estates, and there practise retrenchment. Let them return to that
noble simplicity, that practical good sense, that honest pride, which
form the foundation of true English character, and from them they may
again rear the edifice of fair and honourable prosperity.

On the rural habits of the English nobility and gentry, on the manner
in which they discharge their duties of their patrimonial possessions,
depend greatly the virtue and welfare of the nation. So long as they
pass the greater part of their time in the quiet and purity of the
country; surrounded by the monuments of their illustrious ancestors;
surrounded by every thing that can inspire generous pride, noble
emulation, and amiable and magnanimous sentiment; so long they are
safe, and in them the nation may repose its interests and its honour.
But the moment that they become the servile throngers of court
avenues, and give themselves up to the political intrigues and
heartless dissipations of the metropolis, that moment they lose the
real nobility Of their natures, and become the mere leeches of the
country.

That the great majority of nobility and gentry in England are endowed
with high notions of honour and independence, I thoroughly believe.
They have evidenced it lately on very important questions, and have
given an example of adherence to principle, in preference to party and
power, that must have astonished many of the venal and obsequious
courts of Europe. Such are the glorious effects of freedom, when
infused into a constitution. But it seems to me, that they are apt to
forget the positive nature of their duties, and to fancy that their
eminent privileges are only so many means of self-indulgence. They
should recollect, that in a constitution like that of England, the
titled orders are intended to be as useful as they are ornamental, and
it is their virtues alone that can render them both. Their duties are
divided between the sovereign and the subjects; surrounding and giving
lustre and dignity to the throne, and at the same time tempering and
mitigating its rays, until they are transmitted in mild and genial
radiance to the people. Born to leisure and opulence, they owe the
exercise of their talents, and the expenditure of their wealth, to
their native country. They may be compared to the clouds; which, being
drawn up by the sun, and elevated in the heavens, reflect and magnify
his splendour; while they repay the earth, from which they derive
their su