THE AMATEUR TRAMP IN ENGLAND 141 



downs, albeit a trifle big in the bone and coarse in the 

 grain ; and there is the clucking of fattened poultry to 

 be heard from the yard round the corner, with the 

 cooing of the flock of pigeons that is laid under 

 contribution for the pies. The spring-cart of the fish- 

 monger from the nearest town pulls up punctually at 

 the door every morning, with the offer of anything from 

 soles to salmon. The bitter beer, it may be hoped, is 

 all that can be desired, if the house be not the property 

 of some short-sighted brewer ; for most of its patrons 

 are either connoisseurs or profess to be. And the 

 pleasures of a draught from a frothing tankard deserve 

 some dozen of pages to themselves, had we the space to 

 spare and the inspiration to pen them. As for the 

 cellar of wines, perhaps the less said the better, except 

 that they are no worse, and considerably cheaper, than 

 those to be met with in crack hotels, and that they may 

 very easily be dispensed with at the substantial repast to 

 which you sit down. Many a time a chance visit to 

 one of those houses has led to repeated sojourns later, 

 especially if there be an old-fashioned garden with 

 summer-houses, which you may turn into smoking 

 divans at the hours of digestion. 



But to come back to that walk of ours, which, by the 

 by, is yet to be begun. We give up our ticket at a 

 station, where all is still enough at present, since as yet 

 it is early in the day, and the City men are away at 

 their business. Late in the afternoon there will be a 

 crowd of carriages, from the barouche and the brougham, 

 through victorias and dog-carts, down to the humble 



