sons of those who used to wield the back-sword on the Berkshire
downs, and showed themselves not unworthy of their ancestry,
although the quarter-staff and ashen-swords are forgotten. The old
village feasts are forgotten too--more's the pity. Then old quarrels
were healed, old bitternesses removed: aged friends met, and became
young again in heart, as they revived old memories and sweet
recollections of youthful days. Rich and poor, the squire and the
farmer, the farmer and his labourers, all mingled together, class
with class; and good-fellowship, harmony, and mutual confidence were
promoted by these annual gatherings. It is true that these village
feasts degenerated, because the well-to-do folk abstained from them;
but would it not be possible to revive them, to preserve the good
which they certainly did, and to eliminate the evil which is so
often mingled with the good? Such a consideration is worthy of the
attention of all who have the welfare of the people at heart.




CHAPTER IX.

SEPTEMBER.

"Nor is there hawk which mantleth her on pearch,
Whether high tow'ring or accoasting low,
But I the measure of her flight do search,
And all her prey, and all her diet know."--SPENSER.

Hawking--Michaelmas--Bull and Bear-baiting.