Page:Extracts from the letters and journals of George Fletcher Moore.djvu/293

 Rh having been ill before, I do not know how to treat myself.

I have got my old chimney snugged up for the winter. My new room will be 18 feet by 15 feet, with two recesses on either side of the fire-place for book-shelves, side-board, or whatever you please: it will be lighted by two French windows, opening into a verandah six feet wide, which runs round the house; and the lawn immediately in front will be green, I hope, all the year round, with lucerne, which I have sown in drills. The other seeds, which came in the chest by Van Diemen's Land, are all dead.

25th.—My men have unanimously declared against cocoa, which I lately bought for them during the present high price of tea: there is still, however, room for negociation on the disputed point. What a plague servants are!

My shepherd, as I have often said, is a queer fellow: only think of his having given 3l. for a set of sheep-bells; they are enchantingly musical, however, and the tinkling, as the sheep come home at night, is one of the most cheerful sounds I have ever heard. This man feels great pride in having his flock look well, and is very jealous of my being inquisitive about them. If I succeed in getting any of Downing's flock, I shall probably dispose of those among my old stock that are aged, as many of mine are; some having been brought from Mr. Trimmer's flock in England at