But to
understand my story, you must know that the peasantry of the west of
England, imbibe a notion, whether erroneous or not, I am not learned
enough to say, that if a person builds on waste lands, and is permitted
to proceed uninterrupted by the Lord of the Manor, or any other person,
until he has roofed and occupied it, or as they express it "made a smoke
in it" that the builder has an indisputable right to it. Now the man
willing to act on this principle, set his wits to work and constructed a
house on his brother's property beforementioned, on a movable foundation,
such as I am unable to describe; and when completed, he, in the course of
one night launched it over the hedge fairly into the common, and the next
morning found him busily employed in making the smoke that was, according
to village laws, to establish him in his newly acquired habitation; and
no doubt he would have continued quietly in the same place to this day,
had not a neighbouring 'squire took it into his head to teach this
commentator on the law, another version of its intricacies, and finally
caused him to set his house a-going once more, which it did in the manner
aforesaid, to a bit of land to which he had a more legal right, and where
it now stands.
Wonderful as this relation may seem, its truth may be relied on, and any
reader of the MIRROR, travelling, or having friends in that part of the
country, may easily ascertain the truth of my statement.
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