"Ask Mamma"; or, The Richest Commoner In EnglandSurtees, Robert Smith
General
"Ask Mamma"; or, The Richest Commoner In England
Surtees, Robert Smith
England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction; Fox hunting -- Fiction
“Wheas We have considered we shall give you for Bonnyrig’s farme
the som £100 25 puns upon condishinds per year if you should
think it to little we may perhaps advance a little as we have not
looked her carefully over her and for character Mr. Sowerby will
give you every information as we are the third giniration that’s
been under the Sowerbys.
_“Yours sincerely,_
“Henerey Brown,
“Homfray Brown—Co.
“_If you want anye otes I could sell you fifteen bowels of verye
fine ones._”
Now the “som £100 25 puns” being less than half what the Major’s
grandfather used to get for the farm:—viz. “£200 63 puns,”—our
Major was considerably perplexed; and as “Henerey and Homfray”’s
offer was but a sample of the whole, it became a question between
Boulogne and Bastile, as those once unpopular edifices, the
workhouses, were then called. And here we may observe, that there
is nothing perhaps, either so manageable or so unmanageable as
land—nothing easier to keep right than land in good order, and
nothing more difficult to get by the head, and stop, than land
that has run wild; and it may be laid down as an infallible rule,
that the man who has no taste for land or horses should have
nothing to do with either. He should put his money in the funds,
and rail or steam when he has occasion to travel. He will be far
richer, far fatter, and fill the bay window of his club far
better, than by undergoing the grinding of farmers and the
tyranny of grooms. Land, like horses, when once in condition is
easily kept so, but once let either go down, and the owner
becomes a prey to the scratchers and the copers.
If, however, a man likes a little occupation better than the
eternal gossip, and “_who’s that?_” of the clubs, and prefers a
smiling improving landscape to a barren retrograding scene, he
will find no pleasanter, healthier, or more interesting
occupation than improving his property. And a happy thing it was
for this kingdom, that Prince Albert who has done so much to
refine and elevate mankind, should have included farming in the
list of his amusements,—bringing the before despised pursuit into
favour and fashion, so that now instead of land remaining a prey
to the “Henerey Browns & Co.” of life, we find gentlemen
advertising for farms in all directions, generally stipulating
that they are to be on the line of one or other of the once
derided railways.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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