ZTbe TCcv. Mtlliam Barker Daniel in 



Then, again, who but the most intolerant of Puritans 

 could find fault with Charles Kingsley for his love of 

 sport ? What sportsman is there who has read " My 

 Winter Garden " or " Chalk Stream Studies " and not 

 felt that the sports he loves have derived a fresh dignity 

 from the fact that a man so good and earnest as Charles 

 Kingsley loved them and praised them ? 



Some of the best and kindliest men I have ever met 

 have been sport-loving parsons. I shall always cherish 

 a grateful memory of one tall, grave, iron-armed York- 

 shire clergyman, who taught me the art of fly-fishing, 

 and who could throw a fly with a delicacy and dexterity 

 which I have never seen surpassed. Another of the cloth, 

 too, I shall ever remember with affection and respect a 

 grand old Manx giant, as noble a specimen of stalwart 

 manhood as I have ever seen, the very type and model 

 of a country parson, homely and gentle and strong, 

 the beloved guide and comforter of all his widely scattered 

 flock. A true sportsman, too ! How his eye would 

 brighten and his honest, ruddy, kindly face light up 

 with interest as we " boys " showed him the snipe or 

 woodcock we had shot ! And when he was tramping 

 across marsh and moor to visit the sick among the 

 mountains, how he would delight to meet us, take one 

 of our guns for a brief spell, and show us that his right 

 hand had not forgotten its cunning, nor his eye lost its 

 quickness by knocking over a snipe or two, or maybe 

 a cock, in a style that made us feel that we had yet 

 much to learn in the art of shooting ! 



These discursive remarks on sporting parsons in 

 general will, I hope, be tolerated as an introduction to 



