Rustic Manners and Customs. 85 



tlie bowling green of his native village.^ The class of country- 

 gentry which met at the covert-side would have looked askance 

 at a neighbour if, in their estimation, he had overstayed his 

 time either in the London Temple or in the London coffee- 

 houses. In the first case he would have incurred the imputa- 

 tion of being a fellow full of quirks, quiddits, demurs, sarsararees 

 and procedendoes ; and, in the second, he w^ould have been 

 dubbed a bundle of vanities, a walking mercer's shop, or a 

 three-parts fop and the rest Hector.^ 



The squire's womankind had at last discovered that em- 

 broidery was not the whole duty of female life. Some ladies 

 became fashionable, and took to politics and intrigue ; some be- 

 came mere drudges, and devoted their whole existence to the 

 kitchen and still-room ; and others, encroaching on the offices 

 of parson and doctor, dispensed medicine and advice to all 

 their husband's servants and dependants. But by far the 

 larger proportion, avoiding all these extremes, devoted their 

 time to raising the standards of comfort and intelligence in 

 all those with whom they came in contact. "We read in the 

 Rambler that in the days of the Specfafor " young (unmarried) 

 ladies contented themselves to be found employed in domestick 

 duties, for then routs, drums, balls, assemblies and such like 

 markets for women were not known. Modesty and diffidence, 

 gentleness and meekness were looked upon as the appropriate 

 virtues and characteristicks of the sex. And if a forward 

 spirit pushed itself into notice, it was exposed in print as it 

 deserved." ^ The majority of country squires acquired wives 

 like her whom the Vicar of Wakefield married, and chose 

 them as they in their turn chose their wedding gowns, " more 

 to wear than to look at." The typical squire's dame was she 

 who was hard to beat in pickling, preserving, and cookery, 

 capable of reading arry English book without much spelling, 

 and at the same time a lady " than whom few could show 



1 The Rambler, No. 61, October IG, 1760. 



- " The Character of a Town Gallant, 1675." Old Book Collector's 

 Miscellany, vol. iv. 

 3 Rambler, No. 97, February 19, 1751. 



