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chase, The element of sport, and the thirst for pleasure, largely influenced the customs of that former epoch in English country life; and yet, with all their gayety, they were able to provide for the sustenance and happiness of a large number of retainers or tenantry without enormous expense. For these, their people, lived under their lords and mistresses with loving submission and loyal devotion, understanding the duties of their station in life, and therewith content; they looked to them for their maintenance and kind consideration, and asked for no mere. The relation between master and retainer was one of love on both sides, of pure affection for a trusted and faithful vassal, of devotion and desire to please from the man to the master.

But at the present day all this has gone, the changes introduced by an entirely different civilization have made the former life impossible; the laws of trade, the demands of mercantile life, the advancement of commerce, of which London is the grand centre, have effected a revolution, which has entirely overthrown the relationship existing at other times between the country gentleman and his retainers. Now the lord of the manor rises early, and hurries away to the city, where important matters at the bank, or the shipping-office, or the lawyer’s desk, are waiting for him; the places on his old-time estate, which long ago were filled with trusty retainers, are desolate, and often large halls stand permanently vacant. Walls are bare of ornament or picture because there is no one to keep up the establishment. Is England better and happier for the extinction of a style of life read of in history but not to-day