presently see, angrily repressed; while, again, in the majority of
instances, such persons endeavoured, as they do at present, to cover the
recent origin of their families by adopting the manners of the nobles,
instead of transferring the habits of the towns to the parks and chases of
the English counties. The old English organisation maintained its full
activity; and the duties of property continued to be for another century
more considered than its rights.

Turning, then, to the tenure of land--for if we would understand the
condition of the people, it is to this point that our first attention must
be directed--we find that through the many complicated varieties of it
there was one broad principle which bore equally upon every class, that the
land of England must provide for the defence of England. The feudal system,
though practically modified, was still the organising principle of the
nation, and the owner of land was bound to military service for his country
whenever occasion required. Further, the land was to be so administered,
that the accustomed number of families supported by it should not be
diminished, and that the State should suffer no injury from the
carelessness or selfishness of the owners.[7] Land never was private
property in that personal sense of property in which we speak of a thing as
our own, with which we may do as we please; and in the administration of
estates, as indeed in the administration of all property whatsoever, duty
to the State was at all times supposed to override private interest or
inclination. Even tradesmen, who took advantage of the fluctuations of the
market, were rebuked by parliament for "their greedy and covetous minds,"
"as more regarding their own singular lucre and profit than the commonweal
of the Realm;"[8] and although in an altered world, neither industry nor
enterprise will thrive except under the stimulus of self-interest, we may
admire the confidence which in another age expected every man to prefer the
advantage of the community to his own. All land was held upon a strictly