OF THE OX. 121 



The miasma, condensed by the fogs and 

 transported in all directions by the winds, 

 now began to overleap every natural or arti- 

 ficial barrier, and the favoured herds, rumi- 

 nating at their ease in the manorial farms of 

 the wealthy patricians, in their well-kept parks 

 and amid every luxury, were suddenly smitten 

 with an evil which in their case seemed an 

 anomaly. In such peaceful homes these inno- 

 cent creatures were tended by intelligent and 

 benevolent hands, which understood and felt 

 for their frail constitutions ; food of the best 

 quality was lavishly supplied to them, and 

 whatever they could wish for lay around them 

 in abundance ; richly reared, they had them- 

 selves become so many ornaments within these 

 scenes of beauty, and all men thought that 

 here, at least, were plots of rural ground which 

 the genius of epizootia would not invade, and 

 in which the healthy herds were invulnerable 

 to contagion. 



It was under these circumstances that the 

 fine farms of Earl Grranville, at Golder's Green, 

 skirting the Finchley Road,* containing as 

 many as 130 milch cows, were suddenly and 



* See Note M. 



