in church and state. Priestley, for example, combined
'materialism' and 'determinism' with Christianity and a belief in
miracles, and controverted Horsley upon one side and Paine on the other.

NOTES:

[31] _Wealth of Nations_, bk. ii. ch. iii.

[32] _Wealth of Nations_, bk. i. ch. xi. Sec. 1.

[33] _Ibid._ bk. i. ch. xi. conclusion.

[34] Smiles's _Watt and Boulton_, p. 292.

II. THE AGRICULTURISTS

The general spirit represented by such movements was by no means
confined to the commercial or manufacturing classes; and its most
characteristic embodiment is to be found in the writings of a leading
agriculturist.

Arthur Young,[35] born in 1741, was the son of a clergyman, who had also
a small ancestral property at Bradfield, near Bury St. Edmunds.
Accidents led to his becoming a farmer at an early age. He showed more
zeal than discretion, and after trying three thousand experiments on his
farm, he was glad to pay L100 to another tenant to take his farm off his
hands. This experience as a practical agriculturist, far from
discouraging him, qualified him in his own opinion to speak with
authority, and he became a devoted missionary of the gospel of
agricultural improvement. The enthusiasm with which he admired more
successful labourers in the cause, and the indignation with which he
regards the sluggish and retrograde, are charming. His kindliness, his
keen interest in the prosperity of all men, rich or poor, his ardent
belief in progress, combined with his quickness of observation, give a
charm to the writings which embody his experience. Tours in England and
a temporary land-agency in Ireland supplied him with materials for books
which made him known both in England and on the Continent. In 1779 he
returned to Bradfield, where he soon afterwards came into possession of
his paternal estate, which became his permanent home. In 1784 he tried
to extend his propaganda by bringing out the _Annals of Agriculture_--a
monthly publication, of which forty-five half-yearly volumes appeared.
He had many able contributors and himself wrote many interesting
articles, but the pecuniary results were mainly negative. In 1791 his
circulation was only 350 copies.[36] Meanwhile his acquaintance with the
duc de Liancourt led to tours in France from 1788 to 1790. His _Travels
in France_, first published in 1792, has become a classic. In 1793 Young
was made secretary to the Board of Agriculture, of which I shall speak
presently. He