USES TO WHICH [Chap. 



used no coercive means to make him swallow 

 the pdte ; but, put within his reach nothing hut 

 the meat and the ^:»^/i'e ; and he was too polite 

 or too prudent to make any positive remon- 

 strance 5 so that, at the end of about a fort- 

 night, he took very kindly to the pate, which, 

 by that time, he called pudding ; and at the 

 end of a month, or thereabouts, the fellow 

 actually complained if there were a dinner 

 without pudding ; that is to say, he expressed 

 his regret or disappointment at it, and used 

 to slip away from his lessons in the morning, 

 to go and beg my wife to make a pudding for 

 dinner ; and no wonder, for they were of great 

 variety, m.ade in the best manner, and of the 

 best materials. This defence of English food is 

 not necessary to satisfy ourselves of the value 

 and utility of puddings amongst people in 

 general ; but, T think it necessary to show, 

 how very useful the practice of making them 

 must be, in the faipilies of those, where not 

 only money, but fuel and time are of so 

 much importance. It very frequently happens 

 that a poor man is short of fuel to heat his 

 oven. In the country, you must sometimes go 

 miles for yeast ; and then, you must sometimes 

 be in a state of uncertainty of getting it at all : 

 you must wait, perhaps, for many days, in order 

 to receive it by the carrier from the next big 



