retired. There was still a shop on the same premises, but of a very inferior kind. Many labourers emigrated, and the village began to adapt itself to its altered circumstances. Things might yet have gone on tolerably well at Banton, had it not been for the misery which vice always brings with it. The idle and worthless, who had been partly maintained by the dissipation at the Hall, found their resources at once cut off; and as it is always very hard to unlearn bad habits, there were a number of poor and wretched families, who were kept from starvation by parish relief, and the little assistance which the charitable amongst their neighbours were able to afford.

This was the state of Banton when, at the end of five years, the property was sold. It was purchased by a benevolent man, who at his first visit was shocked by the misery and want he saw around him. His house was soon assailed by applicants for relief, and all these attributed their misfortunes to the faults and absence of the late Squire. Anxious to put an end to their distress, the new owner of the property resolved to spend his whole income upon the relief of the poor. He had no family, so he contented himself with furnishing two rooms in a very simple way, and lived with only two servants in a most frugal manner. His benevolent intentions being known, there was no lack of persons take advantage of them. All the needy folk of the village had their tales of want, and it was evident that they were in great distress.

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The Squire soon found out that these were neither good managers nor deserving people-still he could not let them starve; and thinking that their vices had arisen from their poverty, he hoped that by relieving them he should in time make them better. They all took his good advice with fair professions, but he did not find that they really profited by it. At the end of a year they wore the same miserable appearance as when he

first came; and he would sometimes find children starying from want, because their parents had spent the money he had given them in drinking at the alehouse.

Nor was this the worst of it. The Squire's character was soon known throughout the neighbourhood, and a number of idle worthless people came and settled in and about Banton, in hopes of getting a share of his bounty. Not wishing to spend a farthing upon pleasure, he had dismissed his park-keepers and gamekeepers; and people took advantage of this to break into his plantations, destroy the game, and steal wood. Other thefts, too, became common: farmers lost their chickens, and sometimes even a sheep; and, notwithstanding that the whole of a reasonably large income was spent in charity, the parish was called upon to support numerous paupers. The increased poor-rates pressed hard upon the respectable and industrious inhabitants, to whom the Squire gave no employment because he fancied he could not afford to do so.

The state of the parish was now become miserable, and this good though unwise man, finding that he had entirely failed to improve the condition even of the very poorest, disheartened by his failure, sold the property at a great sacrifice, and the old Hall once more changed hands.

CHAPTER XII.

THE THREE SQUIRES.-PART II.

THE new proprietor being a really sensible man, was shocked at the state of the village in which he had fixed his abode. He was not less benevolent than his predecessor, but he understood better how to employ his money. He knew that indiscriminate almsgiving had the worst possible effect: it gave rise to all kinds of deceit, and was likely to make people both idle and

helpless. His first step towards general improvement was to engage a number of trustworthy men to take the places of bailiff, park-keeper, and other offices of trust. Although he did not wish to spend money in preserving game for his own pleasure, he knew that if . he had two respectable men for gamekeepers, they would attend to his woods and keep out trespassers.

These trespassers not only damaged the trees and broke the fences, but learned habits of dishonesty, and soon passed from stealing game and pilfering wood to more daring acts of theft. In selecting this higher class of servants, the Squire first tried to find them in his own village; but there were only two whom he could engage for these places-the rest he had to bring in from other parts. This gave dissatisfaction at first; but when some of the villagers expressed this feeling to Mr. Wilson-the retired shopkeeper-he, being a shrewd and sensible man, entirely disagreed with them.

"Depend upon it, you are wrong," he said. "I begin to hope for better days for Banton; nothing can go on well unless there is plenty of work, and that work be properly done. A master can do nothing unless those who overlook the workpeople are trustworthy and capable. Besides, you will find that these 'foreigners,' as you call them, will bring in some good at once. The butcher, baker, and grocer will be among the first to benefit by it, and none will lose, for it is no loss to any one not to be placed in a situation for which he is unfit. I agree with the Squire."

It was not long before Mr. Wilson was found to be right in his opinion. The Squire having now provided trusty overseers, was able to find work for those who were in want of it. So, whenever the poor came up to the Hall as in the old times, to beg for assistance, he gave neither money nor food to any except the sick and aged, and he took pains to prevent imposition. All who would work were sent to the bailiff, who was

directed to find them some kind of employment. The property had been so neglected of late years, that there was plenty of work for any one who would do it. This mode of proceeding effected a great change in a very short time. The poor declared that the Squire was a very hard man, and wished they had their good old master back again; they could not help allowing that he was very liberal to the more respectable old people, but then they would say "They are favourites."

Those who had come into Banton from other places, in order to be able to live without working, now found that it was no place for them, and the parish was soon rid of a great many. But unfortunately, vice had obtained such a hold in Banton, that there were many idle and worthless people remaining. It was not easy to cure them. Most of them agreed to take the work which was offered them, but they had no intention of really working. When they found the bailiff, who was a very active man, determined to see that every labourer should honestly earn his wages, a great number began to leave. Some complained of the bailiff to the Squire, who gave every one a patient hearing; showing plainly, however, that he was not a man to be easily deceived, and people soon found that it was of no use to complain to him without reason. Some of the idle, finding they must now either work or starve, began to improve; and as the Squire took great pains to encourage all who made efforts to reform themselves, several gave up their bad practices and became honest thriving labourers.

There were still, however, not a few who continued to be very unsatisfactory inhabitants of Banton. At one time they would go to the Union, where they liked neither the confinement nor the discipline. Then, on coming out, they would do odd jobs of work and manage to shuffle on for a time, just keeping themselves from tarvation. If they earned a little money, it was spent

at the beershop; and thus there was still a number of wretched families in the village, for vice and idleness are not overcome in a day.

The example of the better sort, however, was not without effect, and the worst class was gradually decreasing. The school which had of late been almost deserted, was soon much better attended. More parents were able to pay for their children's schooling, and the landlord always encouraged his tenants to send them, though he would not compel any one to do so. The parents took a pride in hearing their children repeat at home in the evening what they had learnt during the day, and the good lessons which were taught to the children sometimes found their way to the parents' hearts.

Thus the village continued to improve: the removal of the idle was followed by a decrease in the poor-rates, which benefited every householder in the parish. The works which the Squire had undertaken, being wisely planned and carefully executed, became profitable; and in the course of three years, the owner of the old Manor House found his income greater than he had reason to expect it would be when he purchased the property.

Hitherto he had occupied only a few rooms in the house, giving his whole attention to the land; but now he felt himself at liberty to repair the Hall, which was in a sad state of dilapidation. An architect came down from London, and his arrival being soon known all over the village, the Squire's probable intentions formed the subject of conversation between our friend Mr. Wilsor and Mr. Newman, who now kept the grocer's shop:

Mr. N. I fear we have been mistaken in our Squire, after all. He seems only to have been striving to make himself rich, and now he is going to spend his money upon his own comfort.

Mr. W. Stop, my good friend. If this has been his motive, I do not know whether it is very different from yours and mine.