aia HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 



never exceeded the distance of the county town, and that only 

 at assize or session time, or to attend an election. Once a week 

 he commonly dined at the next market town with the attorneys 

 and justices. He went to church regularly, read the weekly 

 journal, settled the parochial disputes, and afterwards adjourned 

 to the neighbouring alehouse, where he generally got drunk 

 for the good of his country. He was commonly followed by 

 a couple of greyhounds and a pointer, and announced his 

 arrival at a neighbour's house by smacking his whip and giving 

 a view halloo. His drink was generally ale, except on Christ- 

 mas Day, the Fifth of November, or some other gala day, when 

 he would make a bowl of strong brandy. The mansion of one 

 of these squires was of plaster striped with timber, not unaptly 

 called callimanco work, or of red brick with large casemented 

 bow windows ; a porch with seats in it and over it a study : 

 the eaves of the house well inhabited by swallows, and the 

 court set round with hollyhocks ; near the gate a horse-block 

 for mounting. The hall was furnished with flitches of bacon, 

 and the mantelpiece with guns and fishing-rods of different 

 dimensions, accompanied by the broadsword, partisan, and 

 dagger borne by his ancestor in the Civil Wars. Against the 

 wall was posted King Charles's Golden Rules, Vincent Wing's 

 Almanac and a portrait of the Duke of Marlborough ; in his 

 window lay Baker's Chronicle, Foxe's Book of Martyrs, Glan- 

 vill On Apparitions, Quincey's Dispensatory, The Complete 

 Justice, and a Book of Farriery. In a corner by the fireside 

 stood a large wooden two-armed chair with a cushion, and 

 within the chimney corner were a couple of seats. Here at 

 Chrismas he entertained his tenants, assembled round a glowing 

 fire made of the roots of trees ; and told and heard the tradition- 

 ary tales of the village about ghosts and witches while a jorum of 

 ale went round. These men and their houses are no more.' 



The farmer, in some parts at all events, was becoming a 

 more civilized individual ; the late race had lived in the midst 

 of their enlightened neighbours like beings of another order ^ ; 

 in their personal labour they were indefatigable, in their fare 

 hard, in their dress homely, in their manners rude. The 

 French and American War of 1775-83 was a very prosperous 



' CuUum, History of Hawstedf^. 219. 



