e. the
cook) by the arms, and run her round the market-place till she is
shamed of her laziness."- Round about our Sea-Coal Fire.
"The nation," continued he, "is altered; we have almost lost our
simple true-hearted peasantry. They have broken asunder from the
higher classes, and seem to think their interests are separate. They
have become too knowing, and begin to read newspapers, listen to
ale-house politicians, and talk of reform. I think one mode to keep
them in good humor in these hard times would be for the nobility and
gentry to pass more time on their estates, mingle more among the
country people, and set the merry old English games going again."
Such was the good squire's project for mitigating public discontent:
and, indeed, he had once attempted to put his doctrine in practice,
and a few years before had kept open house during the holidays in
the old style. The country people, however, did not understand how
to play their parts in the scene of hospitality; many uncouth
circumstances occurred; the manor was overrun by all the vagrants of
the country, and more beggars drawn into the neighborhood in one
week than the parish officers could get rid of in a year. Since
then, he had contented himself with inviting the decent part of the
neighboring peasantry to call at the hall on Christmas day, and with
distributing beef, and bread, and ale, among the poor, that they might
make merry in their own dwellings.
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