THE MASTKRS^. 6i 



factions, \vr iiiust lie pardoned for clironirliii- {\\v fact that the hard cash ho 

 expended upon the promotion oi xohinti'cr shootin,^ and i;cncral cfiicicncy 

 falls little sliort of /"lo.ooo. 



Colonel King's record of attendance at drills stands very higii, nearlv 

 94 per cent, of the "highest possible." Uf) to the lime of his retirement, 

 the total number of battalion drills amotmted to 532, and ('olonel King 

 was present at 497, having been absent on only thirty-five occasions. He 

 liied a volunteer at heart, in less than fourteen months after his resignation 

 fiom the force, and his last wishes were respectfully carried out, by his 

 " lads," as he loved to call them, carrying the coffin to the grave. At 

 the funeral the battalion mustered 400 strong, and relays of the men carried 

 the remains of their beloved late comniLinding officer from his residence 

 at Oxton to the narish church at ^\'oodchurch. 



ID. B. Mm as Citisen. 



" Cry, holla ! to thy tongue, I pr'ythee ; it curvets 

 very unseasonably. He was furnished like a hunter." 



As Von Like It, act Hi, scene 2. 



Having given a sketch of V. A. King in his more prominent aspects of 

 l)eagler and volunteer, it now only remains to treat of him in his character 

 of citizen. 



The inhabitants of Birkenhead and \\'irral of twenty years of age and 

 upwards will have a familiar recollection of his face and figure, as he was 

 always very much in evidence whenever anything of importance was stirring 

 in the neighbourhood. He either presided, or was one of the chief speakers, 

 at most of the public meetings held in Oxton or Birkenhead, on an endless 

 variety of subjects. No question, political, social, religious, literary, agricul- 

 tural, or commercial, seemed to come amiss to him, and he had, reverently 

 be it said, his "finger in every pie." 



His speeches show how well-informed lie was on every subject he took 

 up. He was a fluent and a ready speaker, and was ]:)ossessed of oratorical 

 powers of a rare order, although his gestures might be held, by those not 

 accustomed to his manner, to be somewhat exaggerated. 



He was genial and kindly in every relation of life, thoroughly cosmo- 

 politan in his bonhomie with every class, high or low, rich or poor, and a 

 general favourite with them all ,; in short, he was, what he always aimed at 

 being, a bluff, hearty, English gentleman, of the good old Tory tjpe. \\\ 

 controversy, he could always "give as good as he got," ami many an 

 opponent (he had itw op[X)nents exce|)t in politics) has winced under his 

 satire, for with all his geniality, he possessed a bitter tongue when roused, 

 and anyone who opi)osed him generally heard some plain truths, given in 

 plain, unvarnished, unmistakeable Saxon, 



