The old ladies unanimously agreed that he was a
most agreeable, interesting young man; and though the young ones did
pretend to run him down among themselves, calling him ugly, and so on, it
was only in the vain hope of dissuading each other from thinking of him.
Mr. Puffington still stuck to the 'am_aa_zin' pop'lar man' character; a
character that is not so convenient to support in the country as it is in
town. The borough of Swillingford, as we have already intimated, was not
the best conducted borough in the world; indeed, when we say that the
principal trade of the place was poaching, our country readers will be able
to form a very accurate opinion on that head. When Puff took possession of
Hanby there was a fair show of pheasants about the house, and a good
sprinkling of hares and partridges over the estate and manor generally; but
refusing to prosecute the first poachers that were caught, the rest took
the hint, and cleared everything off in a week, dividing the plunder among
them. They also burnt his river and bagged his fine Dorking fowls, and all
these feats being accomplished with impunity, they turned their attention
to his fat sheep.
Pages:
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463