PREFACE. 



way impair or hinder that frankness of communication and manners which con 

 stitutes the charm of social intercourse. This would be sure to be checked if 

 we knew that a reporter for the public were constantly present ; and, if the hum 

 ble expression be allowed, it would hide itself in its burrow, as sure as it per 

 ceived that one of the feline or the canine race was always at the mouth of its 

 hole waiting its coming out. 



My agricultural tour, therefore, must not be expected to have much of per 

 sonal and private narrative ; though I am aware, that, from this very circum 

 stance, it may lack much of that interest which, with a large class of readers, it 

 might otherwise possess. However strong, on these accounts, the temptation, I 

 shall certainly not report many interesting conversations to which I have been a 

 party ; nor describe the eminent or the more humble individuals to whom I have 

 had the honor of an introduction ; nor, after the example of some tourists, tell of 

 the private visits which I have made, and the charming families whose honored 

 guest I have been ; nor speak of the &quot; accomplished men, and the delightful 

 women, and the beautiful daughters, and the promising sons,&quot; in the houses 

 where, to use the only term by which true English hospitality may be expressed, 

 I have been domicttiated, and to do only justice to many of whom, and to a con 

 dition of society in the highest degree polished and improved, would not be for 

 me an easy task. I say nothing of the impropriety of stealing for the public the 

 likeness of a friend, without his consent, and without allowing him to choose his 

 position, his dress, or his painter ; for, as an agriculturist, this is not the species of 

 live stock which I came to examine, and in which those for whose benefit I travel 

 would be most interested. Yet, while I shall scrupulously avoid all person 

 alities whatever of this description, I shall feel at perfect liberty to give, as far 

 as I am able, a true picture of rural life in England, and of the condition and 

 habits of the rural population ; and if, in doing this, I shall, in any ca e, be 

 thought to go beyond the strict line of what may be called the practical and the 

 useful in an agricultural tour, with the candid I shall find an apology in my ctesire 

 to alleviate the dulness of dry details, by occasional topics more light and ^magi- 

 native. It is not unreasonable for me to wish to attract to my pages, I hi pe for 

 their benefit, a class of readers who would be certain to be repelled from c\ mere 

 skeleton, however accurately and beautifully all the bones were put together, and 

 all the joints and articulations displayed ; but who would be delighted to con 

 template the same subject covered with flesh, instinct with life, radiant with 

 health, and clothed in the habiliments of elegance and fashion. Every one 

 knows the variety of tastes every where existing. He who caters for the public 

 will be, of course, anxious that each guest at the table should find something 

 which he likes. Though, perhaps, a large portion of mankind might be best 

 satisfied with plain boiled and roast, and content to eat their dinner out of 

 pewter plates, and from a plain and coarse oaken table without a cloth, such as 

 I have seen at Haddon Hall, nearly two centuries old ; there are not a few who 

 would prefer the refinements of modern life, a porcelain dish to a wooden tren 

 cher, a silver fork to the natural use of the ten digits, the French entries to the 

 more substantial covers ; and who, little as it may contribute to the actual sup 

 port of life, find as high a pleasure in the fittings-out of the banquet, its arrange 

 ments, neatness, order, beauty, and in the splendid pyramid of flowers which 

 often crowns its centre, as in any mere gratification of the appetite. Under any 

 circumstances it would be idle in me to presume to spread an elegant and 

 splendid table for my guests ; but while I shall be anxious to furnish that which 

 is substantial and nutritious, I shall be equally desirous that at least the dessert 



