6o Sportsmen Parsons in Peace and War 



" Permit me in the first place to express my deep acknow- 

 ledgment of the spirit that pervades your last communication 

 and the kind expressions it contains, and to assure your Lord- 

 ship that had your former letters been similar in character to 

 this, you would have had no reason to complain of their reception 

 at my hands ; but your Lordship must remember that thej^ 

 contained simply threats amounting to notice of proceedings, 

 and left me no alternative except the course which I pursued, 

 viz., to refer your Lordship to my Solicitors. My Lord, in 

 reference to your present letter, it is true that now, for more 

 than fifty years, I have bred and sometimes had in training for 

 the race-course many horses. They are of a breed highly 

 prized, which I inherited with my estate, and which have been 

 in my family for generations. 



" It may be difficult perhaps to decide what constitutes a 

 scandal in the Church, but I cannot think that in my endeavours 

 to preserve this breed, and thus improve the horses of this 

 country— an object of special interest at the present time— I 

 have done anything to incur your Lordship's censure. I am 

 fully aware, as your Lordship must be too, by this time, that 

 legal proceedings upon your part would be powerless against 

 me, and if, therefore, I resign the livings which I hold within 

 your Lordship's Diocese, it will not be from any consciousness 

 of wrong or from fear of any consequences that might ensue in 

 the Ecclesiastical Courts, but simply because I desire to live for 

 the remainder of my days in peace and charity v/ith all men, and 

 to save your Lordship the inconvenience, and the Church the 

 scandal, of futile proceedings being taken against one who has 

 retired some time from parochial ministration and is lying on a 

 bed of sickness at the moment. 



" I rest, 



" Yours faithfully, 

 " J. W. King." 



" Apology's " career extended over four years and ended 

 with a win — the Ascot Cup in 1876, soon after Parson King's 

 death. She was entered for the race under the name of " Mr. 

 Seabrook," a name derived from C. Brook. Dr. W. H. Brook 

 was a personal friend of the parson's, and one of his executors, 

 but did not long survive him. The doctor was succeeded by 



