ch, as a matter of fact,
belonged to the Vicar alone, though never exercised--to such grazing,
jointly with the Vicar. He proceeded to pull up some of the young yews
as a protest, and threw them uprooted on the ground. The man employed
reported the matter to my co-warden, living near, who was very soon at
my house.

We decided to prosecute the offender, and obtained the Vicar's
consent, he being the legal prosecutor. The case was heard by a bench
of magistrates composed entirely of clergy and churchwarden squires,
who naturally sympathized with us, and, quite logically, convicted the
defendant in a fine, I think, of about 25s. and costs, or a term in
Worcester Gaol in default. The defendant refused to pay a farthing and
was removed in custody; but later our dear old Vicar, very generously,
came forward and paid the amount himself.

Shortly before the church restoration I had a notice to attend an
archidiaconal visitation, and duly appeared at the church at the time
arranged. The Archdeacon made a careful inspection of the fabric and
property of the church, not too well pleased with its dilapidated
appearance. Nothing much was said till we reached the
fourteenth-century font, showing signs of long use. The Archdeacon
motioned to the clerk to remove the oak cover, and the old man, with
the air of an officious waiter, lifted it with a flourish, disclosing,
inside the cracked font, a white pudding-basin, inside which, again,
reposed a species of beetle known as a "devil's coach-horse." The
Archdeacon, peering in and evidently recognizing the insect and its
popular designation, and looking much shocked, exclaimed with some
warmth: "Dear me! I should scarcely have expected to find _that_ thing
in a font!"

This story reminds me of a similar visitation depicted in _Punch_. The
Archdeacon was seen at the lych-gate of a country church in company
with a churchwarden farmer, the Vicar being unable to attend. The
contrast was well delineated--the Archdeacon tall, thin, and ascetic,
in a long black coat and archidiaconal hat; and the farmer of the John
Bull type, in ample breeches and gaiters. The churchyard presented a
magnificent crop of exuberant wheat:

_Archdeacon_. I don't like this at all; I shall really have to speak
to the Vicar about it.

_Churchwarden (thinking of the rotation of crops)_. Just what I told
un, sir--just what I told 'un. "You keeps on a-wheating of it and
a-wheating of it," I says; "why don't you tat