icious and penurious to the last degree, and grudged every
halfpenny to the labouring man. They were, and the remnant of them still
are, the determined opponent of all progress. The interior of some of
these cottage-farmsteads, which still exist, is almost Dutch-like in
simplicity and homeliness. The fireplace is of a vast size, fitted with
antique iron dogs for burning wood, and on it swing the irons to sustain
the great pot. On each side, right under the chimney, are seats, the
ingle-nook of olden times. The chimney itself is very large, being
specially built for the purpose of curing sides of bacon by smoking. The
chimneypiece is ornamented with a few odd figures in crockery-ware,
half-a-dozen old brass candlesticks, and perhaps a snuff-box or tobacco
dish. The floor is composed of stone flags--apt to get slimy and damp
when the weather is about to change--and the wide chinks between them
are filled with hardened dirt. In the centre there is a piece of carpet
on which the table stands, but the rest of the room is bare of
carpeting, except the hearth-rug. The low window has a seat let into the
wall under it. The furniture of the apartment is utilitarian in the
strictest sense. There is nothing there for ornament or luxury, or even
for ease; only what is absolutely necessary. Generally there is a
dresser, above which, on shelves, the dishes and plates are arranged. A
tall upright eight-day clock, with a brazen face, and an inscription
which tells that it was manufactured in a neighbouring village, stands
in one corner, and solemnly ticks in its coffin-like panelled case. On
each side of the fireplace there is an arm-chair, often cushioned with
a fox or badger skin, and a great brazen warming-pan hangs near the
door. There is no ceiling properly so called. These old houses were
always built with a huge beam, and you can see the boards of the floor
above, which are merely whitewashed. A fowling-piece, once a flint-lock,
now converted to the percussion cap system, hangs against the beam, and
sometimes dried herbs may be seen there too. The use of herbs is,
however, going out of date. In the evening when the great logs of wood
smoulder upon the enormous hearth and cast flickering shadows on the
walls, revealing the cat slumbering in the ingle-nook, and the dog
blinking on the rug--when the farmer slowly smokes his long clay pipe
with his jug of ale beside him, such an interior might furnish a good
subject for a painter. Let