Wesley Corpus

I allow too, that some of the villages near the Land’s End are less populous than formerly; but what is all this loss, taken together, in comparison of the increase? I cannot but think there has been, within twenty years, an increase of more than an hundred thousand, in six cities and towns only; I mean, in London, Bristol, Birmingham, Sheffield, Manchester, and Liverpool. Do not you see with your eyes in all these places, not only houses, but whole streets added continually? And can any one persuade you, in the mean time, that there is no increase of inhabitants? And yet some have wonder fully affirmed that there is a decrease of inhabitants even in London | Why do they not affirm, there is a decrease of houses too? When I see one, I will believe the other. And it is not only in cities and large towns, as some have intimated, but even on commons, heaths, and mountains, yea, all over the Peak of Derbyshire, that you may see little houses (and many not very little) shooting up on every side. And does not this denote an increase of people? Or are they inhabited only by rats and mice? Considering these things which I have seen with my own eyes, I cannot doubt one moment but England has a million more inhabitants than it had twenty years ago. 2. “As to agriculture, what was the state of it last year, compared with the state of it in 1759? Has it advanced or declined since that time? You may judge by considering a very few particulars. Are your old farm-houses, barns, out houses, tumbling down? And are no new ones erected? Are your old enclosures, fences, drains, running to decay, and no new ones making? Is there less land tilled and improved now, than there was in 1759? Nay more, as is notoriously known, by many hundred thousand acres. Are our farmers in general grown poorer than heretofore? Are their stocks of hay and corn, of sheep, horses, and cattle diminished? Are they not exceedingly increased ? I will add no more. Let those who affirm we are on the brink of ruin show how greatly our agriculture is decreased since the happy days of 17591’’ 3. Again: Inquire, my friends, “In what respects and in what degree have any of our manufactures declined of late?