but still he did not altogether steal for
himself, but for his friends as well. Many have witnessed the fact of
the dog stealing a loaf, or part of one, taking it into the stables, and
dividing it into three portions, one for each pony, and the other for
himself. I recollect his once walking off with a round of beef,
weighing seventeen or eighteen pounds, and taking it to the ponies in
the field--they smelt at it, but declined joining him in his repast.
By-the-bye, to prove that lost things will turn up some day or another,
there was a silver skewer in the beef, which was not recovered until two
years afterwards, when it was turned up by the second ploughing. One
day, as the ponies were in the field where I was watching some men at
work, I heard them narrating to a stranger the wonderful feats of this
dog, for I have related but a small portion. The dog was lying by the
ponies as usual, when the servants' dinner-bell rang, and off went
Pompey immediately at a hard gallop to the house to get his food.
"Well, dang it, but he is a queer dog," observed the man, "for now he's
running as fast as he can, to _answer the bell_."

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

May 23.
With all the faults of the Roman church, it certainly appears to me that
its professors extend towards those who are in the bosom of their own
church a greater share than most other sects, of the true spirit of
every religion--charity. The people of the Low Countries are the most
bigoted Catholics at present existing, and in no one country is there so
much private as well as public charity. It is, however, to private
charity that I refer. In England there is certainly much to be offered
in extenuation, as charity is extorted by law to the utmost farthing.
The baneful effects of the former poor laws have been to break the links
which bound together the upper and lower classes, produced by protection
and good will in the former, and in the latter, by respect and
gratitude. Charity by act of parliament has dissolved the social
compact--the rich man grumbles when he pays down the forced
contribution--while the poor man walks into the vestry with an insolent
demeanour, and claims relief, not as a favour, but as a right. The poor
laws have in themselves the essence of revolution, for if you once
establish the right of the poor man to any portion of the property of
the rich, you admit a precedent so far dang