HUMOURS OF HUNTING-FIELD 167 



and began reading it," she could stand it no longer, and 

 said, " What should the fox want to read the paper for ? " 

 Tim replied, " How the divil was he to know where the 

 hounds met if he didn't ? " 



Apropos of hunting, I hope I may be excused for 

 running a good old chestnut to earth here, and giving the 

 true version of a story which has been told with many 

 variations, all more or less divergent from the truth. The 

 real hero of the tale was a well-known sporting parson, 

 the Rev. Christopher Erie, Rector of Hardwich, and 

 brother of Lord Chief Justice Erie, Sir Thomas Digby 

 Aubray, who lived at Oving, a parish adjoining that of 

 Mr Erie, had invited the Bishop of Oxford (Dr Wilber- 

 force) to dinner, and several of the neighbouring gentry 

 and clergy to meet him, amongst others the Reverend 

 Christopher. Now the reverend gentleman was very fond 

 of going to see the hounds meet, and, pottering along 

 through a line of gates, he generally managed to see a good 

 deal of them. The Bishop, hearing of this, thought it 

 would be a good opportunity to get a rise out of Mr Erie, 

 and leading the conversation to that topic, said he had a 

 great objection to his clergy riding to hounds, and, with 

 a merry twinkle of his eye, alluded pointedly to the worthy 

 Rector of Hardwich. Mr Erie, in reply, said that he saw 

 no harm in it, and that people who indulged in the carnal 

 enjoyment of dancing were equally reprehensible, and that 

 he deemed it his duty to allude to a statement in the 

 Court Circular of the past week, that amongst the guests 

 at Her Majesty's State Ball at Buckingham Palace was the 

 Bishop of Oxford! A laugh ensued, and his lordship 

 replied, " Yes, Mr Erie, but I make it a rule never to go into 

 the room where the dancers are." " Exactly my case, my 

 lord," said the parson ; " for I make it a rule never to be in 

 the same field as the hounds." 



One of the grandest sportsmen of his time was the 

 Rev. John Russell, of Devon, better known as "Jack 

 Russell," who, unlike many of his cloth who have been 

 devoted to sport, was an equally good parson. 



On one occasion, when riding Cottager, and hunting 

 with a new draft from the Hambledon Hounds, he found 



