GRAZIERS. 169 



and I retired to bed, I might have said, 

 this man has made mankind his study 

 to some purpose. 



In those sturdy and useful sons of the 

 soil whose company I generally had up on 

 the Saturday or Sunday, and down on the 

 Tuesday, I met with little variety of charac- 

 ter, and nothing to call for any particular 

 notice, except that with them I found 

 myself quite at home, both on the box and 

 on the Monday evening at their inn, after 

 their day's work in Smithfield, when en- 

 veloped in one cloud of smoke, imbibing 

 strong potations, and making display of as 

 many acquirements as their vocation re- 

 quired. These they all seemed to know 

 how to apply. Although their conversa- 

 tion would not extend beyond the breed 

 of oxen, I listened with attention when they 

 discussed the peculiar qualities of each, and 

 their adaptation to this or that particular 

 soil. I also discovered that they were all 



