230 RECORDS OF OLD TIMES 



educated and uneducated. We spoke of the 

 ordinary occupations of each ; of horses with the 

 head ploughman, of sheep with shepherd, of high 

 pedigree shorthorns with the herdsman, and of various 

 operations with general workers. Mr. Ellis soon dis- 

 covered what he required, and brought to my notice 

 peculiarities which I had never noticed before, but 

 which I soon recognised, especially those expressions 

 and idioms which were peculiar to my district. 

 The endings of words, with their pronunciation and 

 flexions of language, were soon developed, and I 

 learnt for the first time how Buckinghamshire and 

 Oxfordshire differed from Yorkshire and Middlesex, 

 and how Somersetshire became, as it were, almost 

 a foreign language to the Northern Midland 

 Counties. Yet more to be noticed than the words 

 was the sing-song and chant of the Eastern 

 Counties, more noticeable in Norfolk and Suffolk 

 than in Essex. After this visit I received several 

 letters, with inquiries, from Mr. Ellis, and with the 

 assistance of my son Robert, who daily superintended 

 the work of the labourers on the farm, and others 

 in the town and neighbourhood, we prepared a 

 careful statement, which proved of considerable 

 utility in elucidating the subject. Much amusement 

 ensued from the extraordinary admixture of cause 

 and effect, which somehow my men had got into 

 their heads. Henry Baldwin, my well-known 

 attendant at all the poultry shows — abroad and at 

 home — and who was manager of the prize poultry 

 live stock, once said, in reference to the injury the 



