Book Description:
Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: ENGLISH GRAVITY. 'Merrie England!' ANCIENT PHRASE. There is nothing so rare as for a man to ride his hobby without molestation. I find the squire has not so undisturbed an indulgence in his humours as I had imagined; but has been repeatedly thwarted of late, and has suffered a kind of well meaning persecution from a Mr. Faddy, an old gentleman of some weight, at least of purse, who has recently moved into the neighbourhood. He is a worthy and substantial manufacturer, who, having accumulated a large fortune by dint of steam engines and spinning jennies, has retired from business, and set up for a country gentleman. He has taken an old country seat and refitted it; and painted and plastered it, until it looks not unlike his own manufactory. He has been particularly careful in mending the walls and hedges, and putting up notices of spring guns and man traps in every part of his premises. Indeed he shows great jealousy about his territorial rights, having stopped up a foot path that led across his fields; and given warning, in staring letters, that whoever was found trespassing on those grounds would be prosecuted with the utmost rigour of the law. He has brought into the country with him all the practical maxims of town, and the bustling habits of business ; and is one of those sensible, useful, prosing, troublesome, intolerable old gentlemen that go about wearying and worrying society with excellent plans for public utility. He is very much disposed to be on intimate terms with the squire, and calls on him every now and then, with some project for the good of the neighbourhood, which happens to run diametrically opposite to some one or other of the squire's peculiar notions ; but which is ' too sensible a measure' to be openly opposed.He has annoyed him excessively ...
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