But retrenchment is no plea for abandonment of country.
They nave risen with the prosperity of the land; let them abide its
fluctuations, and conform to its fortunes. It is not for the rich to
fly, because the country is suffering: let them share, in their
relative proportion, the common lot; they owe it to the land that has
elevated them to honour and affluence. When the poor have to diminish
their scanty morsels of bread; when they have to compound with the
cravings of nature, and study with how little they can do, and not be
starved; it is not then for the rich to fly, and diminish still
farther the resources of the poor, that they themselves may live in
splendour in a cheaper country. Let them rather retire to their
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.
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