and salutary; but unfortunately attempting to carry them beyond its strict limits, he threw affairs into a greater confusion than ever. This, however, is not uncommon with Statesmen,—

“Who, rising from base arts, and sordid thrift,
Are eminent for wealth, not for their wisdom;
Which is the reason, that to hold a place
In council, which was once esteem'd an honour,-
And reward for virtue, hath quite lost

Lustre and reputation, and is made
A mercenary purchase !”-

There was a certain piece of open, common land, called Thirteen Acres, which had been attached to the manor, but was not originally part of it, and, consequently, not strictly subject to its laws. Greenfield, however, determined to make them pay the same fines and reliefs as the tenants of Freeland; but those of Thirteen Acres refused, alleging that though they allowed their lands to belong to the seignory; yet as they sent no delegates to the Com-mon Hall, they could not be bound by its acts, but were at liberty to amerce themselves for their quota of the incumbrances on the seignory, which they offered to do. Greenfield resol

ved to persist in his right of amercing them, but having disobliged the Lord during some discussion in the Common Hall, he was dismis. sed from his stewardship, pending the altercation; and it would have been happy if the altercation itself had been dismissed with him. But it was kept up during several succeeding stewardships, till one Boreas came into office, and then the dis-pute began to assume a most alarming appearance. To increase the confusion, Squintum had the in-... solence to return into the Manor, and even to shew his face in the stables and dog-kennel,.. whence he was again ignominiously driven but as he was supported by the disorderly part of the tenantry, he still skulked about, endea-.vouring to alienate others from their attachment to the Lord. He was at length imprisoned by the sentence of a Court Baron; but this stir was fatal in its consequences, as it rendered a contemptible object of seeming importance, and made the rabble imagine that he was the victim of a stretch of power. They even thought that their own liberties were at stake, and made his cause their own. Other matters concurred to add to their discontent, as, besides the con

tinued increase of the incumbrance on the manor; the Lord's house-steward had so mismanaged matters that, notwithstanding the Lord's promise to the contrary, an extravagant arrear had Been incurred, above the income allotted for the household expences, and the tenantry were called upon to discharge it.

The Reader. Good heavens! Surely the Lord should have held his promise sacred, and have taken care that the house-steward kept within the bounds of his income ! Author. Certainly, reader;

"HONOUR's a sacred tie, the law of kings,
The noble mind's distinguishing perfection,
That aids and strengthens virtue when it meets her,
And imitates her actions where she is not..

It ought not to be sported with."

But a writer must represent past occurrences as they were not as they ought to have been. To proceed :-The most licentious invectives were poured out by means of hand-bills, and one anonymous scribbler, under an assumed, outlandish signature, attacked all ranks and de

grees, from the Lord himself, and his relations, downwards, and knocked down great men, with a goose-quill, with as much ease and unconcern as a brawny journeyman blacksmith trips up nine pins with a bowl. He belaboured their drapery, to the great mirth of the rabble, who are ever fond of seeing their superiors taken a peg shorter. This barbarous humour must arise from their envy, as they can never hope to reach their shoulders, letting alone the head. The spirit of discontent became so threatening that even the Lord himself could not help observing the perturbed state of the tenantry, and recommending to his officers to exert themselves to preserve peace and good order.

From distant murmuring, the tenants broke out in loud expressions of dissatisfaction, and petitioned the Lord to turn off Boreas and all illadvisers, but the Lord expressed his surprise at the freedom of the petitions, and turned a deaf ear to them. The tenants then came to remonstrances, and renewed their petitions. The Reeve, who presented one of them, had even the insolence to tell the Lord, that whoever had

dared or should dare, to rouse his displeasure against his tenants was an enemy to the Lord, and the welfare of the manor. The remonstrances and petitions, however, met with similar fate.. Baneful discontent gloomed the horizon.

"So black the night, as if.no star e'er shono-
In all the wide expanse; the lightning's flash
But shews the darkness, and the bursting clouds,
With peals of thunder, seem to rock the land.”