330 Life and Times of " The Druid." 



recovering - somewhat from the exhaustion he 

 fervently exclaimed, " Thank God for bring- 

 ing me home to die with wife and children 

 around me." 



Little did he dream of the four years of 

 intense suffering he had yet to endure. 



He caught so fearful a cold in a night 

 ride, of which his description is given below, 

 that when he 8fot home asthma marked him 

 for its victim, aud for four sad years he 

 enjoyed little rest, either by night or day. 

 With characteristic cheerfulness he used to 

 tell his friends, when they noticed his wasted 

 form and shortness of breath, that he was 

 suffering from foot and mouth disease. It 

 was his custom to muffle himself round the 

 throat, and to walk until he was foot-sore ; 

 but those who had known and honoured him 

 for years, and whom he encountered at the 

 annual meetings of the Royal Agricultural 

 Society, and at the Smithfield Club Cattle 

 Shows, saw that his plough was rapidly 

 drawing near to the end of the furrow. 



The description of the fatal night ride to 

 which I have already alluded is so symbolical 

 of " The Druid's " pluck and endurance that 



