66 Sportsmen Parsons in Peace and War 



preaching at Thorpe Satchville, during the harvest thanks- 

 giving, he entirely forgot the name of the charity the collec- 

 tion was for. After the service, while making his apologies 

 to the vicar for his forgetfulness, he remarked that he 

 feared the collection would not be a good one in consequence. 

 " On the .contrary," was the reply, " it amounts to £40, 

 including a promissory note for £35 from someone signing him- 

 self Burnaby." The good-hearted late General Burnaby of 

 Baggrave Hall, Leicestershire, had been hunting in the neigh- 

 bourhood during the week, and hearing that his cousin was to 

 occupy the pulpit, went to hear him preach ; observing his 

 forgetfulness he had done his best to make up for it. Parson 

 Burnaby asked him later why he had done it. " I did it for 

 the family name," he replied, " but confound it, I have to make 

 that note good." General Burnaby was like his cousin Fred, 

 never far behindhand with his payments ; in which he differed 

 greatly from his great friend Valentine Baker, who, though a rich 

 man, could not be persuaded to pay his bills punctually. He 

 would always say he would see to them by-and-bye, but the 

 " by-and-bye " was a long time coming as a rule. 



It was while staying with General Burnaby at Blaggrave 

 that the Prince of Wales (King Edward VII.) sowed the seed 

 of the famous covert now a sure find with the Quorn. 



When on a visit at Longleat with the late Marquess of Bath, 

 parson Burnaby took a service during which he inadvertently 

 prayed for George IV., and, when teased about it afterwards, got 

 out of it by saying, " Well, it is a long time since anyone prayed 

 for him." He speaks with affection of the late Duke and 

 Duchess of Bedford, their ducal home at Woburn being close to 

 his father's rectory. They saw a good deal of one another, and 

 many happy days of his childhood were spent there. The 

 Duchess was a charitable woman and full of good works. Once 

 when she was busy with a bazaar in aid of the restoration of St. 

 Peter's church, Evelyn Burnaby, then a little boy and anxious 

 to do his bit towards the charity, picked all the choicest flowers 

 in the rectory garden and made them into a bouquet, presenting 

 them to the Duchess's stall marked one guinea. Some time 

 elapsed before any offer was made for this splendid bargain, 

 until the Duchess called on one of the gilded youths present to 

 buy it, which to his everlasting glory^ he did ; but his expression 



