Great Britain -- Description and travel; Great Britain -- Rural conditions
I thus conclude, for the present, my remarks relative to the harvest and
the price of corn. It is the great subject of the day; and the comfort
is, that we are now speedily to see whether I be right or whether the
Marquis of Lansdowne be right. As to the infamous London press, the
moment the wheat comes down to forty shillings; that is to say, an
average Government return of forty shillings, I will spend ten pounds in
placarding this infamous press, after the manner in which we used to
placard the base and detestable enemies of the QUEEN. This infamous
press has been what is vulgarly called "running its rigs," for several
months past. The _Quakers_ have been urging it on, under-handed. They
have, I understand, been bribing it pretty deeply, in order to
calumniate me, and to favour their own monopoly, but, thank God, the
cunning knaves have outwitted themselves. They won't play at cards; but
they will play at _Stocks_; they will play at Lottery Tickets, and they
will play at Mark-lane. They have played a silly game, this time. Saint
Swithin, that good old Roman Catholic Saint, seemed to have set a trap
for them: he went on, wet, wet, wet, even until the harvest began. Then,
after two or three days' sunshine, shocking wet again. The ground
soaking, the wheat growing, and the "_Friends_;" the gentle Friends,
seeking the Spirit, were as busy amongst the sacks at Mark-lane as the
devil in a high wind. In short they bought away, with all the gain of
Godliness, _and a little more_, before their eyes. All of a sudden,
Saint Swithin took away his clouds; out came the sun; the wind got
round to the east; just sun enough and just wind enough; and as the
wheat ricks everywhere rose up, the long jaws of the Quakers dropped
down; and their faces of slate became of a darker hue. That sect will
certainly be punished, this year; and, let us hope, that such a change
will take place in their concerns as will compel a part of them to
labour, at any rate; for, at present, their sect is a perfect monster in
society; a whole sect, not one man of whom earns his living by the sweat
of his brow. A sect a great deal worse than the Jews; for some of them
do work. However, GOD send us the easterly wind, for another fortnight,
and we shall certainly see some of this sect at work.
RURAL RIDE: FROM KENSINGTON, ACROSS SURREY, AND ALONG THAT COUNTY.
_Reigate, Wednesday Evening, 19th October, 1825._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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