yS SPORTING PARSONS OF THE OLD SCHOOL : 



an opinion, once said, " Mr. Costobadie is the most 

 courteous and gallant gentleman I have ever known." 



This memoir has already extended far beyond the 

 writer's first intention, and in the space at his disposal he 

 will not attempt even to briefly outline a life and person- 

 ality to which a whole volume could not do justice ; neither 

 is this the place to indulge in any sentiment born of filial 

 regard, reverence and devotion, suffice it to say that the 

 Vicar, besides being a lover of horses, was also a great 

 lover of humanity, for whose weakness and frailty he ever 

 made the greatest allowance. I may however, mention 

 at haphazard a few incidents, trivial in themselves, but 

 affording some indication of his character. When Curate 

 at Ilston he once saw an old woman trying to wheel a 

 barrow full of coals : he saved her the trouble. When a 

 brace of partridge came to table, he carved one, put the 

 other between two soup plates, and before sitting down 

 himself took it up to an old parishioner. In calling upon 

 any poor person he always thought it more important to 

 take them, a flask of port than a bundle of tracts ! 



Thoroughly orthodox, he never mentioned religion out 

 of Church, except by request. When the police arrested 

 a man and he was convicted for doing injury to his property, 

 he drove into Leicester next day, called on the Governor 

 of the Prison, and paid the man's fine that he might be set 

 at liberty. The two last acts of his life were to send help 

 to a poor parishioner at Stretton, and when told the hounds 

 were passing through the village, he got up and said " Let 

 me see the beauties once more." Without any ostentatious 

 display of religion he was kind, friendly, hospitable and 

 charitable in the strict sense of the word, for he thought no 

 evil, neither did he speak any of his fellow creatures. 



The old Vicar passed away in his 83rd year, on March 

 28th, 1887, and was laid to rest where he had ministered so 

 long. 



