love of spiritual dominion. It will be surprising, too, if they are not
driven into infidelity by the