The word old, for example, she sounded like auld.
In other respects, I had not yet remarked any striking variety or
difference from the pronunciation of Oxford or London.
To-morrow the chimney-sweeper, said she, her husband, would not be
at home, but if I came back by the way of Lichfield, she would take
the liberty to request the honour of a visit, and to this end she
told me her name and the place of her abode.
At night the rest of the family, a son and daughter of the landlady,
came home, and paid all possible attention to their sick mother. I
supped with the family, and they here behaved to me as if we had
already lived many years together.
Happening to mention that I was, if not a scholar, yet a student,
the son told me there was at Sutton a celebrated grammar-school,
where the school-master received two hundred pounds a year settled
salary, besides the income arising from the scholars.
And this was only in a village. I thought, and not without some
shame and sorrow, of our grammar-schools in Germany, and the
miserable pay of the masters.
When I paid my reckoning the next morning, I observed the uncommon
difference here and at Windsor, Nettlebed, and Oxford. At Oxford I
was obliged to pay for my supper, bed, and breakfast at least three
shillings, and one to the waiter. I here paid for my supper, bed,
and breakfast only one shilling, and to the daughter, whom I was to
consider as chambermaid, fourpence; for which she very civilly
thanked me, and gave me a written recommendation to an inn at
Lichfield, where I should be well lodged, as the people in Lichfield
were, in general, she said, very proud. This written recommendation
was a masterpiece of orthography, and showed that in England, as
well as elsewhere, there are people who write entirely from the ear,
and as they pronounce. In English, however, it seems to look
particularly odd, but perhaps that may be the case in all languages
that are not native.
I took leave here, as one does of good friends, with a certain
promise that on my return I would certainly call on them again.
At noon I got to Lichfield, an old-fashioned town with narrow dirty
streets, where for the first time I saw round panes of glass in the
windows. The place to mime wore an unfriendly appearance; I
therefore made no use of my recommendation, but went straight
through, and only bought some bread at a baker's, which I took along
with me.
At night I reached Burton, where the famous Burton ale is brewed.
By this time I felt myself pretty well tired, and therefore proposed
to stay the night here.
