334 KALM'S ENGLAND. 



were especially devoted to this, after the carls had finished 

 their regular labour and day's-work. I often wondered 

 how some of them could have their means of subsistence 

 in such a way, the more so because ale and brandy were 

 here very dear ; but most of all I wondered over this, that 

 folk who could only provide food for themselves, their 

 wives, and children, out of daily wages, dags-penning, 

 could spend time and money in this way. It was, how- 

 ever, not unusual [T. I. p. 331] to see many sit the whole 

 day at the inn. But the custom, maner, of the country 

 that friends and neighbours come together, sit and con- 

 verse, the abundance of money in this country, the ease 

 with which a man could in every case have his food, if 

 only he was somewhat industrious, seem to have con- 

 duced to this result- However, I more than seldom saw 

 anyone imbibe so much that he became drunk from it. 



Ale, 61, was the drink that was most used here. 

 Brandy was seldom asked for. It only occurred to me, 

 a foreigner, how folk, who commonly are so self-seeking, 

 fikande om sig, could spend often a great part of the 

 day in this way. This manner of life was customary at 

 all the places I travelled through in this country. It is 

 not to be wondered at then, if a great many labourers 

 and others, however large the ' daily wages and profits 

 they can make, can, for all that, scarcely collect more 

 than what goes from hand to mouth. 



Tussilago pa akrar. Colts foot on arable fields. 



On the greater parts of the arable fields, which were 

 somewhat damp, Tussilago vulg. [Coltsfoot, T. Farfara] 

 grew in great abundance, and that mostly on the 

 ploughed plots which had been sown the year before. 



Goken, the Cuckoo, I heard to-day the first time 

 this year, though some said they had heard it a week 

 before. 



