The dwellings of the working classes, and especially those on the country residences of landed proprietors, and in the manufacturing villages in the west of Scotland, have been certainly somewhat improved since the last time we passed leisurely through that country, in 1805; but they are still lamentably deficient in several important particulars. The causes of these deficiencies may be partly traced to the landlords, who generally build the cottages; but principally to the habits of the occupiers. For, on taking an enlarged view of the subject of social improvement, it will be found that the state and condition of every class of men depend chiefly upon themselves. If the working classes, as a body, determined on bettering their condition, maturely considered the means of doing so, and united in setting about carrying these means into effect, most assuredly they would attain their end. At the same time, something is to be expected from the benevolence of the wealthy; more especially from the employers of gardeners, bailiffs, and other resident servants in country seats; and it is chiefly to these enlightened and liberal proprietors, and their agents, that we now address ourselves.
