se a hand against him, or to contend against his
decisions; the young men having grown up in habitual awe of his
prowess, and in implicit deference to him as the champion and lord of
the green.

[Footnote 2: MERRY NIGHT--a rustic merry-making in a farm-house about
Christmas, common in some parts of Yorkshire. There is abundance of
homely fare, tea, cakes, fruit, and ale; various feats of agility,
amusing games, romping, dancing, and kissing withal. They commonly
break up at midnight.]

He is a regular frequenter of the village inn, the landlady having
been a sweetheart of his in early life, and he having always continued
on kind terms with her. He seldom, however, drinks any thing but a
draught of ale; smokes his pipe, and pays his reckoning before leaving
the tap-room. Here he "gives his little senate laws;" decides bets,
which are very generally referred to him; determines upon the
characters and qualities of horses; and, indeed, plays now and then
the part of a judge in settling petty disputes between neighbours,
which otherwise might have been nursed by country attorneys into
tolerable law-suits. Jack is very candid and impartial in his
decisions, but he has not a head to carry a long argument, and is very
apt to get perplexed and out of patience if there is much pleading. He
generally breaks through the argument with a strong voice, and brings
matters to a summary conclusion, by pronouncing what he calls the
"upshot of the business," or, in other words, "the long and the short
of the matter."

Jack once made a journey to London, a great many years since, which
has furnished him with topics of conversation ever since. He saw the
old king on the terrace at Windsor, who stopped, and pointed him out
to one of the princesses, being probably struck with Jack's truly
yeoman-like appearance. This is a favourite anecdote with him, and has
no doubt had a great effect in making him a most loyal subject ever
since, in spite of taxes and poors' rates. He was also at Bartholomew
fair, where he had half the buttons cut off his coat; and a gang of
pick-pockets, attracted by his external show of gold and silver, made
a regular attempt to hustle him as he was gazing at a show; but for
once they found that they had caught a tartar; for Jack enacted as
great wonders among the gang as Samson did among the Philistines. One
of his neighbours, who had accompanied him to town, and was with him
at the fair, brought back an account of hi