The National Register.
London, England, 1816-06-02 00:00:00

COTTAGE FARMERS.

-" A bold peasantry, their countr's pride,
When once destroy( can never be supplied.'

The recent plan of parcelling estates into large firm•c
has nearly engulphed this valuable race. There is now
scarcely any medium between the large farmer and the
poor labourer. The cottage firmer, who formerly sup-
ported, in the comfort of moderate independence, a large
and healthy progeny, now exists but in very tow in-
stances.

" A time there wwi, ere Englanri'm griefs beisn.
When every rund of ground maintained t • mar.'

Happy would it be for the country if this state of things
could be returned to. One hundred years ago the
country was Totted with cottages, each boosting its own
little plantation and cheerful garden. These monu-
ments of better times are now but scantily bestrewed. '
It has been said, that the extended manufactures of the,
country have given employment, and almost ws.althy to
the poor ; but might it not be replied, their extent
has also given an almost fatal stab co the morals of the
country ? Look to the distrCwts formerly agricultural,
now the seat of manur,icturc,. The village churches
within those dist;icts were wont to be wcH attended;
the fathtr, ;'ne mother, and their smiling children,
thought it an'almost deadly sin to omit divine service ;
the sabbat.l'. tvetiings were spent in domestic innocency.
! what is the fact now ? In many instances, what
the village church then had, the village ale-house has
now ; and, though the pecuniary means be increased,
the wife is no longer happy—the childroa, ragged, and
dirty, and starving! Again, look at the districts now
agricultural ; examind the classes of persons by whom
they are inhabited ; and few will be found, excepting the
large farmer and poor labourer--the latter in part sub-
sisting either upon the elemosynary bounty of the for-
mer, or upon the poor's rate. How small the number
of those who, possessing " neither poverty nor riches,"
remind us of the country's best estate; and who should
he considered as the remains of a class from which that
cluntry once derived its glory ; and as the patterns of a
elms, without the renewal of which that glory can never
be completely restored.

It was lately stated in one of the Paris-Papers, that
her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales had been at
Tunis, from which she was preparing to sail for Con-
stantinople. This account, although doubted by mane
(X our cotemp(mwies, is perfectly correct. When the
Sparrowhasd, recently from the Mediterranean, sailed
from Tunis, her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales
ems living there, in the Bay's Palace. he having given it
up to her, whilst for her accommodation he had gone to
reside in the country. Ike Royal I lighness arrived there
in a felucca, which ,Jie had hired in Skily, for six
months, it being her intention to proem & from Tunis to
Constantinople and the liklorea.
The Earl and Countess of Derby and family arc pre-
paring for na immediate excumion to the Continent.
Amory, the extranwlinary and unprecedented occurren-
ces, hprpcning in these eventful times, may be mentioned
the degrndation which 7W Officer of exalted rank clperi.
enced, not long since, for- trishonottrable conduct, proved
at the bar of public opinion, as well as that of justice. To
our great surprise, we now learn, that another distin-
guished Officer (whose name has been continually belbre
our eves, in print) is shortly to be publicly disgraced—
be ii to he strino d o all his lurnevrs—and his name struck
out of the Army Lint. The judicial exposition of the offend-
ingparty is ahund imed, the necessary proofslaing wan; ing;
but enough is knawn to justify tte conduct of the higher
powers; and'at th, same time demonstrate, that neither •
titles nor riches can screen ortaiders from merited punish-
'"eat. The sr-este.? it!' 1-"_. of the prc:,;rtt (~2'enet we

o•

DRAMATIC REGISTER.
DRURY LANE.

ISO

Mrs. DAVISON, AVIV/ is deservedly a public favourite,
had a very full attendance of her friends at her benefit
on Tuesday night. She appeared as Macheath in the Beg-
gar's Opera; a character about the propriety of hera.ssemp.
tion of which there may be some difference of opinion.
She played the part, however, with considerable success,
infusing into itnitich moreof thatfeeling, with which an
audience can sympathise, than is usually found in the re-
presentations of some, who seem to consider Macheatli
as a case-hardened villain, with not a single spark of
humanity belonging to him. Mrs. Davisosrs Nell,
and DOWTON'S Jobson, in the Farce of The Devil to Poi!,
which followed, were highly diverting.