OLD OXEN 9 



discussed the peculiar qualities of each, and their adapta- 

 tion to this or that particular soil. I also discovered that 

 they were all men of substance in every sense of that 

 word ; among them, I remember, was the father of the 

 young man so heartlessly and cruelly sent to his last 

 account by that inhuman monstei>. Palmer. 



I remember about this time goino; into a field at Red- 

 bourn, where there was a drove of Highland oxen, on 

 their way to Barnet Fair. Observing three or four 

 among them with particularly large and wide-spread 

 horns, evidently worked oxen, and otherwise showing 

 symptoms of mature age, I asked the drover — a pure 

 Scotchman — how old he might suppose them to be. 



" Indeed," said Sawney, " I canna' say ; they might 

 have draw'd the 'tillery for Charley at the battle of 

 CuUoden, for aught I know ! " 



The lace buyers were men of ordinary capacity and 

 ordinary conversation ; nevertheless, from them I learnt 

 the nature of the occupation of the female part of the 

 community they were in the habit of visiting, which 

 spoke much for the industry and cleanliness of the 

 cottagers in that part of the country. What a pity that 

 machinery, in the wide-spread good that it has accom- 

 plished, should, at its outset, be subversive of such 

 qualities. 



In the summer months I was indulged, frequently, 

 with the company of some of the fairer part of the crea- 

 tion, and their attraction, I could find, was not diminished 

 by surveying and enjoying the beauties of nature from 

 the roof of a stage-coach ; indeed, it seemed to give 

 additional charms to their conversation, and awaken a 



