Unenclosed Tracts of Country were common, in 1805, in the route through which we have passed; we may give, as instances, the commons of Harrow Weald, Rickmansworth, Buckingham, Cheadle, and Buxton; Delamere Forest, near Chester; Inglewood Forest, between Penrith and Carlisle; and a considerable tract of country between Annan and Dumfries. All these are now enclosed, and some of them covered with rich crops of grain and thriving plantations; the very poorest surfaces, such as those of Buxton Heath, and Delamere Forest, are now covered with pasture, enclosed by stone walls, or planted with trees. We do not recollect to have seen a single open common between London and Dumfries. The recently enclosed districts are easily recognised by the right lines and right angles of the fields, and the superior condition of the fences, buildings, and roads. Most old enclosures seem to have been more the result of accident than of design; and their crooked hedges and roads, and the irregularity of their farm-houses and cottages, bear the same confused character, and will probably long continue to do so; for it is much easier to lay out a new country than to mend an old one.
