of taxes and poor's rates. He was also at Bartholomew-fair, where he had
half the buttons cut off his coat; and a gang of pick-pockets, attracted
by his external show of gold and silver, made a regular attempt to
hustle him as he was gazing at a show; but for once they found that they
had caught a tartar, for Jack enacted as great wonders among the gang as
Samson did among the Philistines. One of his neighbours, who had
accompanied him to town, and was with him at the fair, brought back an
account of his exploits, which raised the pride of the whole village;
who considered their champion as having subdued all London, and eclipsed
the achievements of Friar Tuck, or even the renowned Robin Hood himself.

Of late years the old fellow has begun to take the world easily; he
works less, and indulges in greater leisure, his son having grown up,
and succeeded to him both in the labours of the farm and the exploits of
the green. Like all sons of distinguished men, however, his father's
renown is a disadvantage to him, for he can never come up to public
expectation. Though a fine, active fellow of three-and-twenty, and
quite the "cock of the walk," yet the old people declare he is nothing
like what Ready-Money Jack was at his time of life. The youngster
himself acknowledges his inferiority, and has a wonderful opinion of the
old man, who indeed taught him all his athletic accomplishments, and
holds such a sway over him, that I am told, even to this day, he would
have no hesitation to take him in hands, if he rebelled against paternal
government.

The squire holds Jack in very high esteem, and shows him to all his
visitors as a specimen of old English "heart of oak." He frequently
calls at his house, and tastes some of his home-brewed, which is
excellent. He made Jack a present of old Tusser's Hundred Points of good
Husbandrie, which has furnished him with reading ever since, and is his