They were also subject to a canker of the hands, and to colds, coughs, and inflammations, from perspiration checked by cold draughts and drenched floors.

These floors were often of mud, and so the wet stagnated and chilled their feet, while their bodies were very hot.

Excellent recipe for filling graves.
Here Bayne retired to his books, and Henry proceeded to the saw-grinders, and entered their rooms with no little interest, for they were an envied trade.

They had been for many years governed by Grotait, than whom no man in England saw clearer; though such men as Amboyne saw further.

Grotait, by a system of Machiavellian policy, ingeniously devised and carried out, nobly, basely, craftily, forcibly, benevolently, ruthlessly, whichever way best suited the particular occasion, had built a model Union; and still, with unremitting zeal and vigilance, contrived to keep numbers down and prices up--which is the great Union problem.
The work was hard, but it was done in a position favorable to the lungs, and the men were healthy, brawny fellows; one or two were of remarkable stature.
Up to this moment Silly Billy had fully justified that title.