FOXES FOXHOUNDS & FOX-HUNTING 



arvel-cheese as well as arvel bread, and a more or 

 less substantial meal was provided for the com- 

 pany in the form of cheese, white bread, and oat 

 cake, washed down with ale, cold or warm ac- 

 cording to the time of year. 



The priests of the north-country parishes were 

 many of them quaint characters according to 

 present-day standards. They lived under very 

 different conditions to the modern parson, and 

 were extremely badly paid for their labours. 

 Many of them were very keen on sport, more 

 particularly hunting, and their behaviour at times 

 would have shocked the parishioners of the 

 present-day village. Over a hundred years ago 

 the usual dress of a Westmorland parish priest 

 consisted of a fustian jacket, corduroy knee 

 breeches, coarse grey stockings and clogs stuffed 

 with bracken, the whole being topped off by a 

 brown hat. The priest received ten-pence half- 

 penny per Sunday, and he usually eked out this 

 slender pittance by working at a variety of other 

 jobs. More than one member of the cloth 

 supervised the running of an ale-house, and when 

 forced to leave convivial company would depart 

 with the words : " I will but preach and be with 

 you again." A very noted character once filled 

 the pulpit at Troutbeck (Windermere), by name 

 Sewell. He was priest there from 1827 to 1869. 

 Like others of his school he was devoted to fox- 

 hunting and other sports, and eked out his stipend 

 by farming. It was he who built the ' ' Traveller's 

 Rest " Inn on Kirkstone Pass. On one occasion 

 he leaned over the pulpit before the service, and 

 enquired of a member of his congregation : 

 " Have you seen owt o' two lile sheep o' mine 

 amang yours ? They're smitten i' t' ear like 

 yours but deeper i* t' smit." On another oc- 



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