few expressions which make humanity shudder, and would drive a
Pythagorean to madness,[6] notwithstanding the ingenuity with which the
author attempts to vindicate his favourite amusement.

* * * * *


SHROPSHIRE AND WELSH GIRLS.

There are few Londoners who in their suburban strolls have failed to
notice the scores of _female_ fruit-carriers by whose toil the markets
are supplied with some of their choicest delicacies. As an interesting
illustration of the meritorious character of these handmaids to luxury,
I send you the following extract from Sir Richard Phillips's _Walk from
London to Kew_.

PHILO.

In the strawberry season, hundreds of women are employed to carry that
delicate fruit to market on their heads; and their industry in
performing this task is as wonderful, as their remuneration is unworthy
of the opulent classes who derive enjoyment from their labour. They
consist, for the most part, of Shropshire and Welsh girls, who walk to
London at this season in droves, to perform this drudgery, just as the
Irish peasantry come to assist in the hay and corn harvests. I learnt
that these women carry upon their heads baskets of strawberries or
raspberries, weighing from forty to fifty pounds, and make two turns in
the day, from Isleworth to market, a distance of thirteen miles each
way; three turns from Brentford, a distance of nine miles; and four
turns from Hammersmith, a distance of six miles. For the most part, they