Rural Rides, collection of essays by William Cobbett, published 1830, which had originally appeared in the Political Register. A committee in 1821 had proposed certain remedies for the agricultural distress that followed the war. Cobbett disapproved of these and "made up his mind to see for himself, and to enforce, by actual observation of rural conditions, the statements he had made in answer to the arguments of the landlords before the Agricultural Committee." The result was this series of lively, opinionated accounts of his travels on horseback between Sept. 1822 and Oct. 1826, largely in the south and east of England. (Later journeys, in the midlands and the north, were added in subsequent editions.) Standard Edition: by G. D. H. and M. Cole (3 vols, 1930).
"The Christian religion, then, is not an affair of preaching, or prating, or ranting, but of taking care of the bodies as well as the souls of people; not an affair of belief and of faith and of professions, but an affair of doing good, and especially to those who are in want; not an affair of fire and brimstone, but an affair of bacon and read, beer and a bed." [P.R. (2/15) 34) col. 386]
Cobbet once said: "I am something of a scholar myself...books and literature have been my delight: I honor learning, find it where I will." [P.R. (4/21/21) 193-194