THE BACK PARISH. 



CHAPTER XII. 



WALK WITH A RUSTIC. FAMILY MEETING. A RECOLLECTION OF THE RHINE. 



IGNORANCE AND DEGRADED CONDITION OF THE ENGLISH AGRICULTURAL 



LABOURER. HOW HE IS REGARDED BY HIS SUPERIORS. THE PRINCIPLES 



OF GOVERNMENT. DUTIES OF THE GOVERNING. EDUCATION. SLAVERY. 



THE DIET OF LABOURERS. DRINK. BREAD. BACON. FRESH MEAT. 



E were bound for Monmouth that night, and soon after 

 sunset, having one of the farm labourers for a guide, we 

 struck across the fields into another lane. About a mile 

 from the farm-house, there was a short turn, and at the angle 

 the lane narrow and deep as usual was a small, steep- 

 roofed, stone building, with a few square and arched windows 

 here and there in it, and a perfectly plain cube of stone for 

 a tower, rising scarcely above the roof-tree, with an iron staff 

 and vane on one of its corners &quot;Saint some one s parish 

 church.&quot; There was a small graveyard, enclosed by a hedge 

 around it ; and in a corner of this, but with three doors open 

 ing in its front upon the lane, was a long, crooked, dilapi 

 dated old cottage. On one of the stone thresholds, a dirty, 

 peevish-looking woman was lounging, and before her, lying 

 on the ground in the middle of the lane, were several boys 

 and girls playing or quarrelling. They stopped as we came 

 near, and rolling out of the way, stared silently, and without 

 the least expression of recognition, at us, while we passed 

 among them. As we went on, the woman said something in 

 a sharp voice, and our guide shouted in reply, without, how- 



