I made no reply, but proposed reading a chapter and going to prayer. I read the 23d Psalm, on which I made a few appropriate remarks, and then bowed before the footstool of the Divine throne. It is true I had no soft cushion to kneel on, but I felt that the ground was rendered sacred by the presence of the Holy One; I had no prescribed form to aid my devotion, but I felt under the peculiar dictations of the Spirit, who maketh intercession within the saints; and arose, not to lose a recollection of the interview amidst the din of business, or the dissipations of life, but to cherish it as a latent proof of the connection which subsists between the spiritual and material world, and as supplying me with a fresh evidence of the immense value of that scheme of redemption which admits sinners into fellowship with their sovereign Lord. [Illustration: FIRST INTERVIEW WITH FARMER PICKFORD. Vol. i. page 47.] Soon after I left this lonely cottage, on crossing over a neighbouring field, I saw a farm-house at a distance, and finding from my watch that I had two hours more at my disposal, I resolved to visit it. On entering the yard I met the farmer, Mr. Pickford, a respectable-looking man, who invited me, in the true spirit of rural hospitality, to walk in and take a mug of ale. I had not been seated many minutes before the crusty brown loaf, the delicate cream cheese, and the can of fresh ale made their appearance, and as my appetite was rather keen, I relished my lunch. But as my principal design was the survey of human character, I easily contrived to induce my host to exhibit himself, which he did in pure native style. "I have been admiring, farmer, the neatness of your hedges, and the cleanliness of your fields, which, added to the richness of the foliage and the luxuriance of the crops, gives a fine effect to the scenery around." "Ay, ay, Sir, a country life for me. I shouldn't like to be pent up in the smoke of a city all my days, though my foolish girls are always saying that there are more pastimes in a town than in a village." "Why, yes, we have many sources of amusement in a city which you cannot have in the country; but we are exposed to more danger, from the temptations to which we are liable." "That makes good what I have often said, that town-folks are worse than country-folks." "But if a man be inclined to be wicked, he will be wicked anywhere. I suppose you have some about you _who are not quite so good as they ought to be_." "Yes, there are a few of that sort, the worse luck; but then we have some who are _better than they need be_, and so the quantum of goodness is made up to the full Winchester measure." "Indeed! I never saw a man better than he ought to be." "Why, Sir, perhaps I made a mistake. I should have said, we have some who _pretend to be better than they need be_; but you know that a man may pretend to what he a'n't got." "True; but what sort of persons do you now refer to?"