Taffy was a Welshman 123 



rhyme may suggest itself to the English reader ; but in the 

 light of the legal paradox which declares that " the greater 

 the truth, the greater the libel," it may not be judicious to 

 quote it. Local opinion maintains it to be the base inven- 

 tion of a malicious Saxon mind ; or that the historic Taffy 

 was a Welshman, whose failure to distinguish between his 

 own beef and other people's was the result of contamination 

 in profligate London, and the fable may be without signifi- 

 cance. On his native heath the Celt is probably as honest 

 as other people ; but as that heath does not commonly extend 

 into the neighbouring parish, it is manifestly absurd to 

 expect that it should reach to Ultima Thule. 



In the village, the amount of cock-crowing in the early 

 morning is often a serious nuisance. Where the poultry 

 are all roosting out of doors, on wall-top, hedge, or stick- 

 heap, the least noise wakes them up, and sets the clarions 

 going, at all hours of the night. I was sometimes amused 

 to note the reversal of the ordinary course of things in this 

 way ; the tread of an early workman beneath my windows, 

 though it was still quite dark, invariably having the effect 

 of setting the cocks agoing ; the man thus serving to call 

 the bird, not the bird the man ! In this connection rather 

 a funny incident, which occurred here, may be related. A 

 farmer had always made it his boast that he got up at 

 " cock-crow," and that he had never failed to hear his self- 

 set alarum. One morning, however, he was found still 

 asleep by his man, though considerably after daybreak, and, 

 still protesting that such a thing had never happened before, 

 he hastened out of doors, only to find that his cock had 

 been " lifted " during the night ! 



But to return to the Polecat. In spite of its short legs, 

 and apparently rather clumsy body, it is surprising the 

 extent of ground that one of these animals will cover in the 

 course of a night, especially in the spring during the pairing 

 season ; and I have been astonished also at the ease with 

 which it jumps. I have known one spring, without, 

 apparently, any great effort, a height of nearly four feet 

 from the ground, and in tracking them in the snow, have 

 frequently seen where a ditch, or other obstacle, has been 



