no sportsmen Parsons in Peace and War 



that were no more elaborate as regards food, and considerably 

 less elaborate in the matter of drinkables, even in the much 

 maligned times of milk and honey that immediately preceded 

 the war. Indeed, I should have thought the shooting of the 

 guns after beer, sherry, and brandy would have been far from 

 good. I could have shown them very fine shoots in the south 

 of England where they would have been offered nothing to 

 drink but cider. 



I have devoted most space to Hole as a sportsman, but it 

 would be wildly wrong to regard him as more sportsman than 

 cleric. He was a cleric first, and everything else as an after- 

 thought. He was a popular and very human preacher and 

 platform orator, while his early love of writing lasted all his life 

 and caused him to write sheaves of witty and charming letters 

 which have been collected and produced in book form ; also a 

 number of books, some on religious subjects and others on 

 gardening. His " Memoirs " are very interesting and amusing, 

 and have been of great use to me in compiling his sporting 

 record. 



As I have said, he was one of the principal champions who 

 brought new life to the Church of England in its dark days of 

 what the decorous call " depression," and the profane " slump." 

 The desertion of two such brilliant men as Manning and Newman 

 to the Church of Rome was only a sign of the times, and their 

 example was followed by innumerable smaller fry. The 

 gloomiest forebodings were freely expressed that the Church was 

 on its last legs. I have described in another chapter how 

 Kingsley rushed into the breach with his Christian socialism. 

 Hole's remedy was to brighten things up by what lukewarm 

 people call " High Church " methods, and the hostile critics 

 savagely denounce as " Popery " — that vague but ever- 

 terrifying word ! 



He worked very hard for the new movement and was 

 eminently successful in diffusing new energy into the ancient 

 structure of the Church. Of course he and his co-reformers 

 met with opposition, but that only served to spur them onwards 

 with the fine fury which the word " crusade " always awakens, 

 and added the vitalising sense of fighting against odds. It may 

 seem curious now that most of the Bishops opposed their 

 efforts. To the mere lay mind it seems obvious enough that 



