that that property is
habitable. It acts more by custom, habit, more by acquiescence of
the parties than by any imperious, hard-and-fast law laid down at a
distance from the scene. But any hope of the resuscitation of Court
Leets must not be entertained, because in so many places the manor
is now merely 'reputed,' and has no proper existence; because, too,
the lord of the manor may be living at a distance, and possess
scarcely any property in the parish, except his 'rights.' The idea,
however, of the agriculturists and principal residents in a village
meeting in a friendly manner together, under the direct leadership
of the largest landowner, to discuss village matters, is one that
may be revived with some prospect of success. At present, who,
pray, has the power of so much as convening a meeting of the
parishioners, or of taking the sense of the village? It may be done
by the churchwardens convening a Vestry, but a Vestry is extremely
limited in authority, unpopular, and without any cohesion. Under
the new Education Acts the signatures of a certain number of
ratepayers to a requisition compels the officer appointed by law to
call a meeting, but only for objects connected with the school.
Upon consideration it appears that there really is no village
authority at all; no recognized place or time at which the
principal inhabitants can meet together and discuss the affairs of
the parish with a prospect of immediate action resulting. The
meetings of the magistrates at petty sessions, quarter sessions,
and at various other times are purposely omitted from this
argument, because there is rarely more than one magistrate resident
in a village, or at most two, and the assemblies of these gentlemen
at a distance from their homes cannot be taken to form a village
council in any sense of the term.

The places where agriculturists and the principal inhabitants of
the parish do meet together and discuss matters in a friendly
spirit are the churchyard, before service, the market dinner, the
hunting-field, and the village inn. The last has fallen into
disuse. It used to be the custom to meet at the central village inn
night after night to hear the news, as well as for convivial
purposes. In those days of slow travelling and few posts, the news
was communicated from village to village by pedlars, or carriers'
carts calling, as they went, at each inn. But now it is a rare
thing to find farmers at the inn in their own village. The old