142 The Country Parson, 



desecration of the Sabbath by the lower orders, and praying 

 that no places of entertainment should be open on a Sunday ; " 

 and I replied, that I knew nothing of the wants of 

 London, and sent the petition back, altering ' lower orders ' 

 to ' higher orders,' and praying that Tattersall's, the hotels 

 at Richmond, Blackwall, and Greenwich, the parks for car- 

 riages of the rich, and such places, should be closed on a 

 Sunday, with a request to the bishojD to present that peti- 

 tion — which, of course, he never heard of even. Then, too, 

 there w^ere some village revels which were village drunks ; 

 and, though there was much obstruction, particularly by the 

 young farmers, we have gradually substituted a good jflower- 

 show, athletics — in which I was supported by a fine young 

 fallow, son of a late well-known London prize-fighter — 

 winter concerts, and those things, and they all like them 

 now. In short," he said, ''if the world would read the 

 story of the pharisee and the publican every morning, and 

 aot on the moral, and believe that all people are fallible, 

 things would come right of themselves ; and so long as a 

 man has the courage to face the big men manfully, and to 

 ba firm and kind with the poor, and not pretend to be over- 

 righteous, both will respect you. ' Always disarm a man ' 

 is my motto. The other day a busybody had a London 

 sar — a layman and a great Exeter Hall light — down to 

 p -each in a barn on a Sunday, and no doubt thought he 

 could annoy me. I called on the Londoner instantly, and 

 threw no impediment in his way, for the man behaved Hke 

 a gentleman, and did not preach in our church hours, and 

 he w^as perfectly astonished to find that I was not afraid of 

 his competition. Another day, a ' dissenting minister,' as 

 he called himself, whom I never saw before, came and 

 personally attacked me about hunting and about the 

 * Burials Bill,' and said that I was one of those who wanted 

 to keep him and his flock out of the churchyard ; and I told 



