of the plough_, and all out of tillage for many many years; yet, not one single inch of them but what is vastly superior in quality to any of those great "improvements" on the miserable heaths of Hounslow, Bagshot, and Windsor Forest. It is the destructive, the murderous paper-system, that has transferred the fruit of the labour, and the people along with it, from the different parts of the country to the neighbourhood of the all-devouring _Wen_. I do not believe one word of what is said of the increase of the population. All observation and all reason is against the fact; and, as to the _parliamentary returns_, what need we more than this: that _they_ assert, that the population of Great Britain has increased from ten to fourteen millions in the last _twenty years_! That is enough! A man that can suck that in will believe, literally believe, that the moon is made of green cheese. Such a thing is too monstrous to be swallowed by any body but Englishmen, and by any Englishman not brutified by a Pitt-system. TO MR. CANNING. _Worth (Sussex), 10 December, 1822._ SIR, The agreeable news from France, relative to the intended invasion of Spain, compelled me to break off, in my last Letter, in the middle of my _Rural Ride_ of Sunday, the 24th of November. Before I mount again, which I shall do in this Letter, pray let me ask you what _sort of apology_ is to be offered to the nation, if the French Bourbons be permitted to take quiet possession of Cadiz and of the Spanish naval force? Perhaps you may be disposed to answer, when you have taken time to reflect; and, therefore, leaving you to _muse_ on the matter, I will resume my ride. _November 24._ (Sunday.) From Hambledon to Thursley (continued). From East-Meon, I did not go on to Froxfield church, but turned off to the left to a place (a couple of houses) called _Bower_. Near this I stopped at a friend's house, which is in about as lonely a situation as I ever saw. A very pleasant place however. The lands dry, a nice mixture of woods and fields, and a great variety of hill and dell.