THE PLAIN 'ENGLISH' OF IT. 183 



* So we're not to have a Steam Plough, then, after 

 all eh, Sir ? ' he at last began. Well, I've heerd 

 talk of it so long that I hardly know whether I'm 

 glad or sorry. But, lor' blesh ye, you go too fast : 

 the Plough's too old a stager to be got rid of that 

 way. Steam I do suppose it will be some day : there 

 I suppose you're right enough. But if we're to wait 

 till this what-d'ye-call-it, French-revolution sort of 

 thing, well I beg pardon this merry-go-round 

 Conundrum o' yours [Well, well ! whatever it is, 

 then] is brought to pass, why it's like waiting for 

 two things instead o' one. No, no ! ploughing it must 

 be : it is, however, a'ready ! for I hear talk o' one or 

 two people as are trying it on. There's some lord, I 

 forget his name, has written a book all about it, with 

 a picture a yard long, where it's all at work as nice 

 as can be ; an engine at each end, and the ploughs 

 a-drawing away in the middle. He's afore you en- 

 tirely ; for there it is, actshally a-ploughing with 

 common ploughs in the book.' 



* Listen to me, you old perversity. I have seen 

 that " book," as you call it. The pamphlet reached 

 me long before you saw it ; but not till long after the 

 idea it portrays had been as familiar as an old family 



