A GOOD STOCK. 183 



scarcely be that any more sensible steps were ever 

 taken by the guardians of the public peace and 

 morals. 



Mr. Parker's courage, as I have shown, was un- 

 doubted. In fact, as we say in racing parlance, he 

 came of a good stock, and was well-bred for a pugilist. 

 His father delighted in the science, and used to thrash 

 his farm labourers if they offended him in anything. 

 The old man broke his thigh after he was sixty 

 years old, and amputation of the leg followed. But 

 he recovered, and with the assistance of a wooden 

 limb and a crutch he used to attend Chester market 

 most weeks, and had several battles there. He would 

 throw away his crutch, and plant his back against a 

 wall (if one could be found), and hit his opponents 

 with such terrific force that they soon gave in. Mr. 

 Parker himself was in height about 5 feet 11 inches, 

 and weighed twelve stone. He walked extremely 

 upright in rather a swaggering style, and cared for no 

 man. At the age of twenty his hair was quite grey 

 — a peculiarity of the family — and soon after became 

 white. He received a liberal education at a grammar 

 school in the neighbourhood, at Farndon, and amongst 

 other accomplishments wrote a splendid hand. In all 

 business transactions he was precise, and paid his 

 training and other accounts with punctuality to a 

 penny. 



Mr. Parker was a prudent man in every sense of 

 the word, and remarkably free from prejudice. On 



