THE REV. GERMAN BUCKSTON. 143 



proverb about " What is bred in the bone," etc., and in 

 the Eev. German Buckston it came out] very strono- 

 indeed. He came of a good old family, the earliest known 

 progenitor of which was Henry de Bawkestone, 1256, and 

 one Thomas Buxton was high sherift" of Derbyshire in 

 1415. But hfe immediate ancestor was Henry Buxton, 

 who was living at Bradbourne, in the seventeenth century. 

 From the last-named place, of which Mr. German Buck- 

 ston was vicar, he used to ride his hunter on in the 

 morning, even to the most distant meets on the Stafford- 

 shire side, hunt all day, ride him home at night, and the 

 " creeping parson," as he was styled, was never very far 

 from the hounds all day. He could not have said, like the 

 famous parson in the story, that he was never in the same 

 field with them. The story goes that once the well- 

 known Bishop Wilberforce remonstrated with a clergyman 

 in his diocese for going out hunting, and that the latter, in 

 self-defence, said — 



" But, my lord, I saw that you were at a State ball the 

 other night." 



" Perhaps I was," said the prelate, " but I can assure 

 you, I was never in the same room as the dancing." 



" And I can assure you, my lord, I am never in the 

 same field as the hounds ! " was the clever retort. 



The story is so venerable, that, on that account, at 

 least, it should command respect. 



Possibly there was something in tlie air at Bradbourne, 

 which stimulated its vicar to indulge in the pleasures of 

 the chase, for as long ago as 1214, William, who was then 

 vicar, was accused in the court of Rome by his prior, 

 amongst other irregularities, of going a-hunting, and 

 neglecting his clerical duties. Not that the former by any 

 means presupposes the latter. From Bradbourne, Mr. 

 Buckston moved to his other property at Sutton-on-the- 

 Hill, of which he was Rector for some years. He died in 

 1861, in his 65th year. His son, who is as good a fox- 

 preserver as was his father, is still with us, living at 

 Sutton-on-the-Hill, of which place he is the rector. 



