devoutly
thankful that the sight of a flock of sheep in a field does not appeal
to my appetite as it apparently does to my dog's. Imagine a pastoral
landscape, with cattle in it, pervaded by an odour of roast beef ! "
"
The expression, ' dumb animal,' is meaningless. There are hardly any '
dumb animals ' ; but the horse, to his great misfortune, is one of
them. Who would dare to whip a horse if he cried out like a dog ?
Imagine the uproar in London, or Paris, or Naples, which would speedily
arise under such a rash proceeding ! "
About Plums : the School of Salerne pronounced :—
"Flums cool, and loosen belly very kindty ;— No way offend, but to the health are friendly."
In
Somerset, associated with this familiar fruit, since Henry VIII's time,
has been Mells Park, which has belonged to the Horner family for nearly
five hundred years. Their forebears were renowned as sturdy English
Parliamentarians in the Civil War. The most interesting fact in the
family history is their descent from " little Jack Horner," whose name
is familiar to every English-speaking child. Jack Horner was steward of
the temporalities of the great Abbey of Glastonbury at the time of the
dissolution of the Monasteries ; and, like many of his contemporaries,
put his finger into the pie, and pulled out for himself a plum in the
shape of a good slice of fat monastic land.
"
Parvus loannes sacratum, et dulce eomedit Artocreas, simplexque legens
sibi polliee prunum, Aiebat placide—" Puerorum en optimus ipse.'
The
plum, in his case, took the shape of the title deeds of the Manor of
Mells; and the Homers have commemorated their good fortune by always
naming the eldest
