SPORTING CLERGYMAN. 31 



sparkling eye, would have caused any one 

 to differ from those who affirm that the 

 love of field sports is incompatible with 

 the exercise of the clerical office, or who 

 think that the pursuit of a sportsman in- 

 terferes with the duty of a minister. 



Indeed, I had reason to surmise, a 

 year or two after, when we had become 

 further acquainted, that the two might 

 be very well associated ; that the same 

 keenness of gaze that could descry a 

 partridge or a hare at a distance, could 

 seek an object on which to leave im- 

 pressions not easily eradicated. 



This I witnessed one morning over 

 our breakfast where the coach stopped, 

 when in company with my Son, then 

 a lad about seventeen or eighteen years 

 of age ; for, after asking him two or 

 three questions, he delivered a discourse 

 on the proper fulfilment of filial obliga- 

 tions, with all that decision and earnest- 



