TUBBER TURNER. 343 



utilitarian, is very little an admirer of the 

 picturesque either." 



" He does not dare to break that turf," 

 said the Parson. " There are not many 

 things in the world that Pat is afraid of 

 doing if he have a mind to do them, but that 

 is one ; you could not get a man in three 

 counties to dig a spit of earth in one of those 

 raths — no, not if you offered him a hundred 

 pounds for doing it." 



" I should be sorry to try the experiment," 

 said the Squire, " unless I had a good many 

 hundreds to spare. Has the trial ever been 

 fairly made?" 



"Yes, that it has, to my certain know- 

 ledge," said the Parson ; " it was made by a 

 friend of mine, a great agriculturist, who 

 had what he called an English farm, and 

 wished at once to improve his estate, and 

 disabuse the public mind of their absurd 

 superstitions. I cannot tell you the precise 

 sum he offered ; but, at all events, you might 

 have had half the landlords of the country 

 shot for less money. Not a man would look 

 at it, and he w r as obliged at last to cut the 

 first turf himself. After that the labourers 

 followed readily enough, for it is only the 



