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page 46
to the fences a graceful irregularity, which, where large
properties are prevalent, and large capitals employed in
agriculture, is unknown. This sylvan appearance is
heightened by the number of ash-trees planted in rows along
the quick fences, and along the walls, for the purpose of
browzing the cattle at the approach of winter. The branches
are lopped off and strewn upon the pastures; and when the
cattle have stripped them of leaves, they are used for
repairing the hedges or for fuel.
We have thus seen a numerous body of Dalesmen creeping into
possession of their home-steads, their little crofts, their
mountain-enclosures; and, finally, the whole vale is visibly
divided; except, perhaps, here and there some marshy ground,
which, till fully drained, would not repay the trouble of
enclosing. But these last partitions do not seem to have
been general, till long after the pacification of the
Borders, by the union of the two crowns: when the cause,
which had first determined the distribution of land into
such small parcels, had not only ceased, - but likewise a
general improvement had taken place in the country, with a
correspondent rise in the value of its produce. From the
time of the union, it is certain that this species of feudal
population must rapidly have diminished. That it was
formerly much more numerous than it is at present, is
evident from the multitude of tenements (I do not mean
houses, but small divisions of land) which belonged formerly
each
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