to assume
the dress and manners of the gentry.

"They kept their footmen, their saddle horses, and chaises; their wives
and daughters appeared in their jewels, their silks, and their satins,
their negligees and trollopees; their clumsy shanks, like so many shins
of beef, were cased in silk hose and embroidered slippers; their raw red
fingers, gross as the pipes of a chamber organ, which had been employed
in milking the cows, in twirling the mop or churn-staff, being adorned
with diamonds, were taught to thrum the pandola, and even to touch the
keys of the harpsichord! Nay, in every village they kept a rout, and set
up an assembly; and in one place a hog-butcher was master of the
ceremonies.

"I have heard Mr. Greaves ridicule them for their vanity and awkward
imitation; and therefore, I believe, he avoided all concerns with them,
even when they endeavoured to engage his attention. It was the lower
sort of people with whom he chiefly conversed, such as ploughmen,
ditchers, and other day-labourers. To every cottager in the parish he
was a bounteous benefactor. He was, in the literal sense of the word, a
careful overseer of the poor; for he went from house to house,
industriously inquiring into the distresses of the people. He repaired
their huts, clothed their backs, filled their bellies, and supplied them
with necessaries for exercising their industry and different occupations.

"I'll give you one instance now, as a specimen of his character:--He and
I, strolling one day on the side of a common, saw two boys picking hips
and haws from the hedges; one seemed to be about five, and the other a
year older; they were both barefoot and ragged, but at the same time fat,
fair, and in good condition. 'Who do you belong to?' said Mr. Greaves.
'To Mary Stile,' replied the oldest, 'the widow that rents one of them
housen.' 'And how dost live, my boy? Thou lookest fresh and jolly,'
resumed the squire. 'Lived well enough till yesterday,' answered the
child. 'And pray what happened yesterday, my boy?' continued Mr.
Greaves. 'Happened!' said he, 'why, mammy had a coople of little Welsh
keawes, that gi'en milk enough to fill all our bellies; mammy's, and
mine, and Dick's here, and my two little sisters' at hoam:--Yesterday the
squire seized the keawes for rent, God rot'un! Mammy's gone to bed sick
and sulky; my two sisters be crying at hoam vor vood; and Dick and I be
come hither to pick haws and bullies.'

"My godfather