in love
carried
His tar-boxe on his broad belt hong.
So, too,
He leared his sheepe as he him list
When he would whistle in his fist;
and the shepherd still guides and encourages his sheep by whistling.
Hilary said that years ago the dogs kept at farmhouses in that
district did not seem of such good breeds, nor were there so many
varieties as at present. They were mostly sheep-dogs, or mongrels of
the sheep-dog cast; for little attention was paid to breed. Dogs of
this kind, with shaggy black coats and stump tails, could be found at
most farms, and were often of a savage disposition; so much so that it
was occasionally necessary to break their teeth that they might not
injure the sheep. From his description the dogs at the present day
must be far superior; indeed, there seems to have been no variety of
dog and no purity of breed at that time (in that neighbourhood);
meaning, of course, outside the gamekeeper's kennels, or the hounds
used for hunting. Shepherds like to keep their flock in hurdles,
folded as much as possible, that they may not rub their wool off and
so get a ragged appearance. Once now and then in wet weather the
ground becomes so soft that a flock will not move, their narrow feet
sinking so deeply in the mud. It is then necessary to 'dog them
out'--to set the dog at them--and the excitement, fright, and exertion
have been known to kill one or more of the flock.
Passing on to the lower grounds, we entered the meadows, where the men
were at haycart. The cart-horses wore glittering brazen ornaments,
crescent-shaped, in front of the neck, and one upon the forehead. Have
these ornaments a history?[2] The carters and ploughmen have an
old-world vocabulary of their own, saying 'toward' for anything near
or leaning towards you, and 'vrammards' for the reverse. 'Heeld' or
'yeeld,' again, is ploughman's language; when the newly sown corn does
not 'heeld' or 'yeeld' it requires the harrow. In the next field,
which the mowers had but just cut, the men were 'tedding'--_i.e._
spreading the swathe with their prongs. Hilary said that hay was a
safe speculation if a man could afford to wait; for every few years it
was sure to be extremely dear, so that the old people said, 'Old hay,
old gold.'
[2] See Notes.
As we returned towards Lucketts' Place, he pointed out to me a distant
house upon which he said slates had been first used in that
neighbourhood. Fifty or sixty years since no sl
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