326 Ikinas ot tbe 1lDuntina*3fielb 



his brother the Duke of Grafton, would not be tolerated 

 nowadays. Indeed, there are few bishops now who 

 countenance hunting as a pastime becoming to a clerk 

 in holy orders. Nor would the impudent excuse once 

 offered by a hunting curate to his remonstrant bishop be 

 accepted by any Right-Reverend Father. The curate in 

 question, when expostulated with by his bishop on 

 riding to hounds, said, ' But have I not seen your 

 lordship at a ball ? and surely hunting is not any more 

 sinful than dancing.' ' Yes, sir, you may have seen me 

 in a house in which dancing has been going on, but 

 never in the same room with the dancers.' ' Well, my 

 lord, and I am never in the same field with the hounds.' 



Never again may a hard-riding curate hope to obtain 

 a living under the circumstances in which one 'young 

 gentleman in black ' gained the richest benefice in the 

 gift of the Duke of Grafton. I myself and others have 

 told the anecdote before, but it will bear repeating. On 

 one occasion, when the Duke was out hunting, he was 

 thrown from his horse and fell into a ditch. At the 

 same moment a hard-riding young curate was taking 

 the fence, and, roaring out, ' Lie still, your Grace, and 

 I'll clear you ! ' leapt over the prostrate nobleman, and, 

 without looking back, galloped after the hounds. Some 

 of those who witnessed the incident were disposed to 

 censure the curate severely for his want of feeling. Not 

 so the Duke, who remarked, ' That young man shall 

 have the first good living that falls to my disposal : had 

 he stopped to take care of me he would have been 

 no sportsman.' And his Grace kept his word. 



The sporting parson of the old school was no better 

 or worse than most of his brethren of the ' cloth,' for 

 spirituality was then at a low ebb among the clergy. 



