"I saw great Cobbett riding, The horseman of the shires; And his face was red with judgement And a light of Luddite fires" - GK Chesterton
 
William Cobbett was born in 1763, working on his family farm from an early age. A champion of social and political reform he argued his polemical views within his own newspaper, The Political Register; he was forced to flee the country on several occasions by virtue of the strength of his opinions. He rode on horseback throughout England gathering observations of village events, which formed the basis of his most famous work Rural Rides. Ultimately becoming an MP, he died in 1835.
 
The Pocket Book's pattern is thus - a descriptive passage from Rural Rides alternates with an item of autobiography or an outspoken opinion.