2&6 POTATOES. [PART ir. 



toes. It was proposed by some one to make a 

 law to encourage the growth of them; and, if 

 the Bill did not pass, it was, I believe, owing 

 to the ridicule which Mr. Home Tooke threw 

 upon that whole system of petty legislation. 

 Will it be believed, in another century, that the 

 law-givers of a great nation actually passed a 

 law to compel people to eat pollard in their 

 bread, and that, too, not for the purpose of 

 degrading or punishing, but for the purpose of 

 doing the said people good by adding to the 

 quantity of bread in a time of scarcity? Will 

 this be believed? In every bushel of wheat 

 there is a certain proportion of flour, suited to 

 the appetite and the stomach of man ; and a 

 certain proportion of pollard an<J bran, suited 

 to the appetite and stomach of pigs, cows, and 

 sheep. But the parliament of the years of wis 

 dom wished to cram the whole down the throat 

 of man, together with the flour of other grain. 

 And what was to become of the pigs, cows, 

 and sheep ? Whence were the pork, butter, and 

 mutton to come? And were not these articles 

 of human food as well as bread? The truth is, 

 that pollard, bran, and 'the coarser kinds of 

 grain, when given to cattle, make these cattle, 

 fat ; but when eaten by man make him lean and 

 weak. And yet this bill actually became a 

 law! 



