The Church

The next morning I began to think of departing: I had sewed up the money which I had received for the horse in a portion of my clothing, where I entertained no fears for its safety, with the exception of a small sum in notes, gold, and silver, which I carried in my pocket. Ere departing, however, I determined¹ to stroll about and examine the town, and observe more particularly the humours of the fair than I had hitherto an opportunity of doing. The town, when I examined it, offered no object worthy² of attention but its church — an edifice³ of some antiquity⁴; under the guidance of an old man, who officiated as sexton, I inspected its interior attentively⁵, occasionally conversing⁶ with my guide, who, however, seemed much more disposed to talk about horses than the church. ‘No good horses in the fair this time, measter,’ said he; ‘none but one brought hither by a chap whom nobody knows, and bought by a foreigneering man, who came here with Jack⁷ Dale. The horse fetched a good swinging price, which is said, however, to be much less than its worth; for the horse is a regular clipper; not such a one, ’tis said, has been seen in the fair for several summers. Lord Whitefeather says that he believes the fellow who brought him to be a highwayman, and talks of having him taken up, but Lord Whitefeather is only in a rage because he could not get him for himself. The chap would not sell it to un; Lord Screw wanted to beat him down, and the chap took huff, said he wouldn’t sell it to him at no price, and accepted the offer of the foreigneering man, or of Jack, who was his ‘terpreter, and who scorned to higgle about such an hanimal, because Jack is a gentleman, though bred a dickey-boy, whilst ‘tother, though bred a lord, is a screw, and a whitefeather. Every one says the cove⁸ was right, and I says so too; I likes spirit, and if the cove were here, and in your place, measter, I would invite him to drink a

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