ed well on a Sunday at the village
church or chapel, and the children at the Sunday-school were clean, if a
little restless under the long, dry sermon which they were compelled to
hear, the caretaker being generally provided with a long stick to
admonish the thoughtless, to wake up the sleepy, to prevent too much
indulgence in apples during sermon time, or too liberal a display of the
miscellaneous treasures concealed in a boy's pocket. Perhaps the most
influential person in the village was the gamekeeper, who was supposed to
be armed, and to have the power of committing all boys in undue eagerness
to go bird-nesting to the nearest gaol. He was to me, I own, a terror by
night and by day, as he was constantly in my way--when tempted to break
into the neighbouring park in search of flowers or eggs. The farmer
then, as now, was ruined, but he was a picture of health and comfort as
he drove to the nearest market town, where after business he would spend
the evening smoking and drinking, with his broad beaver on his head, his
fat carcase ornamented with a blue coat with brass buttons, and his knee
breeches of yellow kerseymere. It was little he read to wake up his
sluggish intellect, save the county newspaper, which it was the habit for
people to take between them to lessen the expense. A newspaper was
sevenpence, of which fourpence went to pay for the stamp. Everything was
dear--the postage of a letter was 10d. or 1s. The franking of letters by
Members of Parliament existed at that time; they could receive an
unlimited number of letters free of postage, of any weight, even a
pianoforte, a saddle, a haunch of venison, and they might send out
fourteen a day. Loaf sugar was too dear to be in daily use; tea and
coffee were heavily taxed; soap was too dear to use; and wearing apparel
and boots and shoes very expensive; even if you went for a drive there
was the turnpike gate, and a heavy toll to pay. As to geography, it was
a science utterly unknown. Poor people when they talked of the Midland
Counties called them the Shires, and I have heard serious disputes as to
whether you got to America by sea or land. The finest men in East Anglia
were the sailors at the various sea-ports along the coast, well-shaped,
fair-haired, with grand limbs and blue eyes, evidently of Saxon or Norse
descent, and their daughters were as handsome as any girls I ever saw.
The peasant had his little bit of garden, where he could keep a pig and