Preface vii. 



for sport or recreation, and I doubt if ever again we shall see 

 the old stamp of sporting parson. All the more reason that we 

 should not forget them. 



As children we love to be told stories, and the love clings to 

 us through life ; perhaps there may be people who will care to 

 read of the parsons in this book, whose lives, many of them, have 

 been unsung too long. There are a few who do not appeal to 

 us, but I have taken them as they came to my mind, good, bad, 

 and indifferent : happily the good predominate. 



To be a successful parson, clergyman, priest, or whatever we 

 call them, requires a man to have all the gifts of the gods rolled 

 into one. 



Far be it from me to suggest it is only among the sporting 

 parsons that good and great men are to be found, for it has been 

 my privilege to know many — Father Staunton and Cardinal 

 Manning, for example. 



After all, we are only variations of one single theme. 



A. C. STUART MENZIES. 



