1798.1] 
oor creatures can never earn the com- 
mon day-wages of the neighbourhood, 
and it is moft cruel to urge the extrava- 
gant exertion of an old man’s ftrength: 
pay them ¢he full day-wages, and be not 
rigid in exacting labour from a man who» 
is tottering. under a weight of years or of 
infirmity: let his employment be light, 
and he will, generally fpeaking, amu/e 
himfelf to the beft advantage of his matter. 
I am forry to have felt a neceflity of plead- 
ing for fuil wages to thefe helplefs beings : 
but I know. a man of threé {core years 
and ten, who has worked in the family of 
a neighbouring farmer, for upwards of 
forty years; with the father of his pre- 
fent mafter he worked at fix and twenty 
fucceflive harveits, and this labourer now 
receives from the fon, in whofe fervice a 
part alfo of his ftrength has been expend- 
ed, but fix fhillings and fix-pence a week, 
though the average rate of wages is nine 
fhillings!, This honeft man told me, not 
a fortnight ago, that he herded the bui- 
locks of his mafter throughout the laf 
winter, and in confideration of his ne- 
ceflity to paddle about in all weathers, 
afked his mafter to beftow on him his 
Sunday dinner. It grieves me to add, 
that the latter fwore at him, and fard, 
that if he did not like the job, he raight 
leave it, for there were plenty of hands to 
be had! “ But where fhould I go, fir,” 
{aid the old man to me, with tears in his 
eyes, ** at my time o’life “tis too late to 
Jook about for a new mafter: fo-I held 
my tongue, and worked on, for T found 
that would be the beft way.”’ Tam forry 
to fay, that I could enumerate more than 
one fimilar inftance of cruelty and oppref- 
fon: but I will fpare your readers the 
pain of perufing them. 
Mr. Editor, I fhall trefpafs no longer 
on your pages: the above ftrictures, I 
flatter myfelf will not be conftrued into 
any difrefpect to Sir MorpauntT Mar- 
TIN; and thole refpe¢ting the duty of giv- 
ing to the aged and infirm, full pay, -I 
am quite confident are totally inapplica- 
ble to him. From the character which.I 
have often heard of him, and from fome 
indirect knowledge of it, Tam authorized 
to believe, that our fentiments, on that 
fubject, are completely in unifon. 
There is one queftion relative to the 
fabjest of this communication, which is 
of the utmoit importance to be decided: 
Is the increafed labour which taken-work 
invites injurious to the conilitution ? does 
jt produce a prematurity of old age? 
Thefe queftions I wifh to meet fairly: 
fhould any of your correfpondents take 
he affirmative opinion, I fhall, probably, 
. Whimfical Peculiarities of Expreffian. 
par N 
17 
be induced to examine the grounds on 
which it may reft. 
From the nature and fubject of thefe 
obfervations, you may probably have al- 
ready conjectured that I have the honour 
to be A FARMER. 
Augufi 1798. 
EE 
\ 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. . 
NST Re 
R. Locke has obferved, that there 
A are many ideas in all languages, 
to which no diitin&t terms have been an- 
nexed : and we may with*equal propriety 
obferve, that there are many terms in our 
language, to which vo diftinét ideas have 
been annexed.-—Gf this defcription, the 
{choots, the ccurt, and the fenate, attord 
fome inftarces; a few of which I hall 
beg leave te record in your valuable mif- 
_cellany ; asin a repofitery that will fur- 
vive the fleeting publications of the day. 
Tremember, when I was at college, if 
a man paffed an old acquaintance wit- 
tingly, without recognizing him, he was 
faid—* To cut him.’’—And this was 
effested two ways: the cutter either 
walked fmartly by, pretending not to fee 
the cuttee; or, if he wifhed to make the 
cut more complete, looked him full in the 
face, without feeming to recollect him, 
Afterwards this phrafe—to cut,’ gave 
piace to that ot—* To fpear.”—But, as 
this was contefledly an imitation, want- 
ing both the originality of genius, and 
the merit of improvement ; it did not long 
hold its ground: and the term, ‘‘te 
cut,” obtains to this very day. 
When a dun: was known to be in col- 
lege, which generally happened in a 
morning ; as it was wzgenteel to dun in 
an evening ; the alarm was given through 
the quadrangle, and—* The men {ported 
cak.”’’—That is, they bolted their out- 
ward door; and the dun was then in the 
predicament of a perfon in genteel life, 
who has ruined his fortune by hofpita- 
lity, or is become religious ; in the fath- 
ionable phraie—‘* He was not received.”” 
If a man were afked to take a walk 
into the High-ftreet in a morning —‘* He 
voted it a bad lounge :”’——if in the even- 
ing, with a perfon not genteely drefled— 
‘6 Tt was a bore; and he mutt fherk.”* 
Are you.a man of fmall expence, much 
application to letters, fingular manners, 
or appearance, with a becoming regard 
to authority—‘ They fet you down for 
a quiz.”°—But one of great {pirit, great 
extravagance, and great irregularity as 
to college rules, attained the character of 
ee6 A dafhing youth,” and ** A fpunky 
dogs: 
f 
/ 
@.- 
y 
f 
