142 THE LIFE OF RICHARD JEFFERIES 



" baa " of each lamb was so mixed, as it were, with the 

 bleat of its fellow that the swelling sound took a strange 

 mysterious tone ; a voice that seemed to speak of trouble, 

 and perplexity, and anxiety for rest. Hilary, as a 

 farmer, must of course go out to see whose they were, and 

 I went with him ; but before we reached the garden gate 

 he turned back, remarking, " It's Johnson's flock ; I know 

 the tang of his tankards." The flat-shaped bells hung 

 on a sheep's neck are called tankards ; and Hilary could 

 distinguish one flock from another by the varying notes 

 of their bells.' * 



There is much masterly gossip, with a sensuous quality 

 in the words and sound of it, beyond anything he had yet 

 written. The delicious quiet of its best cannot be excelled. 

 When the subject of the moment is baking bread in a 

 brick oven, the writing is at one with that sweet toil 

 itself : 



' They still baked a batch of bread occasionally, but not 

 all that was required. Cicely superintended the baking, 

 passing the barm through a sieve with a wisp of clean 

 hay in it. The hay takes off any sourness, and insures 

 it being perfectly sweet. She knew when the oven was 

 hot enough by the gauge-brick : this particular brick, 

 as the heat increased, became spotted with white, and 

 when it had turned quite white the oven was ready. The 

 wood embers were raked out with the scraper, and the 

 malkin, being wetted, cleaned out the ashes. " Thee 

 looks like a gurt malkin " is a common term of reproach 

 among the poor folk — meaning a bunch of rags on the 

 end of a stick. We went out to look at the oven ; and 

 then Mrs. Luckett made me taste her black-currant gin, 

 which was very good. Presently we went into the 

 orchard to look at the first apple-tree out in bloom. 

 While there a magpie flew across the meadow, and as I 

 watched it Mrs. Luckett advised me to turn my back 

 and not to look too long in that direction. " For," said 

 she, " one magpie is good luck, but two mean sorrow ; and 

 * Round about a Great Estate. 



