Preface 
showy way. He was no great frequenter of 
markets; still less of market inns. 
The reason for this may have been partly that 
the customary sociability of markets did not quite 
suit either his pocket or his taste. His pocket, 
never too well lined, might very well not have 
afforded such a hole in it as “ treating’ must 
have cost jollier men every week. ‘To many men 
the markets of Farnham, Alton, Petersfield were 
a sort of farmers’ club, where boon companions 
were sure to be met and where the gossip of the 
countryside could be jovially exchanged; where 
men whose field-life was often solitary could enjoy 
the company of their equals. Inns did good 
business ; their parlours got crowded with friends 
smoking, drinking, settling bargains, swopping 
yarns. 
But John Smith, even had he had shillings 
enough for this sort of pastime, was still a little 
bit too reserved to like it. He never swore; he 
never told a “smutty” tale. He would have 
been slightly out of his element in the ordinary 
market inn; in short, he was by way of being a 
trifle straight-laced. Others there were indeed 
as punctilious; but these others wrapped them- 
selves round in aloof dignity which had an air of 
pride in it quite foreign to John Smith’s manner. 
His religion was, I should say, more heart-felt 
than most men’s; there was a glow of sincerity 
xiv)” 
