CHAPTER X. 



THE WILLEY RECTOR, AND OTHER OF THE SQUIRe's 

 FRIENDS. 



The Squire's Friends and the Willey Eector more folly drawn 

 — Turner — Wilkinson — Harris — The Rev. Michael Pye 

 Stephens — His Relationship to the Squire — In the Commission 

 of the Peace — The Parson and the Poacher — A Pox-hunting 

 Christening. 



Besides professional sportsmen wlio were wont to 

 make the Willey roof-trees eclio with their shouts, 

 the Squire usually assembled round his table, on 

 Sundays, the leading men of the neighbourhood, 

 each of some special note or importance in his 

 own district, who formed at Willey a sort of local 

 parliament. Among these were brother magistrates, 

 tenants, and members of the clerical, legal, and 

 medical professions. Thomas Turner, a county 

 magistrate, and the chairman of a court of equity, 

 to establish which the Squire assisted him in obtain- 

 ing an Act of Parliament, to whom was dedicated a 



I 



