ay-fields which I passed, at least
one-fifth _of_ the crop was lying scattered on the roads and in the
fields. The excuse was, that the cattle would eat it, and that they
might as well have it one way as another. It would be folly to say any
thing as to such an argument; yet in these very fields the labour was so
plentiful and minute, that the greater part of the crop was carried from
the fields on the shoulders of the labourers, men, women, and boys. It
is difficult to reconcile such inconsistencies.

In such of the fields as I saw carts, the most severe labour seemed to
be allotted to the share of the women. They were the pitchers, and
performed this labour with a very heavy, and as it appeared to me, a
very awkward fork. Whilst the women were performing this task, two or
three fellows, raw-boned, and nearly six feet high, were either very
leisurely raking, or perhaps laying at their full length under the
new-made stacks. In other fields I saw more pleasing groups. At the
sound of a horn like the English harvest horn, the pitchers, the
loaders, and every labourer on the spot, left their work, and collected
around some tree or hay-cock, to receive their noon refreshment. The
indispensable fiddle was never wanting. Even the horses, loosened from
the carts, and suffered to feed at liberty, seemed to partake in the
general merriment, and looked with erect ears at the fiddler and his
dancing group. When, the hour allotted to this relaxation expired, the
labourers were again called to the several duties by the summons of the
same horn, which was now sounded from the top of the loaded cart, as it
had before been sounded under the tree or hay-cock. I had forgotten to
mention, that the tree or hay-cock, the appointed place of refreshment,
was distinguished by pennants of different coloured ribbons attached to
a stick as a flag-staff, and which waving in the wind, under a beautiful
midsummer sky, had an effect peculiarly pleasing. As I saw the same
spectacle in several fields, I believe it to be national.

Breteuil, which I reached in time for a late breakfast, is a very paltry
town; the houses are all built in the ancient style, and bear an
unfavourable resemblance to English farm-houses; their gable-ends are
turned to the streets, and the chimneys are nearly as large as the
roofs. There was no appearance of business, not even of a brisk retail,
or of a lively thoroughfare. A crowd collected around us as I entered
the inn, as