over all the
wastes. These sub-tenements were judged sufficient for the support of so
many families; and no further division was permitted. These divisions
and sub-divisions were convenient at the time for which they were
calculated: the land, so parcelled out, was of necessity more attended
to, and the industry greater, when more persons were to be supported by
the produce of it. The frontier of the kingdom, within which Furness was
considered, was in a constant state of attack and defence; more hands,
therefore, were necessary to guard the coast, to repel an invasion from
Scotland, or make reprisals on the hostile neighbour. The dividing the
lands in such manner as has been shown, increased the number of
inhabitants, and kept them at home till called for: and, the land being
mixed, and the several tenants united in equipping the plough, the
absence of the fourth man was no prejudice to the cultivation of his
land, which was committed to the care of three.

'While the villains of Low Furness were thus distributed over the land,
and employed in agriculture; those of High Furness were charged with the
care of flocks and herds, to protect them from the wolves which lurked
in the thickets, and in winter to browze them with the tender sprouts of
hollies and ash. This custom was not till lately discontinued in High
Furness; and holly-trees were carefully preserved for that purpose when
all other wood was cleared off; large tracts of common being so covered
with these trees, as to have the appearance of a forest of hollies. At
the Shepherd's call, the flocks surrounded the holly-bush, and received
the croppings at his hand, which they greedily nibbled up, bleating for
more. The Abbots of Furness enfranchised these pastoral vassals, and
permitted them to enclose _quillets_ to their houses, for which they
paid encroachment rent.'--West's _Antiquities of Furness_.

However desirable, for the purposes of defence, a numerous population
might be, it was not possible to make at once the same numerous
allotments among the untilled vallies, and upon the sides of the
mountains, as had been made in the cultivated plains. The enfranchised
shepherd or woodlander, having chosen there his place of residence,
builds it of sods, or of the mountain-stone, and, with the permission of
his lord, encloses, like Robinson Crusoe, a small croft or two
immediately at his door for such animals as he wishes to protect. Others
are happy to imitate his