And this year it would have been hard to imagine any more prostrate and lowly position than that of every kind of crop.

The bright weather of August and attentions of the sun, and gentle surprise of rich dews in the morning, together with abundance of moisture underneath, had made things look as they scarcely ever looked--clean, and straight, and elegant.

But none of them had found time to form the dry and solid substance, without which neither man nor his staff of life can stand against adversity.
"My Lady Philippa," as the tenants called her, came out one day to see how things looked, and whether the tenants were likely to pay their Michaelmas rents at Christmas.

Her sister, Mrs.Carnaby, felt like interest in the question, but hated long walks, being weaker and less active, and therefore rode a quiet pony.

Very little wheat was grown on their estates, both soil and climate declining it; but the barley crop was of more importance, and flourished pretty well upon the southern slopes.