CHAP. II.] V ere I shanty J. Whalley, W, Dickens. 59 



a reply iu correspondirig terms ; but tlie only remark of 

 the kindly minister was : ^* Fool, fool, am I ? I daresay 

 that you are no judge, Squire." In no respect is the 

 advance of refinement more marked than in the style of 

 speech common in the " twenties " and long after, and 

 that whick prevails in the present day. Then, one of the 

 objections raised to a clergyman's hunting was the coarse 

 language that would be sure to meet his ears in the field : 

 now, if every sportsman present were a parson, the tone 

 of conversation could not be more free from anything 

 that is objectionable. 



No styles of riding could be more different from each 

 other than those of the Rector of Lamport and of the 

 Rev. John Whalley, Rector of the village of Ecton. Tall, 

 slim, and of a peculiarly graceful carriage when on 

 horseback, the latter seemed to glide rather than ride 

 across a country, and was a worthy rival of Sir Charles 

 Kniglitley and of Mr. Davy, though of a rather later 

 date. 



Always riding horses of a good stamp and with, plenty 

 of quality, the man who found himself in front of the 

 Ecton parson might be sure that he was quite as near 

 hounds as he ought to be. 



The Rev. William Dickens of Woollaston was a 

 ^^ customer" of another school. Living on the Oakley 

 side of the country, it was only occasionally that he met 

 the Pytchley at Harrowden, Finedon, or Hardwicke 

 village ; but not a member of either hunt was more sure 

 to be ^' there or thereabouts " than Woollaston's some- 

 what irreverent reverend. Enjoying something of a re- 

 putation for '' smart sayings," as well as smart riding, 

 he one day proved his title to the first at the expense of 



