46 IDLEHURST : 



wattle pens of sheep ; and it is well to notice the 

 difference between the faces here and those of the 

 cattle-dealers. Here are many of a passing type, 

 middle-aged men, ruddy and open faced, in clean 

 frock and gaiters, carrying an ancient, green carriage 

 umbrella. The new type, which bargains among the 

 bullocks and horses, is more various, but to my 

 fancy, generally unpleasant to see. There are heads 

 bending over the sheep pens that might have been 

 the originals of the fourteenth-century corbels in the 

 church. Among the cattle-dealers there is hardly 

 a face which does not bear the stamp of the hour 

 which must sweat her sixty minutes to the death. 

 Altogether there is a prevalence of expressions hard, 

 coarse, and animal. From the gentleman-farmer in 

 check tail-coat and cord breeches, to the butcher in 

 a greasy mackintosh, all look as though they ate too 

 much, and drank something more. Whether farming 

 be on its last legs or no, market takings find some- 

 thing still for the hotel bars. Towards dusk, after 

 the weekly market at Tisfield, you can meet the 

 farmers' traps going home, some at a gallop, many 

 with loose reins, and foul-mouthed or sleepy tipsiness 

 in command. The " Griffin " at Tisfield on market 

 day is a warm corner. You will find the farmer who 

 was late home on the market Wednesday, strolling 



