THE FARMER 173 



sweet, so enjoyable, as a dairy ? If people would but be satis- 

 fied, and make the most of what they have, instead of yearning 

 after what they have not, no mercantile trading life could com- 

 pare with that of a Farmer. The glittering uniform may delight 

 the boy, but the easy coat of the country resident, the roomy 

 house, above all, self-masterj', present attractions that no 

 gaudy outward show can compensate for the want of. Though 

 we hear of few large fortunes made in farming, we seldom see 

 a Farmer in "The Gazette" — never almost, unless he has been 

 speculating in something he ought not. Railways, perhaps. 



But let us take a glance at a Farmer in the hunting field. 

 The jolly-looking chap turning in is Mr. Barleycorn, of 

 Verdon, one of the old school of Farmers ; he is mounted on 

 one of the old stamp of hunters. Horse and rider are very 

 much of a-piece, big, boney, lasting-looking articles. The 

 horse is two-and-twenty 3'ears old, and though old " Corn," as 

 they call him, rides fifteen stone, and is generally first to come 

 and last to go, there is no blemish or symptom of decay about 

 the nag. Barleycorn and his friend, Michael Brownstout, of 

 Sapcote, keep a pack of harriers between them, but when the 

 foxhounds are near they give the preference to them. Barley- 

 corn has farmed in good times, bad times, and middling times, 

 but in whatever times he has farmed his heart has always been 

 in the right place, and he has never given way to despondency 

 or fear. Fear forsooth ! look at his frame ; there's a fist that 

 would fell an o.x. He. d — ns Peel, but only because he con- 

 siders Peel "did him." He's not a bit afraid of what he calls 

 the Alonncheers. 



Barleycorn, to our fancy, is one of the happiest of men. 

 He is rich — rich in the fewness of his wants — and has nearly 

 all the requirements of life within himself. A good, large, 

 roomy, well-built, old-fashioned farm-house, with attic 

 windows peering out of the stone roof, a comfortable parlour 

 on either side of the entrance, and the kitchen sufficientl}- 



