has been a peaty admixture. Upon the whole, England may be said to possess a large proportion of good and productive soil. Probably not above one ninth of the entire surface (Wales being included) is unsusceptible of tillage.

The climate of England is, as already mentioned, remarkable for its exemption from extremes of heat and cold. It displays an uncommon amount of variation within a narrow range. The average temperature in winter is about 42° of Fahrrenheit; in summer, the day temperature is generally about 62°. It is only on rare occasions that the thermometer reaches 80°, or sinks below 20°. The neighborhood of the sea, which partly accounts for this moderation, is also the cause why the climate of England is more humid than is usual in continental countries of similar latitude. Being inclined to cold and damp, it is more favorable to the growth than to the ripening of vegetable productions. It is certainly not unfavorable to either the physical or moral condition of the people. Perhaps even its uncertainty has been the subject of too much grumbling. On this point we may adduce the cheerful opinion of Charles II., as recorded by Sir William Temple. "I must needs," says Sir William, "add one thing more in favor of our climate, which I heard the king say, and I thought new and right, and truly like a king of England that loved and esteemed his own country: it was in reply to some of the company that were reviling the English climate, and extolling those of Italy and Spain, or at least of France. He said he thought that was the best climate where he could be abroad in the air with pleasure, or at least without trouble and inconvenience, the most days of the year, and the most hours of the day; and this he thought he could be in England more than in any other country in Europe." Devonshire and some adjacent districts on the southern coast enjoy a temperature which in winter is, at an average, two, three, four, and even in some instances five degrees above the rest; and these districts are therefore recommended for the residence of persons affected by pulmonary disease.

CHAPTER II.

VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS.

THE most conspicuous feature in the botany of England is the fresh and luxuriant herbage, resulting from the humidity of the climate, and which, though apt to be overlooked by the natives from familiarity, never fails to strike the minds of foreigners with surprise.

Much of the surface was formerly under wood; but this has for ages been chiefly confined to particular forests, to the neighborhood of great mansions, and the enclo sures of fields. Several large royal forests still exist in England, the most considerable being New Forest, in Hampshire (66,942 acres), and Dean Forest, in Gloucestershire (23,015 acres). That of Windsor, though famed from its situation and the poetry of Pope, is much smaller, being only 4,402 acres. These were anciently the scenes of courtly sport, but are now in part reduced to cultivation, or reserved for the production of timber to be used for the public service. The parks around the seats of the nobility and gentry are a peculiar and most inviting feature of the English landscape. A mixture of green open glades with masses of old well-grown timber, they are scenes of great sylvan beauty; while the existence of so much pleasure-reserved ground in a country where nearly every acre would be profitable under tillage, conveys a strong impression of the opulence of England. The principal trees are the oak, elm, beech, ash, chestnut, sycamore, poplar, and willow. The vine was at one time extensively cultivated in southern England, but is now seen only in a few detached places.

The leading grain in England is wheat; barley, oats, and rye, being in a great measure local to the less-favored districts. The turnip and potato are almost every where cultivated; and peas, beans, and clover, are extensively diffused. Hops are produced in the county of Surrey, Worcester, and Hereford. Hemp, flax, and some other useful productions of the soil, are less conspicuous. The principal fruit-trees

are the apple, pear, cherry, and plum; but many others are cultivated under particularly careful circumstances. The English garden produces a great variety of pot herbs, most of which have been introduced from the continent within the last three centuries.

Agriculture is, in England, in a progressive state, but is yet not nearly so far advanced as in the better parts of Scotland. Previous to the eighteenth century, no advance had been made from the most simple modes of tillage and husbandry. The chief improvements since then are thus enumerated in a popular work: The gradual introduction of a better system of rotation, since the publication of Tull's' Horsehoeing Husbandry,' and other agricultural works, from 1700 to 1750; the improvement of live-stock, commenced by Bakewell about 1760; the raised-drill system of growing turnips, the use of lime, and the convertible husbandry, by Pringle, and more especially by Dawson, about 1765; the improved swing-plough by Small, about 1790; and the improved thrashing-machine, by Mickle, about 1795. The field-culture of the potato, shortly after 1750; the introduction of the Swedish turnip, about 1790; of spring wheat, about 1795; of summer wheat, about 1800; and of mangel-wurtzel more recently, have, with the introduction of other improved field-plants, and improved breeds of animals, contributed to increase the products of agriculture; as the enclosing of common field lands and wastes, and the improvements of mosses and marshes, have contributed to increase the produce and salubrity of the general surface of the country."

Mr. M'Culloch calculates that twelve millions of acres are cultivated in England as follows:

The value of the crops is estimated by the same writer at £72,000,000. He also calculates 17,000,000 acres of pasture-land as producing £59,000,000.

The chief defects of the agricultural system of England are in the modes of tillage. Cumbrous machinery is employed to do what might be better done by a lighter and cheaper kind: thus, five horses, and even more, are sometimes seen at one plough, while the heaviest lands in Scotland require only two. The virtue of draining is scarcely dreamt of in many districts of England, while in Scotland it is in some places doubling the produce, besides improving the salubrity of the climate. English farmers are too little educated to be ready to adopt improved modes of agriculture: and, among the class of landlords, these have hitherto been too much overlooked.* It seems surprising, yet is quite true, that in one district of the island of Great Britain, expensive and unproductive modes, scarcely in the least better than those which prevailed during the wars of the roses, will be followed, without the least suspicion that they are wrong, although other districts, which might be reached by a day's journey, present appearances of a reflecting skill and dexterity, the general diffusion of which would be attended with incalculable benefit to both landlords and tenants. It is gratifying, however, to know that this state of things is not likely to last much longer. The English nobility are now supporting an agricultural association, which is to proceed after the manner of the eminently useful Highland society of Scotland, in promoting improvements in this important branch of the national industry. We may therefore hope, in another generation, to see the splendid soil of England turned to its full account.

*We have been assured that, in some districts, where the stranger is surprised to see the flail still in operation, the farmers and landlords are not unaware of the superiority of the thrashing-machine; but having only the alternative of supporting the laboring class by this means, or in the condition of paupers, they prefer the former. It is needless to remark, that this is only a misapplication of the powers of the laboring class, which can only tend to increase poverty, and which we may hope to see in time abandoned.

CHAPTER III.

THE PEOPLE. THEIR CHARACTER.

THE Constituent elements of the English population are to be traced in the history of the country. The first inhabitants were Britons (see engraving, below), probably a mixed Celtic race, and who, during the time of the possession of the country by the Romans, must have become slightly changed by the admixture of that race. Upon a scattered population of Romanized Britons came the great wave of the Saxon invasion, in the fifth and sixth centuries. The Britons are usually said to have been driven to the west; but probably this was not so much the case as has been generally thought, for it is rarely that any invasion expels the mass of a people from the ground they have long occupied. After this, however, the predominant element of English society was undoubtedly Saxon, the Norman conquest only adding to it a French ar istocracy, which little affected the great bulk of the population. The English, therefore, exclusive of the Welsh, who are Britons almost unchanged, may be regarded as in the main a Teutonic people, an admixture of British or Celtic entering into the composition always in less and less measure as we advance from Wales toward the eastern coasts, where the people are nearly pure Saxon.

According to an acute writer: "The Saxon Englishman is distinguished from other races by a stature rather low, owing chiefly to the neck and limbs being short, by the trunk and vital system being large, and the complexion, irides, and hair, light; and by the face being broad, the forehead large, and the upper and back part of the

* Plural of iris, the colored part of the eye, surrounding the pupil.

head round, and rather small. In his walk, the Englishman [understanding the Saxon Englishman] rolls, as it were, on his centre. This is caused by the breadth of the trunk, and the comparative weakness of the limbs. The broader muscles, therefore, of the former, aid progression by a sort of rolling motion, throwing forward first one side and then another. The mental faculties of the Englishman are not absolutely of the highest order; but the absence of passion gives them relatively a great increase, and leaves a mental character equally remarkable for its simplicity and its practical worth. The most striking of those points in English character, which may be called fundamental, are cool observation, unparalleled single-mindedness, and patient perseverance. This character is remarkably homogeneous.

"The cool observation of the Englishman is the foundation of some other subordinate, but yet important points in his character. One of the most remarkable of these is that real curiosity, but absence of wonder, which makes the nil admirari a maxim of English society. It is greatly associated, also, with that reserve for which the English are not less remarkable.

The single-mindedness of the Englishman is the foundation of that sincerity and bluntness, which are perhaps his chief characteristics; which fit him so well for the business of life, and on which his commercial character depends; which make him hate (if he can hate anything) all crookedness of procedure, and which alarm him even at the insincerities and compliances of politeness.

"The perseverance of the Englishman is the foundation of that habit which guides so many of his own actions, and that custom in which he participates with all his neighbors. It is this which makes universal cant, as it has been profanely termed,* not reasoning, the basis of his morals; and precedent, not justice, the basis of his jurisprudence. But it is this also which, when his rights are outraged, produces that grumbling which, when distinctly heard, effectually protects them; and it is this which creates that public spirit, to which, on great emergencies, he rises with all his fellow-countrymen, and in which he persists until its results astonish even the nations around him.

The word must not here be understood as implying hypocrisy, of which the Saxon temperament is very innocent.

"Now, a little reflection will show, that of the three fundamental qualities I have mentioned, the first seeming may easily be less amiable than the final result shall be useful. To a stranger of differently constructed mind, the cold observation, and, in particular, the slowness and reserve which must accompany it, may seem unsociable; but they are inseparable from such a construction of mind, and they indicate not pride, but that respect for his feelings which the possessor thinks them entitled to, and which he would not violate in others. The dignity, therefore, which in this case the Englishman feels, is not hauteur; and he is as rarely insolent to those who are below, as timid to those who are above him.

"In regard to the absence of passion from the English mind, it is this which forbids one to be charmed with music, to laugh at comedy, to cry at tragedy, to show any symptom of joy or sorrow in the accidents of real life; which has no accurate notion of grief or wretchedness, and can not attach any sort of meaning to the word ecstasy; and which, for all these reasons, has a perfect perception of whatever is ridiculous. Hence it is, that in his domestic, his social, and his public relations, it is perhaps less affection than duty that guides the conduct of an Englishman; and, if any one questions the moral grandeur which this sentiment may attain, let him call to mind the example of it, which, just before the victory of Trafalgar, was given by Nelson in the simple and sublime communication to his fleet-England expects every man to do his duty!" Which is the instance that equals this even in the forged records of Roman glory? Happily, too, the excess of hatred is as little known to the Englishman as excess of love; and revenge is abhorrent to his nature. Even in the pugilistic combat he shakes hands with his antagonist before he begins; he scorns to strike him when he is down; and, whether vanquished or victor, he leaves his antagonist neither cast down nor triumphant.

"The extraordinary value of such a character is obvious enough. British liberty and British commerce are its results: neither the Scottish nor Irish mind would have attained them."

In this sketch, though clever and forcible, some conspicuous features of the social character of the English are overlooked. The domesticity of the Englishman's mode of life is very remarkable, when taken in contrast with the lounging, open-air existence of continental nations. The Englishman delights in his home, and spends much of his time in it-a result to which the nature of the climate undoubtedly contributes. He appreciates his home very highly, calls his house his castle, and prides himself on its being inviolable even by the emissaries of the law. The members of his family, his wife, his sons and daughters, are taken along by him in most of his recreations and pleasures. The conjugal tie is deemed peculiarly_sacred, insomuch that the slightest dishonor offered to it is universally resented. It can not be said, however, that the affections of kindred are much recognised in England beyond the. nearest class of relations.

The strong sense of rectitude which animates the Englishman is conspicuous in his love of what he calls fair play, which he carries even into those coarse amusements, boxing, cock-fighting, dog-fighting, &c., a love of which (now fast declining) forms one of the less amiable traits of the national character. His benevolence shines in the liberality of the legal provision for the poor, and in the numberless charitable institutions of all kinds which are supported in the country, as well as in the readiness which the nation has always displayed to hold out a hand of succor to distress in other quarters of the world. Cleanliness of person and household, and a love of comfort both in food and in domestic accommodation, distinguish the people at large. In all personal and domestic circumstances, the substantial is kept strongly in view, even while the ostensible object is ornament. The aristocratic institutions of the country have mixed, with the sturdy independence of the English character, a considerable reverence for external and accidental distinctions, and created a disposition, pervading almost all classes, to hold forth appearances rather above than below their means. For the same reason, as well as that abstract truths are not readily appre hended by the English intellect, there is a strong and general disposition to cling to ancient practices and forms in both government and law. The rural tenantry and the tradesmen of the smaller towns are generally subservient to the landed classes; and it is chiefly in large towns that new political dogmas find any warm advocacy. Horse-racing and field-sports are the chief amusements of the nobility and gentry, and are practised upon a scale so extensive, and with apparatus so perfect in all its parts, including a breed of horses of the highest excellence, that they would probably