Page:Manners and customs of ye Englyshe.djvu/30

MR. PIPS HIS DIARY. Reaſon they are obliged to force the unlucky Brutes into the ſmalleft poſſible Space. What with the Oaths and Curſes of the Drovers and Butchers and the Barking of their Dogs and the Cries of the Animals in Torture, I do think I never heard a more horrid Din in my Life. The Hearing was as bad as the feeing, and both as bad as could be, except the Smell, which was worſe than either. But to be ſure it was good Sport to ſee here and there a ſat Grazier overthrown by a Pig running between his legs, and ſo upſetting him in the Mire. It were well if it were never worſe; but with mad Oxen driven from the Market through Streets full of People, it continually happens that ſome Perſon is toſſed and gored, and one of theſe Days it will be an Alderman, and then Smithfield will be put an End to. No Doubt it would have been done away with long ago, but for the Tolls and Dues which the Corporation do derive from the Market. This is why they do keep up a Nuiſance which did well nigh poison me; though one of them at a Meeting did declare that he thought Smithfield ſalubrious, and did ſend his Children to walk there for Change of Air, which if it were for the better, methinks that Gentleman's Dwelling-Houſe ſhould be a ſweet Abode. All but the Citizens do ſay that Parliament ought to aboliſh this Nuiſance; but it is thought that my dare not ſtir in the Matter, becauſe he is Member for the City. To Breakfaſt to an Early Coffee Houſe, having loſt my Pocket Handkerchief, coſt me 5s., doubtleſs by the Pickpockets, of whom Smithfield, beſides its other Recommendations, is a great Reſort. But content, not having had an Ox's Horn in my Stomach, and having ſeen all I wanted, and do not wiſh to ſee any more.