WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 99 



An old chair or cabinet which once stood in the farm- 

 house generations ago is still preserved. 



Upon the shelf may be found a few books a Bible, 

 of course (hardly a cottager who can read is without 

 his Bible) and among the rest an ancient volume of 

 polemical theology, bound in leather ; it dates back 

 to the days of the fierce religious controversies which 

 raged in the period which produced Cromwell. There 

 is a rude engraving of the author for frontispiece, title 

 in red letter, a tedious preface, and the text is plenti- 

 fully bestrewn with Latin and Greek quotations. These 

 add greatly to its value in the cottager's eyes, for he 

 still looks upon a knowledge of Latin as the essential 

 of a " scholard." This book has evidently been handed 

 down for many generations as a kind of heirloom, for 

 on the blank leaves may be seen the names of the 

 owners, with the inevitable addition of " his " or " her 

 book." It is remarkable that literature of this sort 

 should survive so long. 



Even yet not a little of that spirit which led to the 

 formation of so many contending sects in the seven- 

 teenth century lingers in the cottage. I have known 

 men who seemed to reproduce in themselves the char- 

 acter of the close-cropped soldiers who prayed and 

 fought by turns with such energy. They still read 

 the Bible hi its most literal sense, taking every word 

 as addressed to them individually, and seriously try- 

 ing to shape their lives in accordance with their con- 

 victions. 



Such a man, who has been labouring in the hayfield 



