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But like or dislike "the people" as something apart he could not,

not only because he lived with "the people," and all his

interests were bound up with theirs, but also because he regarded

himself as a part of "the people," did not see any special

qualities or failings distinguishing himself and "the people,"

and could not contrast himself with them. Moreover, although he

had lived so long in the closest relations with the peasants, as

farmer and arbitrator, and what was more, as adviser (the

peasants trusted him, and for thirty miles round they would come

to ask his advice), he had no definite views of "the people," and

would have been as much at a loss to answer the question whether

he knew "the people" as the question whether he liked them. For

him to say he knew the peasantry would have been the same as to

say he knew men.