( «5* ) 



part of the flock has been driven many miles 

 another way : but in the courfe of a week more 

 your fheep will be fo completely fcattered, that 

 you will have the fatisfa&ion, ride which way 

 you will, of feeing fome of them* 



Your fhepherd may be one of whofe honefty 

 and capacity you before have had fufficient 

 proofs, and in this refpect no more to be bla- 

 med than yourfelf. He has only been a dupe 

 to thofe fellows who praftife the trade of fheep- 

 herding for feveral mailers. 



He tells you (which is molt probably true) 

 that he has taken every means in his power to 

 keep your fheep together -, but they range fo 

 much that he muft have another horfe, and he 

 mud be allowed corn. By this time expences 

 run high : the horfe, if fold, would fetch lefs 

 by four pounds from the violent exercife he has 

 undergone j and you may add the fhepherd's 

 wages, and the keep of the horfe. But the 

 mifchief does not end here. In June the fheep 

 are to be wafhed, and, when brought upon the 

 farm, are found to have the fcab : twenty are 

 dead, and ten are miffing. You have two hun- 

 dred and feventy fheep remaining of the three 



hundred 



