Ixxii AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 



ridicule thrown upon this annual ceremony by 

 many a thoughtless and censorious traveller, I 

 had figured in my own mind a ceremony holy 

 in itself, and of no small importance to the people 

 at large. " Benedicite, omnes bestiae et pecora, 

 Domino !" I conceived that the blessing would 

 insure to these poor dumb animals a better treat- 

 ment at the hands of man than they might other- 

 wise receive; and the calling upon our kind 

 Creator to give his benediction to a horse, which, 

 by one false step, or an unruly movement, might 

 endanger the life of its rider, appeared to me 

 an act replete with Christian prudence. I re- 

 called to my mind the incessant and horrible 

 curses which our village urchins vent against 

 their hauling horses on the banks of the Barnsley 

 canal. This aqueous line of commerce passes 

 close by my porter's lodges ; and as the first lock 

 is only a short distance from them, the horrid 

 din of curses commences there, and is kept up 

 by these young devils incarnate from week to 

 week (Sundays not excepted) with the most 

 perfect impunity. 



At last the day arrived on which the beasts 

 of draught and burden were to receive a bene- 

 diction from the hand of a priest at the door of 



