Gents Mag 1785 p.844
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Gentleman's Magazine 1785 p.844
strait, of a good height, which measure near four feet in the girth. These landscapes are much ornamented by noblemens and gentlemens houses, repaired or new built, some in an elegant style. The reader will now be pleased by travelling with me into Scotland, where, in the lowlands, they tread very close on the heels of the English, both in respect to the improvement in their farms as well as their buildings. But here my pleasure was much abated, when, asking my postilions, Whose seat is that? whom does that fine house belong to? &c. I was generally or frequently answered, To Colonel such a one, Major such a one, or Captain such a one, lately come from the East Indies. On my arrival at Edinburgh, I was surprized and delighted at the sight of the New Town. The contrast astonishes you: but what increased my surprize was, the being told, that the foundation of another wing to that city, opposite to it, was going to be laid; and that another levelling-bridge of communication was to be erected opposite that leading to the New Town; for which purpose, it appeared to me not less thah the dwellings of 100 families must come down, to make room for the avenue onnly. The expence of this undertaking seems so immense, that there must be other mines than those of stone found for its completion. Glasgow I saw less extended, but greatly inproved. I had seen it a handsome regular well-built city before; but now more elegant, by some noble buildings and new streets, composed of houses for siingle families. Most of the old buildings resemble Edinburgh too much in high houses, though nothing like so inconvenient as the old city of Edinburgh. Before I quit Scotland, I must observe, that the greatest improvements in farming, and in laying out the lands, are in Ayrshire; though the land does not appear to be better, if so good, as in other parts: all which, I hear, is owing to the encouragement given to the tenants by the gentlemen of that shire.After these delightful improvements, which I have already mentioned, in England and Scotland, I must claim the reader's company to the estate of the late Dr. Graham, of Netherby in Cumberland, which far outstrips them all. When this gentleman came into possession of this estate, I believe about 25 years ago, on the death of his aunt the Lady Widrington, the rent-roll was said to be near 2000l per annum; and how it could produce that, I can hardly conceive; for all the lands I had then been over, those appeared the most unpromising, and the least capable of improvement. But let us see what a good understanding, common sense, attentive observation, and the love of his family and country, will do. In 16 years after his residence at Netherby, the nett produce of this estate was 10,000l. per annum; and before his death, I have been informed, was advanced to 13,000l.per annum; and that if his son, Sir James Graham, the present possessor, treads in the steps of his father, it will, in the course of a very few years, amount to 20,000l. per annum clear of all deductions. And how has this immense increase of fortune been obtained? Not by rack-renting his tenants, for that would have reduced his 2 to 1000l.per annum! Not by mines, for I never heard that he had any in his estate; nor by raising their rents; no; nor by fines, for that would have disenabled them to labour for the advantage of their landlord, and have operated like the taxes laid on the Americans. It was simply thus: by draining, manuring, and planting. His method was, to drain and manure 1000 acres for tillage, grass, or meadow land; then build villages, consisting of eight or ten houses, with the necessary out-buildings, allotting to each so many acres, and then letting them to the most industrious among his married neighbours, frequently rent-free for one or two years, or until they were able to pay rent. At the same time that he was thus improving and peopling his lands, he was reviving or building towns, erecting churches, building iins,and furnishing the industrious with the means of accommodating the traveller, the gentlemen, and the nobleman, with carriages and post-horses. In short, this worthy member of society so improved this part of the country, from a cold moist clay, heath, and peat-land, that it is now the garden of that part of the country, and wears the appearance of the most improved soil about the metropolis. He has raised a princley estate for his family; added so many thousand |
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