SHEPHERDS AND FLOCKS. 305 



CHAPTER XLIV. 



Flocks, Dogs, and Shepherds of Salisbury Plain Village Almshouses 

 Ostentation in Alms-giving A Forced March At Home in Salisbury 

 The Street Brooks The Cathedral Architectural Remarks and 

 Advice Village Churches. 



THE chalk-hills, or downs (locally called beak-land), are unen- 

 * closed, and rarely separated from the cultivated land by more 

 than a low turf-wall, often not at all. Once, in the course of the 

 morning, I came near a flock of about two hundred sheep, feeding 

 close to the road, and stopped a few moments to look at them. 

 They were thorough-bred South-downs ; the shepherd sat at a 

 little distance, upon a knoll, and the dog was nearer the flock. 

 Growing close up to the edge of the road, opposite the sheep, was 

 a heavy piece of wheat ; one of them strayed over to it. The 

 dog cocked his ears and turned quickly several times towards his 

 master, as if knowing there was business for him, and waiting for 

 orders. But the shepherd was looking another way, and others 

 of the flock, lifting their heads as I approached them, and seeing 

 their comrade on the other side of the road, began to rush after 

 him, as is the manner of sheep ; and directly there were a dozen 

 eagerly nipping the wheat, and more following. The dog, sitting 

 erect, still waited for orders, till the shepherd, turning, spoke 

 quickly in a low monosyllable. Right over the heads of the 

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