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THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA

PRESENTED BY

PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND
MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID

N IMROD'S
HUNTING TOUR

IN

SCOTLAND AND THE NORTH OF ENGLAND ;

WITH THE

TABLE-TALK OF DISTINGUISHED SPORTING CHARACTERS,
AND

ANECDOTES OF MASTERS OF HOUNDS, CRACK RIDERS, AND
CELEBRATED AMATEUR DRAGSMEN.

J. C. APPERLEY,

H
AUTHOR OF "THE CHASE, THE TURF, AND THE ROAD," ETC., ETC.

LONDON
GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, LIMITED

BROADWAY, LUDGATE HILL
MANCHESTER AND NEW YORK

7

NIMROD'S

NORTHERN TOUR.

-" Haec olim meminisse juvabit." — VIRGIL.

" When time, who steals our hours away,

Shall steal our pleasures too,
The memory of the past will stay,

And half our joys renew." — MOORE.

THE promises of authors, like lovers' vows, are not always to be
depended upon ; but I feel confident that the cause of my not
having fulfilled mine by the earlier appearance of a recapitulation
of what I saw on my Northern Tour, will be duly appreciated by
your readers, to whom it has already been made known. Some
persons, however, have asked me, why I did not commence it
whilst in Scotland, to whom I had an answer at hand. In the
first place, I might as well think of sleeping in a whirlwind as
to write anything to please myself unless in retirement and
privacy ; and consequently, as unless I please myself, I should
despair of pleasing others, I did not attempt to do so. I am not
one of those who imagine that precipitancy in publishing is any
indication of genius. I should rather say of ignorance, and E
would sooner own that I had to combat with a mind tardy ia
producing its stores, than offer them to the world in a rude un-
finished state. In the present instance, indeed, it would be an
act of black ingratitude were I not to endeavour to make the
only return I can make for the reception I met with in Scotland
as acceptable as my ability will allow me. Neither do I stop
here. Simply to be remembered is no satisfaction ; it is a

I

s NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

privilege which vice as well as virtue can confer ; but the
pleasing reflection which I should draw, were I to indulge in the
hope that the name of Nimrod may be remembered in Scotland
when he who assumes it shall be no more, would arise from the
wish that, with that name, one virtue should be associated — a
proper sense of feeling for the kindness and hospitality he
received in it.

The circumstances that led to my " NORTHERN TOUR" are
as follows. All the sporting world know the Earl of Kintore, his
social and good-humoured character, his warmth of friendship
which knows no bounds, and his enthusiastic love of fox-hunting
which I should imagine cannot well be exceeded. I became
acquainted with his lordship some ten or twelve years back at
Melton, and have since enjoyed his friendship, and partaken of
liis benevolence. Now sympathy has been called the mother of
friendship — and justly so called, for the weight of sorrow is
broken by being divided, and no doubt my noble friend sympa-
thized with me in my present situation, deprived of the enjoy-
ment of a sport he is aware I love nearly as much as he loves it
himself. One evening in the month of September, 1834, then, I
saw a triple letter lying on my table with the seal uppermost,
the impression on which was a fox's head, with the words
" Floreat scientia" on the wreath that encircled it. " A sports-
man" said I to myself, and, turning the other side uppermost
espied " Kintore'7 in the corner. The purport of the letter was,
to convey to me the good wishes of his lordship for my future
prospects in life, and to tell me that he thought it might "put a
spoke in my wheel" if I were to pass a winter in Scotland, where
he could ensure me a welcome reception.

The pleasure this invitation afforded me, or the feelings it gave
I3irth to, I need not take the trouble to describe. My readers
will appreciate them ; neither would it have been necessary to
observe, considering the auspices under which I was about to
appear among them, that I was likely to be most kindly received
by my brother sportsmen in the North. A second letter from
my noble friend was conclusive of everything. In it he gave
me to understand that he should order two horses to be hired for
sny use, from a " would-be Tilbury" in Edinburgh, and that they
should await my arrival at Dunse, Lord Elcho's head-quarters,
by the first week in November ; and from Dunse my future
loute was marked out by him. But before I quit the notice of
these letters, I must be allowed to mention a fact strongly indi-
£;ttive of the habits and character of the writer of them, and
affording, in my opinion, an almost unprecedented instance of
punctuality in the movements of a person not tied to time, nor in

NIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR. 3

any wise controlled by circumstances. His lordship informed
me that he was about to set out for the South on a certain day .
— that he should visit the kennels of certain masters of fox-
hounds in various parts of England, naming them all, as also the
exact time of doing so ;— that he should be for two days in
London, at home again on the sixteenth day, winch he was,
'after keeping every one of his appointments ! But punctuality
imd fox-hunting go hand-in-hand ; and it might perhaps create
the surprise of the trader were he to know with' what scrupulous
exactness the management of a kennel of fox-hounds is conducted.

.hi his lordship's arrival at home his head whipper-in also went
• pon furlough, to visit his friends in the New Forest, fourteen
Jays being allotted to him for his trip ; and, of course, after the
example of his noble master and his huntsman, he was punctual
to his time to return.

But it is now time that I should think of moving, and I must
take a peep into my almanack to assist my memory on that
point. But in the autumn of the year, no man can say exactly
when he can quit Calais for England, as, barring the samiel of
the desert, or the sirocco, we have every description of climate
here, and often on the same day. A most desperate equinoctial
gale, however, causing a great loss of life on this coast, prevented
my embarking by a week so soon as I intended ; and even the
stupendous power of steam could scarcely face it when I did.
Nevertheless, after a touch-and-go on the bar, which produced

omething like a view-holloa from the ladies, and the very
.iisagreeable view of a steamer in great danger, on the shore, I
arrived at Dover on the 3oth of October, somewhat afflicted with
the maladie de mer, a further description of which may very
readily be dispensed with.

A good fire and some comfortable refreshment at the London
Hotel soon made " all right," as we say on the road, and as the
guests in the coffee-room consisted of only two Irish gentlemen
and myself, we very soon after the fashion of the continent,
"joined cry," as we say in the field. One of them it appeared
resided in the same county (Louth) in which the late Sir Harry
Goodricke's property was situated, and he mentioned several
interesting circumstances relating to that very celebrated English
sportsman, some of which set forth, in a strong light, not only
the loss that country sustained by his death, in the cessation of
the improvements he was making on his estate, but also the
causa causce of half the misery of Ireland in the absence of their
nobility and gentry. One anecdote of my deceased friend is
characteristic of the man, although not of the country which
gave birth to it, at the same time that, when associated with the

1—2

4 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

native humour of its people, it cannot but create a smile. A
sporting yeoman in his neighbourhood, and an esteemed judge
in horse-flesh, had eloquence sufficient to induce Sir Harry to
leave three hundred pounds in his hands with which he was to
purchase for him " a pair of hunters ;> that were to beat every
horse in Leicestershire. Whether such nonpareils were not to
be found, is not for me to say ; but one thing is certain — na
horses, either good or bad, were sent to Leicestershire. Then,
what said the Baronet when he arrived in Louth the next sum-
mer ? Why, nothing ; but going over to the sporting yeoman's
house, he took his two best hunters out of the meadow in which
thev were regaling themselves, and had them led to his own
stables.

There must be something forcibly striking .to any person on
his first landing in England, after a long sojourn in France, and
perhaps nothing more so— at least such is my own case — than
the absence of that violent gesticulation which accompanies
speech on this side the water ; and which, on very interesting
topics, is carried to such a pitch as to justify the extravagant
encomium of a Latin writer on some eminent professors of the
pantomimic art — namely, that " in each of their eloquent hands,
there was a tongue."

The following morning I took my place on the box of the
Eagle coach, which leaves Dover at eight o'clock A.M. ; and
here I must draw one more comparison between the country I
was now in, and that which I had just left. When comparing
the literature of the two nations, a French writer of acknowledged
abilities candidly says, that he had been at a loss to determine
in what department of it his countrymen excelled the English,
or in what the English excelled them. But between the systems
of travelling in France and in England, there cannot be admitted
any parallel ; nor indeed for the former any apology ; and when-
I am seated on the box of an English stage coach, and con-
trast the neatness of its build with the clumsiness of a French
diligence ; the brightness — I was nearly saying elegance — of
its harness, with the poverty-struck tackle of the other, which an
English farmer in some counties would be ashamed of ; the
personal cleanliness, and almost genteel, although appropriate,
character of the coachman, with the dirty, smoke-dried, smock-
frocked, nondescript appearance of the diligence driver ; and
though last, not least, the rapid and soul- stirring pace of its
horses, with the funereal slowness of the others, I cannot help
feeling a conscious pride in the superiority of my own country,
as regards the actual operations of common life. But here the
energy of the British mind comes into play. A saving of time.

NIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR. $

is everything to an Englishman ; whereas — as far as my ex-
perience has gone — a Frenchman thinks little of i*-. Discussing
this point with one of them on our journey from hence to Dun-
kirk— only twenty-five miles, which occupied rather better than
five hours, by the Lisle diligence — he acknowledged the tardi-
ness of French travelling, but added emphatically, that it was
much cheaper than in England. This I denied ; and told him
that if I had not been called upon to mount the diligence by two
hours so soon as I was called upon, I could have earned three
times the amount of my fare to Dunkirk in those two hours.

But to return to the Eagle coach. My chief object in select-
ing it out of the many that leave Dover for the Metropolis, was
to see the performance of a coachman called Bill Watson, whose
father and/iwr brothers are all on the bench on the same road
— a circumstance unparalleled, I believe, in the annals of English
coaching. We were strangers to each other, which suited my
book the better, as I was then sure of seeing him in his every-
day costume ; that is to say, in his real character as the driver
of a very well-appointed and sufficiently fast coach, on perhaps
the most difficult road that is now to be found within the same
distance from London. Nor could I have selected a better day
for my observance of him ; for having to take up some passengers
in two or three very narrow Streets, and those full of interrup-
tions from building materials, I had a good opportunity of
judging of his powers of coachmanship, and he certainly afforded
me a treat. I found he not only was gifted with that delicacy ot
finger which is indispensable to perfection in the art, with
strength equal to anything that may be required of him for his
box, but that he had all the quickness of the new school with
the formerly-indispensable qualifications of the old one — I mean,
the proper and ready use of his whip ; and which, on such
ground as his is, is more essential to safety than the generality
of persons are aware of.

In short, from the scientific way in which he caught his thong
upon his crop, it was always ready for wheelers or leaders, and
the rapidity with which he applied it to his leaders when wanting
— the near-side ones in particular — I have never seen equalled.
But it was on the summit of the first hill we had to descend that
the performance of this artist most gratified me, for he showed
me that he was one of the few of his fraternity that are suffi-
ciently aware of the attraction of gravitation, — or, in other words,
that the weight of his coach would multiply by its velocity — by
pulling up his horses nearly to their walk, before he began to
descend it. He then handed his coach down it in a masterly
manner, without the assistance of the drag, and consequently

6 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

availed himself of the momentum of increased speed when it
arrived on level ground.

Although my ride by the side of Watson was a short one, as
I was going no 'farther than Rochester, we discussed many sub-
jects in succession by the way. At last the New Sporting
Magazine turned up. " I wonder," said he, " who wrote that
punishing account of us Dover coachmen, though to be sure the
description he gave of the changing at Gravesend was not much
amiss. I dare say it was Nimrod. But I won't have* that £20
a year for the washerwoman's bill ; no — no — that won't do ; —
what's to become of the baker's bill at that rate ? But the best
of the joke was," continued he, " I was spending an evening at
the house of a friend of mine, in London, about the time that
number of the Magazine came out, when it was read aloud to the
party, and no one but my friend knew I was a coachman, and a
Dover coachman too ! ;Twas a hardish hit, but I stood it like
brick and mortar, tailor's bill and all."t But really looking at
Watson on his box this day — his clean shirt, his well starched
neckcloth, and everything else clean about him — not omitting
the good bit of broad-cloth and well brushed beaver, nor, above
all things the neat balconyed house, on the terrace, a mile out
of Dover, where he pulled up to drop a word to Mrs. Watson, —
looking at all this, I say, who can but rejoice that the liberality
of the British public enables a man of this grade in life to do
credit to his calling — one of no small importance to such a gad-
about people as the English— and to induce him to persevere in
that line of conduct which will ensure him a lengthened con-
tinuance of it ?

I have not yet done with Watson and his coach. Observing
Mrs. Watson, as she stood at the window, to cast an anxious
look at her husband as he was in the act of mounting his box,,
I was cogitating within myself whether there might not be some-
thing in it that was ominous, and looked for " the raven on the
chimney's top," when Watson himself thus dispelled the illusion.
"My missus,"'^ said he, "will be anxious to see how I stand it
this journey, for this is the first day I have been at work for
these last ten weeks. I have been laid up with a bad leg from a
scrape of the roller-bolt, and thought at one time I was book'd
by the down mail — at all events, that nothing but the knife could
have saved me.'; The mention of this circumstance, however,
might have been omitted by me here, had it not been associated
with a curious fatality that has attended some of ourvery best road

* A flash word for "believe" or "acknowledge."
t Stated at ^100 per annum, — Vide vol. vii. p. 316.

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 7

coachmen on their descending from a coach-box to a gig. During
his sojourn in London for the benefit of superior surgical assis-
tance, Watson twice took an airing in a gig,and was twice ran away
with, and nearly killed. I have, somewhere, but cannot now put
my hand upon it, a list of coachmen who have been killed out
of gigs, the celebrated Dick Vaughan, of the Cambridge Tele-
graph, at the head of them.

At Rochester I took my leave of Watson, very much pleased
with all I saw of his performance on the bench, as well as with
his general demeanour ; and we parted as we met, both strangers
to each other. The object of my leaving his coach here was to
pay a visit to a favourite sister whose husband is in command at
Chatham, as well as one of the Aides-de-Camp to the King ; and
it happened that I arrived on a day on which he had a very large
party to dinner, of which there appeared to be about an equal
number of coats, red, black, and blue, dispersed amongst the
ladies, but all of them strangers to me. To dwell long on this
dinner party would be indicative of bad taste on my part, and I
should imagine by no means to be wished for by my readers ;
but one circumstance occurred which I cannot persuade myself
to pass over.

The officer of the watch came to report a fire in the neighbour-
hood, which was at first imagined to be on the property of a gen-
tleman who was one of the guests of the evening, but so far the
alarm proved false. It was an incendiary fire, as the term is, on
an, unfortunately, uninsured farmer and hay jobber, consuming,
as we ascertained next morning, nine large ricks of hay and two
of corn, and, it was asserted, causing irredeemable ruin to the
owner ! Well might the poet sing — the thought, I believe, is
Seneca's —

"Of Heaven's protection who can be
So confident, to utter this ?
To-morrow I shall spend in bliss."

But what protection can human power afford against the
cowardly act of the midnight incendiary? The crime was unknown
in my young days, and I believe it is not of English growth ;
but 1 have always considered it the worst sign of the times, and
one that calls for the severest punishment our laws can inflict.*
The victim here was an overseer of the poor.

On the third morning after my arrival at Chatham, I took my

* By the law of the Twelve Tables, the incendiary was first whipped,
and then delivered to the flames. Gibbon says, " In this example alone
our reason is tempted to approve the justice of retaliation."

I NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

departure from it for London, and was told by my brother-in-law
that I should find " a character" in the driver of the coach that
he had ordered to call at his door for me, to take me to the
* little city." " His name ?" inquired I. " Mr. Chomley," an-
swered the colonel, "for I assure you he does not think small
beer of himself ; but you will find him a most civil and entertain-
ing fellow-traveller, and, for all I know to the contrary, a good
whip." Of the last-mentioned qualification I soon had an oppor-
tunity of judging, for he had a young horse at wheel which was
never in a coach before, and he handed him down the hill into
Rochester — very pushing ground by-the-by — in a masterly- way ;
particularly so as his mouth was anything but good. Of the first,
his colloquial powers, we had a specimen as I was in the act of
mounting the box. " Take especial care of this gentleman," said
the colonel to him, " if you break his neck you'll have the sport-
ing world in mourning." " You may depend upon that, colonel,
and of 'myself too" replied Mr. Chomley, as he let his thong fall
gently on the young one, to keep him up to his collar, for he was
getting somewhat impatient ; and with the old-fashioned whistle
through his teeth — for Mr. Chomley is of the old school — we
were off.

I make it a rule never to say much to a coachman till he is
clear of the town which he starts from, as all his attention is
wanting in the arrangement of his passengers and their luggage,
and many things besides. But I soon found that this was not
likely to be one of Mr. Chomley's brightest days, from the answer
he gave at our first stop in Rochester, to the usual question,
among a certain class of people, of, "How be you, Mr. Chomley?"
from a friend who stood in the street. " Why that is more than
I can tell you," said Chomley ; " but I've a d — d bad head-ache
to begin with." The fact was, he had had a blow-out at his cot-
tage the night before, with -a few choice spirits like himself, which
had been kept up till rather a late hour, and Richard was not
himself again. I could, however, discern in the conversation I
had with this person on our journey, as well as from the descrip-
tion he gave me of his cottage and its contents, that he possessed
what has been more profitable to him than a coach-load of wit
— namely, strong sterling sense, and a very civil tongue — although
no doubt, with brothers in soul, a smart reply often produces an
extra shilling.

But the cottage with its contents, what can I say of that ?
Why, nothing until I accept Mr. Chomley's pressing invitation
to inspect it on my next visit to the colonel, when he assured me
!• should find in it " as good a bottle of port as any in Kent, and
lot a very bad collection of pictures !"

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 9

Being now on the road, will you allow me a short digression ?
It is really lamentable to contemplate the numerous accidents of
late to first-rate .coaches, and attended, in all cases, with loss of
either life or limb, from the giving way of axle-trees ; and to one,
the Yarmouth Magnet, from the loss of a wheel, by which a
young woman had both her thighs broken ! It appears that all
I have written on this subject has had no effect in preventing
these dreadful occurrences, but it is high time they should be put
an end to — at all events that such means as are most likely to
prevent them, should be resorted to. With respect to the loss
of wheels to which fast coaches, with the common linch-pin, are
always liable — I can name one which lost six in nine years —
there should be an Act of Parliament to make it imperative that
no stage-coach should travel the road without its wheels being
secured by screws, which is the principal feature as regards
safety in what are called patent boxes. As to the giving way of
axle-trees, — a never-failing cause of injury to passengers from the
rapid rate at which coaches now travel, — it is absurd to say that
occurrence cannot be prevented, even without having recourse to
the idle wheel. How does the cable hold the ship but by mul-
tiplying its power according to the tonnage of the vessel ? We
are told "the master of mechanics laughs at strength," — a boast,
I am aware, that relates ^to the lever's power; nevertheless it
would be absurd to say, after seeing how an iron cable will hold
a large ship, that iron axle-trees cannot be made sufficiently
strong to bear the weight of a loaded coach, which never exceeds
three tons.* Mail-coaches, we know, are often overturned from
the necessity of keeping their time in all weather ; but they can-
not lose their wheels, and their axle-trees very rarely give way,
because they are more than equal to the superincumbent weight,
which, from the limited number of passengers, £c., is much less
than that of the long stage-coaches, as they are called. Without
doubt the axle-trees of the latter should be put to some test
before they are used on the road, and proved equal to the weight
they have to carry ; and it should be seen that the iron is quite
free from flaw. But I fear the cry-out of the persons who horse
our coaches has something to do with broken axle-trees, by their
insisting upon the weight of them being confined within certain
bounds ; and we all know the difficulty of combining strength
with lightness. I have been chiefly led into this digression by
the hope that these remarks may find their way into the news-

* The weight of twelve passengers and their luggage averages one
ton. The modern coaches do not exceed (few amount to) a ton ; I
have, therefore, allowed quite the maximum weight.

io NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

papers, which it is probable they may do, as the gentlemen con-
nected with them often, no doubt, trust their persons to coaches,
and a clever editor, Whig or Tory, is a public loss. But life is
like honour, which Virgil says is nowhere safe.

I have not much to say of my short visit to London, which
appears to get bigger and bigger every time I see it. In fact we
may almost say of it, what Aristotle said of Babylon, that it
might rather be called a country than a city. One circumstance,
however, attended my entrance into it which I am quite certain
never occurred before, and I may venture to predict will never
occur again. It was the first of November — properly considered
the first day of winter— and the water-carts were at work, not
only in the streets, but on the roads !

I had the choice of two coaches to take me to the north, but
fixed on the Wellington, because I like the name ; it is borne by
a man who has not only done honour to his country in the field,
but who is its best friend in the senate, as after-times will show.
At half-past three o'clock then, I started on the box of this said
Wellington coach, from the Bull and Mouth Hotel, when I
found I was by the side of a coachman I knew very well by
sight ; but as I never travelled by his coach,* he had lost all
recollection of me. This was " Old Penny," as he is called — not
much of a misnomer, by-the-by — one of the few to be seen on
rather a swell drag out of London, of the low-crown'd, broad-
brimm'd, shawl-neckerchief d, larg'e-pocketted, silver-button'd,
box-coated, knee-capp'd, old-fashioned coachmen, " with an hue
as florid as vermilion'd Jove ;" who can no more help thrusting
both their hands into their coat pockets at the change, " and just
stepping into the house to say a word to missis/' than they could
go two months without their dinners. But this just stepping in
and stepping out every change between London and Huntingdon,
where Penny stops, may be " Penny-wise/' but the proprietors
must find it " pound-foolish," for time must be lost by it or made
up at the expense of the stock. Old habits, however, are difficult
to break through, and my old acquaintance has always been
accustomed to heavy work. He is, however, a good man with
heavy horses, shoving them along, when he is going fast enough
for anything, and is, I believe, an old and favoured servant of
the Bull and Mouth yard,

A pleasant companion is said to shorten the road, and as I
was booked to Newcastle, nothing could have been more desir-
able on so long a journey. In fact, when I get upon a coach, I

* The Exeter 'Subscription Coach from the Bull and 'Mouth; and
here let me remark that all the Bull and Mouth coaches have their
wheels secured by screws.

NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. n

always endeavour to find the " comes jucundus,7' which the
facetious Publius Syrus says, is as good as a coach itself.* On
this occasion, however, he was not to be found, so Penny and
myself had it all to ourselves. Of course we got upon the
Basingstoke road, on which we had both been at work, and of
course Jack Peer and the Nimrod coach were not omitted in our
discourse. Here, however, Horace's excellent advice, not only
of " Quid de quoque viro," but also of " et cuidicas? would have
been useful to my brother whip, for nearly every word he uttered
respecting Peer's reason for quitting the Southampton Telegraph
— as likewise of the inducements held out to him to return to it,
was false. But I do not blame Penny for all the lies he told me
on this subject, for they were the lies of others, at second-hand,
he having swallowed all he had heard ; and I think it is Dr.
Watts, in his Logic, who makes the nice distinction between
telling a man he is telling an untruth, and unceremoniously
telling him he lies. The one only conveys to him the naked
idea of his error, which the Doctor terms the " primary idea ;"
but the word lie carries a secondary idea ; for it implies both the
falsehood of the speech, and the reproach and censure of the
speaker. However, I affected to believe all I heard, and though
we parted without being further known to each other, I tipp'd
Penny an extra shilling for old acquaintance sake.

But it is time for myself now to take the advice of Horace; to
have an eye to the " ne quid nimis ;" and not lose too much time
on this ground. I cannot, however, help remarking, despite of
the regard I have for the fraternity of the whip, that road-coach-
men, and old ones in particular, are a good deal given to cram
their passengers when they find their swallow is good — although
they sometimes bring it on themselves by asking absurd ques-
tions. And yet the art of cramming is not solely practised by
coachmen, for men of all trades and grades now and then have
recourse to it. No doubt many of your readers will remember
my anecdote of Mr. Joliffe's huntsman, the facetious Roffey,
cramming " the London gentleman," as he called him, with an
account of a run over Surrey, making it appear about three
times as good as it had been. On being remonstrated with on
this breach of his veracity, he coolly exclaimed — " Why I thought
I must give the gentleman something to take back with him to
London." I have also met with first-rate crammers in the tipper
walks of life, who, as Shakspeare says, would " cram words into
my ears against the stomach of my sense ;" but they are not so
common as they were wont to be. I remember Mr. Warde

* " Comes jucundus in via pro vehiculo est." — A pleasant companion
is as good as a coach.

1 2 NIM 'ROUS NOR THERN TO UR.

used to finish the description of a country which he once hunted,
with saying, it was a good one for hounds, and a well-mounted
man might lie with them^ but no man could lie with its squires.

I. have read many high-flown descriptions of the " divine
pleasures of the tea-table," on a winter's night, — the blazing fire,
the warm hearthrug, the flowing curtains, and the hissing urn —
not omitting the pretty tea-maker — whilst the wind and rain are
raging audibly without, and, as the poet says,

" • At the doors and windows seem to call,

As heav'n and earth they would together fall ;"

But none feel these blessings, in reality, like those who have
been for many hours on a coach-box, in a cold wet night ; and
they were very efficiently presented to us at ten o'clock this
night at Huntingdon, the stop on our road. But the breakfast
at Barnby-moor, the next morning at eight o'clock ! that was a
still greater treat ; for at no nobleman's castle in the country
could a better have been provided. When I was last there, the
celebrated Mr. Clarke — celebrated for his breed of cattle and
his horses, as well as for his larder and cellar — kept it, and I
was glad to find the reputation of the house was not about to
suffer by the change of landlord, which is saying a good deal in
this case.

On mounting the box again, I could see the country we were
passing through, which is hunted by Mr. Foljambe, and it ap-
peared to me to be a good one to ride over ; but it was nearly
as hard at this time as it could have been at any period of the
summer ; we were now, however, I was told, nearly on the out-
side of it, and soon arrived at the far-famed town of Doncaster ;
and as everything there savours of sporting, we picked up a
sporting guard, who, as I learnt from the coachman, had dropped
his blunt on the St. Leger of the last year. " What's his name ?"
said I. " Ben Reader," replied he ; " and he's a droll chap, I
assure you, sir." "Then," said I, "I'll crawl along the side of
the coach and have some chat with him." Nimrod speaks :

" Well, Mr. Guard, you made a pretty business of your last
Leger."

Guard. " All over the left shoulder; they drawed me of forty
pound, and be damned to them."

Nimrod. " What ! you stood your blunt upon Plenipo,— did
you ?"

Guard. " To be sure I did ; all Lunnun to a cheesecake, if
the thieves hadn't poison'd him."

Nimrod. " Who poisoned him?"

Guard. • (He here mentioned the name

NIMROiy'S NORTHERN TOUR. 13

of a person, who I am quite sure had no more to do with it than
I myself had.)

Nimrod. " For shame ! How can you speak 90 disrespect-
fully of a person of such respectability, and one of your own
county too ?"

Guard. " D — n 7em, there's nought they won't any on ?em do
to get money ; he was the man, as sure as you are on this
coach \:) v

Here our conversation on this subject dropped, and it was time
it should drop. But see the mischief these turf robberies have
occasioned in lessening the respect of the lower for the higher
orders of society ! Neither does it stop here. It is true, the
character of a country should not be implicated in isolated cases,
originating in individual motives of recklessness or of avarice ;
but the character of England is at this time suffering in the eyes
of the whole world from the almost every-day exposure of the
villany practised at our principal race-meetings, to which no
final check appears te have been as yet given, or even attempted
to be given from that quarter from which it would be most effec-
tual. I have every reason to believe that the noblemen and gen-
tlemen who compose our long-established, and, hitherto, highly-
regarded Jockey Club, have, from time to time, adopted rules and
regulations to restrain villany and reward integrity, but still,
year after year, these robberies occur. It can only be inferred
then, that they must act more vigorously than they have as yet
done, if they wish the turf to regain its respectability, which is
now so rapidly decreasing. In fact, if they refuse to do so, it
will soon come to this, that whoever enters upon it largely must
adopt one of two alternatives — he must either rob or be robbed.

But to return for a moment to my conversation with the guard
of the Wellington coach. Perhaps as strong a proof as need be
produced of the absolute necessity of a reform in the racing
world, and that without such reform noblemen and gentlemen of
character will become shy of supporting it, may be found in the
remark made to me a few months back by a gentleman who was
for many years a leading character on the English turf, but who
has retired from it, as he entered upon it — with an unblemished
reputation. " Upon my word," said he to me, in Calais, where
I accidentally met him on his return to England ; " if I had
horses engaged in great stakes now I should sometimes be almost
as much afraid of winning as of losing them— so much suspicion
being attached to racing in these days." I have often thought
how many painful moments would have been spared to Mr. Bat-
son if he had taken the hint given in the article on the Turf in
the Quarterly Review, of putting Plenipo into his pocket, rather

34 NIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR.

than sending him " to contend against twenty Yorkshire jockeys."
But perhaps he considered this " a fool's advice," for what can
the Quarterly Review know of racing ? But what says the Fool
in the play of King Lear ? Why that " he is mad who trusts in
the tameness of a wolf, a horse's health, or a * * ;s oath/''

At rather an early dinner-hour, the Wellington pulled up at
the door of the Black Swan Inn, in the ancient, but dreadfully
dull town of York. I must here also do justice to the accommo-
dation afforded the passengers by this coach, at this inn, where
as good a dinner was provided as hungry people need wish for;
nor shall I soon forget the most excellent leg of the four-year-old
black-faced sheep which formed part of it, bred, fed, and killed
by the landlord. It was likewise amusing to contrast the speed
with which we had travelled from the Metropolis to York (two
hundred miles in less than twenty-four hours !) with a framed
and glazed* advertisement, which hung over the fire-place, in-
forming the public that, " God willing," their persons would be
conveyed from York to the Metropolis in somewhere about as
many days. The date thereof I do not now recollect. I wish I
could continue in the same strain of commendation to my jour-
ney's end, for I hate to have occasion to find fault. But picture
to yourself a coach pulling up at the cheerless hour of midnight
at the end of a journey of nearly three hundred miles, and the
passengers shown into a room, in the month of November, with-
out a hatful of fire in the grate, and full of foul air, strongly im-
pregnated with gas ! Such, however, was our reception at the
hotel we drove to in Newcastle, and this, too, in the very heart
of the coal district ! I may, however, have been unfortunate in
my day, for several gentlemen to whom I mentioned the circum-
stance, assured me that in a general way the house in question is
a very excellent one, and the private department comfortable
and well-conducted. Coach Inns, as they are called, from the
circumstance of an extravagant rent being given on condition of
a certain number of coaches emptying their live lumber into them
daily, are, however, generally sad uncomfortable places, and a
hint to landlords to study a little more the comforts of travellers,
like myself, may not be here out of place.

The next morning the carriage of Mr. Surtees, of Hamsterley
Hall, arrived in Newcastle, for the purpose of conveying me
thither — distant about ten miles, but as Mr. Surtees, jun., ac-
companied it, and the day was a very fine one, he proposed that
we should ride to Hamsterley in preference to going in the car-
riage, which I readily agreed to, particularly as he gave me to

* For a copy of this see New Sporting Magazine, vol. i. p. 438.

NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 15

understand that he should take me through a beautiful country,
by a new road which was then making in the direction of his
father's house. About three o'clock then we were under weigh
— he on a hack which his servant had ridden after the carriage,
and myself on a Newcastle hack, that was deserving of a better
fate ; and after sauntering at our ease through one of the most
picturesque, well-wooded, and well-watered valleys I ever beheld
in my life, passing Axwell-park, the seat of Sir Thomas Claver-
ing, Bart, and Gibsicle, one of the seats of Mr. Bowes, of sporting
celebrity, and one of the representatives of the county of Durham,
v/e arrived at Hamsterley just in the nick of time, that is to say,
at the first clap of the dressing-bell.

Who and what Mr. Surtees of Hamsterley is I shall have
great pleasure in once more informing my numerous readers ;
and having had ocular demonstration of his domicile I shall
avoid a mistake which I fell into in my Yorkshire Tour, of con-
founding it with that of his late accomplished relation, Mr.
Surtees, of Mainsforth Hall, near Sedgefield, author of the
" History of Durliam? considered a standard work. Now the
Squire of Hamsterley is net, to my knowledge, an author, but
" every inch of him " a sportsman ; yet who more proper than
himself to write on the antiquities of any country ? — he being a
most religious observer of the remains of ancient times, in the
unbounded hospitality of his house and table ; — one who it might
be imagined had himself existed in those ancient times when
men had high notions of the rights of hospitality, and not merely
the rules of civility ; when, as Homer says, strangers were
received as guests from heaven ; — one who thinks with me that
the over-refinements of polished life are but a mask for insin-
cerity and heartlessness,— in short, a true sample of the old
English Squire, and as good a judge of a horse, a hound, a bottle
of port wine, and an oak-tree, as any man in England, or any-
where else. Such, reader, is the well-lvnown Anthony Surtees of
Hamsterley, who commanded — not invited — me to his house,
when on my Yorkshire Tour ; who receives under the shadow of
his roof, not only his friends themselves, but their servants, their
horses, their hounds — in short, anything they may favour him
with, that contributes to their amusement and comfort. He has,
however, an excellent house to stow them in, and perhaps one of
the best timbered estates in the county of Durham, in the
management of which, as regards the growth and arrangement
of the timber, he is said to have few equals, the result of atten-
tive experience.

By the way, the allusion to this gentleman's timber reminds
me of a fact respecting the larch-tree, which it may not be amiss

1 6 NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

to repeat on such practical knowledge as his. It relates to the
progress of its growth, which, he informed me, is as follows : —

In the first ten years — one part.

In the next five and a half — one part.

In the next six and a quarter — two parts.

In the next six and three-quarters — four parts.

I am also of my own knowledge able to state a rather singular
proof of the rapid growth of this tree, where it likes the soil. A
brother-in-law to me built an entrance lodge to his domain in
North Wales, in which no other wood was used but larch of only
twelve years' growth !

Previously to my setting out for the North, a report had
reached me that Mr. Surtees was unwell, and I was prepared to
find him not the same " Anthony Surtees" that I had seen him
during the jovial fortnight I spent in his society at Sedgefield,
when on my Yorkshire Tour ; but I am happy to say, that
although he may feel something of the non sum qiialis eram
about himself, from the knocks and thumps to which we fox-
hunters are subject — in addition to having seen nearly half a
score of Christmas-days since then — I saw not the slightest
alteration in either his appearance or his spirits. I can only say,
that, following the example set me by mine host, and by the help
of sundry other irresistible allurements, I drank more claret
during the five or six days I spent at Hamsterley, than I had
done in that space of time for many a long day before.

On Tuesday, the fourth of November, Mr. Surtees, jun., and
myself went to meet Sir Matthew White Ridley's hounds at
Oakwood-gate, about ten miles from Newcastle, on the Carlisle
road, and about the same distance across country from Ham-
sterley. To reach it we had two rivers to cross, the Derwent
and the Tyne, which latter being full we made the passage in a
horse-boat of by no means the safest construction, at a place
called Wylam. Sir Matthew Ridley's hounds were the only
pack in these parts that I did not hunt with in my former visit
to the North, and of course I was very anxious to have a sight of
them, though, from reasons unnecessary to mention here, it was
deemed advisable to take a peep incognito. Indeed, as Mr.
S-urtees was going to hunt during the beginning of the season in
the South, and had remained beyond his time at his father's for
the purpose of receiving me, he had no hunters at Hamsterley,
so it was arranged that we should go out in mufti, as the soldiers
call it, on our hacks, and see as much from such mounts as we
could. We arrived at the place of meeting before the hounds,
and as we sat upon the toll-bar watching the arrivals, my com-

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 17

ipanion paid me the compliment of comparing my situation to
that of the poet Moore's at Venice, when Lord Byron and he,
looking from their palace windows on some English passers-by
on the canal, the latter observed how they would stare if they
knew " who was looking at them !" Presently the hounds and
the red coats of the servants appeared in the long vista formed
by the turnpike road, and I felt my heart beat quicker at the in-
spiriting sight, after so long an estrangement !

Independently, however, of the charms that a hunting-field
always affords me, I had another reason for wishing for a day
with Sir Matthew Ridley's hounds. He had lately changed his
huntsman, and availed himself of the services of a gentleman
whom I had before heard of, as one of some celebrity in the
field ; namely Mr. Boag, who had at one time the management
of, and hunted, the Doxford, now the Galewood, hounds, now
kept by Major St. Paul, of which I shall hereafter have some-
thing to say.

The history, I believe, of Mr. Boag, is this :— He is the eldest
son of a man of that class in life on which the highest encomiums
have been passed by many of the first writers of their day, and
which has even been selected as the one in which the greatest
share of human happiness was to be found. Men who, as Sir
Walter Scott says of English yeomen — the class to which I
allude — are

" England's peculiar and appropriate sons,
Known in no other land. "

And afterwards in allusion to their patriotism,

" As men who have their portion in its plenty."

But Sir Walter is here alluding to times long since gone by; and
although their patriotism remains, alas ! their " plenty" is gone,
and they appear likely to be swept from off the face of the earth.
*?//• Boag was swamped in the general wreck ; and with a praise-
worthy solicitude for independence of mind, which no ill-fortune
can destroy, is now obtaining an honest livelihood as huntsman
to Sir Matthew White Ridley.

But let us turn away from the dark side of the picture, and
remind Mr. Boag that necessity made the first sportsman, and
will no doubt make many more ; Mr. Boag, however, was bred
a sportsman, as the following anecdote will show. His father
kept hounds before him ; and as some friends were dining with
him one day after hunting, the pedigree of one of the pack was
discussed, but none of the party could give it accurately. " Send
your sister here " (a girl of sixteen), said the father to one of the

2

1 8 NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

sons ; " she'll tell us^ I'll be bound ;" which she immediately did.
As for myself, I often amuse myself with thinking that the
maxim of like begetting like, in animal economy, should be more
considered than it is, with human beings who wish their descend-
ants to excel in any particular calling ; for no doubt blood tells
here as well as in the brute race. Indeed it has been a matter
of surprise to me, that such uncommon anxiety and care should
have been bestowed in improving the breed of animals, and that
a perfect indifference and neglect should prevail in regard to
the human race, which has no doubt degenerated within the last
century or two, if not within my own time. For the sake of the
sporting world, then, I hope the young lady in question married
a sportsman, as there could be no doubt of the issue being " true
on the line," as we say of good hounds.

A short time after the appointed hour, Mr. Ridley, who takes
great interest in the hounds and is, I am told, a very popular and
promising young sportsman, arrived, but his father,-Sir Matthew,
was absent from temporary indisposition. Mr. Ridley's manner
pleased me ; there was an unaffected open-heartedness about it,
and he greeted his friends and brother sportsmen as a master of
hounds ought to do. The field was anything but numerous, and
after exchanging a few words with those composing it, he thus
addressed his huntsman, "Now, Boag, put on your spectacles,*
and let us begin ;" and we soon found ourselves in a cover of
great extent, called Horsley-wood — one hundred and seven acres
I was told, which the hounds had not as yet been in during the
season, and Boag himself never.

As if by instinct, however, he threw his hounds into a corner
of it in which there was a warm drag of a fox, and in less than
ten minutes he was on foot. Nor was this the extent of his
good luck, or I might rather say of his merit. He got away with
his fox in an extraordinary short time, considering the extent of
the cover, and the fact of his never having been in it before \
but owing to a puzzling check at a gentleman's house hard by,
where the pack divided, and a very middling scent, he was soon
lost. A second fox was found in a neighbouring whin, Throckley-
fell I think was the name of the place, which went gallantly
away, and was, we understood, handsomely killed at the end of
a fifty minutes' hunting-run. Indeed as far as Mr. Surtees and
myself could follow them with our eyes — having taken our stand
upon rather elevated ground, — they appeared to be proceeding
in a business-like • manner, although with scarcely a holding,
much less a burning, scent ; but over as nice a country as any

* Mr. Boag is what is termed short-sighted, and wears a pair of
extremely light steel-mounted spectacles.

NIMROLfS NORTHERN TOUR. 19

man could desire to hunt in. Either large grass, or light stubble,
fields — the former chiefly — with by no means difficult fences,
constitute the character of it, and on that subject no more need
be said ; but I was given to understand, that a great part of the
country hunted by Sir Matthew Ridley's hounds wears the same
favourable features.

It would be presumptuous in me to offer a remark on the form,
character, or performances of these hounds, from the short time
they were in my presence, and from the mere bird's-eye, conse-
quently indistinct, view I had of them in chase ; and especially
so, as with our first fox, when I was able to see them in their
work, one of those unlucky, but too frequent mishaps occurred,
from which neither fox-hunting nor anything else is free :
namely, an error in judgment on a doubtful point. Neither can
I say more respecting their huntsman than I have said, except-
ing that, with his first fox, he had recourse to an expedient new
to me, but which answered extremely well ; and which I wonder
is not oftener resorted to than it is, in covers of great extent.
When he was sure his fox had broke cover, it was not that, as
Scott says, he

-Gave his bugle-horn a blast

That through the woodlands sounded far and wide ;"

but he brought forth the most extraordinary notes I ever heard
produced by that instrument, which were very well understood
by his hounds. In fact, I took it for a scream, and observed to
Mr. Surtees, " What an extraordinary pipe Mr. Boag has'!" " It is
his horn? said Mr. Ridley, who stood just before us in the ride.
" His fox is away."

Of the "turn out" of the Northumberland hounds, I have not
much to say, but the servants' well-cleaned leathers and boots,
particularly at this early period of the season, when little worse
for wear, gave it a neat appearance ; but I cannot say so much
for the nags. As for the mare Boag rode, unless she be one of
those prodigies which we do now and then meet with in the field,
lapped in a coal-black skin, with a bushy mane and a thick tail,
I should have expected her to have cried out for her " black-
mamma," if the pace had been good ; for she looked to have
mistaken her calling. Respecting the man upon her back, there
could be no mistake about him, for he has quite the look and
character of a sportsman, and bears a striking resemblance to
another sportsman, and a brother huntsman — the celebrated Mr.
Osbaldeston. In fact, in size, form, seat on his horse, cut of his
coat, sit of his cap, and even in profile, he is almost a fac-simile

2—2

10 NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

of him, although, in years, he has the advantage of "the
Squire?

I think it is Horace who says, that life is nothing without love
and jokes, and I have ever been of his opinion. " There will be
a very good fellow out to-morrow," said Mr. Surtees, jun., to me,
over night ; "Mr. Marley, our great Newcastle tailor ; I will in-
troduce you to him as a London gentleman who has never been
0ut with hounds before, and he will teach you a thing or two
about hunting." — " Well," I replied, " as I have only a hack to
ride, and shall be unknown to any one else, — although we must
recollect, that I have put it into the types, that perhaps the most
intuitive knowledge of fox-hunting ever yet displayed is now be-
ing displayed by a tailor* — I can have no objection to so harm-
less a joke ;" and it will also appear I think that Mr. Marley
lias gained something by his experience. The following dia-
logue then took place between us in the hunting-field on this
day.

Nimrod. " Well, Mr. Marley, this fox-hunting must be a
noble diversion to such as are able to follow it."

Mr. Marley. " The finest in the world, sir ! the finest in the
world, you may depend upon it. I hunt twice a week, the season
through, but never two days together, unless I get an order."

Nimrod. " But 'tis dangerous, is it not ?';

Mr. Marley. " Not the least in the world — that is, if you
Rave a good horse, and know how to ride him. I have rode this
liorse three seasons, twice a week with Sir Matthew, and he has
never given me one fall."

Nimrod. " Will you allow me to ask you, Mr. Marley, what
term you fox-hunters make use of, when the dogs run the same
way as the wind blows ?"

Mr. Marley. " Oh, we call that running down wind"

Nimrod. " And what, if the dogs go t'other way ?"

Mr. Marley. " What, against the wind ?"

Nimrod. " Yes."

Mr. Marley. " Oh, of course, that's up wind."

Nimrod. " Bless me, I beg your pardon ; how stupid I am to
ask you such a question."

Mr. Marley. " Oh, not at all : you are not used to these things,
I find."

Nimrod. " Now what do you call riding along-side the
ilogs?"

Mr. Marley. " We call that cheeking them."

Nimrod. " And what if you ride behind them ?"

* Of course, I allude to Hastings, the Cheltenham tailor.

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. ZL

Mr. Marley. " Oh that's bad ; but we call it riding on the-
line."

Now excuse the inadequacy of the metaphor, but I was about
to say — " Why not call it " rumpingthem ?'' when, afraid of driv-
ing the jest too far, I changed the nature of our discourse, not
however without the reflection, that if every undergraduate a-t
our universities were to go through his examination for his " Lit-
tle-go " as well as Mr. Marley had gone through his, by me, one
description of plucking would be at an end. Another reflection
also presented itself : — It is one of the greatest compliments to
fox-hunting, that it is the delight of every condition, and of every
age ; and there can be no reason why the man who makes the
coat, should not be a sportsman as well as the man who wears it.
Whether or not Mr. Marley is a sportsman I had no opportunity
of informing myself ; but of this I am quite sure — he is an oblig-
ing, good-natured person, and " suum cuique," give every one
his due — a most excellent tailor, of which I had proof in a pair
of the best, and best-fitting, dress trousers I ever put upon my
person in my life.

I have now little more to say of my agreeable visit to Hamster-
ley than that, on my departure from it, the command was re-
peated that I should revisit it on my return, but circumstances
placed it out of my power to do so. 1 had the pleasure of spend-
ing one day at Elswick with Mr. Hodgson, M.P. for Newcastle,
an old friend and schoolfellow of Mr. Surtees, jun., a gentleman
of considerable talent and information ; and of spirit too, as will
be allowed, I think, when I state that when barely of age he
contested the large and populous town of Newcastle against the
former members, who had so long represented it that it was then
almost regarded as their own borough. He has a splendid house
within two miles of Newcastle, a town in which there appears to
be as much business stirring as in any other that I could name,
if not somewhat more. But it is a devilishly Tartarus-like
looking place, and whoever lives in it with a view of making a
fortune, should not be long about it.

On Saturday, the 8th, I accompanied Mr. Surtees in his
carriage to Newcastle, for the purpose of pursuing my journey,
and at twelve o'clock was seated on the box of the Royai
William coach (I like that name too,) which starts at that hour
for Berwick-upon-Tweed. It was now I found that I had taken
leave of coaching, in anything like its proper form — at least for
some time to come, for the horses were slow, the coachman
slower ; and the stupid, uncoachmanlike, unsafe practice of
running the leaders' reins through the throat-latches, instead of
the head terrets of the wheel-horses, was the order of the

•22 NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

On my demanding a reason for it, I was told, " It was more
gain when the horses gallop." " Gallop F said I ; " why you
'never gallop, do you ?" " A wee bit now and then,?; was the
reply ; but this was not one of his " now and then" days, for I
saw none of it. But this I saw ; I saw the ring of his off
wheeler's hames nearly worn through, and all I got for directing
his attention to it was — " Wall, to be sure, 'tis no good ; but it
will hawd (hold) on yet." The prettiest things I saw in this
day's journey were, the iron gates into Sir Matthew Ridley's
park, at Blagdon, certainly a chef d'ceuvre of the sort ; and a
sirloin of roast beef at Alnwick, where the coach stopped to dine.
I was disappointed in not finding more turnips than I did, be-
tween Morpeth and Alnwick, and surprised at seeing a great
deal of poor land. I could see nothing of Alnwick-castle, for it
was getting dark when we passed it ; but I saw a pillar erected
by the noble owner's tenants, which is rightly called " The
Farmers' Folly."

They had better have kept their money in their pockets to
help them to grow wheat at four shillings the bushel, but I
suppose they would have thought you mad if you had told them
it would ever have come to this. Finding I had nothing to learn
from the coachman of the Royal William, and nothing to look
at, as night came on, I got inside of the drag the remainder of
the road to Berwick, and, like Ulysses in Ithaca, arrived in
Scotland asleep. When I come to recount some of my doings
there, it may appear almost miraculous that I came out of it
awake.

IT has been justly observed that " Scott directed all men's eyes
to the Borders ;" but, wizard as he was, he could not transport
their bodies thither scot free, or I should have been booked by
that coach long ago. Never, then, having before visited this
interesting portion of his Majesty's dominions, yet having lived
on terms of great intimacy with a friend, now gathered to his
fathers, who possessed a fishery under its walls which netted him
six hundred pounds a year, and an estate hard by of nearly as
many thousands (but who, like myself, had never seen either),
I had heard so much of Berwick-upon-Tweed from himself, and
of Barrick from his Scotch bailiff, that I was wofully disappointed
when I looked out of my window on the morrow, at the mean
and sombre appearance of this neither Scotch nor English town.
Nevertheless, its being one of the few British towns surrounded
by walls, and I believe the only one by those in a regular state
of fortification — in addition to its " old-soldier-like accuracy of

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 23

deportment," and its association with deeds of days long since
gone by, renders it an object of no common interest. The walls
I, of course, explored— and a delightful walk they afford; as
likewise the bridge over the Tweed, which is one of the finest I
have ever seen, consisting of upwards of a dozen arches, and
those of great span. I then returned to my inn with a good
appetite for my breakfast ; and, although I as yet only con-
sidered myself on the Border, when I saw it on the table I
thought of a question I had seen put in some book or other —
<; What gluttony can compete with a breakfast in Scotland ?"

" Any coach to Dunse, to-day ?" said I to the waiter, as he
was in the act of making my tea. " Nay, nay," he replied, with
a significant shake of the head ; " there's nae coach out of Barrick
to-day ; 'tis the Sabbath /" . " All the better for the cattle and
the coachman," said I to myself ; " but all the worse for my
pocket. — Order me a chaise at two ;" and at two I was on my
road to Dunse.

I believe I once made the remark, in allusion to my contribu-
tions to periodicals, that of those which had been most approved
by the public, the matter generally presented itself to me in the
rough when either in the saddle or on a coach-box. But I can-
not say as much of that — to me— most disagreeable vehicle, the
" yellow post-chaise," about every part of which there is a jumb-
ling and a jingling enough to disturb brains steadier and staider
than mine are. Nevertheless, there is no putting the drag on the
animus, — even Morpheus himself can scarcely do this ; and
during the hour and half that I spent in this state of purgatory,
a sort of conversation was going on between the outer and the
inner man.

" Here I am," said the one to the other, " irioav TOV Trorajuou'7
— on t'other side of the river — and, for the first time in my life,
in the land of— what ? Of cakes ! Yes, of cakes ; and what is
heartier food than good oaten cake, for horse, hound, hog, goose,
or man ? In the land of bonnets ? Yes — Highland, and Low-
land, but I don't fancy them ; fitter for women than for men ;
too much of the ' redimicula mitras ' about them. Of plaids ;
Yes — quite classical; 'gentemque togatam !' In the land of
hospitality ? From all I have heard, equal to that of the ancient
Germans, who, Tacitus says, looked out of their doors before
they shut up their houses at night, to see if any stranger was
coming." "A pleasing reflection this five hundred miles from
home," whispered the inner man. " In the land of hunting ? Yes ;
for one of their kings, Alexander the Third we are told, hunted
Forfarshire ; and who could wind a horn with Robert Bruce ?
I am little read in Gaelic antiquities, but this Alexander must

24 NIMROZTS NORTHERN TOUR.

have been a prince of hunters, for it appears he gave £4. 73. for
a hound bitch and her seven whelps, an enormous price in those
days. Indeed, if my memory serves me, he is called i the king
of hunters ; in the romance of Sir Tristrem, in which the science
of hunting is dwelt upon with a minuteness that shows how
highly it ranked among the accomplishments of a brave and
gentle knight."

Now here finishes this loose reverie, the object of which is
merely to show that I entered the country with a favourable im-
pression of what I should find it, although when a man's mind
has been humanized, as mine has been, by an intercourse with
the world, local prejudices affect it but little. Certainly, the
primitive idea one forms of Scotland is, an assemblage of woods>
mountains, rivers, and lakes, " montesque, amnesque, lacusque/7'
as Ovid said of another country ; but when I looked out of the-
window of the yellow post-chaise, I saw a country, between Ber-
wick and Dunse, that looked very much like hunting.

As may be supposed, the first thing I did on my arrival at
Dunse was to have a peep at the two horses the " would-be Til-
bury" had sent me, and at the servant that accompanied them,
and who was to fill the double capacity of groom and valet. The
latter turned out what he appeared to be, a steady good servant :
but I was greatly disappointed in the horses. They were two
undersized powerless brutes, not deserving the name or charac-
ter of hunters, but coming under the denomination of Irish gar-
rons, which they in reality were. "Ah, Mr. King," said I to my-
self— for that is the owner's name — " if you send your customers
such horses as these at ten pounds a month each, and all ex-
penses to be paid by the hirer, your game will soon be played."
My next step was to inquire where I was to be myself put up,
for, although the horses were at the Black Bull, that house was
full ; when I found apartments had been taken for me at the
White Swan, and of which, — although, like all other White
Swans, nothing out of the common way — I had no reason to
complain. Moreover, the landlord is a sportsman, and that, like
charity, covers many sins. However, on my departure, I gave
mine host of each house a hint which it is not necessary to men-
tion here, but which must be attended to against another hunting
season ; and it was promised such should be the case.

As the town of Dunse has been called the " Melton Mowbray
of the North," a short description of it may be required. Were
I to give it by word of mouth, I should say " it is not a bad sort
of a dull-looking country town," looking perhaps duller than-
common in the cut-throat month of November. Although it
takes its name from the Celtic word Dun, a hill, it stands on

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 25

quite level ground ; but as it is said to swarm with lawyers, it
may be no misnomer after all. Its size may be guessed at from
the number of its inhabitants, which are somewhere about three
thousand ; and it has been the birth-place of several eminent
men. The new Town-house is certainly a handsome building, •
and there is a health-giving Spa in the neighbourhood, of whose
virtues, however, I am unable to speak, as, during the month I
spent at this " Melton Mowbray of the North," I never drank
aqua pura, much less aqua medicata.

In less than an hour after my arrival at Dunse I went to seek
for Lord Elcho. And where did I find him ? In splendid apart-
ments, fitting and becoming the heir apparent to the Earl of
Wemyss, one of the wealthiest noblemen in all Scotland, and
himself residing — when at home — at Amisfield, in East Lothian,
one of the finest and largest mansions in that aristocratic and
richly-peopled county ? ©h no — and here is one of the distin-
guishing features in fox-hunting, highly complimentary to it — I
found him in a small brick house, with one window to a room,
much such a one as a master mechanic might be expected to be
found in ; but which now appeared to afford all the comforts of
a palace. His lordship received me with the greatest kindness,
and invited me to dinner on the same day at the Black Bull,
where he told me the few gentlemen who were then arrived in
the town were to assemble, previously to the opening of the cam-
paign in the Dunse country on the morrow.

People may say what they will to the contrary, but I am quite
satisfied there is no passion so universal as the vanity of being
known to the rest of mankind, howsoever diversified or disguised
under different forms and appearances. An humble individual
as I am, I was at this time better known to Lord Elcho than
Lord Elcho was known to me. In fact my knowledge of his lord-
ship only extended to my having met him in the field in Leices-
tershire, in which county all the sporting world knew he resided
for several seasons, distinguishing himself as a horseman
amongst the best of the best. His character there was — " who
can beat Elcho, if he gets a start ?" In private life also he is
equally hard to beat ; and as a friend and a companion, his uni-
versal popularity in his own country and in others renders it un-
necessary for me to speak of him. But what said they of him in
Leicestershire as a sportsman ? Why, what the late Mr. Meynell
said of John Lockley — " riding was his forte ;" and I doubt not,
from all I have heard of his lordship in that country, that, cum
multis aliis, he voted hounds a bore unless they went fast enough
for him. But this seeming indifference to hunting — this appar-
ent preference of the horse to the hound, of the horseman to the

26 NIMROJyS NORTHERN TOUR.

sportsman, could not continue long in a man like Lord Elcho,
who was from his youth a sportsman in every other acceptation
of that word ; and here comes the proof. On quitting Leicester-
shire, he set up a pack of harriers in Scotland and hunted them
himself for three successive seasons. Whether or not at the time
of his doing so, his lordship had any intention of keeping fox-
hounds in Scotland, and hunting them himself, it is out of my
power to determine ; but of this I am certain, that nothing would
be more likely to qualify a hard-riding Leicestershire gentleman
for that office, than to witness the patience and perseverance of
a close-hunting pack of harriers (for, after all, hunting is but
hunting), and the ill effects of pressing upon and over-riding
them when in their work. If I may be allowed such an expres-
sion, they would bring his lordship's head down together with
their own ; and instead of looking, as when in Leicestershire,
for the weakest place in a bull-finch, or for the soundest bank of
a brook, he would be admiring Bonny-bell and Beauty, and the
short turn they were making, and also thinking within himself
whether they would make it good over the foil. But to cease
my conjectures and turn to facts. Lord Elcho, dropping his har-
riers and flying at nobler game, got together, in a shorter time
than were ever before got together, a hard-working and steady
pack of fox-hounds, hunted by himself.* It must be observed,
that when I first saw them they had only been at work one
season and a half, which must be allowed to be very young
days ; but with a person at their head whose heart and soul is in
the sport, they will progress rapidly towards perfection. Indeed,
Lord Kin tore wrote me word lately of his having been paying a
visit to his brother huntsman at Amisfield — confirming every
word which I have advanced as to the rapid formation of the
pack, and adding the important fact of Lord Elcho's having,
this year, put forward five couples of young hounds of his own
breeding, which, his lordship adds, do him credit.

The dinner party this day (Sunday, Qth November) at the
Black Bull was small, consisting only of Lord Elcho, Mr. Hay
of Dunse Castle, Mr. Campbell of Saddell, and myself; but we
were gratified during the evening by the appearance of Lord
Saltoun and Mr. McDowal Grant, for whose reception a house
had been taken in the town, and whose horses had been await-
ing their arrival. That kindred feeling which exists amongst
sportsmen would have put me at ease in such society as this
had I been a stranger to all, but it so happened that — to my no

* His lordship commenced his first season with a huntsman, but he
broke his leg in a fall, and died.

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 27

small loss — Mr. Campbell was the only one of the party to whom
I was quite unknown. Mr. Hay I had visited when he hunted
Warwickshire. Lord Saltoun — "the Hero of Hougomont," as
Lord Kintore calls him — I had met at Melton just twenty-two
years before, being the last season of his hunting there ; and of
Mr. McDowal Grant's hospitality I had partaken when himself,
Captain Ross, and Mr. Francis Grant kept "a roaring house"
together, at Melton, in 1818. Our dinner was of the old fox-
hunter's stamp — plain roast and boiled, but everything good of
its sort, and the claret such as might be expected Mr. George
Wauchope, of Leith, would send to his brother sportsmen at
Dunse ; or Messrs. Hope and Bruce, of the same place, to their
countrymen and friends.

Monday, loth. — This was a day of no small interest to me, as
it was the first of my seeing hounds in Scotland, and the second
of my seeing them anywhere else for nearly five years. The
fixture was Greenburn, about four miles from Dunse, in a hilly
and bad country. We had a pretty find with the first fox, and
a chance of a run, as he broke cover favourably ; but being
headed by a boy, he put his head down wind over light plough,
and was soon lost. We had two brace of foxes more on foot in
the course of the day, but could do nothing for want of the
needful. In fact it was not a hunting day ; and perhaps well
for me it was not, for I found the horse I rode had no preten-
sions to following hounds, and particularly in that country,
where wind and speed — of which, he possessed neither — were
wanted. One of the beauties of fox-hunting, however, consists
in the pleasure of the day not being entirely dependent on good
sport, which neither hounds nor country can command ; and
the agremens of society also make some amends. For example,
an excellent anecdote was this day told me of that celebrated
sportsman, the late Mr. Baird (father of Sir David), who for
many years kept hounds in Scotland. There is in the neigh-
bourhood of Greenburn— or speaking more classically, as the
place is renowned in history — there is in Lammermuir a very
high hill called Cockburn Law, which, however, foxes often face
before hounds. On one of these occasions, a smart young
writer from Edinburgh brought his horse to a standstill in at-
tempting to follow them over it, and being a tyro in the art,
thought he was dying on the spot. " Oh, Mr. Baird," exclaimed
he, as that gentleman gave him the go by, " what can be the
matter with my horse ?" " Nothing at all, sir," replied Mr.
Baird, "he has only got Cockburn Law in his throat" A better
definition of a blown horse, and an inexperienced horseman,
could not possibly have been given, and the readiness with

28 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

which it was produced added to its effect. " How did you get
over that stile ?" said I myself, some years back to a London
gentleman, whom I had left making his third attempt to leap one,
at the top of a sticking hill with the Surrey subscription hounds.
" Not at all," was his reply ; " and is it not very odd ? for my
horse leaps the bar in the top pole, in the ride of the stables
where he stands." " By no means odd," said I, " there are no
Surrey hills in that ride."

Our party at dinner this day — at the White Swan, for each
house had the benefit in its turn — was increased by the presence
of the Earl of Eglinton and Lord Archibald Seymour (one of
the sons of the Duke of Somerset), the two Messrs. Fletchers,
of Saltoun (descendants of the patriotic Andrew, who made
such a noise in the world some hundred and thirty years back),
and Mr. M'Kenzie Grieve, late of the Horse Guards Blue. To
this last-named gentleman I was not altogether a stranger, for
we had met in the field in the South, and the last time of our
meeting was impressed upon our memories by the not very com-
fortable reflection that his horse died on the evening of the run ;
and that mine was obliged to be left under the care of a veteri-
nary surgeon, for three days, before he could get back to his stable.
But let this be washed in Lethe and forgotten ; the only sting
that fox-hunting can leave in the breast of a man who can feel,
is the reflection, that when he himself may have been most
gratified in the enjoyment of it, pain and sufferings will occa-
sionally be inflicted by it, on that paragon of animals, the horse.
But for this, it would be one of the balsams of life.

A writer without freedom is a writer without interest ; and I
must here claim the privilege which has been before so gene-
rously granted to me, in the recapitulation of what I have seen
and heard on my various Tours, and for which I can only offer
the following excuse : — Time and place are of themselves but
secondary links in the operation of events, actions and persons
being the principal sources of interest. It can be but a brief
and rapid sketch of each individual whom I may venture to
introduce here ; but as I cannot like Caesar make a history of
my own exploits, what should I be without such themes for
my pen ? Like Asop's fly on the axle of the chariot wheel,
vainly imagining that he was kicking up the dust. In all these
matters, however, there is a delicate and honourable reserve
that never should, and by me never shall, for a moment be lost
sight of or forgotten.

With which then of these Caledonian sportsmen shall I open
the ball ? With Lord Elcho of course, as a master of hounds
and a huntsman, for of his private character I need say no more.

NIMRODS NORTHERN TOUR. 29

In the first-named station, also, as master of hounds, it is scarcely
necessary to add, that Lord Elcho is popular to the extreme of
popularity itself, inasmuch as his chief objects are, to oblige his
field and to show sport. Then his free, unassuming, and con-
ciliating manners, happily blended with the carriage and de-
portment of the well-bred gentleman, would complete the picture
were there not one more feature in it which I cannot allow to
remain in the background. I allude to his total abandonment
of— to say the least of it — the unmannerly, and, as far as my
experience has led me, nearly useless, practice of "blowing up"
(as the term is) his field, for any little indiscretion they may be
guilty of. I appeal to all my brother sportsmen who have occa-
sionally put themselves in such a situation, whether a gentle
and private reproof has not double the force of a loud and public
rebuke, although I admit the necessity of exerting authority in
a manner void of offence. Those words of caution, "Pray, sir,
hold hard," should check any man who wishes to see a run, and
all those who do not had much better remain at home.

But there are other qualifications than gentlemanlike deport-
ment and command of temper, essential to excellence in what
are termed gentlemen huntsmen, and it is in that capacity that
I am now about to speak of Lord Elcho. There is a tempera-
ment and a constitution peculiarly adapted to it, and without
which excellence is rarely obtained. The one should be ardent,
and the other should be strong ; and both are combined in him.
Of the truth of this assertion, I shall satisfy my readers in a
very few words. When he is not with his hounds he is shooting ;
when he is not shooting he is fishing ; and he is one of the best
walkers of his day. But I will first mention one day's sport he
indulged himself in, which may be called a practical climax.
During the time he had his harriers, he killed two hares with
good runs with them in the morning ; saw a fox killed, after a
good run, with the Duke of Buccleuch's pack at noon ; and then
killed nine salmon in the Tweed, before he sat down to dinner !
So much for an ardent temperament, and ditto for a good con-
stitution.

It has been truly said by Dr. Johnson that " those who attain
excellence generally spend life in one pursuit, for excellence is
not often gained upon easier terms." Now although Lord Elcho
has been a sportsman ever since by the course of nature he
could have been a sportsman, yet when he came under my ob-
servation he had not had more than one year's experience as
huntsman to a pack of fox-hounds ; and it would be too much
to expect that, even with all the requisite qualifications I have
given him, he should prove an absolute exception to this rule.

30 NTMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

and this much I will venture to predict of him— strengthened by
the opinion of others better able to judge of them than myself —
that experience alone is wanting to put him upon a par with any
other person in his calling. There is a quickness of decision in
his movements in the field, which, tempered and chastened by
the before-mentioned excellent schoolmaster, is one of the chief
qualifications of the iox-hnnter, and without which, on certain
days, a good fox cannot be handsomely killed, let hounds be never
so good. His lordship's fine horsemanship likewise gives him
no small advantage here, as, barring accidents, his eye is never
off his leading hounds in their work, and he has a very good
man behind him, in his first whip, Joe Hogg, who appears as
keen for the sport as his master. By-the-by, an anecdote in
confirmation of this may not be amiss here. " Joe," said I to
him one day, " how did you feel when you were following my lord
over that bog ?" " Lord, sir," he replied, " why I expected to be
swallowed 'up alive every jump my horse took ; but what was to
be done ? the hounds were running right into him." The bog
was a mile and a half across, and just sufficiently frozen to admit
of their horses leaping from one tussuck of grass to another.

I am travelling without my host ; I have said nothing of Lord
Elcho's hounds ; but the best comment upon their character will
be found in the sport they showed, which will be noticed in due
course. I have no list of them, none having been published
whilst I was at Dunse, neither are such things often published so
early in the season, for reasons that are obvious to all who fol-
low hounds. Their kennel is about a mile from the town, but
various occupations prevented my seeing it. I believe it is only
a temporary one, but from the condition and general soundness
of the hounds I should imagine it to be healthy, which is worth
all the ornaments of architecture put together. The stables,
made by Lord Elcho, are in the town of Dunse, and afford every
accommodation to a numerous stud of hunters — the ten for his
own riding, clippers. His lordship's weight does not exceed
twelve stone with his saddle, which gives him great advantage;
and he is just now in the prime of life, which a man ought to be
to follow hounds, still more to hunt them four or five days a
week, in any country, and particularly in so deep and so strongly
fenced a one as Berwickshire is.

Of Lord Saltoun I need say but little :

"For high and deathless is the name
Oh Hougomont ! thy ruins claim ;
The sound of Cressey none shall own,
And Agincourt shall be unknown ;
And Blenheim be a nameless spot,
Long ere thy glories are forgot."

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 31

These are words of his countryman, Scott, and proud must he
have been of the honourable association. Yet, though Lord
Saltoun is a hero fit for the pages of Plutarch, it is not as a hero
that I have now to speak of him, but in the milder sphere of
private life, — as a gentleman, a companion, a sportsman, and a
friend. And here he needs neither a Plutarch nor a Scott. Who-
ever knows him has but one opinion of him, — that he is, in
homely language, "one of the best fellows in the world;" and
gives the lie to the assertion, that what raises the hero generally
sinks the man. Although he was obliged to give up hunting for
many years on account of a badly fractured thigh, there is no
man fonder of the sport, and no man rode harder than he did
over Leicestershire, particularly on his famous horse Spot, which
I now have in my mind's eye. But it is not in the field alone he
shines ; who can beat Lord Saltoun over the mahogany ? I
would go in the diligence from hence to Paris — and God knows
that would be a high price for me to pay — who have an abhor-
rence of all such conveyances — to hear him sing " The Man with
the Wooden Leg." Independently of the humour with which
he sings it, the song itself is most irresistibly ludicrous ; and
talk of the unities of a poem, I never met with any in which they
are better preserved than they are in this. As I received a kind
invitation from his lordship to visit him in the summer and enjoy
with him the sports of flood and field, I hope once more to hear
the adventures of the one-legged man ; and were I not assured
that no- praise of mine could add a feather to a plume so full as
his, I should think I had already said too much of this illustrious
Scotchman.

Who comes next ? A master of fox-hounds should take the
precedence of all others when Nimrod writes, and therefore I
introduce to my readers who may not be acquainted with him, a
gentleman known in Warwickshire (which county he hunted
three seasons in first-rate style) as Mr. Hay, but in Scotland as
"Willie Hay," of Dunse-castle ; and if I could but persuade
myself to believe — with a little addition to it— in the doctrine of
metempsychosis, or exchange of souls, I should boldly assert
that " Mr. Hay" in England, and " Willie Hay" in Scotland
could not be the same man. But in what consists the fancied
transfiguration? Why the character of Mr. Hay in Warwick-
shire— and I appeal to my brother sportsmen there, if such it
was not — was that of a good sportsman, a well-bred gentleman,
an agreeable companion ; and that was all. Perhaps he acted
the part of the cautious hound on a ticklish scenting day, and on
fresh ground, and left it to others to throw their tongues on the
hazard ; but this I can say, on my own experience of this highly

32 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

respected gentleman on both sides of the Tweed, that Willie
Hay, north of the river, is worth a dozen Mr. Hays south of it.
That in one, he was merely the agreeable companion ; on the
other he is the life and soul of every party he is in ; — the best
teller of a story, with the best stock of anecdotes, and with as
much of the original character of his country about him as any
man I am acquainted with. That he is a horseman of the first
order I need not trouble myself to assert; and although not so
splendidly mounted as he was when he hunted Warwickshire,
he can now "do the trick" when he likes his horse. In a letter
I had from Mr. Maxwell (eldest son of Sir William Maxwell),
after I left Dunse, describing a capital run of an hour and twenty
minutes with Lord Elcho, from Press, he concludes by saying
that " Hay had the best of it upon Crafty."

Like most of those nags who " have the best of it" at the end
of an hour and twenty minutes, Crafty is quite thorough-bred
and so is his rider ; being distinguished among the Hays —
nearly as numerous in Scotland, by-the-by, as the Joneses are in
Wales — as Hay of Drumelzier, shows that he has the Tweedle
blood on one side, and the Hays of Berwickshire, it is well
known, were among the most conspicuous of the border chiefs
who, amidst feudal broils and foreign wars, rendered themselves
remarkable in the annals of their country. Perhaps it was to be
attributed to his being thus bred — a scion of this gallant but tur-
bulent aristocracy — that the gentleman I am speaking of chose
to be an amateur spectator of the bloody scenes on the plains of
Waterloo, where I am sorry to add his younger brother was
killed. This must have been a woful set-off against the satis-
faction and the recollection of that glorious victory. But what
said the angel to the Peri, at the gates of Heaven ?

" ' Sweet,' said the angel, as she gave

The gift into his radiant hand,
' Sweet is our welcome of the brave,
Who die thus for their native land.' "

I have now to speak of another very celebrated character in
Lord Elcho's hunt, equally as well known at Melton, but where
he never happened to be whilst I was there, which accounts for
our having been strangers to each other previously to our meet-
ing at Dunse. I allude to Mr. Campbell, the Laird of Saddell,
and perhaps better known among his friends by his territorial
title of " Saddell," than by his real and proper name. But this
is not the first time I have had Mr. Campbell in " the book." I
got a dressing, I remember, some few years back, from a news-

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 33

paper critic, who felt squeamish at part of a song I had quoted^
describing a run over Leicestershire, in which his horse was
represented to be a good deal the worse for having gone "the
pace" for best part of an hour with sixteen stone on his back.
But it is not only as a good sportsman — as one very fond of
hounds, and a very superior horseman — that I have to represent
Mr. Campbell. It is said that the gods, having taken pity on
the race of mortals, born to evil as the sparks fly upwards, have
given them the Muses, and Apollo their leader, and Bacchus
their friend, not only to amuse them, but also to reform their
manners, and soften their souls ; and here we have their repre-
sentative in the Laird of Saddell.* We have the poet, the
songster, the jovial companion, the sportsman, and the horse-
man, all combined in one man, and that is saying as much as I
need say, although I could say more. There is more of the
gaiety of Anacreon in Mr. Campbell's character than I ever re-
member to have met with before, and he has poetical talent that
might have been turned to a good account had he been obliged
to make use of it. He could have written the Pythic ode, and
have sung it afterwards.

But my readers shall not take all this on my word alone ; I
will give them a specimen of his lyric muse in an off-hand song
he made one night in 1833, at Rossie Priory— the seat of Lord
Kinnaird — on the occasion of a famous run he had seen in the
morning with Mr. Dalyell's hounds, in Forfarshire, and which
he sings most delightfully to the tune of, " We have been Friends
together," on the words of which it will be perceived to be some-
what of a parody. It is dedicated to Walter Gilmour, Esq., of
Melton celebrity, who enjoyed the sport with him.

" We have seen a run together,
We have ridden side by side ;
It binds us to each other
Like a lover to his bride.
We have seen a run together
When the hounds run far and fast,
We have harken'd by each other,
To the huntsman's cheering blast.

* I need scarcely inform such enlightened readers as mine are, that
the allusion to Bacchus is only to be considered in its proper light — as
the inspirer of poetry. Parnassus was sacred to Bacchus as well as to
Apollo ; and Horace says he is justly in the train of the Muses as Cupid
is in that of his mother, without whose aid, she herself confesses, she ca«
do but little execution.

3

24 NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

How gay they bustled round him,
How gallantly they found him,
And how stealthily he wound him,
O'er each break and woody dell.

" 'Twas from Keithwick Broom we view'd him,
As he stole along the vale ;
Though we cheerily hallooed him,
'Twas to him a deadly wail ;
By Lintrose we did pursue him
Despite each fence and rill,
Till his heart began to rue him
On Haliburton hill.
Oh, how they sped together,
O'er the moor among the heather,
Like birds of the same feather.
And their music like a bell.

" By Auckter House we hied him,
Still haunted by their cry ;
Till in Belmont park we spied him,
And we knew that he must die !
Through the hedge he made one double,
As his sinking soul did drop,
'Twas the ending of his trouble,
When we gave the shrill Who-tyhoop !
Oh, now then let us rally,
Let us toast the joyous tally.
And a bumper to our ally,
The gallant John Dalyell."

Tmust be allowed to dwell a little on this scent. Mr, Camp-
Veil, when dressed at night in his scarlet coat, with green facings,
and buff et ceteras (the Buccleuch hunt uniform), is one of the
finest and handsomest men in his Majesty's dominions ; and as
along with this pleasing exterior he unites, when in the happy
rnood, colloquial accomplishments of the first order, and a song
for asking for, it is almost needless to observe, that his presence
is always hailed as a surety for an agreeable evening. Judging
from his stud, I am bound' to consider him a first-rate judge of
a horse, for it contained some excellent specimens of the only
sort of animal that can be depended upon to carry such a weight
as his, in the front rank — namely on very short legs, not exceed-
ing fifteen hands three inches in height and some less than that,
rsery well-bred, very steady in their work, and very strong.

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

35

During his last visit to Melton — and I believe he spent the whole
of the season before the last in Leicestershire— he tried I was
told an experiment in crossing the country, that his friends say
did not answer. This was making his horses leap into, and not
over the fences, with the idea of economizing their powers by
lessening their bodily exertion ; but I have reason to believe it
was the occasion of many falls.

THE Earl of Eglinton, who stands next on mv list of the so-
journers at Dunse, rented for the season, the beautiful cottage at
the bead of the lake in Dunse-park, the residence of Mrs. Hay's
mother ; and had for his guest Lord Archibald Seymour, and
also occasionally Mr. Charles Lamb, his lordship's half-brother.
. Lord Eglinton's start in life (for he is only in his twenty-fourth
year) has been a good one. He has entered with spirit into the
sports and amusements of the country, which of itself makes a
young nobleman popular ; but when united, as in his case, with
amiable and unassuming manners, and an evident wish that
others should participate in the bountiful fortune he is heir to,
has rendered him one of the most popular young men in Scot-
land. I was told, before I came to his country, and by one who
is an excellent judge, that I should find him " a promising young
one, and very fond on't" (i.e., of fox-hunting), and such, truly,
did I find him, to the very extent and spirit of the letter. He
is a very hard rider (not so well mounted, by-the-by, as I would
be, were I Earl of Eglinton ; but Rome was not built in a day),
and very fond of racing, and of the practical part of it also, for
he has often ridden his own horses and won on them, when the
weight would allow ; but his lordship approaches to the " welter,"
and an earl's table, with a French cook, is a bad school for
wasting. His friend, Lord Archibald Seymour, is equally fond of
hounds ; indeed, I should rather say more so than his noble
friend is, never missing a day with them, how great soever the
distance, or how rough soever the morning ; and, what is a sure
and infallible sign of it, on not the best of cattle. Likewise, as
birds of a feather flock together, there is in this young nobleman,
a similarly unassuming demeanour, which, after all, is the surest
sign of high birth. It is with men as with horses, ;tis the cock-
tail that throws up his head and kicks, but is generally found
wanting at the pinch.

But amidst the glitter of coronets, I must not overlook
•" Charley Lamb," as the half-brother to Lord Eglinton is called
by all his family and all his friends : and when I state that, what
the lexicographer would designate as " the termination fy" added
to the Christian name of a Scotchman, has the signification of

3—2

36 NIMRO&S NORTHERN TO UR.

something out of the common way (Johnny Campbell of Saddelf,
and Willy Hay of Dunse-castle, par example), I trust I shall be
excused for this familiar mention of Mr. LamlD's name. And in
truth, there is a great deal out of the common way about this
young gentleman, inasmuch as he is gifted with that rare quality
yclept dry humour. In my opinion, it is the very best kind of a
wit a man can possess, for being seldom exercised but when he
is called upon to rally, it is seldom used but in self-defence.
But this is a digression. The first time I had the pleasure of
meeting Mr. Lamb was at dinner at Lord Eglinton's, and as it
happened we occupied adjoining chairs. " I am in the wrong
box," said I to myself, " I am seated next to a young scion of
nobility, wrapped up in the mantle of aristocracy" (for as yet I
had not heard the sound of his voice) " and I would as soon be
near to a mad bull." Now see the folly of trusting to first im-
pressions. The very first time Mr. Lamb opened his mouth,
not to eat, but to speak, I discovered my mistake. There was a
peculiar style of expressing himself, which although it defies the
power of the pen, I may be able to exemplify by calling it that
cautious use of the tongue, which, whilst uttering something that
has more meaning in it than it appears to have, insidiously pro-
vokes a reply. But it is in the power of reply that Mr. Lamb
shines, and although Milton makes the devil at a loss for an
answer, I never saw him " stand perplexed," and I believe he is
often put to the test. As amongst a multitude of proofs, one
does the business, I will give an instance of this difficult and
rare talent. " Why don't you send Charley to sea ?" said a right
honourable old maid one day, to the countess his mother ; " it
is very bad for a young man to be idling away his time at home."
After a short pause, " Charley " himself furnished the answer, to
which his peculiar slow and measured tone must have given a
double force. " Do you not think," said he, " the stomach pump
would do as well?' I call this an excellent specimen of harm-
less irony, as well as a happy mixture of the satirical with the
simple, which is the highest point of perfection in every attempt
at wit.

The two Mr. Fletchers (I don't like the word "Messrs./7 it
smells so of the shop) are brothers in blood, and brothers in
soul, for I believe it is difficult to say which is fondest of fox-
hunting. They are distinguished as Mr. Fletcher of Saltoun,
and Mr. Fletcher Campbell, whose residence is at Boquhar, near
Stirling, a seat of great antiquity, having within its grounds the
famous ford at which Prince Charles crossed the river. Both
brothers are hard riders, and good over a country, particularly
Mr. Fletcher Campbell, who struck me as being very au fait at

NIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR. 37

handing his horse over the double fences in Berwickshire, with-
out taking much out of him in the exertion.

Of Mr. M'Dowall Grant I have before spoken, and I have
only here to mention that himself and Lord Saltoun (he married
his Lordship's sister) kept house together in Dunse, and their
studs were partly supplied from their own- stables, and partly
from that of Mr. King of Edinburgh, from whom I had my
garrons. Mr. Grant is a fine horseman over a country and also
over a race course ; I should say about as quick a man over the
former as is to be found in most shires, and, what cannot be said
of all the quick ones I have seen and heard of, he will try to be
" with them " on any horse, good or bad, accounting three falls
in a run nothing, provided he gets to the end of it. He rides
light, with a very good hand and well steeled nerve, which every
man should have who rides straight over Berwickshire, as I shall
soon make apparent.

But I have now a phenomenon to present to my readers — at
least if I rightly comprehend the meaning and derivation of that
word. This is the — to me — most striking fact of as strong a
horseman as I have ever seen in a saddle, in the person of a man
weighing not more than nine stone, jockey weight ; and this
person is Mr. M'Kenzie Grieve, late of the Horse Guards Blue,
but now residing upon his property near Dunse, and of whom I
spoke before. But when I am here speaking of a strong horse-
man, don't let it be supposed that I am merely alluding to that
power of hand and seat which can restrain the race horse in his
course, but which in the difficulties that such a rider over a
country as Mr. Grieve is exposed to, have been found nine times
out of ten of no avail ; but I am alluding to that command of a
resisting force from the saddle which enables a man to recover
his horse from difficulties which appear perfectly insurmount-
able ; and likewise to be immovable from his seat — as 1 shall
presently show is Mr. Grieve's case — by the most violent and
unlooked-for shock that the body of a horse can encounter with-
out its being dashed to atoms. It might well be asked whence
the fulcrum from which this lever power is derived ? The
question would best be answered by an anatomical section of Mr.
Grieve's person, which, for a horseman, is perfect symmetry. He
has not only that length of fork which affords the clip, or gripe,
that renders him immovable from his seat, but he has the true
horseman's thigh, well hollowed out within, with strongly deve-
loped muscles without. Now having said this much in praise of
Mr. Grieve as a horseman, I wish I could continue in the same
strain of commendation of him as a rider to hounds ; but it
grieves me to say (excuse the wretched pun) he is too severe on

38 NIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR.

his horse to be sure of getting to the end of a run over such a
country as Berwickshire, let his horse be what he may, short of
celestial breed. As to himself stopping before his horse stops, I
should as soon expect to see the sun stop ; and as for falls, he
appeared to me sometimes to seek them ; but he will be obliged
to concede one point : — No horse, after going a certain time, can
leap a large fence, or, at all events, many large fences, if ridden
over deep ground at the unmerciful pace Mr. Grieve goes over
it, and occasionally with too slack a rein. I draw upon my own
experience for the truth of this assertion ; but if proof of it were
wanting, it would be found in the fact of about five falls per day
being about the average number this gallant horseman gets with
hounds when they have a run ; and were it not that Fortune
favours the brave, he must have broken his neck or his limbs
before this time.

I must now get into the field again. Tuesday, November
nth, being a dies non with Lord Elcho's hounds, his Lordship
went in pursuit of wild geese, and Lord Saltoun, Mr. M'Dowall
Grant and myself breakfasted at the cottage (Lord Eglinton's)
on our road to meet Mr. Hume's harriers, which were at that
time under the control of Mr. Hay, by reason of that gentle-
man's temporary absence from home.- As we mustered rather a
strong field, being joined by the young noblemen of the cottage,
Mr. Hay, and Mr. M'Kenzie Grieve, who met us on the ground,
we were anxious for a good day's sport, but in this we were dis-
appointed, for the hares were bad, the scent bad, and the country
worse than all. The horse I rode (one of Mr. Grant's) was
twice on his head in a bog ; in fact it appeared to me to be
better adapted to grouse-shooting than to hare-hunting, being
chiefly moors, and we saw several packs of grouse. Mr. Grieve
did not lose his character this day ; for although mounted on a
thorough-bred weed of a thing that could have run away from
every horse out, over the hills, but had no pretensions to be
called a hunter — indeed he did not call him one— he charged a
gate with him on a road, and fell neck and crop over it, getting
rather a hard squeeze, which he felt for some days.

I have but little to say of these harriers, of Mr. Hume's, which
appeared to be nearly as wild as the country in which they
hunted, and so far characteristic ; nor was the whipper-in by
any means an exotic, for he looked as if just fresh from the toils,
or what coachmen call a " fresh catched one." But there was
something of the lusus about the mare he rode, as well as about
himself ; for although from her appearance she ought to have
been leading lime to the farm in a one-horse cart, she galloped
well and fast. Now that is the sort of animal to breed a hunter

NIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR. 3*

to carry weight, by a well-bred horse, because her coarse points
do not impede her action, and there is no carrying weight with-
out coarse points.
Although it could not be said of this day,

" That Phoebus befriended our earlier roam,"
or that

" Luna took care in conducting us home :"

yet amends were made in the evening by an agreeable dinner
party at Dunse-castle, which was enlivened by the presence of
several young ladies who were staying in the house, in addition.
to those of Mr. Hay's own family ; and after various songs from
one of them — a very superior songstress — in the drawing-room,
we adjourned to a very large unfinished room in the castle, te
witness the extraordinary performance of a blind man upon the
harp. One of the young ladies sang for him two airs to her
guitar, and shall I ever forget the expression of delight his counte-
nance beamed with, as the melody of her voice reached his ear ?
It wanted not the index to the soul — of which he appeared to
have been long since deprived — to show where it touched him ;
and when I saw the involuntary contortions of his frame, I could
have exclaimed with Milton : —

' What of sweet

Hath touched my sense, flat seems to this."

Thus is " the wind tempered to the shorn lamb." And thank-
ful should we be that it is so.

It has many times been observed of fox-hunting, and in its
praise, that it is somewhat of a Saturnalian amusement, bring-
ing, to a certain extent, all men upon a level. But it does more
than this. It renders a man superior to many of those little
trials and personal inconveniences which would not otherwise be
submitted to by those who had the power of avoiding them. In.
short, if I may be allowed the expression, it makes a man a matt,
I myself had walked to Dunse-castle this night, a dark and wet
one in November, in a rough great-coat and strong shoes, with
my pumps in my pocket, because the expense of a post-chaise
did not square with my purse, but such could not be said of
the young noblemen at the cottage, who had still further to
travel than I had. When the party broke up, however, I saw
the rough great-coats, and the strong shoes, and the pumps in
the pocket were the order of the day, or rather of the night with,
them— with this difference, that their lordships' pumps went
into a footman's pocket, and NimrocFs into his own.

S NORTHERN TOUR.

On the morning of this day (Tuesday) I was thus addressed by
Lord Elcho, " To-morrow," said his Lordship, "we are going
into a good country, and we shall have a run; but it is a
strongly fenced one, and requires a hunter to get across it. i
-will send one to cover for you that will carry you comfortably
and well" — the whole of which prediction was fulfilled to the very
letter. The morrow came and appeared like hunting. Some
rain had fallen on the preceding evening, the wind was in the
west, and on looking out of my window, I perceived that things
looked well above— old Boreas asleep, and Phoebus where he
should always be on a hunting morning, not a beam of him to
be seen.

As is generally the case, I was the first of the Dunse party
to make my appearance in the breakfast-room ; for having been
all my life an early riser at home, I cannot lie late in the morn-
ing when abroad ; but when I opened the door I found there had
been an arrival in the person of one whom I could not recollect
ever to have before seen. His figure was tall and thin, with a
piercing but very intellectual eye ; and, independently of his
feeing " stained with the variation of each soil/' which showed
that he had been at work whilst I was asleep, and must have
ridden a long distance that morning, there was a freshness of
complexion, and a wiryness of frame about him which at once
convinced me he was a sportsman. " Surely," said I to myself,
" this is Sir David Baird, of whom I have heard so much, but
Tvhom I have never seen." Such it proved to be ; and as, where
there is a sympathy of thought and sentiment, noble souls make
acquaintance at first sight, so do sportsmen, and we soon be-
came known to each other. He had ridden from Edinburgh
that morning, only forty-two miles, on the same hack ; and
having eight miles farther to go to the place where the hounds
meet, would just complete the half hundred. But what cares
a man in the prime of life, as Sir David is, for distance from
cover, in the morning, if he has but even a prospect of a good
zun ?

By-the-way, I have a little anecdote that will not come amiss
liere on the subject of riding long distances on the road, for
which we know some persons have been remarkable, almost in-
deed beyond belief. Amongst those, few have exceeded the per-
formances of the Duke of Dorset, at one time his present
Majesty's Master of the Horse, and also filling the same — to his
Grace, no doubt, congenial— office to his late Majesty George
the Fourth. Dining one day at the Pavilion at Brighton, when
the late Duke of York was also a guest, the following short, but
pithy, sentences were exchanged between them. " A strong ride

NIMRO&S NORTHERN 7 OUR. 41

that, which we took this morning, Dorset," said his royal high-
ness (about twelve miles!). "It was, sir," leplied his Grace,
" but I had ridden from London before I had the honour of at-
tending your royal highness in your ride."

But now once more to business. The fixture for this day was
Lady Kirk, eight miles from Dunse, a place of such notoriety in
the history of Scotland, that even in a Sporting Tour it cannot
be entirely passed over. Although its being close in the neigh-
bourhood of the ford, or passage of the Tweed, by which the
Scotch and English armies generally invaded each other's coun-
try, gives it much notoriety, the cause of its being called Lady
Kirk is of higher interest at the present moment, inasmuch as it
shows how times are altered since Jocky of Scotland, prayed for
bannocks ready baked, and, I believe, ready buttered as well.
It seems that the name of this parish was once Upsettlington,or
Upsettingtown, I forget which, but was changed to Lady Kirk,
or the Lady's Church, from the following incident. As James
the Fourth of Scotland was passing this ford, he was in great
danger of being carried away by the stream, when, like Jack (the
sailor) in the storm, he made a holy promise of what he would
do, if he co"uld but get out of the scrape. Jack, we know, did
nothing ; but the king kept his word, and built this church,
which he dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and thus it bears its
name. It is .also singular that it is one of the few Gothic sacred
buildings that survived the desolating fury of the Reformation.
But Lady Kirk is also deserving of notice by me, from the recol-
lection that the late owner of the Mansion House, Mr. Robert-
son, was the most spirited breeder of sheep Scotland ever saw,
having given the celebrated Mr. Stone seven hundred guineas for
two ram sheep. It is also the scene of the poem of the Goblin
Groom, descriptive of a run with the Duke of Buccleuch's
hounds, and other doings, bordering on the supernatural, to
which I may presently allude. The following lines, however,
contrasting the meeting of the fox-hounds with deeds of ancient
days, may be not inaptly introduced here ; and especially so as
it is the truly classic ground on which the poem of Marmion
opens : —

" This bank, in former days, has been
Sad witness of a different scene :
When Norham's border castle rang
With England's war-foreboding clang,
When threaten'd feud was heard to sound
Defiance to the Scottish ground ;
When cannon roared from Norham's wall,
The English border clans to call."

42 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

Although I have said that Lady Kirk was the fixture for the
day, I must stop short in my course before I arrive there. Rather
a large assemblage of sportsmen accompanied the hounds from
Dunse, and Lady Kirk, in itself, being a very uncertain place of
showing sport, it was proposed to Lord Elcho that a small spiny,
as it is called in Leicestershire, by the side of the road, and five
miles short of the place appointed, should.be drawn, en passant.
His lordship for this once consented, and mark the result. A
Lady Kirk fox jumped up before the hounds, in the twinkling of
an eye, putting his head as straight for home as the most
hungry pigeon could fly ; and a most severe burst, over a most
severe country, was the consequence. Now who saw the finish ?
I can only say I myself did not ; nor indeed could I learn who
did. I was well with them for the first ten minutes, when we
came to some rails and a brook, which stopped the whole field.
" Don't go there ;" cried Lord Elcho to me, " you'll be smoth-
ered" (it was a bog) ; "here's a pass to the left." So by some go-
ing to the left, and some to the right — where there was also a
pass — whilst the hounds went straight, no small advantage was
gained by them, not only over the horses but also over their fox,
and the pace appeared to bid defiance to catching them. At all
events, my chance was soon out. About a mile farther on, we
came to a fence of this description, but which I found to be by
no means an unusual one in Scotland : there was a ditch on the
rising side, as also on the Ian ding side, which was a good stoned
road. But to enable a horse to leap the second ditch, he had to
land himself upon a stone wall, from whence he was to receive
the fulcrum. " Now for a fractured skull or a broken thigh, five
hundred miles from home," said I to myself, as I perceived the
horse that went before me put his hinder foot on a sort of step-
ping stone from whence his fulcrum was derived ; " by heavens
I'll look for a better place." In short, I funked it. Keepsake*
was very indignant at my not letting him go ; but, as Jack said
at the Opera, " Remember I'm just come from France," said I to
him, as I put him at another place, which presented a broader
footing.

Of course I saw no more of the hounds till I found them in the
park at Lady Kirk, where, by one of those untoward events from
which the chase of wild animals never can be free, " the finish "
to this beautiful burst of five miles in twenty-two minutes was
wanting. The hunted fox was seen, dead beat, before the pack,
when a fresh one jumped up in view ; and before the hounds
could be stopped another fox was on foot. Mr. M'Kenzie Grieve

* The name of the horse.

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 43

did not see this fine burst, as he went to the place of meeting, in
the morning.

From Lady Kirk, we trotted away — some miles — to a fine
gorse cover called Broomdykes, reckoned the " Cream Lodge
gorse " of Berwickshire. It held a brace of foxes, one of which
went away on the second attempt, and, after a fine ring round
the country, through Blackadder, Kellow Craigs, and Mander-
stone, saved his life by getting into a " conduit " — as a drain in
Scotland is called — under the park wall of Wedderburnhouse,
about three miles from Dunse, at the end of fifty-eight minutes.

Although the country we passed through is the deepest and
the most strongly fenced of any in Berwickshire, I had an
opportunity of seeing the hounds do their work through nearly
the entire of this fine run, and I have great pleasure in re-
peating the opinion of all present, that nothing could have ex-
ceeded their steadiness or their stoutness, — which, after the tick-
ler they had in the morning and the distance they had travelled,
was highly creditable to their condition. It is true they only
occasionally went the ultra pace, the scent, at times, being
flashy ; and they were twice in difficulties ; but they got uncom-
monly well out of them, and this is the test of merit, for all hounds
will hold on with a breast-high scent.

For the information of such of my brother sportsmen who may
never have ridden over, as well as of such as may contemplate
riding over, Berwickshire, I will describe the sort of fences we
had this day to encounter. I do not recollect anything in the
shape of timber. We had neither gate, stile, rail, nor brook, but
we had every description of hedge and ditch and bank and wall
that the ingenuity of man could contrive. Moreover we had,
now and then, hedge and ditch and bank ; then hedge wall and
ditch, all in the same fence. Almost every fence indeed was a
double one, the ditches regular yawners ; and from the circum-
stance of more than half of them being to be taken out of deep,
or ploughed ground, they took the shine out of the horses. Many
of them also were very difficult to get at, with comfort or safety
to the horse. For example, — on the headlands of such fields as
are ploughed, a small ridge, or baulk, as it is called, is left be-
tween the last 'bout of the plough and the ditch, to prevent the
soil washing into it. In some cases these were of sufficient
•width to tempt a horse to take his footing from off them, but it
is an uncertain and slippery one. If, however, he do not foot
on it, he has so much the greater exertion to make to enable him
to land himself on the bank, having cleared a ditch that would
swallow a mail coach. And how fares he when thus landed ?
Why he has to leap another ditch that would swallow another

44 NIMROUS NORTHERN TO UR.

coach, and to alight in ground half up to his knees ; if in a turnip
field, half up to his shoulder. But it was — from the cause I have
stated, the difficulty of the footing— the first ditch that funked
me ; for the second I cared nothing, often throwing my eye upon
the hounds when on the bank, and letting my horse look out for
himself; and I am ready to admit that my imagination more
than once presented me with a picture of Keepsake on his back
and Nimrod under him, in a ready-made grave. But he did not
make a single mistake in the course of the day, nor were there
so many falls as might have been expected in so severe a country,
in which horses not used to it would make a bad figure at first.

We had a kind of practical apologue at the conclusion of this
run, which will confirm the character I have given of Mr. Grieve's
powers in his saddle. A horse on sale was brought out for Lord
Saltoun's inspection, and, on the suggestion of Mr. M'Dowall
Grant, Mr. Grieve was requested to give him a " lark," to ascer-
tain his proficiency in fencing. After taking him a ring around
the neighbouring country, he all at once appeared in our sight,
in the act of charging a flight of rails on the other side of which
was a drop— for I measured it — of upwards of ten feet, into a
hard turnpike road ! There was no time to check him ; and
when I saw himself and the horse in the air I expected both
would be smashed on the spot. Strange to say, although the
horse's forelegs gave way from the concussion, and he made a
sort of a groove — as if with a hoe — across the road with his
knees, which was absolutely lined with hair, Mr. Grieve sat as
firmly in his saddle as if the animal had been standing still under
him at the time; and, equally strange — the consequence, no
doubt, of no angular stone coming in contact with them — the
knees of the horse were not incurably broken. Sir David Baird,
who rode in his usual masterly style (and, as a friend of mine,
who knows him well, says, " who can beat him ?"\ nearly put
out one of his horse's eyes in a bullfinch fence in this run ; but,
although the eyelid was deeply cut, and the bleeding profuse, the
eye was found to be uninjured.

The day concluded with a dinner at Lord Eglinton's, to which
I had the honour of an invitation ; and as the evening was fine
I thought a walk of two miles and a half would do me good ; so
with my pumps in my pocket I " wound my way" through Dunse-
park, having been assured of a cast home in a carriage at night.
Now I sometimes stop to contemplate nature ; and I saw her
here very much to my admiration— not in a gay, but in a sombre
mood, in what Shakespeare calls "the silent of the night" — as I
stood about ten minutes by the side of the beautiful piece of
water in this park. Although the young moon was obscured at

NIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR. 45

the moment, there was just enough of light to see across it
and as

' the western breeze

Just kiss'd the lake, just stirr'd the trees,"

the reflection of the fine timber on the opposite side had a very
pleasing effect. But nature is never quite silent, even in the
night season ; and although the night-warbling bird was now ab-
sent, a quack from a wild duck in one place, and the alighting of
a widgeon in another, showed that the business of the day was
not quite at an end with them. With myself it certainly was
not; for in less than half an hour from that time I sat down to
a most excellent dinner at the cottage, and after the fatigue of
the run and the heat occasioned by it, the iced champagne of
Mr. Wauchope was more than usually extolled by all. Hunger,
they say, is the best sauce ; there was no need of that to heighten
the gout here ; but a good run in November creates a thirst
which it is delightful to slake at such a cool fountain as this.
That on Parnassus is a ditch to it.

By-the-by, the mention of good dinner reminds me of the
fact that our noble host received a letter this evening, from Eglin-
ton, which very considerably damped his own enjoyment of it.
It was to inform him of the death, by his own hands, of his
French cook, who had coolly walked into a river to drown him-
self. " Independently of the loss of an excellent servant/' said
his lordship, " I shall be in an awkward dilemma, when my
friends come to see me at Christmas ; and I expect a large
party." His lordship, however, was here instantly relieved by
the offer of Sir David Baird to lend him his cook, also a profes-
sor from the same school. Lord Eglinton could assign no
earthly reason for this rash act, but hazarded an opinion that it
might not have happened had he brought him with him to
Dunse ; and there may be some truth in this ; idleness is the
parent of many crimes, and to a mind under the influence of
hypochondriacal passions, is one of the strongest incentives to
that of suicide.

About the hour of midnight — for fox-hunters seldom enter upon
the " morning revel" — I was on my road to my bed, not in the
rough great-coat, with the " pumps in the pocket," but comforta-
bly stowed in the right hand corner of a yellow post-chaise, in
which were also seated Sir David Baird and Mr. Campbell. Now
we have often heard of aan agreeable companion in a post-
chaise" being advertised for in the newspapers, therefore I cau-
tion the public against accepting of Mr. Campbell of Saddell,
should he ever make a tender of himself to that purpose — that

46 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

is to say, unless, like poor Monsieur of the cuisine, the adver-
tising party is weary of life and wishes to avoid the discredit of
felo de se.

Our sawney of a post boy was not content with finding a gate
in the park wide open, but in compliment, as I suppose, to the
Laird of the Castle, he must dismount to shut it. No sooner had
he got in the rear of the carriage than Mr. Campbell started the
horses off by way of " a lark ;" and had not the fellow with great
adroitness caught hold of one of them, just as they were getting
into a gallop — for they were a very spicy pair — the result of the
" lark" would have been one or the other of the following catas-
trophies : — We should either have been capsized over a heap of
earth, thrown up out of a drain in the road, a few yards t farther ;
or comfortably landed, as Paddy says, amongst the wild ducks in
the lake, in about two fathoms of fresh water. Nor was this all.
In each of these predicaments, had such been our fate, I should
have been undermost of the three, and ere it had come to my
turn to have crept out of the drag, I think I should have stood a
fair chance of ending my Tour in Dunse park. As it happened,
we arrived at Dunse without any mishap, and though before I
retired to my couch I put up a prayer for my safe deliverance, I
have reason to believe that I fell asleep muttering to myself these
words : — " You are a devilish pleasant fellow, Mr. Campbell, any-
where but in a post-chaise/'

Despairing of seeing hounds over Berwickshire on the power-
less animals sent for me from Edinburgh, and unwilling to
trespass further on Lord Elcho's stable, I determined on missing
Thursday's hunting with his lordship, and trotting over to Corn-
hill for the purpose of seeing the Galewood pack on that day, —
the 1 3th of November — at Pawston, having previously written to
King to send me another horse in the room of the one I had had
a taste of, and found perfectly unfit to carry me with hounds.
Cornhill is a large roadside post house, about a mile south of the
fine bridge over the Tweed at Coldstream, on the great North
road, and about fifteen miles from Dunse ; — a better, or more
reasonable inn, no sportsman could desire, with excellent stables
for hunters. It was here that I first saw that curiously con-
structed carriage called the curricle mail, which, taking the bags
from the down mail at Morpeth, and travelling by a shorter cut,
arrives at Edinburgh sufficiently early to enable letters to be
answered by the up mail, which it takes by the same route to
Morpeth, It is said to travel at the rate of fourteen miles in the
hour !

It would require the aid of the pencil to show how the horses
are put into this curricle mail, which merely consists of a close

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 47

body, like that of a dog cart, with a seat before for the driver,
and a chair behind for the guard exactly on the principle of that
to the regular mail coach. But the singular part of the affair
consists in the bar passing under the bellies of the horses, instead
of over their backs, which makes it very awkward to put them to,
and take them from, the carriage ; and will1 account for the
landlord having told me, that a pair of blood mares of his own
breeding were not made steady, at these times, under three
months. It is doubtless a carriage for speed, being near to the
ground, and so hung as to throw very little weight on the horse's
backs ; but I was told it now and then gets floored, as indeed
what very fast drag does not ? The last time I was in Edin-
burgh, I saw one of these carriages in the streets, in a cart,
fractured in all parts ; as they say on the road indeed, after a
very bad mishap, " the drag might have been brought home in
a sack." It has now been going ten or twelve years, and is a
great convenience to Edinburgh.

When on my Yorkshire Tour I was frequently at a loss, when
inquiring my road, &c., from the \vant of a glossary of words,
particularly in the county of Durham ; so took the first oppor-
tunity of ascertaining how I should fare in Scotland in the use
of my English tongue and ears, and this presented itself to me
this morning on the road from Dunse to Cornhill. I overtook a
farmer's boy on a good looking old horse, when the following
dialogue took place.

Nimrod. You have a good old horse there, boy.

Boy. Ay — have I.

Nimrod. Is he a hunter ?

Boy. Ay — is he ; he's a muckle of spirit, but he's sair
wraught and all fad.

Nimrod. Will you follow me over that hedge ?

Boy. A ah — and what will I get by that ? What if I breaks
his lag ?

Nimrod. A good licking, I suppose.

Boy. Nay — and that wouldn't be a7.

If this be a specimen, said I to myself, there will be no diffi-
culty on this score ; but I suspect an English lad would have
risked the consequence of the " lark."

When I arose in the morning I found the frost unusually
severe for the season, and the guard of the curricle mail reported
it's being still severer south. One night's frost in November,
however, seldom stopping hunting, I rode to the place of meeting,
making allowance for the morning, and just nicked the time. I
have already made mention of this pack, as formerly managed
by Mr. Boag, but now by Major St. Paul,— brother to Sir Horace

48 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

—and with whom I became acquainted during one of my visits
to Raby-castle. He has been all his life a dear lover of the
sport, but is a young master of hounds, this being his second
season.

" How do you like my hounds ?" said the Major to me, after
the usual salutation. " I'll tell you presently," was my reply ;
the fact was, their backs were up and their sterns were down
from the severity of the morning, and they did not look to
advantage ; " but this I can tell you at once— your condition
appears admirable" The gallant master and huntsman — for he
hunts them himself — appeared much pleased by this remark, for
he told me it was a point upon which he prided himself ; and as
I shall presently have an opportunity of showing, I was myself
gratified at having made it, because it proved to be a good hit.
There was only a small field, but amongst them Lord Frederick
"Fitzclarence, who resides in the neighbourhood of the kennels
at a seat of his brother-in-law, Lord Kelburne, and is a very
regular attendant of the Galewood pack.

The Greeks had their oracles, the Romans their augurs, all the
world their omens, and I now and then have mine. " We shall
have sport to-day," said I to myself, as I put a crooked sixpence
into my pocket. — a thing I had not seen for many a long day —
after I had mounted my horse, and especially as he gave a loud
neigh at the moment, which Tacitus, when speaking of the
ancient Germans, says, " was considered so portentous as to be
watched by kings and priests. "

The omens, however, were this day unpropitious, and even our
start was a bad one. We were holloaed to the top of a hill where
we were told the " tod" — as .a fox in Scotland is called by the
people — was just seen ; but I was soon convinced there had been
no " tod" there, and told Major St. Paul as much. The excite-
ment, however, a lark of this sort produces in hounds, exhibits
them in a very different character to that of trotting along a road
on a frosty morning ; and I could then have answered the
question previously put to me by the owner, but which I reserved
to another opportunity. Some short time after this disappoint-
ment occurred we found a brace of foxes, and, what does not
often happen, the pack, consisting of only sixteen couples,
divided into two equal lots, eight couples settling to one fox and
eight to another. I of course started after the one that broke in
the line on which I was riding at the time, but as soon as I
perceived we had only part of the pack with us, and that our
huntsman was on a fox with the other part, I joined the whipper-
in in trying to stop them. But had the one been riding Eclipse,
and the other Flying Childers, we should not have succeeded in

NIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR. 49

•doing so, for they went straight up the Cheviot hills, and were
never seen again till the next morning, when they returned to
their breakfast at the kennel. The other fox ran short and was
lost, and thus ended my first day with the Galewood pack.

" It is good," said a learned Scotchman, " to admire great hills,
"but to live in plains ;" and although I believe the celebrated
writer I am quoting alluded to the perilous distinctions of political
faction, his words would have equally applied to fox-hunting. As
well might we expect the stream to rise against its fountain as
10 expect a horse to carry a man up the Cheviot hills with
hounds on a scent, neither is it reasonable to call upon him to
do so ; and were I to steal a flourish to adorn my pen, I should
compare the attempt to that of Hannibal to pass the Alps.
Nevertheless, although my horse showed a decided dislike to it,
for he as much as said, " I will have no more of it," I was pleased
to tread such classic ground as " Flodden's ill-fated field," which
lies at the foot of the Cheviot hills.

On my return to Dunse the same night, I found Lord Elcho
had had a fine day's sport. He killed his fox in the morning ;
had a hunting run from Eddington-hill to the Lee rocks with
liis second fox, at noon ; and finding another at a quarter before
four o'clock in the evening, ran him for an hour at the very best
pace, and whipped off, at dark, on Eddington-hill.

Friday, 14. — A dies non in the hunting way. Amused myself
by looking over the studs in Dunse, amongst which was that of
Sir David Kinloch,* who arrived the same evening. Sir David
— the wrong side of fourteen stone in his saddle — is a very hard
rider, and, although debarred the enlivening influence of the
grape, owing to having fractured his skull by a fall, is a very
cheerful companion at any hour of the day or night. I was
much pleased to make the acquaintance of this gentleman, and
for the following reasons : — He is not only passionately fond of
hunting, and also a great agriculturist, but there formerly ex-
isted a great intimacy between my family and an aunt of the
Baronet's, the lady of the late Sir Foster Cunliffe, Bart, of Acton-

Eark, near Wrexham, who was the first specimen of a Scottish
idy that came under my observation for nearly the first twenty
years of my life. She is also now in her grave, and therefore
beyond the reach of either censure or praise — from censure, I
believe, few were more free — but all who had the pleasure of her
acquaintance will join me in saying of her, that she was one of
the finest specimens — both in person and in mind — of a Scottish

* Sir David resides at Gilmerton, near Haddington, about twenty-
five miles from Edinburgh;

4

50 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

lady that Scotland ever produced. Moreover, her name and
character are worthy of being recorded in a sporting magazine
as the original patroness of the celebrated archery meetings for
which the aristocratic neighbourhoods of Wrexham, Chester,
Ellesmere, and Oswestry have been for at least forty years so
signal.

The late Lady Cunliffe was the mother of ten children, and,
had her life been spared only a fortnight longer, would have seen
the anniversary of her fiftieth wedding day ! ! The anticipation
of this event, however, gave rise to an incident, which, if it had
been followed up to its conclusion, would have given birth to a
scene of more than ordinary interest, and to which it would
perhaps be difficult to find a parallel in domestic life. A friend
of the family accidentally put into her ladyship's hand the follow-
ing lines, not only beautifully written by one from her own
country, and therefore more likely to find the road straight to
her heart, but so closely in association with her own situation
at the moment, that she at once declared that, if she lived to see
it, her husband should read them to her in the presence of all
her children on the approaching anniversary, which she empha-
tically called her "golden day"

Thou kens, Mary Hay, that I loo7 thee weel,
My ain auld wifie sae kindly an' leal* ;
Then what garst thee stand wi' a tear in thine e'e
And aye look sae waej when thou lookest on me.

Dost thou miss, Mary Hay, the young bloom on my cheek,
With the hair hinging round, sae jetty and sleak ;
For the snaw's on my head and the roses are gane
Since that day o' days I first ca'd thee mine ain.

Or grieves thou the loss of mine eye's youthful fire,
And the wild song I sung, which thou used to admire I
For I'm darksome an' cauld now the winter is come,
And the soft sound of music within me is dumb.

But tho' that the fire of mine e'e be dim
And age, wi' its frost, stiffens every limb,
Thou kens that my heart has no frost for thee,
For summer returns at the blink of thine e'e.

The miser haulds hard, and still harder, his gold ;
The ivy grasps firmer the tree when it's old ;

* Loyal. t Makes. J Sad,

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 5*

And thou art the dearer to me, Mary Hay,
As a' else turns seary and life wears away.

We maun part, Mary Hay, when our journey's done,
But Pll meet thee again in the world that's aboon ;
Then what gars thee stand wi' a tear in thine e'e,
And aye look sae wae when thou lookest on me.

By whom these lines were written, I am unable to say. They
may be by Robert Burns, for I have no copy of Burns by me ;
but this I can say of them — they are, in my humble opinion,
sweetly and tenderly poetical, and worthy the pen of any man.

I offer no apology for this digression — a passing tribute to the
memory of a lady who was so distinguished an ornament to the
society in which I myself first moved :

Be it a weakness — it deserves some praise,
We love the play-place of our early days.

But to return to Dunse and the studs there. Amongst others,
as may be supposed, the stables of Mr. Cosser, the Dunse horse-
dealer, were not omitted in this morning's lounge. I have seen
it in print, that " an honest horse-dealer is a character written
in the dust," but I have met with honest horse-dealers before -I
saw Mr. Cosser of Dunse, whose character stands high as a.
man of integrity in his business ; as a spirited agriculturist ; as
a capital rider to hounds, although nearly big enough to be cut
into two ; and as a sportsman. His son met with a bad acci-
dent the season before last in the field. The horse of a brother
sportsman lashed out his heels and dreadfully fractured his leg,
but the fortitude he exhibited called forth the admiration of all
who were so unfortunate as to witness it.

Saturday, 15. — Lord Elcho met at Marchmont House, the
seat of Sir Hume Campbell, Bart., M.P. for Berwickshire, a fine
old place, and approached by an avenue upwards of a mile in
length. We soon found our fox, and killed him after twenty-
five minutes — the pace good throughout. Found again at
Chouseley, and had a ringing run of an hour, when the " tod *
was killed by a shepherd's dog. Sir Hume was in Ireland at
this time, but his Lady's brother, Captain Spottiswoode (I
believe), lately arrived from that country, and a very good man
across a country, was out, and Sir Hume arrived very shortly
afterwards.

The first whipper-in, Bob, had a narrow escape this day as
the hounds were worrying their first fox. One of the field in-
cautiously approaching too near to them, his horse kicked him

4—2

^ NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

most violently, and had he struck him an inch higher up, would
Jbave killed him on the spot. As it was, the blood appeared
through his clothes. Sportsmen cannot be too cautious at this
•^articular moment ; for horses, perfectly quiet at all other times,
Tnll kick both horses and hounds as well as men when they
smell blood, and their sense of smell is very susceptible to it.

Sunday, 16. — Hudibras says, when speaking of the English
language, that we have " a suit for holidays, and another for
•working days." .Being now in a country where the Sabbath is
spent somewhat differently to what it is in France, I must "hold
liard" here and sink hunting. After church then, I walked to
Dunse Castle for two purposes ; first — to pay my respects to the
worthy inmates of it ; and secondly, to have a look at the out-
side of the house, having only before had ocular demonstration
$>f the inside, which, after all, to one so little versed in architec-
tural science as myself, is generally the best in the month of
November, and particularly about the hour the dinner bell
rings. And this reminds me of a good anecdote respecting
Marchmont House, of which I have just spoken. It was built
% the last Earl of Marchmont, who was told that the roughness
©f its exterior — being of what is called 'ruple-work — was not
suitable to the splendour of its interior. " Perhaps not," said
the Peer, who was a wag ; " but I mean to live in the inside and
not on the outside of my house." But to return to Dunse Castle.
It is undoubtedly one of the finest castellated mansions I have
ever seen in any country, and the ornaments and figures on the
specula, or watch towers, are to my taste singularly elegant and
imposing. Conscious, however, of my being a bad hand at
describing houses, as well as a very bad judge of the outside of
them, your readers shall form their own opinion of Dunse
Castle from the following description of it in the " Picture of
Scotland" (vol. i. page 42), published in 1834, and illustrated
fey several plates— a very amusing work :

" Dunse Castle is a magnificent new house, in what is called
the castellated style. It was erected partly upon the remains of
a former castle, which had been the property of that glorious
patriot, Randolph Earl of Moray, and it went into the hands of
Cospatrick (Earl of Dunbar), by his equally glorious daughter,
Black Agnes, who married that powerful nobleman. The former
eastle was remarkable on account of having been the head-quar-
ters of General Leslie, when he lay with the Scottish army of
1639 on tne toP °f tne neighbouring Law. The apartment in
which he and his officers dined, having fortunately been pre-
served untouched at the re-edification, can now be seen in the
sastle ; it is the butler's room.

NIMROLPS NORTHERN TOUR. 5-

" The interior decorations of Dunse Castle are truly splendid-;
some of them, indeed, curiously beautiful. The Gothic style pre-
vails in both the architecture and the furniture of the house, the
staircase is exceedingly fine, and one of the galleries is lighted
by a window of the loveliest stained glass to be seen in Scotland.
The best rooms are full of pictures, many of which are very good,
The portraits are worthy of especial attention ; for besides those
of his own family, Mr. Hay has collected many others, and pos-
sesses, in particular, the best of the Seton gallery. One of the
latter, the first Viscount Kingston, drawn as he appeared on
alighting from the flight of Worcester, is worthy of more tha»
ordinary notice ; the dusty sweat of battle and flight glistering
with all the force of reality on the brow of the fatigued soldier,
who seems just to have laid aside his head-piece."

But the situation of this castle is quite in keeping with its
architectural decorations and character. It stands in a valley,
at the head of a beautiful lake nearly a mile in length, abso-
lutely embosomed in finely-wooded hills — in fact, amidst all the
ornaments of nature : and this I think is saying enough of it
The land about it — a great recommendation, in my eye — is also
excellent, quite equal to feeding good sized beasts, I should
imagine ; but Mr. Hay is not a great farmer, although he has
one of the best arranged homesteads I ever met with in any
country, and equal to a great extent of business.

It being one of those fine days in November which in my
opinion equal those of any other month in the year, and which,
although they may cast somewhat of a sombre tint over nature,
impart by no means a disadvantageous one to woodland scenery,
I very much enjoyed a walk through this fine domain with Mr.
Hay, who accompanied me to pay my respects to Captain Max-
well, residing in a nice hunting box at the extremity of it, also
the property of Mr. Hay. " We shall find him in the stable,*
said Mr. Hay (it being stable hour), "for he is a great man for
condition ;" and there, in truth, did we find him, and in some
alarm as to the fate of the eye of one of his hunters which ha<2
received a slap from a thorn. I assured him there was nothing
to fear, and that a light dose of physic and warm water fomenta-
tions would soon perform a cure ; which they did. He had in
his stable a five-year-old gelding, bred by his father, quke
thorough-bred, and next to the King of the Valley, and old Johc
Bull, the largest horse of that description I ever remember to
have seen. If he make a hunter, he is a trump for a roomy
country. We afterwards called at the Cottage, where some of
the party from Dunse were assembled on the same errand as
ourselves — to pay our respects to Lord Eglinton. Here " Nimro£

f4 NIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR.

was sold." I was told to look out of the window through a
telescope, which would make me see every object double. " It
must be a treat," said I to myself, " to see two beautiful lakes,
with their finely timbered banks, adjoining each other ;'? so
putting the instrument to my eye, I gravely looked out for dame
Nature's twins. Now, although I could see nothing, I could
hear something that soon convinced me I was " sold." It was,
in fact, not a telescope, but a silver tube resembling a telescope,
for the purpose of conveying brandy to the moors, and, no doubt,
if applied to the mouth in lieu of the eye, would soon make one
see everything double.

" But if one power did not both hear and see,
Our sights and sounds would always double be."

Monday, 17th. — Lord Elcho met this day at Elmford-bank, in
a very wild country, and one apparently short of foxes. We
had, however, rather a good thing in the evening of seven or
eight miles an end,- from Cockburn-law to Dunse-wood, where,
landing amongst a host of foxes, nothing more could be done.
In the course of the ring our fox skirted Dunse-law, where once
upon a time twenty thousand men were in arms for the purpose
of murdering twenty thousand other men in arms, unless they
said their prayers after the same form that they themselves
said them ! No doubt they called this " religion," but I call it
by a very opposite name.

Tuesday, i8th. — This was a day big with great events. Im-
primis— it was the one that was to usher me for the first time in
my life not only into the field with the Duke of Buccleuch's
hounds, but, what I thought still more of at the moment, into
the presence of their crack huntsman and " king of servants," as
Lord Kintore calls him — the noted William Williamson — alias
Will, alias the Laird of St. Boswell's ; of whom I had been led
to expect all that belongs to knowledge and experience on the
art of hunting fox-hounds — the said William Williamson, alias
Will, alias the Laird of St. BoswelPs, having whipped-in to, and
hunted fox-hounds thirty-two seasons, with only one interruption
from a fall, in which he broke his arm ! How far these expecta-
tions were realized, will appear in due time*

But this was a day memorable on another account. It pro-
duced, as allowed to be, one of the finest runs ever seen over
Scotland. The place of meeting was Stitchel, the fine seat of
Sir John Pringle, Bart, about ten miles from Dunse, where a
large field from all sides of the country were assembled, but un-
fortunately for himself, though fortunately for his horses, the

NIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR. 55

noble owner of the pack was prevented by some important
business from making one of them. After a formal introduction
to Williamson, by Lord Elcho, and a slight glance at the pack,
we proceeded to business, the result of which I shall present to
you in two reports— one from the Kelso Mail, and the other from
my own observation of it.

" Duke of Bticcleuch's fox-hounds. This celebrated pack has
now for some time been in the field in this district, and from the
sport it has already afforded, there is every prospect of a most
successful season. On Tuesday last there was a splendid field
of sportsmen, including amongst their number most of the noble-
men and gentlemen at present hunting with Lord Elcho's fox-
hounds in Berwickshire. The sport on Tuesday has seldom
been surpassed. The hounds met at Stitchel, where they fourd
immediately, and after a short run down by Newton Don, and
Sydenham, foxey gave his pursuers the slip by taking refuge in a
conduit at Sydenham-lodge, and as it was found impossible to
induce him to resign his place, it was resolved to proceed forth-
with to East Gordon, where a gallant fox soon broke cover.
Reynard at first made for the moors, bending away at a slapping
pace by Rumbleton-law, threading the plantations to the east-
ward, away towards the moor by Hallyburton, with an evident
design of making for Dogden-moss, and a determination to try
the bottoms of the cavalry, several of whom were by this time
amissing. He then took down by the banks of the Blackadder,
towards Greenlaw-dean, where he crossed the water, and next
challenged his pursuers upon the high ground, while the number
of his enemies were gradually diminishing, red-coats and cock-
tails alike retiring from the contest. The gallant pack, however,
were not to be easily foiled ; they forced him again to cross the
water, when he made a determined push for Fogo Muir, and
when he skirted the cover at that place, the sportsmen were
becoming " few and far between ;" a few remaining who were
able to stand the pace and the very heavy country. The remnant
was not yet, however, done with their day's work. The gallant
fox was an out-and-ontcr ; disdaining to give up the contest
without another effort, he still led the field, in good style, down
by Angelrow, and Rochester, and after traversing the park of the
la'tter place, and trying in vain to obtain a place of refuge
amongst some of the buildings there, he was run into just as he
was about to present his card at the front door of Rochester-
house, after one of the severest runs that has been witnessed in
this part of the country. Few were able to stand the pace
and the country, and not more than half a dozen sportsmen,

56 N1MROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

out of a large field, were in at the death."— From the Kelso-
Mail*

Now then for my own version of this fine day's sport. As is-
often the case with aristocratic foxes that must dine upon game
and have their habitations surrounded by park walls, the hounds
did not get away in a body with our first fox, although the horse-
men did ; but as it happened, it mattered not, for after ten
minutes at a very good pace, with about eight couples of
hounds at head, he went to ground in a drain from which it was
impossible to bolt him. Unconscious of what was to happen,
afterwards, I was much disappointed at this untoward start, as-
the country we went over was excellent, consisting of large fields,
flying fences, and sound ground. I was also, as will appear
presently, mounted quite to my satisfaction.

Between the heats, as we say on the race course, I had the
honour of being introduced to Sir John Pringle, whom I had
previously noticed in the crowd — but without knowing him — as
being particularly well turned out both by his valet and his groom;,
mounted on an exceedingly neat chestnut horse, and although
not in pink, looking quite the sportsman, as well as the gentle-
man. He did me the favour, and a valuable one I considered
it, of introducing me to his nephews Mr. George and Mr. Robert
Baillie, of Mellerstain, of pure fox-hunting blood, but whom I
almost fancied I had previously been acquainted with, from the
frequent mention of their names and characters, as well as that
of their father, in the celebrated letters of Nim North.

In about half an hour after we left the drain we found our-
selves by the side of a fine whin cover at East Gordon, the pro-
perty of Mr. Baillie of Mellerstain — a sure find — and in about
ten minutes a fox was on foot. I could plainly perceive there
was " no time for dallying," as old Johnson says of a man who
talks of getting a wife at forty ; and that if the "tod" was a
good one, we must have a run, for they brushed him through
this very strong cover, at quite an awful pace. " This way,"
said Williamson to me, as he put his horn to his mouth, and
gave them one blow, and I found the good-natured hint was to-
show me the pass through a deep morass, over which the
hounds were streaming away at the moment with a breast high
scent. Luckily for the field there were two of these passes, and
luckily for me I took the one towards which the pack were lean-
ing, which saved me some distressing ground. " We are in for

* This excellent paper, published twice a week, and, as I was in-
formed, established nearly half a century, is fond of a bit of sport — a
sort of Caledonian York Herald.

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 57

it," said I to Mr. Campbell, of Saddell, as he was gently passing
a rotten wooden bridge over the boundary drain of this morass,
which tottered under the weight of himself and his horse almost
to its fall ; " what a tremendous pace they are going !J; But
over what kind of ground were they going ? Over fine, sound
turf, which scarcely would bury a horse's shoes ? No — but over a
large rough moor, very sticky in some places, and very soft in
others, and greatly in favour of the hounds over the Ijorses, in
their work. " By heavens but there will be a tale to be told to-day,"
said I to myself, as I leaned towards Frank Collison, who was
stealing along upon a thorough-bred one, rather sinking the wind
at the time, and apparently in a good line. " Surely," said I to
him when I got alongside him, " Mr. Campbell can never hold
on at that pace, although he is upon Elcho Castle !" But there
were others at that time going with the hounds of whom a similar
prediction might have been made. Amongst them was Mr.
M'Dougall Grant upon one of Mr. King's horses, going quite the
ultra pace. He will go as long as he can go, thought I to my-
self, but Mr. King's condition will not stand that pace in Novem-
ber. And he did go as long as he could go ; and after the third
fall, stood still. Now as the country we went over has been
accurately stated in the Kelso Mail, by one who must have had
a proper knowledge of it, whereas I had none, it would be use-
less for me to speak of it further than to state, that, at March-
mont, which was about the fourth point our fox made, and up
to which place the pace had been desperately severe, there was
a slight check, and the first. The consequence of this was as I
had predicted ; the field became very select ; but having been
admirably piloted by Frank Collison, I was just in time here to
see the hounds cross a road in the park under the nose of the
horse of the duke's head groom, who had been going the same
line with myself.*

But here the scene changed. Previously to the check at
Marchmont the country had been in great part open— at least
there had not been much fencing, although it had been parti-
cularly severe for the horses, and they had been going upwards
of half an hour at the very top of their pace ! The next point
was Fogo Muir, which we skirted, but where the hounds were
put together in so masterly a way by Williamson, that, barring
an open earth, the game was won. Nevertheless, severe as had
been the pace, and severe as had been the country, the tale of
tales was yet to be told. The deep — the strongly enclosed vale
of Merse was below us, and this resolute and finely-winded fox
* His grace's head groom, Mathew, is almost always out on one of
the duke's horses, and an excellent horseman he is.

58 NIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR.

boldly entered it — as much as to say, " none dare follow me."
But neither hounds nor men were to be daunted. The pace
appeared to mend as the country became more severe — the usual
effect of getting upon a better description of soil— and several
of the horses that were not told out before began to cut it now.
Of falls there were many. Mr. M'Dougall Grant got three ; Sir
David Baird three, if not four ; and Lord Eglinton two, in one
of which his lordship was in an awkward situation, being unable
to extricate himself from his horse. A most amusing scene,
however, took place directly afterwards between Sir David Baird
and himself. They both came together up to a non-jumpable
wall. Sir David pulled down the top stones and told Lord
Eglinton it would do. Lord Eglinton rode at it but it was no
go. " I don't think it will do," said his lordship. " / give you
my word of honour" exclaimed Sir David (emphatically no
doubt), " it will do ;" and it did do, for his lordship got over it
at the second attempt, and Sir David followed him. Soon after
this — indeed at the very last fence before the fox was killed, Sir
David got to appearance the most awful fall that, I think, my
eyes ever beheld, and how he escaped so well as he did was
somewhat like a miracle. I was following exactly in his wake,
and saw him ride in his usual masterly way at a wall about four
feet high, when both himself and his horse disappeared on the
landing side. " He is in a coal-pit or a stone-quarry," said I to
Lord Archibald Seymour, who was alongside me ; for although
we were coming down hill upon him at the time, and had the
advantage of higher ground, the last thing we saw belonging to
him was the tip of his horse's tail. Were I to live a thousand
years I should never lose the impression this unwelcome sight
made upon me, nor forget the pleasure it gave me to behold this
gallant horseman, as well as first-rate sportsman, crawling alive
up the bank, and pulling at his horse's head. " Are you hurt,
Sir David ?" said I. "I don't know," replied he, " but I fear my
horse is." No sooner was the horse on the bank, however, than
Sir David was at work again, and got in at the death. It ap-
peared that the first whipper-in, on seeing him coming down
upon this wall, holloaed to him to avoid it, which holloa I heard,
but was equally unconscious of its meaning, the whipper-in being
on the other side of a fence at the time. There was, it appeared,
a ravine-, or dry water-course, on the landing-side of this wall, a
boundary-fence in fact, which no horse, even when quite fresh,
could have cleared.

The finish to this fine run was a glorious one. As the last
chance for his life, with the hounds close at his brush, this
capital fox got upon the roof of one of the low buildings of

NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 59

Rochester-house ; from that to the roof of the house itself, and
then fell, exhausted, into the mouth of the hounds, at the end of
exactly fifty-five minutes, at the very best pace, and with only
one trifling check.

The reporter to the Kelso Mail of this fine run, stated, that
" not more than half a dozen sportsmen, out of a large field, were
in at the death," but he is a little under the mark here. Lord
Archibald Seymour and myself counted sixteen horsemen in all,
but some of them had the appearance, from their horses and
their trousers, of having "joined cry" on the road. Of those
known to ourselves were the following : — Sir David Baird, Mr.
George Baillie of Mellerstain, Mr. Todd (his cousin), William-
son, and the first whipper-in, Frank Collison, and the duke's
head groom. Lord Eglinton was with them till about the last
half dozen fields, when, having cut his horse's leg at a wall, he
pulled up ; and that fine horseman, Mr. Robert Baillie, was
absent from a similar cause. The absence of Mr. Campbell, of
Saddell, may be accounted for in a few words. Sixteen stone
over such a country, and at such a pace, was too much even for
Elcho Castle, and I believe .Scotland owns not many better
nags, or many better men on their backs than his owner is.

I must now account for myself being one of the few out of the
many who saw the finish of this fine day's sport ; and hereon
hangs a tale. Lord Elcho with his usual kindness told me he
would get me a mount for the duke's day, and that a horse would
meet me at cover. By a mistake about a letter, however, no
horse came, and I was making myself as comfortable as such
trying circumstances would admit of, when a boy rode up to me,
on a horse in splendid condition, as well as looking all over like
what he was, and with the usual touch of the hat, said, " Please,
sir, you are to ride this horse." " Whose horse is he ?" was the
natural question. " Lord Elcho's," replied the boy. " Then,"
resumed I, "it does not please me to ride him; where is his
lordship ?" " Yonder," answered the boy, " going home."
Clapping spurs to my hack, I was in two minutes alongside him.
But remonstrance was in vain ; all that I could get from him
was, that he insisted upon my riding his horse, and that if I
would not ride him, he would instantly send him home.

My brother sportsmen will enter fully into my feelings on this
occasion. In the first place I was depriving a man passionately
fond of hunting of the chance of a good day's sport, and as it
happened I did deprive him of one just to his liking, and one in
which he would, without doubt, have signalized himself.
Secondly, I was aware it was the first time of his seeing the
duke's hounds in the field for the season — a matter of no small

60 NIMROUS NORTHERN TO UR.

interest to masters of neighbouring packs, — and thirdly, it was
possible that I might injure his horse. As, however, the value of
the offering is increased by the sacrifice that is made to it, it may
be well imagined that I availed myself of every opportunity short
of being quite thrown out, of sparing Lord Elcho's horse during
every part of this run, and a very favourable one was most fortu-
nately afforded me over the distressing moors of the first twenty
minutes, by the judicious piloting of Frank Collison. I was also
indebted to a lucky "nick" for getting up at the check in
Marchmont-park, where about two minutes breathing-time was
allowed my horse. The consequence of all this was, that when
we entered the deep vale of Merse, he was going well within
himself, and never once put a foot into a wrong place.

There are few periods in the life of a sportsman which afford
him such an overflow of real delight as that which he experiences
when in the act of dismounting from his horse, and congratu-
lating his companions, at the finish of such a glorious run as
this. Williamson and his men were absolutely in raptures, whilst
- Lord Archibald Seymour was scarcely himself. Mr. George
Baillie's countenance looked more good humoured than ever ; I
quite forgot that I lived in France ; and Sir David Baird must
have fancied himself once more at Melton. But if my pen could
become a pencil, I would sketch the group of happy faces, for
words here are weak. Among other vagaries, I had in my
pocket a small flask of eau de vie, which went from mouth to
mouth, without even the ceremony of a wipe from the coat-
sleeve as it passed, but its contents were delicious and refreshing,
for we were all more or less exhausted by the pace, and the
severity of the country towards the finish. Add to this the day
was warm, with scarcely a breath of wind.

There is always some anxiety after such a run as this, on a
warm day in November, for the fate of the horses that have
been ridden in it. I am happy to say, I heard of none falling
victims to that of this day, although I saw two with somewhat
of alarming symptoms towards the finish of it. Those that came
under my observation, afterwards, were not much the worse.
Sir David's horse was only bruised on the point of the shoulder ;
Lord Eglinton's was not cut in an acting part, and therefore soon
got to work again ; I passed Elcho Castle on my road home,
looking merely somewhat sombre ; and I was rejoiced to find
that, after his gruel at Greenlaw, Lord Elcho's horse trotted
home under me as comfortably as if he had not seen a hound.

I asked Lord Elcho the name and history of this horse. " I
call him Inglis," said his lordship, "because I bought him of
an Edinburgh dealer of that name, from whom I have had

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 61

several good horses. I do not consider him a very fast horse,
but he is a capital fencer and very stout." I can only add to this
good character of my nag, that I would not desire to ride a
pleasanter or a safer hunter ; and when carrying a man on the
wrong side of fifty, the latter qualification is no small recommen-
dation to him.

Luckily for mankind there is an evening as well as a morning
to a November day, and that although the sun has run his course
by five o'clock p.m., man has not run his until another is near at
hand. A very agreeable party at the Cottage, the pleasure of
which was much heightened by some excellent Irish anecdotes
given by Mr. Maxwell in a manner peculiar to himself, and
with excellent effect, concluded this — to me— very remarkable
day.

The following day — Wednesday, 19 — Lord Elcho's fixture was
Paxton-house, the seat of Torman Hume, Esq., who entertained
a large party of sportsmen at dinner on the preceding day, and
from whom I had received a po'lite invitation to breakfast on the
Wednesday. Paxton is one of the finest houses in Berwickshire,
containing a splendid collection of paintings ; it is beautifully
situated on the banks of the Tweed, and in the neighbourhood
of a handsome suspension bridge, which, together with a beauti-
ful reach in the river, is visible from the windows of the mansion.
The road from Berwick to Kelso passes over this bridge, which
was designed and executed by Captain Brown, R.N., and is said
to be the finest bridge of this description as yet erected in the
North, being wide enough for two carriages to travel abreast and
with plenty of room for foot passengers.

There was something bordering upon phenomenon in the state
of the atmosphere on this morning, it being nearly as hot as in
the dog days. At all events, I never witnessed anything like it
before as regarded its effects on horses — particularly on those in
the plough teams, which smoked, when they came to turn upon
the headlands, like coach horses at the end of their stage, in a
frost. The heat was also much felt by the gentlemen who rode
fast to cover ; and Lord Eglinton declared he had more taken
out of him in riding Paul Pry to Paxton, only about ten miles,
than by the fine run of the preceding day. Paul was nearly the
best cocktail racer in the North, and won several times, jockied
by his lordship. He is, however, one of the most violent horses
I ever saw.

Fortunately for ourselves, but more so for our horses, we had
not much to do on this extraordinary day. We did not find at
Paxton, so trotted away to Broom-dykes in hopes of meeting
with the fox which had given us the good hour's sport of which

62 NIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR.

I have before spoken, but he was not at home. We found a
short running, dodging gentleman, that required a better scent
than the early part of the forenoon afforded to do anything with,
in addition to the hounds being much pressed by the horsemen,
and I was pleased that it was so ; and for these reasons.— The
country we went over was excessively deep and strongly fenced ;
and the mare I rode, the property of Mr. Maxwell, appeared to
me too high in condition for a quick thing, over plough, on a hot
day. But I afterwards learned from her owner — who was absent
at Edinburgh on this day — that my fears were groundless, and
that such was the hardiness of her nature, that, upon the hard-
meat system, it was impossible to draw her finer. She was
certainly the fattest hunter, in strong work, that I ever remember
to have seen, and one of the best fencers.

As the day wore away the temperature of the air became
lower, and we had a splitter in the afternoon that would have
satisfied Lord McDonald for pace. We found our fox in the
plantations inside Lady Kirkpark, and he put his head straight
for the Hirsel, a cover of the duke's, just five miles distant, which
five miles were travelled over in somewhat about three times as
many minutes. In fact I am at a loss to name a quicker thing
for the last twenty years ; so fast, indeed, that with the exception
of the first whipper-in, who was outside the park when the fox
slipped away, no one man lived with the hounds. Sir David
Baird and Mr. M'Kenzie Grieve caught them just as they
entered the Hirsel, where, as the duke was to meet there on the
morrow, they were of course immediately stopped. The country
was sound, with large fields and a good deal of grass, and well
adapted to the ultra pace. Sir David Baird rode to Edinburgh
after this run — full fifty miles. I may here mention, what I
omitted in its proper place, that on the iyth our dinner party, at
the White Swan, consisted only of Sir David, Lord Saltoun, and
myself. Never having before spent an evening with two
Waterloo officers of note, it was natural that I should ask them
some questions, and amongst others how each of them had
escaped in the fray. Lord Saltoun, it appeared, amongst the
hundreds that fell around him, was untouched ; but Sir David
was less fortunate. He received a bullet in his mouth, which,
after carrying away a few teeth, found its way into his throat and
lodged there. Fortunately, it was extracted without leaving its
marks externally, although the force of a dozen more grains of
powder would have been fatal. " But were you never wounded?"
said I to the Hero of Hugoniont. " Knocked down once,"
replied his lordship, " by a spent ball, but not much hurt. My
sergeant, however, thinking I was killed, cried out — ' There goes

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 63

my lordy he has got it at last?" " And pray, my lord," resumed
I, " what did you say to your sergeant ?" " ' Not yet] '' was the
short, but soldier-like, reply. And this reply reminds me of a
similar one made by another Waterloo hero whom I also have
the honour of knowing, and who is likewise from the same
country. I allude to Colonel Hay of the Bays, distinguished
amongst his clan and his friends as " Jemmie Hay of the Bays,"
and a kinder-hearted man does not live. I believe bullets or
sabres have found their way into almost every part of his body,
and on one occasion, as he lay on the ground, he overheard the
comfortable tidings that he was dead or dying. "TV/ bet a
hundred of that? said he, faintly, and as it happened, he would
have won the wager, for he recovered of his wounds as by a
miracle. But some men, like some foxes, take a deal of killing,
whereas others are half frightened to death, as I believe all
medical men will vouch for. I have, indeed, a near relation who
well exemplifies this. " There is no way of getting at the ball,"
said the surgeon, " but by sawing away two of your ribs, and in-
troducing a child's hand to extract it, for the forceps will not
take hold of it ; but you may die under the operation." " Saw

away," exclaimed he ; "I won't die, by !" Neither did he.

I have had the ball in my hand, and read the surgeon's report,
which attributed the success of the operation and the cure, not
to his skill, but to the determination of this gallant Welshman*
that he would not die. His sufferings I will not attempt to
describe ; but I believe they were almost beyond human endur-
ance— having lain six weeks on his face " to begin with," as
Chomley, the Chatham coachman, would say. For my own part,
I have always been an admirer of heroes, and am not surprised
at Homer's giving them precedence of his gods ; yet give me
none of your Hannibals, who, because he had been bred in a
camp, claimed a dispensation from the polished manners of a
capital ; but commend me to such as are, in private life, possessed
of qualities that render life delightful, and which we have a right
to look for in all civilized countries in which virtue has its chief
foundation in humanity.

The title which Horace gave to his satires and epistles,
sufficiently denotes their character. He called them sermones^
— discourses, conversations, reflections made amongst friends, on
the lives and characters of men. Assuredly then I may follow
so bright an example, and having mentioned the name of Baird,
may be allowed to enter a little into the history of a family of

* Sir William Wynne— then a subaltern in the Welsh Fusileers.

64 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

which Scotland may well be proud, and of a name long known
in the sporting world as contributing to its honour and its fame.

In the first place I had heard and read of one distinguished
member of this family when I was a boy ; of his deeds of glory
in our Indian wars ; of his numerous wounds ; of his captivity
and his chains ; I need scarcely observe that I allude to the
Right Honourable General Baird, second son of the late Sir John
Baird, Bart., of Newbyth, near Haddington, uncle to the present
Sir David, and from whom he (Sir David) inherited his title and
estates. But more to my purpose is the notice of those who have
signalized themselves in the hunting-field, or on the race-course,
and I have reason to believe that our good king's dominions
never produced a keener sportsman than the late Mr. Baird —
the father to Sir David — who hunted East Lothian and Berwick-
shire for so many years of his life, and was so great a supporter
of the Scottish turf. And here I cannot do better than quote the
words of one <of his friends in a short memoir of his sporting life.
" Possessed of an ample fortune," says he, " and with a mind
enthusiastically devoted to the sports of the field, Mr. Baird may
be truly said to have passed his days in one unceasing round of
manly and pleasurable pursuits. His fox-hounds and his race-
horses— shooting in its wildest and most sportsmanlike forms —
his hawks and his game cocks — to all and each of these in their
seasons was he most ardently attached." His friend then speaks
of his race-horses, and in allusion to the St. Leger stakes of 1825,
and " the unacccountable position" of his favourite horse Cleve-
land, in that race — the said Cleveland having been pulled up at
the distance-post — expresses an opinion that the disappointment
occasioned by the losses his friend sustained, who had deeply
backed his horse, " severely wounded his feelings." No doubt
they did, but the " unaccountableness" of such things no longer
exists at Doncaster.

I must add one other tribute to the memory of this celebrated
sportsman. He was the first master of the celebrated Williamson,
who may be truly said to swear by him, both as a sportsman and
a master, to this day ; and be assured, reader, whosoever you
may be, there is no better testimony to the good qualities of a
gentleman than the good word of his servant. But I was given
to understand there was a playfulness of manner in Mr. Baird —
" Cockburn Law in the throat," for example — which won the
affections of all men ; and his enthusiasm in the field could not
have been lost upon his huntsman. He was a master of fox-
hounds for nearly sixty years, and died at an advanced age, most
universally regretted in Scotland.

I feel my blood circulate more freely through my veins when

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. %

I can honestly extol the virtues as well as the prowess of a sports-
man. Nulli secundus is the son and representative of this gentle-
man,— the present Sir David Baird.

Of his character as a country gentleman and a useful member of
society, the piece of plate lately presented to him, and purchased
by the subscription of seven thousand freeholders of the county
of Haddington, is the best testimonial ; as a soldier, his deeds
and his wounds are his best panegyric ; and it remains for me
only to allude to him as a sportsman and a companion. In the
first-named character, he has long held a high station, not only
as a rider not to be beaten over a country by any man, but as a.
superior judge of what hounds are doing ; and in every country
in which he has followed them, has left behind him the reputatioa
of combining the best properties of the horseman and the sports-
man. In proof of this, he was last year solicited to hunt the
Pytchly country (Northamptonshire), but preferred a lease of
Melton Lodge, near Melton, for three years, where he took up his
residence during the latter part of last season. This is one of the
most complete sporting boxes perhaps in England, which may be
accounted for by the fact of its having been, for several years, the
residence of the late lamented Earl of Plymouth — that stanch
supporter of the Quorn Hunt. If my recollection does .not fail
me, there are stalls and boxes for nearly thirty horses.

Sir David Baird has been a frequent occasional resident ia
Leicestershire, and, as well as upon other occasions, his name
appears in print, in Mr. Campbell's song — to which I have before
alluded — descriptive of a fine run in that county, in which he is
represented as sailing along " in his pride of place" (as Shake-
speare says of the falcon), on his famous horse Jemmy Hope.
And there is on record an excellent anecdote of this said Jemmy
Hope, and this said Sir David Baird. He sold the horse to a
gentleman without selling the seat of the rider — a very common
case — and the following was the result : — Sir David, having the
lead at the time, was floored on his back in a ditch, and, seeing
Jemmy Hope leap over him, with nothing on his back but his
saddle, and go straight to the hounds, coolly exclaimed, " There
he goes, he would always be with them if they would let him"

As a companion Sir David has been well drilled ; for, as has
been truly said,

"To give a young man a good education,
The army's the very best school in the nation ;"

and the circle in which he has since moved always ensures the
finish.

5

66 NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

Thursday, the 2oth. — Met the Duke of Buccleuch's hounds at
the Hirsel. A very large field — his Grace himself among the
crowd, to whom I had the honour of making my bow. We made
a bad start, mobbing and killing a fox in a large whin cover.
Found again, the hounds getting well away with him, and, cross-
ing the road just under my horse's nose. I got a good start on one
of King's horses. Luckily, however, for me we checked at the
end of six fields, for it was " bellows to mend" with my nag. But
of all the deep countries I ever rode across, none ever came up
to this. In fact it was perfectly rotten, and two or three of us
were nearly stuck fast in the middle of a loose gravelly turnip
field. The ditches, too, were after the order of double-bodied
graves, and very inviting to a blown horse. Mr. M'Kenzie Grieve,
indeed, contrived to get two falls in these six fields ; but when he
passed by me at the rate of twenty miles in the hour, in very deep
ground, I could not avoid exclaiming to him—" ;Tis the pace
that kills."

Our fox, it appeared, had turned short back into the cover,
where we soon got upon terms with him again ; and, taking fresh
ground, was well hunted for about an hour, saving himself by
getting into a drain. But he had a very narrow squeak for his
life, by an accident which I had never before witnessed to a fox.
He got entangled in a sheep-net in the middle of a large field,
•which it is possible he never saw until he felt it. Those sheep-
nets are awkward things in a hunting country. In the course of
the Broom-dykes run with Lord Elcho I was all but caught in one
myself, it being placed so near to the headland that Keepsake
•with difficulty collected himself so as to avoid it, after having
leaped into the field. It appeared to me to be quite strong enough
to have turned him over on his back.

It was the small pack this day, which did their work well,
though for want of a holding scent, the pace, was not good
throughout. This, however, enabled me to scramble after them
about three parts of the way, when, wishing to avoid being
smothered, and seeing Mr. Cosser on his best horse take to the
turnpike road, I gladly followed his example, and was, with him-
self, lost — the hounds turning from us every yard they went.
But I lost something else this day, which did not present itself
to me again during my visit to Scotland. This was, an oppor-
tunity of seeing how a Scotch yeoman lived. As Mr. Cosser and
myself were endeavouring to fall in with the hounds again, we
were joined by a wealthy farmer who lived hard by, and when
we had given up the pursuit I was thus addressed by him ; —
" Mr. Cosser is coming to my house to take some dinner with me ;
and it will be on the table in half an hour. Will you do me the

N1M ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 67

favour to accompany him ?" All I had to do, was to acknowledge
with thanks, the proffered kindness, and to ride on, as I was
engaged ; but there is no class of persons in whose habits,
pursuits, and welfare, I feel more interest in than in those of the
British yeoman — a character truly said to be " known in no other
land," and 'without whom fox-hunting 'would be known in no
land.

The Hirsel is the property of the Earl of Home, whom we saw
in the cover with his gun, in the use of which I understand he
excels. His costume was certainly the costume of the sports-
man, and, judging from that, and the sort of dog he had with
him, of the working sportsman, and not one of your battue
gentry, who have no claim to that honourable distinction, but
who only shoot for fame and name. The Hirsel is renowned in
history, being the ground on which the Scottish army camped on
crossing the Tweed, in the time of the first Charles, the daring,
but treacherous M on trose— afterwards Lord Graham — being the
first to plunge into the stream, and to set his foot upon the
English border.

My engagement this day was to dinner at Dunse-castle, which
alone implies the passing of a pleasant evening. Mr. Hay him-
self was in great force, and we were delighted, ladies and all, by
some songs Mr. Campbell sang for us in the drawing-room, one
of which was — " We have seen a run together" — at my request.
•"All the sounds that nature utters," says Cooper, the American
novelist, " are agreeable, from the gnat's fine treble to the bass
of the humble-bec,'; but nothing equals the melody of the human
voice. To my ear, at least, the music of "the cornet, the
trumpet, the sackbut, the psaltery, and the harp," is but " har-
monious discord" to it ; and next to first-rate colloquial powers,
the being able and willing to sing well is the most pleasing
accomplishment in our nature.

Promises have been compared to pie crusts, and vows, I fear,
are equally brittle. I had made a vow to myself not to be again
found in the same "yellow post-chaise" with Mr. Campbell— at
all events, after dinner ; yet such was my situation this evening.
However, instead of having no coachman, as before, to handle
the same spicy pair of nags, we had two, as Sir David Baird
jumped into the dickey box, and laid hold of them. "You'll no
hit that bay horse, Sir David," cried Sawney, as the word " all
right" was sung out, when, as might be expected, Sir David
instantly gave him a flanker. Notwithstanding this, and a very
dark night, we arrived safe and sound at Dunse ; and although,
" Song on song had deceived the night/' not at a very late
Jhour.

5-2

68 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

Friday, 2ist. — Lord Elcho's fixture was Dunse-castle,to which
place I walked in the morning to breakfast, Mr. Hay having
offered me a mount. Lord Elcho's Prince Le Boo, however —
said to have been the best hunter in Scotland, but now rather
worse for wear — was waiting for me at the cover, which of course
was Dunse-wood, a sort of nursery of foxes. We ran one very
hard indeed, with a burning scent, for at least an hour and a
half, but all the time in cover ; when, unfortunately, owing to a
main earth not having been properly stopped, he scratched his
way into it and saved himself. No hounds ever deserved a fox
better than these hounds deserved this ; and the only consolation
attending his getting to ground was, in the fact of his being a
capital bit of vermin to have stood such a dressing as he got in
cover, on rather a close day in November. But pardon me —
there was one other consolation. There were several juvenile
sportsmen and sportswomen in the cover — some on foot and
some on horseback — to whom this hour and half cover hunting
afforded many opportunities not only of viewing the tod> but of
seeing how the thing was done ; and it was likewise a good day
for hearing the " gallant chiding" of the pack.

We found a second fox in a cover called " the Doctor's-cover,"
which soon met his death, owing to the impatience of one of the
field to get a start, by which he turned him into the hounds'
mouth. I was rather surprised at the gentleman in question
doing so, because he has followed hounds a great deal, and has
the reputation of being a sportsman ; but his conduct reminded
me of a description Mr. Meynell gave of a similar start with his
hounds from a favourite cover in Leicestershire. " First;' said
he, " came the fox ; next, Cecil Forester ; and then^ my hounds !"
Lord Elcho bore the disappointment like a Christian, a term
which, on all occasions, we may be allowed to synonymise with
gentleman. We found again, and, after a smart scurry over the
country, whipped off at dark in Dunse-wood.

This was my last day with Lord Elcho's hounds, and for this
reason : — I had not a horse to ride without trespassing on the
stables of my friends and found I had no chance of getting one
from King, as the brute he sent me in exchange for another
brute which I sent back to him was equal to about nine stone,
on the road, and a cripple — in fact, with anchylosed joints.
What rendered this circumstance more mortifying was, that, on
the very day I left Dunse, which was on the morrow of the last
of which I have spoken, I missed a run which his lordship had
from Press, of an hour and twenty minutes, without what could
be called a check. Before I take my final leave of Dunse, how-
ever, I shall offer a few remarks upon Berwickshire as a hunting-

NIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR. 69

country, as well as upon the hounds that are now hunting it —
confined, of course, to my short experience of each.

It is difficult to speak in relation to hunting, of a county so
varied on its surface as Berwickshire is, which may be divided
into three separate descriptions of country, taking that word in
the sense accepted by the fox-hunter. But as far as my know-
ledge of it extends, it bears a strong resemblance to Worcester-
shire, and particularly so as regards the varieties of it. For ex-
ample : — The country in the Lammermuir district may be com-
pared to that in the neighbourhood of the Malvern or Bredon
hills, very difficult of ascent, but chiefly old turf, in parts clothed
with heath, and therefore favourable to scent. Now Cockburn
Law, of which I had a bit of a taste the first day I hunted in
Berwickshire, is nine hundred feet above the level of the sea, and
there are likewise a few more chokers in its neighbourhood.
Then again, farther on, you have a surface very similar to the
Abberley Hills, in Worcestershire, Lord Foley's side of the
county, chequered with hill and dale, — what may be called wav-
ing unequal ground, but still rideable after hounds, though
strongly fenced and sticky. Lastly, the Merse, a low and ex-
tremely fertile district, running down to the Tweed and on to-
wards Roxburghshire, deep, and strongly enclosed with a good
deal of plough, in conjunction with its high state of cultivation,
has a close resemblance to the vale of Evesham, in Worcester-
shire,— called the garden of England— and (as the Merse is of
Berwickshire) the best part of Worcestershire for hounds* but
very severe for horses. Both countries, however, at certain sea-
sons of the year are punishers to ride over. But taking Berwick-
shire upon the whole, although I cannot call it the sportsman's
Vale of Cashmere, as I called Leicestershire, or even the Mont-
pellier of Scotch hunting countries, it struck me, taking it all
in all, as being the best country for hounds I saw in Scotland.

It appears Berwickshire has been hunted beyond the memory
of man. In the year 1740, for example, by Mr. Lambsdain, of
Blanerne, and coming nearer to present times, and jointly with
Roxburghshire, by the late Mr. Baird, father to Sir David
Baird, and Mr. Baillie, of Mellerstain, of whom I have already
spoken, each of whom hunted it for many years — the former

* "The Merse is remarkable," says the author of the Picture of Scat-
land, "as being the largest piece of level ground in this mountain king-
dom. It is twenty miles long, and ten broad. The whole is so fertile,
-so well enclosed, and so beautiful, that, seen from any of the very slight
eminences into which it here and there swells, it looks like a vast garden,
or rather perhaps like what the French call une ferine ornt'e"

70 NIMROHS NORTHERN TOUR.

gentleman, in fact, till his death, when the Duke of Buccleuch
and Mr. Ramsay,* each had part of it in addition to their home
countries.

In 1833, Lord Elcho took Berwickshire, and on Mr. Ramsay
resigning East Lothian, the duke gave that county also up to
his lordship, who has his kennel at Amisfield, near Haddington, at
which place, as I have already stated, his residence" is. The ex-
act boundaries of these countries I am not able to fix ; and as I
was given to understand there had been some little difference of
opinion respecting them, I avail myself of the truism, that " the
least said is soonest mended."

The following are the precise periods of Berwickshire being
hunted by Lord Elcho, as likewise of East Lothian. The hounds
commence the season with cub-hunting in the former county,
and then go back to East Lothian. On the first of November
they return to Dunse, and hunt Berwickshire to the 2Oth of De-
cember, when they go to their home kennel, and hunt East Lo-
thian to the first of February, when they return once more to
Dunse. On the 3oth of March they quit the Dunse kennel for
the home one, and finish the season in East Lothian.

Of Lord Elcho's hounds it would be unnecessary for me to give
an opinion, were it not for the wish to have it recorded in your
pages, for it is merely the echo of that which passes current from
one end of Scotland to the other ; namely, that, making only a
reasonable allowance for the short time they had been together,
they more than answered every sportsman's expectations of them;
and this is not saying all that has been said in favour of them.
Nevertheless, candour, based on experience, and a wish to avoid
the imputation of bestowing praise beyond desert, calls upon me
to exclaim — " Surely his lordship must have been highly fav-
oured in his purchase of drafts, as it is well known he com-
menced with a pinch out of every man's box !" I can with truth
assert, that no pack need be steadier than this pack was every
day I was out with them, and I more than once asked myself
the question: — For what reason could some individual hounds
be drafted? as they appeared to me to unite all the qualities we
require in hounds ! " Wait five years," said a brother sports-
man to me one day, as I was offering a remark somewhat to this
effect. Verbum sat.

But as I have before observed, the test of hounds is sport. I
am able then to report the proceedings of this young pack last
season in the field, which I derived from a source on which I can
rely. Previously to my visit to Dunse, they had had what is

* Mr. Ramsay hunted the Dunse country two months in the year.

NIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR. 73:

called " a capital October," killing several old foxes, after good
runs. During my visit, they had quite average sport, with one
fine run. Up to January the 1st they had killed twenty-four
brace of foxes, including one fox which showed as splendid a,
run as the annals of hunting can produce — from point to point,
allowed to be twenty miles in two hours, and never fairly off the
scent ; with blood at the finish. In sixteen days' hunting, they
killed twenty-two foxes, and ran three to ground ; and some time
before the season ended, they had tasted sixty-seven !

The present being the first season of Lord Elcho entering any
young hounds of his own breeding, will be one of more than
common interest to himself, and of anticipation to his friends,
To himself, as the first trial of his own blood, as well as of his
success on the election of it ; to his friends as a test of his talent
in the kennel, as well as judgment in the field. I understood he
had been rattling the covers of Dunse, Press, Marchmont, &c,
previous to the beginning of the season, when there was a great
show of foxes, but cub-hunting doings should never be recorded
on paper.

As a huntsman in the field my opinion of Lord Elcho being
already recorded, I would not touch on the subject again were it
not to enforce one point. All persons who have followed fox-
hounds over various parts of Great Britain, have been aware of
the advantages and disadvantages of the master of the pack and
his huntsman standing well or ill with the yeomen and farmers
of their country. In a highly-cultivated one, as Berwickshire is,
this is a point of the greatest moment as regards the preservation
of foxes, and I would holdout Lord Elcho as a pattern here.
Not only is he desirous that as little mischief as is possible
should be done by his field, but his kind and affable conduct to-
wards all classes of persons ensures him that regard which in-
duces such as may sustain some damage, to make light of it,
whilst it fills his country with foxes.

On Saturday, the 22nd of November, I took my leave of
Dunse — most unwillingly I admit ; but it being necessary to
change the scene, and progress in my Tour, I found myself
about mid-day comfortably seated in a very easy gig, hired for
the purpose of conveying me to Kelso, distant about seventeen
miles ; and from whence the Duke of Buccleuch's hounds were
to be reached four times in the course of the following week, and
Major St. Paul's once. A ludicrous scene occurred at starting.
Unconscious of the splendid manner in which I was to be
mounted during my visit to Kelso, I made inquiry from the land-
lord of the Black Bull at Dunse, as to whether there was such a
thing as a hunter to be hired in Kelso, in case I should not be

J2 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

able to take the field at all on the Edinburgh horses, one of
which was already lame. " Oh yes/' replied the landlord ;
^ there is a Mr. Dickinson, a Yorkshireman I believe, who has
the best stables in Kelso, where the gentlemen's hunters all
stand ; he is a very good man, and will be sure to find you a
liorse." u Just the person I want/' continued I ; " and a York-
shireman too ! Now have the kindness to sit down and write a
note to introduce me to him, — that is, just tell him I am a bit of
a sportsman, and that you think I may be trusted with a horse."
The request was instantly complied with. Boniface took pen in
liand on the spot, and I am sure, reader, you will smile when
you peruse his laconic epistle, about as much to the purpose, you
will say, as if he had been recommending me to a dancing
master. To a master of hounds, at all events, it would have
ISeen a more appropriate passport.

"Dunse, November 22nd, 1834.
& DEAR SIR,

" Mr. A has been stopping three weeks at my house.

You will find him a very pleasing gentleman.

" Yours truly,
" To Mr. Dickinson, Kelso."

Now what Mr. Dickinson found me I am unable to say, but I
found him one of the civilest creatures ever lapped in a human
skin, and my horses were excellently accommodated in his
stables at one guinea each per week, but of his hunters — had he
possessed any — 1 stood not in need, as the sequel of this story
will show.

I am quite sure I never sat beside a coachman in my life
without entering into conversation with him, neither did I see
any reason why I should travel in silence with the post-boy who
drove me this day to Kelso — an oldish " boy" by the way, — for
I have found, on my journey through life, that golden opinions
are to be gathered from all classes of human beings — old women
in particular. This knight of the whip, however, was more than
usually communicative — pointing out to me unasked, many in-
teresting points of the country through which we passed, and
amongst others, several that we had traversed in our celebrated
ijfty-five minutes with the duke's hounds ; as also the house of
Rowchester, at the door of which that fine run was concluded.
w There is Thomson's monument," said he, soon after we entered
Roxburghshire, and were only a few miles from Kelso ; " I sup-
ose, sir, you ken who he was ?" I nodded assent ; and if my
How-traveller had known how highly I prize the memory of this

NIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR. 73

modern Theocritus, lie might have spared himself the trouble of
asking me the question.

I have often considered myself fortunate in meeting with
characters on my Tours — that is to say, with persons who step a
little out of the path which their fate has allotted to them to pursue ;
and I soon found out that I had stumbled upon one in the person
of Peter, the head waiter at the Cross Keys in Kelso, a house of
great repute on the north road. But where is the situation, in
the humbler walks of life, in which there is a wider field for the
formation of character and the exercise of it afterwards than
that of a waiter at a large inn, upon a much frequented road?
And where is the man in this part of Scotland who does not ken
the said Peter ? For my own part, I could not find any such
ignoramus. My own acquaintance with him, however, began as
follows : —

There is nothing more striking than the look of reception — if
I may be allowed such a term — a man experiences at the moment
of his approaching the door of a large inn. In fact, from Boni-
face himself to Bill the boots, a pretty exact estimate is instantly
made of his intrinsic value, and the "look of reception7' is in
exact accordance with said estimate. Now my appearance was
of a somewhat dubious nature. No doubt, but at first I might
have been taken for what is commonly called a coaching bag-
man,— by which is implied, a commercial gentleman who travels
by coaches instead of by his own " horse and chaise," but who
hires a horse and chaise when there is no coach from one town
to another, as was the case here on this day. Under such cir-
cumstances, then, what more could I expect from Peter, on
alighting from the gig, than what I got ? which was exactly this :
" Show the gentleman into No. 2, and stir the fire f when Peter
and his napkin appeared to vanish into air.

But a waiter at an inn of this sort makes a near approach to
perpetual motion, at all events to a kind of mortal ubiquity; and
something requiring Peter's re-appearance at the door, he saw
amongst my traps in the gig, what induced him to believe he
was mistaken as to the gentleman in No. 2, and he not only saw
a hunting whip and some boot-trees, but he also heard some-
thing that settled the point at once. " The gentleman has been
stopping at our house" said the post-boy, " and he is come here
to hunt with the duke."

This short, but pithy, sentence went to the very soul of Peter.
In the twinkling of an eye he was in No. 2— stirred the fire,
"hoped I left my lord, and all the gentlemen, well at Dunse,"
"of course I should like a fire in my bedroom?" "what time
should I like to dine ?" " would order a fire in the large hunt

74 NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

room ;" " would my horses be at Kelso to-night ?" £c., £c., &c.
But now comes the climax. " Give this note to the Dunse post-
boy," said I, "and tell him it is for Mr. Campbell of Glen-
saddell." " Oh, sir," exclaimed Peter, " I wish I had known you
had been writing to Mr. Campbell of Glen-saddell, perhaps, sir,
you would have been so good to have told him I am quite all
(ill) at all the gentlemen forsaking me ; I am sure I shan't live
two years. I got more in one six weeks, sir, when my lord"
(Elcho) "and the gentlemen was here, than I do all the year round
besides. Do, sir, just look at our hunt room ; there, sir, you
see that table" (we adjourned to the room in which stood a hand-
some and wide dinner table). " The very last time the gentlemen
dined in. this room, Lord John Scott jumped clean over that table
at four o'clock in the morning, with all the bottles and glasses,
punch bowls and jugs on it, and never touched one of them."
" Lucky for his lordship," said I, " that he cleared his fence so
well ; I all but lost my right arm by falling upon a glass bottle ;,
but don't put my dinner in this big room, for it feels devilish
cold." Exit Peter, with a bow.

About six o'clock I went to my chamber to dress, and found
every comfort in it to be expected at an inn. A tap at the door,
however, soon announced the arrival of Peter, who, advancing,
towards me in the most respectful manner, and with a card in
his hand, thus addressed me : — " Beg pardon, sir" (giving me the
card) ; "an invitation to dinner , Mr. Burn Callander of Preston-
hall, near Edinburgh ; a "very excellent gentleman. He and his
lady have apartments in the house — a fine stud of hunters at
Dickinson's stables — hunts every day with the duke. Dinner
ordered exactly at seven ; hopes to have the pleasure of your
company." Now this was very pleasing intelligence to myself,
and nothing out of Peter's way, as, but for it, I was booked for
the Cock and Gridiron in the village of St. Boswell's — close to
the kennel — the very next morning, intending only to have one
day's experience of Peter and his inn, both of which are ex-
cellent in their way.* To the hospitality of Mr. Callander then,
whose acquaintance I had the pleasure of making some years
back when at Brighton, was I indebted for most agreeable even-
ings during my residence at Kelso, as he would not hear of my
dining by myself, so long as he was sojourning in the house \
and, as insisted upon by Peter, dinner was each day served in
the hunt room. It is a handsome room, comfortably furnished,

* " Go to the Cock and Gridiron at St. Bos well's," said Lord Kin-
tore in one of his letters. " It will suit your pocket better than Kelso,.
Barclay and myself once lived there for a fortnight."

NIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR. 75

having its walls adorned with some good pictures, and displaying
other ornaments tastefully blended with the various insignia of
the chase.

Even supposing the character of my Tour to have been strictly
sporting, I could not omit a short description of the town of
Kelso and its immediate neighbourhood, each of which is full of
interest to those who occasionally look back upon past times.
The town itself indeed, is one of the prettiest in Scotland — at
all events of those towns I saw ; and the ruins of the abbey —
the transept and towers of which are still complete, at the end
of nearly a thousand years* — exhibit as beautiful a specimen of
Saxon architecture as is to be seen anywhere. Old Camden's
notice of this abbey, by- the-by, is not much amiss. "Not far
off Hume Castle," says he, " lieth Kelso, formerly famous for a
monastery — founded by King David — the first among thirteen
more, for the propagation of God's glory, but to the great im-
pairing of the crown lands" But it was with the situation of
Kelso that I was most gratified. It stands in a sort of vale of
Tempe, abounding in everything that pleases the eye of taste ;
and upon the classic banks of the Tweed and Teviot, who join
their waters as they flow through it, are to be seen noble spe-
cimens both of nature and of art. The variety of landscape in
fact appears to have no bounds when viewed and appreciated in
its merely pastoral character ; but when associated with the
deeds of "auld lang syne," and contrasted with its present
peaceable appearance, the soul of that man must be dead indeed
who could stand quite unmoved upon Kelso-bridge, on his first
visit to this country. At one glance of his eye he could see a
palace in which a duke lives ; with another, a ruin before which
a monarch died. He would see all that remains of by far the
strongest of the border fortresses, and observe the ravages the
hand of time has made, for he might almost exclaim, " Periere
ruinae." Of course I am alluding to the castle of Roxburgh on
the Duke of Roxburgh's domain; and his recollections of his-
tory would furnish him with the names and characters of its
illustrious inhabitants in olden times. Kings were born, mar-
riages were celebrated, birthdays were kept within its massive
walls, and though last, not least, the crown of Scotland was here
tendered to the crown of England. Here then is the transition
of all human greatness ; for in the words of Dyer, that very
celebrated describer of a ruin —

" 'Tis now the raven's bleak abode ;
;Tis now the apartment of the toad ;

* Founded 1128.

76 NIMROHS NORTHERN TOUR.

And there the fox securely feeds ;
And there the poisonous adder breeds,
Concealed in ruins, moss, and weeds,
While, ever and anon, there falls
Huge heaps of hoary moulder'd walls.
Yet Time has seen, which lifts the low,
And level lays the lofty brow —
Has seen the broken pile complete,
Big with the vanity of state ;
But transient is the smile of fate !
A little rule, a little sway,
A sunbeam in a winter's day,
Is all the proud and mighty have
Between the cradle and the grave."

But Kelso is visited by sportsmen for other purposes than the
chase. The fishing in the Tweed — that Rex fluviorum of this
country, as Virgil calls the Eridanus of another— seduces numbers
to its banks, not only from the metropolis of Scotland, but also
from all parts of England, although it appears from a scientific
article on the " gentle art," in your number for May last, the
Tweed is now not what the Tweed was, in the angler's eyes, and
it appears only to stand third on the list in its own country, and
inferior to many rivers in Ireland, in its stock of fish, which is
accounted for by the increase of weirs and nets at its mouth, for
the supply of the London market. But it is a noble river, and
entitled to its share of all the reasonable* praises which have
been so lavishly bestowed upon others.

I should imagine most of your readers have perused that
beautiful little work upon angling, by the late Sir Humphrey
Davy, and appropriately called Salmonia. Such, however, as
have not, will be struck with the following elegant and philoso-
phical comparison of a full and clear river : — " Pliny has," says
he, p. 175, "as well as I recollect, compared a river to human
life. I have never read the passage in his works, but I have
been a hundred times struck with the analogy, particularly
amidst mountain scenery. The river, small and clear in its
origin, gushes forth from rocks, falls into deep glens, and wantons
and meanders through a wild and picturesque country, nourish-
ing only the uncultivated tree or flower by its dew or spray. In
this, its state of infancy and youth, it may be compared to the

* The adoration paid to rivers had no bounds. The Eridanus was
said to have flowed through Heaven and bathed the gods.— SeeDenhaitfs
Cooper's Hill.

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 77

human mind in which fancy and strength of imagination are
predominant— it is more beautiful than useful. When the dif-
ferent rills or torrents join, and descend into the plain, it becomes
slow and stately in its motions ; it is applied to move machinery,
to irrigate meadows, and to bear upon its bosom the stately
barge ; — in this mature state, it is deep, strong, and useful. As
it flows on towards the sea, it loses its force and its motion, and
at last, as it were, becomes lost and mingled with the mighty
abyss of waters."

One might pursue the metaphor still further, and say, that in
its origin — its thundering and foam, when it carries down clay
from the bank, and becomes impure, it resembles the youthful
mind, affected by dangerous passions. And the influence of a
lake, in calming and clearing the turbid water, may be compared
to the effect of reason in more mature life, when the calm, deep,
cool, and unimpassioned mind is freed from its fever, its troubles,
bubbles, noise, and foam. And above all, the sources of a river
— which may be considered as belonging to the atmosphere —
and its termination in the ocean, may be regarded as imaging
the divine origin of the human mind, and its being ultimately
returned to, and lost in, the infinite and eternal intelligence from
whence it originally sprung.

Sunday, 23rd. — That a bad excuse is better than none, is a
truism which cannot be doubted, inasmuch as it is, at all events,
an acknowledgment of a fault. I must then offer two apologies
for going to my work on the Sabbath — first, not being of the
Kirk ; next, by an arrangement made between the three neigh-
bouring packs to meet on certain days, hounds were to be
reached from Dunse and Kelso on every day in the week, and
therefore, as my route was marked out for me, this was the only
day on which it appeared probable that I could ride over to St.
Bos well's, to inspect the Duke of Buccleuch's hunting establish-
ment—a treat I had not the " moral courage," as Dan O'Connell
says, to resist. u Peter," said I to him, as I was going to bed on
Saturday night, " order me a hack in the morning to take me to
St. Boswell's." " Never fear," replied Peter ; " a hack shall be
at your stables for you, and a good one too."

Oaths, they say, are but words — words but wind ; and that
such they proved, here, will be illustrated by the following
dialogue on the morrow.

NintrodCm a hurry). " Now, Mr. Dickinson,— the hack."

Mr. Dickinson. " The hack, sir !;;

Nim. " Yes, the hack Peter ordered for me, last night."

Mr. D. " Peter ordered no hack."

Nim. " Then d— n Peter."

78 NIMROnS NORTHERN TOUR.

Mr. D. " Well, sir, p'raps Peter had a wee drap to much."

Nim. " But what shall I do ? I want to get to St. BoswelPs
before the hounds are fed, and it is now ten o'clock, and to-
morrow a hunting day."

• Mr. D. " Well here's the Mi-nis-ter's mare. He'll no want her
to-day, and she's getting muckle fat. She'll carry you quite to
your leeking."

It is scarcely necessary then to observe, that in little more than
an hour from this time, the Minister's mare and Nimrod were at
St. BoswelPs, about nine miles from Kelso, the distance being
impressed upon my memory by the fact of my having, for the
first time in my life, paid exactly a penny a mile tollage. The
scenery by the road side, however, is more than worth the
money.

I confess I anticipated, beyond a sight of the duke's establish-
ment, a great treat in this visit to St. BoswelPs. In the first
place, a clever huntsman has ever been an object of my early
admiration ; secondly, knowledge, like honey, being picked up a
bit here and a bit there, I was very anxious to have an hour or
two's conversation with the very celebrated Williamson, and, as
the poet says,

c From his lips

Glean Science."

More than this ; although, strictly speaking, Nimrod should
be a reporter of actions rather than a painter of characters, yet
those of public men being public property— " publica materies,"
as Horace calls them, and few are more often discussed than a
huntsman's — I wished to have somewhat of a clearer insight into
his, than the mere operations in the field would afford me, being
persuaded, from all I had heard, that it was by no means an
every-day one.

I was much pleased with the site* and business-like appear-
ance of the St. BoswelPs kennel and stables, all of which, with
the houses of the huntsman and the head groom, present one
uniform front, but of course divided into two separate court-
yards, with large folding gates to each. Nor was I less satisfied
with the internal arrangements, which every one who sees them
must admit are formed by a master hand, and I have reason to
believe the directing hand was that of Williamson himself. But
what most surprised me was the moderate charge at which these
premises had been erected — namely not quite ^1500, which may

* At the head of a small common, intersected with roads.

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 79

also be attributed to the well-known good eye to economy, as
well as to a country or a fox, which said Williamson is known to
possess. In the kennel are ample accommodations for a four or
five days in the week pack, which is the best estimate I can
make of its size, with my pen ; and between the stables of the
duke's horses and those of the servants, which form two distinct
establishments, are at least forty stalls. In fact I counted nine-
teen horses in what are called his Grace's stables, and the
number of those necessary for servants for four days a week, may
very easily be calculated. There is a room in the head groom's
•house fitted up for the use of the duke, in which a suit of clothes
is always kept, well aired, on hunting days ; and, in case of being
benighted, there is a bed in which a more fastidious duke than
his Grace of Buccleuch might find himself quite at his ease, after
a good day's sport.

There was a stillness about the kennel as I approached it which
convinced me that there were no hounds there ; and none there
proved to be. " I am too late," said I to myself; "they are fed,
and gone out for their walk — how unlucky is this!" It, how-
ever, proved otherwise ; they were not fed, but were merely gone
for a walk down frhe road, with their huntsman and whippers-in
on foot, by way of stretching legs, as the term is, for part of the
pack had had rather a hard day's work on the yesterday. Now
some of my readers — the perfectly uninitiated ones of course —
may be at a loss for a reason why hounds should be seen by an
amateur previously to, and not after, their being fed, but if they
will apply to John Walker, huntsman to the Fife, he will supply
that reason in a very few words. A certain general officer went
into his kennel, just after his pack had been fed, and made the
following sage remark upon them. " Bless my heart," said he
" what a number of these hounds are with pup !" Now, doubt-
less, had John Walker been talking to the general on the
difficult art of fortification, on the subject of royal bastions, or
great guns, he might have made an equally sage observation ;
but the fact is, the line of beauty in a hard-feeding hound, when
just flogged away from the trough, is sadly damaged to the
eye.

Having deposited the Minister's mare at the Cock and Grid-
iron, which is within a hundred yards of the kennel, with orders
that she should be well taken care of and fed ; and, furthermore,
wishing to avoid the imputation of having ridden the Minister's
mare with hounds on the Sabbath, I walked in the direction which
the feeder informed me Williamson and his pack had taken, and,
in the course of a mile, I met them, in a turn of the road. The
sight to myself was a cheering one. Indeed, fifty couples of

£o MMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR.

hounds, in the highest possible condition, joined with the re-
miniscence of what I had already seen with them, as well as the
anticipation of at least a week's diversion in future, was an object
very likely to be so. But my reception by the pack was by no
means a gratifying one. Whether or not, like Homer's dogs,*
their power of instinct enabled them to determine the nature of
the spirit that was come amongst them, I am unable to say ; but
this much I know,— the bristles of several stood erect, as they
surrounded me on the road ; and but for Williamson's " Have a
care, Lucy," and a smack of his whip, a fine lemon-pied bitch
of that name would certainly have had a taste of my haunch, if
nothing more. I considered this rather a rare occurrence ; for
although fox-hounds should not be approached by strangers,
without caution, in their kennel, they are, generally speaking, the
most inoffensive animals of their entire species when out of it —
that is to say, to man.

On our arrival at the kennel, the whole pack were twice walked
through the wash-pool in the yard, and after allowing a certain
time for them to lick themselves dry, they were drawn by
Williamson to the troughs and fed — and having said by whom
fed, I need not add in a very workmanlike manner. This wash-
pool is now becoming pretty general in kennels, and an excellent
expedient I take it to be. By preventing hounds carrying wet
dirt and dry mud with them into their beds, it conduces greatly
to cleanliness, and is considered a preservative from what is
called kennel-lameness. At all events, there was not in this ken-
nel, on the day on which I visited it, one single instance of that
destructive disease. The benefit to the feet is self-evident, as the
tongue is the dog's doctor for all slight excoriations, to which
their feet are so liable, in their work.

A walk through the St. Boswell's stables was to me a high treat,
particularly so as I was given to understand that in them the
system I have recommended for treating hunters in the summer
is very generally followed.t Neither is the system of clipping —
which I have always condemned, and which I shall never cease
to condemn,jas a mere cheat to the eye, as a violent outrage!

* Odyssey — Lib. xv.

f A very sporting yeoman in the neighbourhood, by the name of
Brown, had, a short time before my visit to St. Boswell's, made a pre-
sent to Hugh Burn, the first whipper-in, of the book called " Nimrod on
the Condition of Hunters."

J We do not go the length of our friend Nimrod in condemnation of
clipping. We do not see that it is any greater outrage on nature than
the general system of equine domestication. However, we readily give
insertion to his sentiments, with this salvo for ourselves. — Editor
N, S. M.

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. Si

on nature, and a substitute for real condition, adopted, ex-
cept in cases of extreme necessity, of which there were only
two in a stud of this magnitude. These were in horses
very irritable when dressed, which, in my opinion, is the best
reason for having recourse to the operation of clipping, inasmuch
as after a good run in a dirty country, such horses may be said
to be doing nearly a second day's work after they return to their
stalls. In the account I have written — the first part of which
has been published in the New Sporting Magazine — of all the
hunters I have myself possessed, will be found the mention of
one which could not be dressed at all on the evening of the day
he had been ridden with hounds, and consequently had clipping
then been in fashion, he would without doubt have been bene-
fited by it.

The first stable I walked through was that which contained the
servants' horses, sixteen in number, amongst which I espied
" the old Black Horse,7' as he is called, that carried Williamson
so splendidly throughout the celebrated fifty-five minutes from
East Gordon-gorse, of which I have already given an account.
He is a low, narrow, but long:, deep, and wiry-looking animal,
showing a deal of blood, although of rather mean appearance ;
and, as I was told, was purchased, like many of Williamson's
horses, for a very inconsiderable sum. He appeared, however,
quite ready for another day, and, like the rest of the stud, in very
excellent condition. To enumerate them all would by no means
be desirable, were it in my po\ver to do so ; but I am able to
give, in a few words, the general character of the servants' horses
in the Duke of Buccleuch's hunting establishment, all of which
are purchased by Williamson himself— lately, I understood, by
his Grace's orders, at something beyond Williamson's estimate
of a Scotch hunter's value. They are for the most part light
horses, not equal, on the average, to more than from eleven to
twelve stone weight, but showing a great deal of high breeding,
without which, indeed, they would be often found wanting in
parts of the duke's country — particularly over the Cheviot hills.

" But where," said I to Williamson, " is your famous old white
horse, of whom I have heard so much ?;> " Gone earth-stopping
with Hugh ; I don't ride him till the ground gets quite soft," was
the reply. " You are right," resumed 1 ; " and if sportsmen in ge-
neral were not to ride horses of a certain age either early in the
autumn, or far on in the spring, they would find a very large bal-
ance in their favour at the end of twenty years." There was a
clever little chestnut mare in one of the stalls, showing a deal of
blood, and, as the dealers say, "as long as a cart rope/' which I
saw Williamson ride twice when I was in his country, — appear-

6

82 NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

ing to be as handy as a fiddle, from the tuition she had experi-
enced at his hand. There was not one lame horse in this stable,.
My next visit was to the duke's own stud, nineteen in number,
of which two were clipped, for the reason I have already given.
Amongst the lot were three or four young horses, going through
their education for the field under the able direction of Frank
Collison ; but the rest were first-rate hunters, and more than
equal to the duke's weight, as indeed all men's hunters should be,
let their weight be great or small. I only recognized one of the
lot, and this was old Alphabet, which his Grace purchased of
Lord Lichfield when I was at Melton, together with Jemmy
Jumps, for nine hundred guineas, the two ; and he appeared to
be as fresh as he was then, although now in, at least, his nine-
teenth year. A finer sample indeed of the British hunter for
fourteen stone might be looked for in vain, and the long services
he performed for the duke after the many hot shirts he must have
had under Lord Lichfield, when his lordship hunted his own
hounds in the Atherstone country, proved him to have been
made of the right stuff. Doubtless, a more aristocratic-looking
animal cannot well be imagined, and I hope his Grace has got
his picture. The result of my inquiry after Jemmy Jumps was
not so favourable. The Anson pace and the hot shirts had made
too deep an impression upon him, and, comparatively with the
other, he dropped into a premature grave — or, in more appro-
priate words, had found his way into the copper, much before
his time. But it is with horses as with men, there are strong
distinctions and great differences of excellence between them,!
and when once a sportsman has found out that he has got a good
one, nothing but necessity should induce him to part with him.
I think I once proved that a very heavy and hard-riding gentle-
man* saved more than two thousand pounds some years back, by
refusing that sum from the late Lord Middleton for two hunters
which he had proved to be good ones, and able to stand his
weight and pace. But there was another horse in the duke's stud
called Jemmy, which, although somewhat low in his back, greatly
attracted my notice, appearing to have all the requisities of a
hunter for the duke's weight and pace. In my judgment of this
horse it appeared I was not mistaken : for on my telling Lord
Elcho that I had seen the St. BoswelPs stud, his lordship asked
me if I was not much pleased with Jemmy. I took out my pocket-
book and showed him that I had noted him as the flower of the
flock. I believe Lord Elcho offered a large sum for him, for his
own riding.

* The elder Mr. Edge, of Nottinghamshire, so conspicuous amongst
the heavy weights.

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 85

The condition of the duke's horses was most creditable to his
groom ; and, as was the case with those under Williamson's care
— for they form two separate establishments — every horse was
then in work. There was not even a single case of foot lameness
in either of the studs, and I only saw two legs bandaged, to re-
move some temporary inflammation to which hunters are always
subject from blows and other causes. But I must add a few words
more on this interesting subject, as well as pleasing one to me,
inasmuch as it is a great gratification to be able to speak well of
any man, and more especially when writing of that class of men
which contribute so much to the pleasures of fox-hunting as a
good hunting groom contributes. I am bound to say, then, that
independently of his professional skill, of which his horses gave
proof, I never met with a more civil, unaffected, or sensible man
in his line than Matthew Marshall, the Duke of Buccleuch's head
groom. He was brought up in the stables of the Earl of Home,
and the duke gives him every chance to be a first-rate hunting
groom, as he is almost always to be seen in the field, attired in
the proper hunting costume of the servant, and mounted on one
or another of the duke's own horses, but in a run quite in-
dependent of his Grace, who has his pad-boy out on his second
horse. The advantages he receives by this are greater than many
persons may imagine, who might not have given the subject their
full consideration. He sees and feels his horses in their work-";
and thereby partakes of 'the practical experience which the train-
ing groom avails himself of, by his constant presence with his
race-horses when they are doing, what is called, good work, and
his nearly constant presence at all other times. Matthew, or
" Matty" as he is called in Scotland, is in the prime of life —
indeed appearing to possess the rare gift of an old head upon
young shoulders ; particularly neat and clean, and servant-like
in his person and demeanour, and a very good horseman.

Now a word or two for old Frank Collison, of whom I have
before spoken, and to whom I was mainly indebted for seeing
the finish of one of the finest runs ever seen in Scotland. Frank
was on the hunting establishment of the late Duke of Buccleuch,
He whipped-in to John King for twenty years ; then was made
huntsman for seven years— when Williamson became huntsman
— and is now hunting, what may be called the same hounds
(though they have changed masters backwards and forwards) his
twentieth season ! He has, I should imagine, arrived at the
period which is commonly called " the grand climacteric,"
although there is nothing in his appearance denoting the usually
accompanying decay of either body or mind ; and having already
said that the young horses in the present duke's stud are made

6—2

fit NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

Into hunters by Frank, it is almost a waste of words to throw away
ene about his nerves. As far as I could judge of them, however,
and I saw him in some awkward situations — they appeared to
resemble the braces of the war-drum, or the cat- gut of a fiddle
m high tune, and I doubt not but he is perfectly and happily un-
conscious of there being such things in his carcass. His dress is
Skewise worthy of remark, adhering to the old costume of the
Scottish huntsman — namely, a black velvet cap, a short red jacket,
known by the term spencer, and leather breeches quite as thick
as a bullock's hide. The tout ensemble, however, is that of the
sportsman of the old school, and Frank is a first-rate horseman,
^•ith a fine bridle hand.

By-the-way, this was not the first time I had seen, what may
Be called, the ancient costume of the Scottish fox-hunter. About
Thirty years back, a Highland infantry regiment was quartered
at Wrexham, and several of the officers hunted with Sir Richard
Puleston's hounds, in scarlet jackets, fitting tight to the person,
which had certainly an outlandish appearance in our eyes,
merely because we had never seen them before ; but this I re-
member— it required a good man, on a good horse, to see the way
some of those scarlet jackets went.

To return to the kennel, which, after all, will be considered by
sportsmen as the chief object of their visit. It will, however, be
oorne in mind by them, the serious task I have to perform in
effering my remarks upon such an establishment as this — brought
to maturity, as it has been, by time and labour, and under the
directing eye of one of the first huntsmen of the present age.
But I shall not shrink from this hazardous undertaking, for two
reasons. First, I build upon the indulgence hitherto shown to
my unreserved opinions of what I see in the sporting world ;
and, secondly, I may here be the means of directing the eye of
the young master of hounds to certain points on which may be
founded the high character of the Duke of Buccleuch's pack.
To this end, then, I must first of all present my readers with a
list of the hounds in work last year ; and afterwards comment
apon a few individuals, whose appearance and actions attracted
•aiy notice.

S NORTHERN TOUR.

A LIST OF THE DUKE OF BUCCLEUCH'S HOUNDS
I834-5-

Ages. Names. Sires. Dams

Years.

Seven. Ragman ...Hector Mr. Baillie's Ransom

Rival Lord Yarborough's Minis-Sir T. Skye's Ruin

ter

Six ...Jealousy ...Lord Lonsdale's Javelin... Comely

Joyful Ditto Ditto

Flighty ...Duke of Rutland's HermitMr. Foljambe's Favourite
Charmer ...Lord Harewood's GulliverMr. Baillie's Charmer
Marmion...The Badsvvorth Major ...Badsworth Rosy
Levity The Badsworth Whisker .Badsworth Lawless

Five.. .Bluemaid... Lord Lonsdale's Javelin... Lord Harewood's BountM
Barrister ...Duke of Beaufort's BrusherBashful

Boxer Ditto Ditto

Novelty . . . Lord Harewood's GulliverNovelty

Pilot Ditto Prudence

Reveller ...Ditto Racket

Lucy Lord Lonsdale's Javelin . Lord Harewood's Lofty

Merlin Lord Harewood's Racer . Lord Harewood's Famow

Mentor ...From Lord Harewood's...
Sorcerer . . . Ditto

Four...Crowner ...Mr. Joliff's Scamperer ...Countess

Clinker . . .Marker Charmer

Harlequin Lord Harewood's Gilder .Hasty

Hector Ditto Ditto

Heiress ...Ditto Ditto

Joysome ...Mr. Baillie's Jolly Boy ...Fife Modish

Jasper Lord Lonsdale's Javelin... Niobe

Jewess Ditto Ditto

Juliet Ditto Ditto

Marquis ...Marker Badsworth Nosegay

Rally Lord Lonsdale's Javelin... Sir T. Sykes's Ruin

Scamperer. Mr. Joliff's Scamperer Mr. Baillie's Garland

Scarbro' ...Ditto Ditto

Selim Ditto Ditto

Sempstress. Lord Harewood's Gilder .Sempstress
Spinster ...Ditto Ditto

Three. . Clasher . . . Lord Lonsdale's Javelin . . . Countess

Countess ...Ditto Ditto

Curious ...Ditto..., ...Ditto

86 N1MROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

A^es. Names. Sires. Dams.

Years.

Three .Riot Lord Harewood's Gilder . Racket

Ruin Ditto Ditto

Bilker Highflyer Lord Harewood's Bountiful

Guider Lord Lonsdale's Javelin. . . Mr. Baillie's Garland

Gamesome. Ditto Ditto

Gipsey Ditto Ditto

Lexicon ...Ditto Levity

Lively Ditto Ditto

Saladin ...Lord Harewood's Gilder .Sempstress

Susan Ditto Ditto

Harriet ...Lord Lonsdale's Javelin... Harriet

Trimmer . . . Bads worth Teucer Bash ful

Needful ...Lord Lonsdale's Javelin... Norna

Dorcas Lord FitzwiJliam's Duster.Lord Fitzwilliam's Captive

Fairmaid . . . Lord Fitzwilliam's FlasherLord Fitzwilliam's Daffodil

Fortune . . . Ditto Lord Fitz wil Ham's Duchess

Melody ...Lord Fitzwilliam's Match-Lord Fitzwilliam's Keep-

'em sake

Lightsome. Lord Fitzwilliam's Law-Lord Fitzwilliam's Faithful

less

Two... Daedalus . . . Marquis Darling

Danger ...Ditto Ditto

Dexter Ditto Ditto

Driver Ditto Ditto

Dainty Ditto Ditto

Darling . . . Ditto Ditto

Darter Lord Yarborough's Darter Bluemaid

Famous ...Mr. Osbaldiston's Foiler .Mr. Osbaldiston's Promise

Comely ...Duke of Rutland's Choris-Duke of Cleveland's Me-
ter lody

Costly Ditto Ditto

Joker Mr. Foljambe's Jovial . . . Mr. Foljambe's Vanity

Justice Lord Harewood's Chal -Jealousy

ledger

Dimity ...Lord Middleton's Den-Duke of Cleveland's Rant
mark away

Nimble ...Mr. Osbaldiston's Finder. Nimble

Why not ...Lord Scarbro's Wonder Lord Scarbro's Susan

©ne ...Ajax Lord Yarborough's Audi-Ruin

tor

Ardent ...Ditto Ditto

Archer Ditto Ditto

Auditor ...Ditto Ditto

Abigail ...Ditto Ditto

NTMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

*4ges. Names.
Years.

One . . Racer

Sires.

Dams.

Regent .,
Ringvvood

Crafty

Crazy ....
Credulous
Cruel ....
Limner .
Linguist ..
Legacy
Merkin

Duster

Fencer

Fleecer
Fallacy
Gaylass
Jovial

Harmony

Hasty
Cygnet

Frolic

Mystery ..
Rosebud ..

.Duke of Rutland's Rock-Heroine
wood

.Ditto Ditto

Ditto .'..Ditto

. Merlin Countess

.Ditto Ditto

.Ditto Ditto

.Ditto Ditto

.Ditto Lucy

.Ditto Ditto

.Ditto Ditto

.Ditto Jewess

.Boxer Dorcas

.Mr. Osbaldiston's Finder. Comely

.Ditto Riot

. Ditto Bluemaid

.Lord Harewood's Gilder .Joysome

. Lord Yarborough's Choris-Jealousy
ter

.Duke of Rutland's Lay-Hasty
man

.Ditto Ditto

.Duke of Rutland's Choris-Duke of Cleveland's Mar-
ter garet

Duke of Cleveland's Fores-Duke of Cleveland's Me-
ter lody

Duke of Cleveland's Mor-Duke of Cleveland's Hastily
risen

Duke of Rutland's Rally-Duke of Cleveland's Mini-
wood kin

• from the Duke of Rutland's

Layman, \ ,

Rockwood, \

Warrior, from the Warwickshire kennel

Justice, from Lord Scarbro's

Lashwood, from Lord Lonsdale's

Stud Hounds.

I Couple run 6 Seasons.
3 Do. - 5 do.
5 Do. — 4 do.
X Do. — 3 do.

loj Couple run 2 Seasons,
7! Do. — I do.

14 Do. Young Hounds*
2-i Do. Stud Hounds.

Total — Fifty-one and a half Couples,

&8 KIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

The first thing that must strike even a casual observer in.
perusing the above list, is the pains Williamson has taken in
procuring what he has considered the best blood, as in a kennel
of forty-nine and a half couples of hounds, only the odd nine and
a half couples are got by his own hounds ;* and out of sixty-two
brood bitches, twenty-four" only are those of his own breeding.
The good effect of this, however, is apparent at the conclusion of
the list, where we find all the young hounds (i.e., those of one
year old) except four, are out of his own bitches. Contrast this
with Mr. Ralph Lambton's list of the same year, and what is the
result ? In a kennel containing thirteen couples more hounds,
we find that long-established and first-rate sportsman has only
used twelve stud hounds, and eight brood bitches, not of his own
blood, which leads to the conclusion, that the one— Williamson
— is arriving at perfection in his kennel, and that the other — Mr.
Lambton — has attained it. It will also be observed that
Williamson drafts with an unsparing hand, as the Duke of
Buccleuch's present pack do not average more than a hound and
a half to a litter.

Of course the stud hounds — three couples in all, although
only two and a half are in the list — did not escape my observa-
tion. I considered Warrior, from the Warwickshire, a very
coarse hound, although with useful points ; but I hope William-
son will be cautious how he breeds from the Beaufort hound, as
he possesses, to a great degree, one of the worst defects the form
of a hound can possess, namely, the outward direction of the
elbow. To my eye, an out-elbowed hound, and a pigeon-toed
horse, cannot be reconciled even by their goodness, which
indeed, where speed and endurance are wanted, they very rarely
possess. The name of the Beaufort hound is Guardian, and I
believe he was sent to the duke by Lord Redesdale.

I may as well at once give my opinion of the Duke of
Buccleuch's pack, as reserve it for a future opportunity, for in
fact my experience of them is equally available, and, as the old
proverb saith, "there is nothing like the present time." Indi-
vidually, there are amongst them hounds on which the eye of
the sportsman— the real admirer of the animal— would scarcely
tire to dwell. Passing over the old hounds — though not forget-
ting Bluemaid, and Boxer, and Novelty, among the five year
olds — where could we mend Harlequin, Hector, and Heiress,
amongst the four year olds ? or Rally, or Spinster, or that rich-
coloured bitch Sempstress — a great favourite with Williamson,
who I observed often spoke to .SVaawstress ? Then Countess.,

* Hector, Marker, Highflyer, Marquis, Merlin, and Boxer.

NIMRODS NORTHERN TOUR. 89

and Curious, Gamesome and Gypsey, Trimmer and Bilker, not
forgetting Susan — among the three year olds ; and Comely and
Costly among the two year olds — Rutland and Cleveland blood
— perfect beauties of their kind. Here then, surely, I must stop !
Oh no ; I cannot pass over the young Merlin hounds, out of
Countess and Lucy, but only with this slight notice, as I shall
have something to say of trvem at a more fitting opportunity.

Collectively — or, in more appropriate language, as a pack —
my opinion of these hounds was given in a letter I wrote to Mr.
Lambton from Scotland, informing him of my intended visit to
him on my return home, and in precisely these words : — " I
think Williamson can show twenty couples of bitches, and ten
of dog hounds that it would be very difficult to beat in any kennel
in England — of the same standard, of course." The opinion,
however, of those (competent to give one, of course) who have
been where I have not been, for the last five years — that is,
amongst the crack packs of England — is better worth having
than mine ; and it is the opinion of several sportsmen who are
able to judge of them, in actual comparison with others, that the
Duke of Buccleuch's pack ranks third or fourth amongst the
crack packs of the kingdom. All I can add is, long may it con-
tinue to do so.

In the field. To enable a man to form a correct estimate of
the merits or demerits of fox-hounds in the field, he ought to
hunt more with him than it was in my power to hunt with these.
He should in fact see them in all situations and difficulties in
which hounds are seen — on good scenting days and on bad ; in
wind and in storm ; with a good fox and a bad one ; amidst
every description of riot, and amidst it at all times of the day ;
and at all periods of their work ; when much pressed upon by
horsemen ; .at the end of a severe burst, as well as at the finish
of a long run. In each of these situations, with the exception of
high wind, have I seen the Duke of Buccleuch's hounds, although
not often. With allowance for this circumstance, then, must my
opinion be received.

In chase. Whether hounds can carry a good head, depends
upon two things — a good fox and a good scent. Whether they
can carry it to the end of a severe run also depends upon two
things— good condition, and judgment in drafting the pack.
With one exception, which I shall allude to hereafter, the Duke
of Buccleuch's pack appeared to me to be sufficiently perfect in
this respect. As to riot — I never saw them amongst roe-deer,
but amongst hares no hounds need be steadier. Indeed, from
the opportunity Williamson has in the summer of walking them
through hares, and drawing the small clumps in the park.

90 NIMROUS NORTHERN TO UR.

where they abound, they cannot well be otherwise, manned as
they are.

As to nose — it is the fashion of the day to doubt the low scent-
ing powers of very high-bred fox-hounds, but this results from
prejudice. Beckford properly remarks, that he can easily con-
ceive a fox-hound to be too low-bred to be good in chase, but the
reverse was to him irreconcilable, and so it is to me. What is
meant by a high-bred fox-hound but one the most highly refined,
and therefore the most perfect, of his species ? As for myself, I
never will believe but that, at the end often minutes, best pace,
the high-bred fox-hound, at a ticklish point, is worth half a dozen
Towlers and Jowlers with their tongues out, and dead blown.
But they — i.e., the high-bred ones— are apt to be " a leetle in a
hurry," as Tom Rose said of his, and will now and then overrun
the point, with a crowd of horsemen at their heels. As far, how-
ever, as my observation carried me, the duke's hounds stand
pressing about as well as most others do at the present day. " I
care not whose they are," Tom Wingfield used to say, " they will
all fly over it now and then."

In cover. I have heard it said, and I have read in print, that
these hounds are rather slack in facing strong gorse covers. I
must say I saw nothing of the sort ; but shall presently produce
a fact quite au contraire. Without a scent, I call them very fair
drawers ; with a scent, the strongest gorse in Roxburghshire
will not stop them out, and I here speak fiom facts. On this
part of my subject, then, I need riot add more than that the
sportsman who is not satisfied with the performance of the Duke
of Buccleuch's hounds — not quite faultless perhaps — in the field,
must be very difficult to please ; and still more fastidious must
be the eye which is not delighted with their appearance in the
kennel. They may be said to want nothing but a better country,
for from what I saw and heard of that hunted from the Dalkeith
kennel — the East Lothian — it is very so-so. On this subject,
however, the less said the better ; for if there were to be no fox-
hounds kept except in good countries, there would not, accord-
ing with some persons' estimation of them, be more than half a
dozen packs in the whole world. On the contrary, every en-
couragement should be given to resident noblemen and gen-
tlemen to hunt their own countries, whether good or bad, the
beneficial effects of which are so powerfully felt in their neigh-
bourhood.

HAVING spoken of the hounds, the huntsman necessarily follows.
But my notice of the Duke of Buccleuch's huntsman in the field
will be brief ; for if, as Livy said of Cicero, " Cicero's panegyrist

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 91

should be a Cicero," Williamson's should, for the same reason, be
a Williamson. He may have his faults (and where is human
nature found perfect ?), but, inasmuch as experience is said to
make even a fool wise, it is next to a physical impossibility, that
a man possessed of an understanding so naturally clear, a man
of such quick apprehension, and so clear-sighted a discerner of
circumstances, as one hour's conversation with Williamson plainly
shows him to be — it is, I repeat, next to a physical impossibility
that, at the end of thirty-two years' experience of hunting, he is
not a master of his art. There are peculiarities in his system
which have been noticed, and to which I may slightly allude.
He has been described as a slack drawer of his covers, " not
going into them, as he should do, with his hounds ;" and he has
also been blamed for always drawing down wind. \Vith respect
to the first charge, if hounds will draw without it, it is a cruel
practice to ride horses into thick gorse covers, as the appearance
of their knees and legs too plainly shows on the morrow. The
question then is — Does Williamson find his foxes as often as he
ought to find them, or does he draw over them ? As far as my
experience went, there was no lack of foxes on foot ; and as he
seldom kills less than fifty brace of them in the season, and
sometimes more, his -country must be well peopled with them in-
deed if he draws over many.

As to the charge of " always drawing his covers down wind,"
it is not true. I saw him draw several up wind, or with a side
wind, although I believe the first is his general practice, and was
that of his first master, Mr. Baird. It is, however, by no means a
settled point amongst sportsmen that covers should be always
drawn up wind ; but two things are quite certain. — Many good
foxes xvon't wait to be found if drawn upon down wind, and there-
fore have an advantage over hounds ; and many are chopped
in their kennel asleep, or killed by jumping up in the middle of
the pack, by drawing up wind. What did I witness the very
last time Mr. Osbalctiston's hounds drew Parson's-gorse, in the
(Ouorn) Widmerpool country, when drawing up wind ? A fine
bitch fox killed with six whelps in her belly, having suffered
every hound to pass over her, when asleep. When she did get
out of her kennel she could not break view ; but this proves that
the advantage of encouraging hounds to draw gorse by the drag
was here sought for in vain. Neither fox nor hare emit a scent
of much avail to hounds, when either in kennel or on the seat.

It appeared to me that Williamson was very fair to his foxes
— no mobber of them for the sake of the noses on the door. The
very act of his so often drawing down wind confirms this, as it is
evidently in favour of his fox. Beckford gives two reasons for

92 NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

drawing up wind, one of which is good ; the other, good for no-
thing. " If you draw up wind," says he, " the fox does not hear
you coming, and your hounds, by this means, are never out of
your hearing ; besides, if he turns down wind, as most probably
he will, it lets them all in." His first position, of the pack being
within hearing, is a correct one ; his second, of the chances in
favour of the line the fox takes, is not so. A fox found by hounds
never consults the wind till he is more or less pressed ; his first
object is his point, which he will make if he can.

Again — if a fox gets a little start of hounds, out of cover, the
circumstance itself is more in favour of a run than when he is
drawn up to in his kennel, and breaks with the pack at his
brush. With the present greyhound-like speed of hounds, and
with even a tolerable scent, he is soon driven from his point ;
runs short or gets into a drain ; or else is run into in the first
ten minutes to the great disappointment of the field, particularly
where foxes are scarce. But with all my admiration of Beck-
ford, he was evidently a mobber of foxes, and such by his own
showing. " A fair sportsman," says he, " and a foolish sports-
man are synonymous. Sport is but a secondary consideration
with a true foxhunter ; the first is, the killing of the fox. I con-
fess, I esteem blood, so necessary to a pack of foxhounds, that,
with regard to myself, I always return home better pleased with
an indifferent chase, with death at the end of it, than with the
best chase possible, if it ends with the loss of the fox." My
sentiments on the subject of blood have been so often before the
public, that it is unnecessary to repeat them here, but they are
not in accordance with Mr. Beckford's.

Although the finding a fox handsomely is no light accomplish-
ment in a huntsman, it is in the various difficulties which occur
in the chase that his ability is chiefly displayed. In Williamson's
country these difficulties abound. It is much stained by sheep,
and infested by sheep-dogs ; it contains every variation of soil —
some very good, some very bad, each perhaps in the space of a
mile ; and the frequent strips of plantations cause foxes to run
short. From the numerous covers, he is also liable to change.
With these difficulties, however, Williamson contends with a
master hand. His approach to his hounds, when at fault,
pleased me much. He trots up to them with an anxious but
scrutinizing eye, and after a rapid glance at what they are doing,
pulls up his horse, dead, and with his hand raised in the air,
calls to his field to " STAND STILL." He is not at all in a hurry;
I never saw him refuse to give his hounds a chance, so long as
a chance remained ; but I saw two instances of his taking them
to their fox in a very superior manner, when, but for him, he

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 93

would have been lost. One was by a cast short back, and the
other forward, to a drain, each of which will be noticed as they
occurred. His voice is not good, but, as somebody said, " it is
as God made it," and therefore it would be wrong to find fault
with it ; and although one or two of his holloas are not very in-
telligible to strangers, they are well understood by his hounds,
and that is their chief use. Strange to say, he is the only Scotch
servant hunting hounds in Scotland, or anywhere else that I
know of, a circumstance on which he prides himself, and he
may be allowed to do so.

I have before spoken of the lengthened experience of this
celebrated huntsman, and there are few practical operations in
which that valuable accomplishment is more required than in
that of hunting hounds. But, as Byron says,

" A man must serve his time to every trade
Save censure, — critics are all ready made."

Williamson was fourteen years whipper-in, and ten huntsman,
under old Mr. Baird, and commenced as whipper-in under the
renowned John King, who was huntsman to the two masters —
the late Duke of Buccleuch and Mr. Baird — for thirty years.
He married King's daughter, and cherishes his maxims as he
cherishes his wife — and I believe no man makes a kinder hus-
band than he does. He, however, told me a good story of
himself and King. Having one day, when in his noviciate,
some difficulty in getting some tail hounds out of cover, after
the body were gone away with their fox, he had recourse to an
expedient which he found to answer. He put his finger in his
ear and cried " Tally-ho? at the same time giving some rattling
view-holloas. Unfortunately for him, the fox headed short back,
and King coming up to the cover at the moment, with rather an
indifferent scent, away flew his hounds to these cheering view-
holloas of the young whip, and left him to hunt his fox himself.
" ?Gad," said Williamson, " I got such a strapping from King
that I never cried ' Tally-ho ' to tail hounds again." I have also
another anecdote of Williamson and King. A daughter of the
former being unwell, the doctor said he feared her lungs were
affected. " What does the doctor mean," said Williamson, " by
talking such nonsense as that ? A child of mine, and out of a
daughter of John King, with bad lungs ! Nay, nay — that cannot
be." Nor was it so, for his daughter soon recovered her health,
but not without the life of her mother being "jeopardized," as
Williamson called it, by the rash prediction of the doctor.
Williamson certainly has the lungs of a Stentor.
As a horseman, I have no hesitation in pronouncing William-

94 NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

son pre-eminent both as to seat and hand ; and although he
may have lost a little of the dash that seldom accompanies us
beyond our fortieth year,* 1 have reason to believe, that take
him for all in all —

" O'er the plains, or in the dell,
O'er the mountain's savage swell,"

there is no man in Scotland who rides nearer to hounds than he
does, the whole season throughout. And considering the number
of years he has been with hounds, and the nature of the country
in which he has followed them, he has been particularly lucky
in his falls, of which no doubt he has had his share. He never
broke more than one bone, and that was in a fall on the road, a
very few seasons back, and I will give his account of the acci-
dent, and the treatment he received after it. Having pitched
on the point of his shoulder, as well as from certain sensations
he experienced, he apprehended a fracture to have taken place.
The country doctor could find none, and the consequence was,
twelve days of -severe suffering, and as many nights without
sleep. " This will not do," said the duke to him. " You must
go immediately to Edinburgh and let Listen see you.77 That
skilful surgeon soon detected a fracture close to the shoulder-
joint, and having reduced it, sent his brother sportsman*!* home
to Dalkeith in his own carnage, quite free from pain. Having
said this, it is scarcely necessary to state that Williamson made
one of the very numerous party at the dinner given to his skilful
surgeon, and brother sportsman, on his quitting Edinburgh for
the English metropolis, of whom the following anecdote is told
relative to his practice :

A female patient had the misfortune to lose her nose, and he
made her a new one, by the late clever invention of drawing
down the skin of the forehead and filling it with some soft sub-
stance. " Now is your time," said he, as he was forming it ;
" will you have a Roman or a Grecian nose ?" " Non cuicunque
datum est habere nasum," — some people, says Martial, are
denied this feature altogether ; and if its only use was to curl it
in scorn or in pride, as he (Martial) implies, its absence might
be dispensed with in the human race, however indispensable in
the canine.

* I take Williamson's age to be about forty-five, hut I omitted ascer-
taining the fact. In what is called a " hill run," I believe all men take
their hats off to him. His light weight of course tells.

1" Mr. Listen was for many years a constant attendant on hounds in
the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, particularly on those hunted by
Williamson.

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 9$

Men certainly run great risks who follow hounds in rough and
wild countries. Williamson and his first whipper-in were in some
peril for their lives last winter, and I will detail the circumstances
of the case, as they were detailed to me by the latter. The
hunted fox faced the Cheviot hills towards the close of a cold
day in January, and all the field dropped astern after ascending
to a certain point, with the exception of Williamson and himself,
whose duty compelled them to proceed. After a time, they also
lost sight of the hounds from two distinct causes. First, they
were somewhat defeated by the pace ; secondly, a mist came on,
which prevented their distant view. Williamson, however,
pushed forward in the line he thought they were taking, and,
fortunately, getting to windward of them, was able at length to
hear, and finally to stop them. But what was their situation
then ? The mist became a fog, and they found themselves worse
than benighted, without rule or compass, in a wild and trackless
region, many hundred yards above the level of the sea. Surely
the goddess of the chase must have befriended them ; for, as if
she had sent him thither for the purpose, a farmer, who had been
looking after his sheep, and had also got out of his latitude,
crossed their path, and with great difficulty conducted them into
a road that led them as well as himself towards their wished-for
home. It is more than questionable whether they would have
survived the night, had they been condemned to pass it on the
mountain. Hence the necessity of every fox-hunter in wild
countries, having — after the manner of old Corcoran — a small
flask of brandy in the side-pocket, which would, in this case, have
confirmed its title to the rank it holds in the French, vocabulary,
namely, " the water of life."*

The stature of Williamson is below the average height of man,
but his person is well turned and very well proportioned ; and
the exact fit of his clothes sets it off to advantage. The sit of
his cap, the fall of his shoulders, and the junction of the breeches
with the boots — a great point in a horseman, as far as the eye is
concerned — are all equally good ; and the general cleanliness of
his person, renders the tout ensemble complete. He has a keen,
penetrating eye ; carries his country in his face, as well as its full
dialect on his tongue; is, as Lord Kintore says of him, "an

* Perhaps many of your present readers may not have seen my account
of the sayings and doings of this conspicuous character in the late Lord
Derby's (stag) hunt. Being apparently dead from a fall, the question
was asked — *' Has no one got any brandy ?" by way of the last resource.
" You will find some in my side-pocket," whispered the dead man with
a sigh.

96 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

astonishing bit of wire — a sort of genus per se — and the king of
Scotch servants." No doubt he bears the palm.

To draw a man's physical and moral portrait on one and the
same page is no easy task, nevertheless so signal a character,
and one so universally known throughout Scotland and indeed
throughout England, as Williamson's, cannot be passed over by
me with merely a common notice. It may, however, be said, I
shall colour the picture too highly, and subject myself to the
charge of flattery. To this I have an answer at command : — If
a man deserves praise, we cannot refuse it him without injustice ;
but he who expects it on any other terms, demands what he has
no claim to — at all events he will never receive it at my hands.
And I have other reasons for dwelling a little on this individual
point. I have ever been an admirer of a vigorous, even if it be
an unpolished, style of writing or speaking; and there is a
singular perspicuity of expression in the person upon whom I am
now commenting, that I know not when I met with before. It
has been justly remarked of Homer, that what he says he says
properly ; and without the abatement of a fraction, the compli-
ment may be transferred to Williamson. Having said this, it
may well be imagined that I gladly availed myself of his invita-
tion to an' arm-chair in his parlour, with the prospect of an hour
or two's conversation with him on subjects which have ever been
most interesting to me.

Our walk through the kennels and stables having occupied all
the forenoon, it was now two o'clock, and in five minutes after-
wards Williamson's roast beef appeared on the table. Now,
although I was engaged to dine at Kelso at seven, there was no
resisting that, and down we sat to it tete-a-tete in good earnest.
Here then \v.as an opportunity that might never occur to me
again of strengthening or refuting my opinions on matters re-~
lating to the chase, and in the course of our conversation I ques-
tioned him on the following points : — First — on the value of what
is called blood to hounds ? and his answer delighted me, by
reason of its being so entirely in accordance with my own, which
has already been made public. " I think," said he, " blood is of
the utmost importance to the well-doing of fox-hounds, if had
whilst the stimulus of the chase is existing, but of little or none
afterwards. I consider it very satisfactory, consequently very
beneficial to hounds to mark their fox to ground ; and am in-
clined to believe, that a repetition of losing their foxes, makes
hounds slack, with an indifferent scent."

Secondly — To the question of whether large or small hounds
were preferable : he thus judiciously replied, " The choice
somewhat depends on the nature of the country they are wanted

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. <%

for. Well-bred small hounds must have the advantage of large
ones equally well-bred, in very close countries, and amongst
hills ; but I have reason to believe that large hounds are gene-
rally speaking more sure of their fox than small ones. They are
more patient, and not so much given to quit the line of scent*
This, I know, is the opinion of Foster, huntsman to Mr. VilleboiSj
who, like the Duke of Buccleuch, has a small and a large pack.;
and if my recollection serves me, is that of the Duke of Cleve-
land, who also sorted his pack by the standard, until he reducec*
his kennel to its present limited extent.

" Mr. Williamson," said I ; "it is my wish to ask you a ques-
tion, which probably was never put to you before. Do you, or
do you not, believe that the scent of some foxes is stronger or
weaker than that of others? In other words— do you conceive
that all foxes impart a similar degree of scent to hounds, leaving
out of the question any particular period of the chase ?" Some-
what to my surprise, he candidly informed me, that the nature
of the question I had put to him had never once come under his
consideration, and therefore at the moment the subject dropped
This notion— the various degrees of scent, has by some been
looked upon as chimerical and visionary, and by others totally
disregarded ; but, although it would be difficult to support it by
facts, my experience justifies me in asserting that I believe suck
to be the case. At all events, natural knowledge being a sort of
common to which every person has an equal right, and is at
liberty to erect any system he may think proper upon it, accord-
ing to his own taste, I have availed myself of the right, and have
made up my mind on this subject. The phenomena of fox-
hunting can only be accounted for by such means ; and I was
glad to find my opinion backed by your correspondent Skim (in
your last May number), in his practical and judicious remarks
on Mr. Grantley Berkeley's system of managing hounds in the
kennel and in the field.

Let me digress for a moment here. Although the phenomenon
of scent appears beyond our ken, it is my intention soon to offer
my sentiments on the subject, how much soever I may fail in the
bold attempt. I therefore pass over a day or two in my journal
to give the result of Williamson's consideration of this material
point. The next time I met him in the field he thus addressed
me.

" I awoke at four o'clock," said he, " on the morning after you
were at St. BoswelPs, and the first thing that came across my
mind was the question you put to me respecting the difference of
scent in different foxes, and I have given it a good deal of con-
sideration since. I can safely speak to one fact which bear*

7

$8 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

strongly upon it, and favours your argument that such is the case.
In the course of my life it is natural to suppose that I have had
a vast number of dead foxes in my hands, both before and after
they have been broken up by hounds. I can safely assert, that
en my return home, the smell left upon them by some foxes has
been got rid of with only a slight washing, whereas that left by
others has continued till the next day." This I consider to be in
part confirmatory of my notion that the strength of the effluvia
emitted by foxes varies to a considerable extent, but I shall have
much more powerful reasons to offer for it, when I take up my
pen on the subject.

To return to the arm-chair — and to the reminiscence of two or
three hours' as interesting conversation as I ever chanced to be
engaged in. " You noticed to me," said Williamson, " a fine
bitch called Heiress." " I did," was my reply, "for she struck
me as being a perfect specimen of the modern fox-hound." " I
will tell you a story about her," resumed Williamson. " A young
man came to the kennel, one day lately, expressing a wish to see
the hounds, and declaring himself to be a disciple of Messrs.
Gall and Spurzheim, and consequently a believer in the new-
fashioned doctrine of phrenology." " And pray," inquired I,
"what was the result of his examination of the various skulls?"
" A most unfortunate one," answered Williamson. " He selected
two, one as the best and another as the worst-scenting hounds in
the whole pack — naming Heiress as the latter. Now it so hap-
pens, that the one he selected as the best is nearly the worst in
the kennel ; and a better-nosed bitch than Heiress no man ever
holloaed to, or saw." So much then for phrenological develop-
ments, as regards the canine race, and for my own part, I have
"but little faith in them in the human. Of all the parts of the
body, the anatomy of the brain is the most complex, and the
most able physiologist of the day cannot determine its organs.
But this convert to the fanciful theory should have looked for
«.ther developments in fox-hounds than the mere faculty of smell-
ing, and such instinctive faculties ; — for the organs of combative-
Bess and destructiveness ; — for those of murder and theft, and
other brute feelings. The physiognomist, I should imagine,
to have a better chance in a kennel, as all sportsmen allow
Hiere is much in the countenance of a dog, and what is called " a
thorough fox-hound head? is very indicative of goodness. Surely
the doctrine of Gall and Spurzheim has lived its little hour.

One distinguishing feature in the character of Williamson is
what is termed good management, in other words, economy in
the distribution of expense. "What a Chancellor of the Exche-
quer he would make !;; we hear one man say. " He would be

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 99

the best foor rnarfs servant in the world," says another. But
Williamson's reason for still adhering to that strict economy,
vulgarly called " close shaving," now he is a rich man's servant,
does him no discredit, if not pushed too far. " I found the duke
rich," said he to me, "and it is my wish that he should remain
rich." Would that this maxim were more generally acted upon
than it is ; there would be fewer old inheritances in the market ;
fewer mortgaged estates; fewer poor gentlemen. The subject
that led to this conversation was the building of the kennel and
stables at St. BoswelPs, which was entirely under the direction of
this most valuable servant, who confirmed what I had heard —
namely, that the expense of erecting and completing the entire
range of the premises, sufficient for the two establishments, did
not exceed the sum of fifteen hundred pounds ! A humorous
anecdote or two 'resulted from this portion of our conversation.
"I was paying a bill to a farmer, for hay," said Williamson,
"a short time ago, of nearly fifty pounds, and he insisted upon
the odd fourpence halfpenny. I gave it him," said he, "with
pleasure, because it showed I had bought the hay worth the
money" This rigid economy throughout the various depart-
ments of so large an establishment as the duke's, must be very
profitable to the duke but by no means so to his huntsman,
who, by his own account, receives but few invitations to good
dinners, or other little compliments too often shoved into the
bills ; " But," says the latter, " I sleep all the better for that.
In the first place, my stomach is not clogged with too many of
the good things of this world ; and in the second, my conscience
is quite at ease."

But in some things, the duke has been obliged to insist upon
a partial relaxation of this, now somewhat uncalled for, frugality
— and especially in the purchase of horses, the value of which
in Williamson's opinion is scarcely one half of what it is gene-
rally booked at in that of others. Since his Grace has let loose
the purse-strings which his trusty servant had previously held
so tightly, I was given to understand a considerable improve-
ment had been effected in the kennel stud ; and certainly that
which I saw could not even with his — Williamson's — judicious
catering, have been procured at his price, which was but a leetle
over forty pounds. On this subject, as may be supposed, some
good stories are afloat ; and amongst others, the recapitulation
of a scene that took place between a celebrated London dealer
and Williamson, on the only appearance of the latter in the
grand metropolis of the world. Scene— the dealer's yard.

Dealer. " I should be proud of the honour of selling a horse

7—2

ioo NIMRODS NORTHERN TOUR.

to the Duke of Buccleuch's huntsman, and especially so to Miv
Williamson, of whom I have heard so much."

Williamson. " Wall, sir — I have no objection to buy a horse
of you, or of any other man, provided I can buy him upon rea-
so-nable terms.

A horse is brought out ; the dialogue thus proceeds ; and, as
may be supposed, very soon concludes.

Williamson. " Not a bad-like beast that ; pray what do you
ask for him ?"

Dealer. " A hundred and fifty guineas !"

Williamson. " Eh, sir ; we can buy better horses than this
in Scotland for less than half that money."

I need scarcely add — Exeunt omnes.

But a still better anecdote relating to Williamson and his
horse-dealing speculations was told to me by the gentleman with
whom it originated — namely, Captain Elliot, of his majesty's
royal navy, brother to the Scottish baronet of that honourable
name ; and whom I had the pleasure of meeting during my visit
to Meller stain. The captain, it appeared, had lately returned
from sea, having been for some time on a foreign station, and
immediately purchased for himself a hunter. Now two things
must be premised ere I proceed in my tale. Either Williamson
had never seen the captain before, or, having seen him, had for-
gotten him. Again, the captain was in mufti,* which never adds
to the outward and visible sign of any gentleman-sportsman in
the field, at least in a huntsman's eyes. Again, captains in the
navy — (at least I can answer for one, a particular friend of mine,
who makes a perfect non-descriptf of himself when he takes the
field ; but, as the poet says,

" What's the gay dolphin

When he quits the waves and bounds upon the shore ?")- —

are apt to be less observant of costume that when at home on
the quarter deck ; and there is no disguising the fact, that Wil-
liamson the first time he saw Captain Elliot on the newly pur-
chased grey did not take him to be, what he really is, a well-bred
gentleman. The following various conversations then, which
the captain recapitulates with the greatest candour — indeed with

* The word " mufti," in the hunting field, means anything but a red
coat.

f Don't let it be imagined that I place Captain Elliot amongst the
non-descripts. Far from it ; but such was the plainness of his attire the.
first day I saw him in the field, that, until I heard him speak, I was my-
self at a loss as to what order he might belong.

NIMROIfS NORTHERN TOUR. 101

apparent satisfaction — took place between them at the different
periods of their meeting at the cover side.

First period. Williamson speaks.

"Not a bad-looking rough "beast that of yours. What age
is he?"

The Captain. " Six years old."

Williamson. " Wall — I shouldn't mind giving you thirty
pounds for him, that is to say — if you can warrant him sound,
and quite free from fault.

The Captain. (Enjoying the joke.) " I don't want to sell him
just yet." The fact is, that though " the grey" was then out of
condition, he proved to possess all those good qualities of a
hunter that Williamson's keen eye anticipated.

Williamson. " Wall, wall ; perhaps you may alter your
mind."

Second period. Williamson speaks : — " Wall, you have not
sold the grey horse. He looks nothing worse since I saw him
last. Indeed, I think he's something better. I shouldn't mind
giving you forty pounds for him, that is to say, if you can warrant
him sound, and quite free from fault."

The Captain. " I do not intend to sell him yet."

Third period. Previously to this, Williamson had found out
the error he had fallen into, and the dialogue is resumed in an
altered tone.

Williamson. " I have many apologies to make to you, sir,
for the le-berty I took in asking you to sell your horse. I was
not aware whom I had the honour of speaking to ; but (still try-
ing it on) I think you did quite right in refusing my ffty pounds
for him." (Observe, forty was the maximum sum offered.)

Fourth period. " Wall, captain — your horse is vary much im-
proved. Perhaps you may be going to sea again ; if you do, I
shall be glad to give you saxty pounds for him."

The next subject we discussed was that of the annual expense
of a pack of fox-hounds, and which was rendered more interest-
ing to me from a knowledge of the fact of Williamson having
made public a statement of the disbursements under each sepa-
rate head of the Lothian 'hounds, previously to their becoming
the property of the Duke of Buccleuch, for a period of seven
years — namely, from August, 1814, to August, 1821, the average
amount of which was ^988 IDS. id. for a three times-a-week
country. The average annual keep of the hounds — price of meal
"varying from ^,88 to ,£153 per annum during the period— was
.£193- Of horse flesh, from £ij to £52. Of keep of horses,
^377 ; the residue of the sum total being disbursed in the wages
and clothing of servants, earth-stopping, and other incidental

102 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

expenses. A strict economy must have been observed here, the
amount being much under the general calculation ; and this in-
duced me to ask what were the disbursements of the present
establishment, independent, of course, of the duke's own stud ?
Williamson's answer, I confess, surprised me. " They do not,"
said he, " exceed £i$oo per annum, including all charges ; but a
great advantage is gained by going to market for everything with
cash in hand. It is by attention to what appear little matters
that the great saving is effected. Now I know a gentleman who
never returns the empty sacks. Was ever such a thing heard
of/ continued he, with a strong emphasis on his words — " was
there ever such a thing heard of&$ a person not returning the
empty sacks ?"

We were now got into the second glass of whiskey toddy.
" Ferintosh, Mr. Williamson, I presume," said I, " for it is most
excellent liquor !" " If you will look on the head of the cork,"
he replied, " you will know as much of it as I do ;" and there I
found, very intelligibly impressed on black wax, the following
words — Who the devil sent you this ? All the remark that I
made on this curious inscription was that I cared not who the
devil sent me some of the same sort — nay, if it was the devil
himself I would forgive him ; for better no man has tasted..
How different, said I to myself, from those

"Most poisonous compounds

Which are the movers of a languishing death ;
But, though slow, deadly !"

I have ever considered really good whiskey the most whole-
some spirit that is drunk by man, and I found no more effect, on
my arrival at Kelso to a seven o'clock dinner, from these two
glasses of pretty stiff whiskey toddy than I should have found
had I been only drinking small beer. Perhaps not so much ;;
for small beer and Scotch night air are not well agreed. I have
however, reason to believe that a second glass of whiskey toddy
is not often indulged in by Williamson. He is not only a
remarkably sober man himself, but drunkenness, he told me, is
a fault he never looks over even once, in any man belonging to
his department of the duke's establishment, whatever good
qualities the delinquent may possess. Perhaps he is right ; for
inasmuch as the doctrine of evil communication corrupting good
manners is no less true in philosophy than in religion, it must
surely be allowed to be applicable to the stable and kennel.

But it is surely now time that the minister's mare and Nimrod
should be on their return to Kelso ; and particularly so as a thick

N1MRO&S NORTHERN TOUR. 10.3

fog was at this moment descending that made it somewhat doubt-
ful if they got thither at all — at least that night. My brother
sportsmen, however, will pardon my dwelling a little on the line
here, and those who are not sportsmen are aware how the human
soul delights to recall its past pleasures ; in fact, as Martial says
in his famous epitaph,

-" Hoc est

Vivere bis, vita posse priore frui."

Let me then sit a few minutes longer in the arm-chair, waiting
for the fog to clear up, and give one other specimen of my host's
singular manner of expressing himself: " Allow me to ask you,
Mr. Williamson," said I, "did you ever see a perfect hound ?' —
" Why," replied he, " I was once asked that question before, and
my answer was, one might just as well expect to find a human
being that had never deviated from the moral law, as a fox-hound
that would not sometimes do wrong." I was much amused at this
singular but pithy remark, rendered doubly impressive by the
forcible manner in which it was delivered, and I could not help
thinking it might have served for a comment upon the philosophy
of Plato. Man is the same now as he was in the days of Solo-
mon ; the impulse of his nature is strong but his morality is weak,
and no mortal can repair what Adam destroyed. Thus is it with
brutes. He that seeks to extinguish every unruly passion — every
vicious propensity — by an absolute control of their nature, will
find himself mistaken, and with the one, as with the other, fevr
have the merit to walk erect in a slippery path.

" Naturam expellas furca, tamen usque recurret."

It is natural to suppose that no man so independent in circum-
stances as Williamson is known to be, would remain in servitude
and hunt a pack of hounds, unless he were a real enthusiast in.
the noble sport. The following anecdote is very demonstrative
of the exhilarating effect of a fine run upon such a temperament
as his — in short upon a real lover of fox-hunting. " Faith," said
one of his daughters to her little brother one day, "gin you want
ony thing of your fether, noo is the time ; he's just come home,
vary much pleased 'with a' that he has done." But when shall I
stop if I indulge in a recapitulation of all the anecdotes I have
heard related of this extraordinary man ? His zeal in the chase
has given birth to many. Coming once to a check in the great
north road, he found a horseman there in the midst of the pack,
" What the h — // brings you here ?" roared Williamson, taking-

334 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

liim of course for one of his field who had got ahead of his hounds
by some unfair nick ; little thinking that he was addressing a
commercial traveller on his journey from London. But fancy a
member of this useful fraternity, got so far on his road to the good
sown of Edinburgh ; having worked his way

'* Per varies casus et tot discrimina rerum,"

fhrough good report and evil report, bad debts and good ones,
large orders and small ones, doing his utmost for his employers,
and then to be asked by a huntsman, " What the h — // brought
him there /" To me the circumstance is irresistibly ridiculous,
and I confess I should have greatly enjoyed the scene. Under
similar circumstances he once came across an unfortunate horse-
breaker, on a two year old colt, and mistaking him also for a
M'Adamizing sport-spoiler, roared lustily out to him to " sta-and
still." Finding, however, he might as well have roared to the
rocks, or to the waves, he as lustily called to him to turn his
horse"* " Hoo shall I turn him ?" said the fellow in reply, " lie's
no been moonted before to-day, and he's sair afraid your dogs
will devour him." " Then Williamson can blow up a little now
and then !" I think I hear some of my readers exclaim. Let
Mr. Cosser of Dunse, one of his oldest friends and greatest ad-
mirers, answer this question , because it will make such readers
smile. " Hold hard, Mr. Cosser," said he one day to him on a
road, " hold hard, I tell you ; what the devil are you aboot, driv-
ing the hounds before you over the scent ? the older you get the
bigger fool you get? " Now," said Mr. Cosser to me, as he re-
lated the anecdote, " I shouldn't have minded all this, had it not
been that there were two gentlemen fifty yards before me, down
the road, at the time." Doubtless this somewhat alters the case ;
but so good a sportsman, and so excellent a rider as Mr. Cosser
is, should not have been seduced into so heinous a fault in a
huntsman's eyes, as pressing upon hounds down a road, where
the scent is always in danger of being lost.

Riding across wheat fields is thought more of in Scotland that
it is in England, and this reminds me of a good anecdote of
Williamson. Having killed his fox in a turnpike-road, he saw a
iiirmer, who had been defeated by the pace, coming sailing away
down a large field of growing wheat. " Ware wheat," roared

* It may be well to explain to some of your readers that, when hounds
.sre quite off the scent, they are apt to go in the direction they see
horses going. Sportsmen, therefore, turn their horses towards the likely

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 105

Williamson, " what the devil do you mean, man, by riding over
the wheat ?"

Farmer. " Why I was thinking "

Williamson. " Thinking ! what's the use of thinking ! you
should reflact."

Farmer. " But the wheat is my own."

Williamson. " So much the worse ; therms the force of
example."*

Now there is no longer a doubt but that Williamson can blow
up ; but that gem must be rich indeed which can afford to be set
without a foil. For my own part, however, were I not Nimrod,
I would any day stand a rating from him, for the sake of the
peculiarly forcible language in which I know it would be conveyed
to me. And suppose I give rather a convincing proof of this
power of words, the result of a nervous tone, in the pronunciation
of them, which never fails to have effect, particularly in the art
of persuading or advising. In his journey to London, in the
mail-coach, he obtained sufficient influence over one of his fellow-
passengers, a person in a large way of business, to take into his
employ a young man upon his sole recommendation, and this to
a situation in which much confidence was required. I question
whether Demosthenes himself could have done so much by any
wary Greek, as Williamson did by his brother Scot, and had he
— as against another ^schines — been pitted against him in the
coach, I should have backed the copious simplicity of the hunts-
man even against the majestic address of the orator. In power
of voice he would not have had a chance with him.

But have I nothing more to say of my hero during his visit to
London ? Yes — one little anecdote. " Williamson," said the
duke, "you should see some of the lions of London, the two parks,
&c. &c.;' " Wall, your grace," replied Williamson, " I should
greatly like to do so ; but / dorft know the country and shall be
lost." The duke immediately ordered one of his own hacks to
be saddled for him, and away sallied forth the huntsman, with
the duke's pad groom behind him, commanding the respect and
admiration of all whom he met. Now Williamson needs not the
aid of borrowed plumes ; but there cannot be a doubt that
in these days of creation, he was mistaken by many for a newly-
made lord — for one of old Wetherall's " pitchforked lot," upon
a late memorable occasion.

I have hitherto only been speaking of Williamson as a servant
to a noble duke, as a huntsman to a pack of fox-hounds, as a

* The Aquilian law— the reparation of wrongs— is in force here ; and
a bill for damage is now and then brought in.

io6 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

sportsman, but must now place him before my readers in a very
different light — as a man of education and of reading, an elder of
the Scottish kirk, and a laird of the parish of St. Boswell's,
where I am told he possesses a very pretty estate. In the two
latter relations I have nothing further to say of him than to ex-
press my sincere wish that he may long continue an elder of the
Scottish kirk, and a laird of the parish of St. BoswelPs ; and I
shall quickly despatch him in the first-named position — as a man
of education and of reading. I shall deal with him as Homer
deals with Helen — show him off, in fact, by one single stroke.
A matter of history being one day discussed by the cover's side,
without any of the field being able to determine it, a reference
was made to Williamson, who instantly decided the point. Clar-
endon says of some one, that "his education has been good
amongst books and men ;J; Williamson, it appears, has partaken
of the fruits of the former, if he have not profited by the latter ;
but a slender education tells on a strength of intellect like his.

I must now, however, take leave of the sayings -and doings of
this extraordinary man until we meet again in the hunting-field,
and I hope he will forgive the length of my notice of him. But
I have an apology at hand. By the general voice of the sporting
world he holds a pre-eminent place in the rank of huntsmen ; as
a faithful servant he is by none excelled ; and he will leave be-
hind him the example to other servants of a spotless name. The
wisdom of the philosopher then, as well as the morality of the
divine, must be contented with this, and I shall stand acquitted
of bestowing upon him unmerited praise. For my own part I
covet the feelings of such a man. The first of human blessings
is to be virtuous, the second to be praised ; and he who enjoys
both these distinctions— no matter his station — has arrived at the
summit of all earthly felicity :

" The first, the greatest bliss on man conferr'd,

Is in the acts of virtue to excel ;
The second, to obtain their high reward,

The soul-exalting praise of doing well.
Who both these lots attains is bless'd indeed,
Since fortune here below can give no richer meed."

I am compelled to follow where my subject leads me, and from
huntsman to whipper-in is the next step. Of these indispensable
coadjutors in a kennel, of course the Duke of Buccleuch has his
quantum— and this quantum is two. The first, Hugh Burn, is,
in my opinion, a most efficient man in the field ; an excellent
horseman ; and, out of the field, a well-conducted, respectable

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 107

servant. But I cannot stop here. " The very devil is in these
Scotch servants," said I to myself, after half an hour's conver-
sation with this young man in the Dalkeith stables, " they all talk
like philosophers." However, to be serious, this said whipper-in
discoursed with me on various subjects, one of them a fine run
on the preceding day, in language, the structure of which would
have done for Professor Wilson in his chair. How different,
thought I within myself, was this man's account of the various
incidents of the day he was speaking of to that given some
twenty years ago by one of his craft in England, when informing
his fellow-servants of an accident that befell the daughter of his
noble master in the field. It appeared that the young lady's
mare, called Arachne, had stumbled with her in her gallop, and,
unable to recover herself, came head over heels with her to the
ground. The whipper-in's version of her ladyship's mishap was
verbatim this : " Turn," said she ; " My lady," says Oi ; " Why,
what dun you think, Turn ? The Rackne mare put her foot in a
hole and come over tip, by G — ."

Both the whippers-in — the second is young, and so exempt
from criticism — are of Williamson's own making, I do not mean
the issue of his loins, but instructed in their calling by himself.
And his notions on this subject are certainly worthy of record.
" There's no two things," said he one day to Sir David Baird,
" so difficult to make perfect as a whipper-in and a terrier, at
least I find it so. The greatest perseverance and patience are
necessary to make them know their business." " They come to
the wrong shop for one of those articles when they come to
yours," said the Baronet. But a joke often passes between these
two noted sportsmen— allowable, it will be admitted, when it is
recollected that the one was the favoured servant of the revered
father of the other.

Surely it is now high time that the Mi-nis-ter's mare and Nim-
rod should be on their road to Kelso ; and, after one of the most
unpleasant rides I ever had in my life, for the night was as dark
as the minister's mare was black, and the ice was in places just
as smooth as her well-worn shoes, I arrived there to a second
dinner, at a little after seven. Sufficient for the day, then, is the
evil thereof; and, as Milton says,

" To-morroiv to fresh fields and pastures new."

MONDAY, 24th.— From the strength of the ice so early on the
preceding evening, I had serious misgivings as to the probability
of hunting on the morrow, and they were verified to the full ex-
tent. The fixture for this day was Kelso-bridge, but that unwel-

loS NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

come visitor in November, a hard, black frost, rendered it of no
avail. At Kelso, and still more so at St. Boswell's, the surface
of the ground was as hard as it often is at the end of a third day's
frost, yet strange to say, at Dunse it had so much the appear-
ance of a hunting day — "allowing a little for the morning/' as
fox-hunters say— that Lords Elcho, Saltoun, and Archibald Sey-
mour, and Mr. M'Dougal Grant, made their appearance in the
hunt room, about an hour after I had breakfast, to the inexpres-
sible satisfaction of Peter, who had given them up in despair.
"Now, Seymour, where are your fifty pounds for Nimrod?" I
could hear one of them say, as they were coming upstairs ; and
hereon hangs a tale perhaps not unworthy of relating. His lord-
ship has a black mare, nearly, if not quite, thorough-bred, very
fast, very stout, and also a large fencer, naturally. But she has
a fault for which she is indebted to nature. She has what is
called a joint in her neck ; in fact, she is what is termed ewe or
stag-necked, as many well-bred ones are, and consequently she
is very difficult to handle at her fences, and uncertain at them.
" Why don't you put a martingal on that mare, my lord ?" said
I to him one day, seeing the failing she had. " Oh/' replied his
lordship, a " a martingal looks so low." (t Never mind the look/'
resumed I, "you will go faster with it, than without it ; and you
will ride your mare with safety, which you have not done hereto-
fore." Lord Archibald took my advice and was so pleased with
the effect of it, that he declared he would not take fifty pounds
for the advice Nimrod had given him. But it is all nonsense
talking about horses not being able to cross a country in martin-
gals. Who rode straighter than Will Barrow, the late Mr. Cor-
bet's huntsman ? Who rode over larger fences ? Who got fewer
falls ? and who ever saw him 'without a long martingal on his
snafHe rein ? Indeed, on the very day on which I had offered
this advice, Lord Elcho was riding a horse in a martingal, and
which horse I heard he afterwards sold to Lord Eglinton, at a
good price.

About twelve o'clock, Williamson arrived from the kennel with
the fatal news that no hounds were to be at the bridge ; indeed
he had been obliged to wait for a rough-shod horse to bring him
to the town of Kelso. What then was to be done ? A lounge
through Mr. Dickinson's stables was the first step taken by way
of killing time, and then a walk to the bridge, to hear the news
of the river. But from whom were we to hear it ? — not from one of
the fifteen salmon we saw basking in its bed, but from the keeper
of the toll-bar on the bridge, who had formerly kept a fishing hut
on its banks, to which some of the celebrated gentlemen fisher-
men resorted. " Who killed the most salmon in one day last

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 109

season ?" (it was now fence time) was the question I put to him.
" One Squire Musters from England," replied the toll-keeper ;
" he killed nine clean fish." But I have reason to believe there
are few better fishermen than Mr. Musters ; and I can produce
one fact in corroboration of this assertion which I had from the
lips of a friend of his and mine, with whom I spent a day last
summer in Calais. " Last year," said he, " I got permission for
Musters to fish in some preserved water, near Uxbridge, and
where there was one trout of six pounds, in a certain hole, but
so shy that the keepers could not take him. Musters took him
the third throw !"

Setting aside personal regard, I rejoice to hear anything of
Mr. Musters — that paragon of British sportsmen. The last time
I saw him he told me he should never hunt hounds again, but I
said I was hard of belief on that subject. He is at work once
more I find in his own country, — Nottinghamshire, — and such is
the care that he has taken of himself— as another master of
hounds said — chiefly for the sake of fox-hunting, that I was in-
formed, on very good authority, that, one day last season he
planted every man in the field at an awkward place under a tree.
I read something in the papers at the commencement of the
present season, of his son showing him the way at a rasper. It
might have been so ; the young ones ought to break the binders
for the old ones ; but I will answer for it that, on this day, the
old one was " there or thereabouts " at the finish of the run
spoken of. Mr. Musters, during his visit to Colonel Fothering-
ham in Forfarshire, was once out with Mr. DalyelPs hounds,
which was the extent of his fox-hunting in Scotland. Pardon
this digression.

There were three renowned personages whose absence from
Kelso, and its neighbourhood, I very much regretted. These
were, Lord John Scott, brother to the Duke of Buccleuch, Mr.
Musters, and Mrs. Brown, whose portrait adorns your number
for May last. I had the honour of being introduced to Lord
John, by Captain Ross, in London, but I never saw his lordship
either before or since, to my knowledge. Independently of his
fine horsemanship, the high character he bears in Roxburghshire
as an open-hearted, unaffected young man, which it appears has
fixed him so firmly in the kindly affections of all descriptions of
persons, rendered me very desirous of making his acquaintance
previously to my quitting Scotland ; and I was flattered into a
belief that such would be the case, as his return from the Medi-
terranean was every day expected. Mr. Musters had visited
Kelso, not for the purpose of hunting but of fishing, so had no
inducement to remain long after hunting commenced. Being by

no NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

the side of the Tweed however, one day, as Williamson was
finding his fox, he was fortunate enough to view him away, and
of course " gave the office." " Who is that holloaing away the
fox?" inquired the Duke; "it is a sportsman I am sure" It
was Musters ; to whom his Grace immediately made an offer of
a mount so long as he remained in Scotland, but which that
celebrated sportsman declined, having no hunting clothes at
command.

It may readily be imagined that I was not a little in the dumps
at this apparent prospect of a serious stop to hunting, and that
the sight of fifteen salmon, out of season, or even the Arcadian
scenery of the Tweed, was a poor substitute for the Duke of
Buccleuch's fox-hounds, and a good day's sport. Moreover,
Williamson had brought me the most agreeable intelligence that
his Grace had ordered a horse to be at cover for me so long as I
remained at Kelso. The day, however, despite of frost and fog,
was not, as Thompson says, " delightless," for at this period of
it a trifling circumstance occurred that gave me great pleasure,
inasmuch as it left its moral. This was the manner in which
Lord Elcho addressed the toll-bar keeper and his wife, for old
acquaintance sake, and no doubt in recollection of the sport he
had had in company with the former, amongst the finny tribe.
To make my story short — he shook them both heartily by their
hands, and right-well pleased did they show themselves with the
compliment paid them. But the moral ! Why simply this ; —
That no difference in rank and station allows a thoroughly kind-
hearted man to stifle feelings nature has gifted him with, and
that they will burst forth when she calls. Nor is this all. There
must have been a heartfelt consciousness in the old couple that
their good conduct could alone have entitled them to this publicly-
bestowed honour. No wonder then that — as I have already said
he is — Lord Elcho is popular. Pride and ill-nature will be hated
in spite of all the wealth and all the greatness this world can
bestow; but civility is always safe. Even the double diadem of
Demetrius could not command regard.

In an hour from this time, the Dunse party mounted the
double-bodied phaeton that had brought them to Kelso; Mr.
Fletcher Campbell remounted his hack ; and, like the Doctor in
the fable, the redoubted Peter

" Took his leave with signs of sorrow,
Despairing of his fee to-morrow."

And what was left for me ? Nothing but Noctes Ambrosianae in
Blackwoo&s Magazine— & great treat I admit, and a substitute

NIMROHS NORTHERN TOUR. in

for most things, save fox-hunting — until a walk in the country
was proposed by Mr. Callander, the ladies following us in his
carriage, to inspect the house of a gentleman* in the neighbour-
hood, conspicuous for his classical taste in books, pictures, and
statues.

Tuesday, 25th. — The frost disappeared as suddenly"as it came,
and the duke's hounds met this clay at a place called Rutherford,
distant from Kelso about four miles ; but I have very little to
say of sport. The ground was hard and slippery, the country
bad, and the fox worse than all, for although he was found in,
and broke from, a large wood, he suffered himself to be coursed
in view by the pack, and died after a short run of somewhere
about three miles. There was, in fact, but one redeeming clause
in the operations of this day, which was the peculiarity of the
spot on which the who-whoop took place — in a deeply seques-
tered and finely timbered glen, through which the Tweed
meanders with more than its usual habits, also nearly oppo-
site to the famous Abbey of Dryburgh, and from whence the
venerable beauty of its ruin is exhibited to great advantage. To
Scotchmen, this abbey is rendered interesting from sundry his-
torical recollections ; to all men by the fact that the remains of
a man who —

" velut inter ignes luna minores " —

delighted the world by his literary talents, and astounded it by
his literary labours, are interred within its walls. It is hardly
necessary to add to whom I allude — to the immortal author of
" Marmion? and when listening to the baying of the hounds
previously to their breaking up their fox, which resounded mag-
nificently through the glades and windings of this deep ravine, I
doubted not but that within its sepulchral walls— -where echo, it
is said, delights to dwell — it might also have been repeated to
the listening ear. Knowing then, as I did know, that this de-
parted poet was a sportsman and had so often made such scenes
as this his theme, I could not but lament that that ear was deaf
to the soul-enchanting sound. But I believe I am wrong here.
The sepulchre of the poet is no longer the residence of Echo.
It has been elegantly said, that, on the death of Bion, the dis-
consolate nymph roved among the rocks, listening, as* it were,
to catch the last murmuring of his notes ; but listening in vain
she became melancholy and mute.

Not far from this ancient monastery, and within our sight this

* Mr. Waldie, then absent at Bath.

H2 NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

day, was a still more splendid structure which superstition reared
in the dark ages of this country — the far-famed Abbey of Mel-
rose, which I ought to feel ashamed of myself for not having
gone purposely to inspect. But what said the poet of whom I
have just been speaking ?

" If thou would'st view fair Melrose aright,
Go visit it by the pale moonlight."

Now there was no moon during the week I was at Kelso ; neither
if there had, could I have spared a day or rather a night for that
purpose ; nor indeed, by his own admission, had Sir Walter him-
self ever seen it by that light, when he at the time strongly re-
commended it to others. But this goes for nothing. Although
a story may be fabulous the moral may be just, nor is truth
weakened by the ornamental language in which it is conveyed
to us. But I will borrow words more expressively elegant than
my own. " The shaft of the stately column," says a writer in
an Edinburgh Review,* " is not weakened by the Acanthus
which curls at its summit, nor is reason less enlightened when it
derives a ray from the imagination." The Douglas of" Chevy
Chace" lies interred in this abbey.

From the circumstance of its being what may be called a
second-hand fixture, in addition to the unfavourable state of the
country from the remains of the frost, and Lord Elcho's and the
Galewood hounds also being out, we had a very small field,
which rendered the disappointment the less ; and to myself it
was none at all. I rode a horse King had sent me from Edin-
burgh in lieu of one I had returned to him, and which appeared
never to have seen hounds before. One solitary incident, then,
is all I have more to relate of this inauspicious day. When
within half a mile of the cover, Williamson turned out of the
road into the fields parallel to it, for the purpose of avoiding
thorns with which it was strewed, to the great annoyance of the
hounds, as they found their way into their feet. Perceiving
Frank Collison, who was in the rear of them, on a fine long-
tailed horse, which threw up his heels and squealed after he
leaped a fence, I observed to Mr. Callander — " What a slapping
four-year-old colt old Frank has got under him this morning !"
Now what did this four-year-old colt prove to be, but old
Alphabet, in his nineteenth year / I was sorry, however, to
learn before I quitted Scotland, that there were symptoms of the
old horse failing— at all events doubts were entertained whether
he would carry the duke another season, and for this reason :—

* January, 1835. Article, "British Scientific Association."

NIM ROD'S NOR THERN TO UR. 1 13

towards the end of a severe day, he, for the first time in his life
• — at least he was never given to do so — took to refusing his
fences, which in old hunters is an almost unerring sign of " cut-
ting it " altogether. However, go when he may, he owes his
noble master nothing, as he must have given him many a de-
lightful ride.

Wednesday, 26th. — Met the duke's hounds at Kelso Bridge,
and trotted away to Lempitlan, and found in a very strong whin
cover. Here I had an opportunity of seeing this celebrated
pack give the lie to the assertion that they are shy of facing
thick gorse. Our fox on this day indeed appeared resolved to
put them to the proof, for he never broke at all, but died at the
end of an hour, during which time almost every hound was at
work. I appeal to all who were present if they could expect or
desire to see this species of fox-hunting better or more effectually
performed ; nor was there a finer or stronger fox than the hunted
one ever seen ; and his never attempting to break, showed the
strength of the cover.

I had one of the duke's own horses brought to cover for me
this day — a fine brown gelding called Don Juan, by Childe
Harold, purchased, as Matthew told me, from Colonel Douglas,
one of the duke's guardians, during his Grace's minority. I had
the pleasure of knowing the colonel, during the seasons he
hunted in Oxfordshire, where we esteemed him — and I believe
he is very generally esteemed — a superior judge of a hunter.
There are some beautiful points in Don Juan — such as length of
shoulder and frame, so highly essential in a hunter.

Our next draw was a noted cover called Haddon Riggs, which
produced a fox that stood an hour and forty minutes and beat
us by getting into a village. The country was good — enclosed
throughout, in part strongly — and we had every description of
chase to show off the working of hounds. In short, it was what
is called a fine hunting run, wanting nothing but the finish ; and
at times — the first burst in particular — fast enough for any man,
considering the severity of the country. The first check— at
crossing a road — was likewise happily got rid of by Williamson ;
and from end to end the run was ridden to, by the few horsemen
who were out, in a straightforward and sportsmanlike manner.
There was nothing like jealousy, no pressing upon hounds, but
•every man's object appeared to be the same — to see, and not to
mar sport. The two Mr. Baillies, Mr. Henry Scott, of Harden,
a relation of the duke's, and Captain Spottiswoode were, as
usual, where they ought to have been. The duke himself was
not out. In the first place the fixture was a long distance from
Bow Wood, where he was at that time residing ; and, secondly,

a

1 14 NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TO UR.

his Grace sacrifices his pleasures to the multifarious duties of
his station to a degree that perhaps might scarcely be credited
in a person at his age, and also so fond of hounds. In fact, no
man works harder than the Duke of Buccleuch ; but it appears
Horace was right when he said

" Nil sine magno

Vila labore dedit mortalibus. "

Two circumstances in the course of this run call for a remark
— one relating to the hounds, the other to their huntsman, and to
which I have already slightly alluded. Towards the end of this fine
run it was my good fortune to get alongside the pack, for about
a mile, in a narrow valley, when they went their very best pace,
with a breast-high scent, over fine old grass. But they did not
carry a head ; on the contrary, they tailed, as the term is, to a
more than usual degree. My only remark to Williamson when
we neared each other in the chase was—" Did you see those
young Merlin hounds at head ?" to which he nodded assent ; but
at a subsequent meeting in the field the following conversation
took place between us : — •

Nimrod. Your "hounds did a good day's work on Wednesday,
with that brace of foxes.

Williamson. They surely did. They worked very hard in
the first whin, and it was very hot for them all that time in cover.

Nimrod. It told upon them ; for they were somewhat blown
where the scent was so good over the grass in the valley.

Williamson. Wall, do you know, sir (emphatically), / was-
thinking yon would be of that opinion ; but I will tell you what it
was. You noticed those young Merlin hounds out of Countess
and Lucy, at head. .Wall — depend upon it, the old hounds rather
mistrusted them.

Now my real motive for discussing this subject with William-
son was a desire to hear from his own lips, and in his peculiar
manner, what excuse he would offer for an apparent Deficiency of
either wind or power, and my readers will agree with me that a
better concocted one, at a pinch, could not have been produced
by a huntsman. But who can blame a man for being jealous of
the reputation of a system he has laboured to bring to perfection ;
and if I were to enumerate all the apologies for hounds that my
recollection would furnish me with— for foxes " lost or mislaid"
— they would form a long catalogue. Some of them, too, would
amuse : as for example. " Who-whoop," holloaed one of our
oldest, best, and cheeriest English gentlemen-huntsmen now
going — as his hounds threw up at the end of a brilliant burst,

NIMROITS NORTHERN TOUR. 115

succeeded by an unsuccessful cast. " He's gone to ground ; Jez-
abel, good bitch, has marked him in." (Blowing his horn.) " Get
them away, Jack, we can't bolt him, for the drain runs across the
high road.'' Unfortunately, however, a yokel comes up to this
best of all gentlemen-huntsmen with the following pithy informa-
tion— which he himself knew as well as the yokel did. " I say
— maester ; there's no fox in yon drain, for I sees the cobwebs
right in the mouth on't P

But, believe me, Mr. Williamson, there is to animal, if hot to
mechanical, power a limit which cannot be exceeded, howmuch-
so-ever it may be increased by judicious assistance from man.
The Duke of Buccleuch's hounds — or those of any other man —
form not an exception to this rule. That hour's work in the whin
cover, added to another hour over a deep, and, in great part,
ploughed country, some of which carried, as the term is, told upon
them, as it would tell upon all others ; and towards the end of
forty minutes more it is not to be wondered at that young hounds
— which per haps had not been so active in the whin — should be
at the head, and some of the old ones at the tail, and particularly
so at the pace the pack was at this time going. Shortly after
this the day told upon the horses, and the walls and ditches
looked high and wide even to the best of them ; but I saw no
falls, and but few were absent at the finish.

I have previously alluded to two clever casts I saw made "by-
Williamson, one of which, — " the cast forward? — occurred to-
wards the end of this chase. After running very hard over low,
deep, and rich land, the hounds got upon that which was higher
and lighter, which brought them to check in some plantations,
a short distance from a gentleman's house which was below
them.* Not hitting off the scent, after the second fling for it,
Williamson put his horn to his mouth, and galloped down to the
house, at which he knew there was a drain occasionally used by
foxes. He was right ; our fox had tried it, and gone on.

I have already mentioned the finish to this run. Our fox —
evidently one of the right sort — gained the large village of
Yetholm, the renowned colony of gipsies, and there found his
safety. And yet one would imagine Yetholm to be about the last
place for any living animal — eatable or non-eatable — to find itself
secure in ; but it appears that the gipsies here are but little dis-
tinguished by peculiarity of character or habits from their fellow-
townsmen, although they do not intermarry with them. There
is a fine lake near this place called Primside Lake, which Mr,
George Baillie told me abounded with pike of great size ; and

* Called The Cherry Trees.

8—2

3r6 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

amongst its other curiosities the church of Yetholm is covered
with thatch — reminding one of the primitive simplicity of its first
days.

It is somewhat remarkable that every pack of hounds in this
part of Scotland had sport on this said Wednesday, November
26th. The duke's run was an hour and forty minutes ; Major
St. Paul had an hour and forty-five minutes, which cost Lord
Frederick Fitzclarence a horse ; and Lord Elcho an hour and
:hirty-five minutes, losing his fox, as we lost ours, in a village,
at dark. Now does any gentleman-sportsman or philosopher — in
this part of Scotland — keep a meteorological journal ? If so, let
me request him to turn to it and give us the result of his this
day's observations. It appears to have been a hunting day ; for
although our scent was at times flashy, I attributed that circum-
stance more to the country than to the day, and as it was, it was
good enough to have killed the best fox that ever wore a brush
— I mean by fair hunting, with pace enough to satisfy most men.
Thursday, November 27th. — Mr. Callander and myself were
©n our hacks just as the day was dawning, having sixteen miles to
ride to what I must call a nominal breakfast at Mr. Sprot's, of Rid-
dle, for Peter had taken care to break our fast with a profusion of
good things before we started. Still what matters it how often
men eat who hunt five times in one week and ride sixteen miles
to cover ? But to proceed. Critics have decided that a descrip-
tion of sun-set is stale and trite, and can no longer be endured —
although they are obliged to admit that it is then that nature
looks so lovely, and that it is then that her language is so deep
and devotional — therefore I must be cautious what I say of sun-
vise. But all the Longinusses that were ever created cannot
make us insensible to the impressions of nature, and were I to
live a century longer I should not forget old Phcebus's appearance
©n this morning, nor how, after gilding the tops of the mountains
above us, he broke through the mist that hung upon the Tweed,
and showed us his face in the water, as if in the mirror of day.
But previously to his appearance, I observed to Mr. Callander
that the view of Kelso and its beautiful environs could not pos-
sibly look to more advantage than they did by the extraordinarily
gray twilight of this fine morning, which, as " Venus is the pro-
mise of the sun," was the harbinger of a beautiful day.

About ten o'clock we were at our second breakfast at this
venerable old mansion — one of the oldest, I was told, in this
part of Scotland, and indeed such did its appearance indicate —
•where we found several sportsmen were assembled, and in half an
jiour afterwards the hounds arrived, accompanied by their noble
*wner. A horse called Bishop was also brought from the kennel

N1M ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 117

for myself, and we immediately proceeded to business, accom-
panied by the lady of the house, who rode elegantly and well, upon
a thoroughly broke horse, but only as an amateur, at a distance.

Being splendidly mounted — on one of the duke's own horses
again, and I believe the best fencer in his stables* — I was sorely
disappointed at the unfavourable result of this promising day;
for old Phoebus had disappeared, and it had every sign of a
hunting one. The hounds divided on two scents at starting, and
although we run one fox to ground at double quick time, there
was too much of the " short and sweet " about the thing to be
satisfactory, unless it were to the horses. We had a sharp burst
with another fox, which also went to ground ; but this was not
comme il faut; for although the leading hounds could run hard,
the body of the pack could not at times run up, for the want of
a holding scent. All this must have been very annoying to the
duke, it being the first and only day's hunting he allowed himself
in that week ; and he was mounted on Jemmy, of whom I have
spoken as a particularly clever thorough-bred horse, and all over
a hunter. Frank Collison was on old Alphabet again, looking;
ready for business, and I intended having an eye to him, in con-
sideration of former experience of him in the field.

Our hacks being at St. BoswelPs — where Mr. Callander's
horse lay the preceding night — we returned home with the
hounds ; saw them put into their kennels ; sat half an hour with
Williamson, talking over the occurrences of the day ; and after
refreshing ourselves with a glass of his " Who the devil sent you
this?" mounted our hacks, and after a pitch-dark ride, got te
Kelso to our dinner about seven. We lived in clover, for inde-
pendently of the good things provided by Peter, or at least by
his master, we had a succession of game and fruit from Preston-
hall, the fine seat of Mr. Callander, whose gardens are, I believe,
not to be excelled in Scotland. The use of the hunt room also,
affording a retiring room for the ladies in the apartments occu-
pied by the party previously to my joining them, rendered the
tout ensemble so complete, that we might have almost made
ourselves believe we were actually living at Preston-hall, instead
of at this very excellent inn.

Neither were our evenings wanting in the accomplishments of
domestic life. When we joined the ladies in their drawing-roon\
after a temperate enjoyment of the bottle, we found Mrs. Callan-

* When riding this horse on another occasion, a farmer thus ad
dressed me : — " You are riding the highest leaper in all Scotland. T*
see the walls Mr. Ogilvie" (his former owner) " used to ride that horse
over, would have terrified any common mind"

si 8 Nl&RQirS NOR THERN TO UR.

der, with her guitar in her hand, ready to accompany her voice
in song, and, after the ruder pleasures of the day, to lull us with
34 sounds of sweetest melody." Nor is there any poetical exag-
geration here. Had Mrs. Callander's lot been differently cast,
she might have ranked high amongst professional singers, as
strength and sweetness are combined in her song, and, when in
its plaintive strain, I really cannot name her equal. Now having
said this, how can I bring myself to relate the following fact, or,
in other words, to expose the weakness of my nature ? I was
asked to sing, I said I could not sing. But I was told I could
sing — in fact I was at last told that I must sing.

Now what says Mr. Congreve in his " Mourning Bride ?"

" Music has charms to soothe the savage breast ;
To soften rocks and bend the knotted oak ;"

and had the poet added, " to make a man make a fool of him-
self," the highly-wrought picture would have been complete.
" Then," said I, " I will sing," and, perhaps emboldened by the
"best part of a bottle of Lafitte murdered the beautiful air of

" Majestic rose the god of day
In yon bright burnish'd sky,"

in very great style. But what can resist the solicitations of the
ladies ? Neither the wisdom of Solomon, nor the piety of David,
were proof against it, and how could Nimrod's philosophy be
expected to be so ?

But human folly and human presumption seldom pass scot-
free— never, I believe, by those who have themselves been guilty
of them ; and I shall not soon forget my next morning's recol-
lection of having so presumptuously presented myself after a
well-graced actor. It flitted across my mind as my eyes opened,
and a dose of Dover powders would have been powerless in
producing the sudorific effect that it almost instantaneously
occasioned. I consoled myself, however, with the reflection
that life is but a joke, and that the very wisest of us all are but
pursuing bubbles which break in their flight.

By an arrangement recently made* between the owners of them,
"hounds are to be reached every day in the week, from either
Dunse or Kelso ; and on Friday, November 28th, Major St.
Paul met at Cornhill inn, within a mile of Coldstream, a place

* The Duke of Buccleuch engaged to meet every Tuesday, and Major
St. Paul every Friday, within reach of Dunse and Kelso.

NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 119

of which I have already spoken ; just ten miles from Kelso, and
a very pretty ride, almost all by Tweed side. On* my arrival
there with Mr. Callander, I saw symptoms of a large attendance
of sportsmen, which indicated a good opinion of the fixture. The
stables were full of hunters which arrived on the previous
evening from Dunse, and other places ; and calls for " break-
fast" resounded throughout the inn, for those who had arrived
from afar. In fact there was note of preparation, not for war,
but for business.

A little after ten o'clock, Major St. Paul arrived with his
hounds, which looked in very excellent condition. The same
might have been said of a very Englishman-like looking person
who accompanied him, in a drab great coat, buttoned up to his
chin, but not an inch of the "pink" to be seen, even at the skirts.
41 How are you ?" said St. Paul to me ; " How are you ?" said I.
" How are you ?" said the other ; " How axzyou?" said I — with
a familiar nod of my head, in answer to a familiar nod of his
head. Now, until he peeled to the pink, I was quite unconscious
of whom I was addressing — that it was Lord Frederick Fitz-
clarence, one of my king's sons ; so, yielding to no man in
loyalty, I thought it my duty to ride up to his lordship and
explain. But those who know him, will say, I might have saved
myself the trouble, for there is not an ounce of starch about Lord
Frederick Fitzclarence, who set down my familiarity to its true
account — the non-recollection of his person, muffled up as it
was.

We drew over a great deal of country, and some fine whin
covers, with only a very slight touch of a drag, and I began to
think we were in for a blank day, when Lord Frederick got
tidings that some main earths were not stopped, through a mis-
take in the stoppers, and we consequently trotted away to Lear-
mouth Bog. This was in every sense of the word an agreeable
move, for the weather was wild and boisterous on the higher
ground, and we had now descended into a milder region, as well
as a more hunting-like country, and a brilliant day's sport was
the happy result.

It has not been my lot to see a great many foxes found on
bogs ; but of this I am certain — that when the surrounding
ground commands a view of the proceedings, a bog is the place
of all others to see "a find" to advantage. In the first place,
every hound is at once present to the eye when drawing, there
being nothing to cover them ; and the sight of the whole pack —
perhaps jumping from tussuck to tussuck, in the hope of pouncing
upon the villain, is no small treat. Then see them feathering on
the scent before he is found— as we did this day — how beautiful

120 NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

they look, clustering together, as it were to assist each other !
But the find ! to see him jump up in view — as we also did this
day — and break that view in the second field, by his speed and
his cunning — by heavens it is the very perfection of the thing at
starting. Fox, hounds, and horsemen all get away at once, and
as the saying is, " it is the devil take the hindmost."

It was my ill-luck, this day, to be mounted on, I think, the
worst horse I ever bestrode in my life under the denomination of
a hunter. He was one of what we jocosely called "the royal
stud" — that is one of Mr. King's, and had been handed over to
me by M'Dowall Grant, who had found him worthless, and yet
the brute had something the appearance of a hunter. But
this is a digression ; I must give an account of the run.

No fox ever found by hounds went more gallantly away than*
this did, and almost every man in the field got a fair start. But
a fair start and a good one are two very different things, a fact
clearly shown this day by Lord Elcho, who, benefiting by his
Leicestershire education, was away with the leading hounds, and
by the time they had crossed a road, his lordship was comfortably
landed by their side. And how long did he remain there ?
Why for exactly forty minutes, at the end of which the fox was
killed, having travelled eleven miles point blank in that short
space without one single check — over as fine a country too —
barring one circumstance — as a man could desire to ride over ;.
and as Lord Elcho himself declared, having shown as straight-
forward and brilliant a run — if not the most straightforward and
brilliant— he had ever seen in any country, Leicestershire
always excepted. But I will describe this country. It was more
than half under grass. The ploughed land and the stubbles rode
light ; the fields were of good size, and the fences not large, and
most of them such as could be taken nearly in stroke. And who-
else saw it ? Why as far as I was able to judge of it, I can
compare it to nothing better than a race, in which Lord Elcho
was first ; Mr. M'Kenzie Grieve, second ; Lord Eglinton,.
third ; and Mr. Fletcher of Saltoun, fourth. These were dis-
tinguishable by the colours of their horses — the three first having
been chestnuts, and Mr. Fletcher's white— all the rest, as O'Kelly
said, " nowhere," and Mr. Fletcher got a little wide of the line,
as I was told, towards the finish. Lord Frederick Fitzclarence
was at the very farther extremity of the bog when the fox broke,
and although he made desperate efforts to get up, and passed me
at an awful pace, I despaired of his getting in front, unless a
check occurred, for two sufficient reasons. First — his weight —
good sixteen stone I should say ; secondly, there was no chance
for a nick, as the line was nearly straight.

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 121

There was but one drawback to this splendid run, besides the
fact of its being too fast for the general enjoyment of the field,
for it is but few who can enjoy a run at such a pace as this —
eleven miles in just forty minutes ! But the drawback ! Why
the last view I had of the hounds was, as they were ascending
a steep bank, on which I was able to distinguish the three chest-
nuts and the grey. There must be a ravine, thought I within
myself; how shall I get across that, for my horse is dead blown
at present ? We had then been going about twenty minutes.
" A river," exclaimed one of the field, who had dropped astern
like myself. And he might have said more than this. We
were on classic ground, and he might have sung with the
poet —

" Meandering Till's impetuous flow
Runs wildly in the vale below."

It was the Till, if not the most rapid, the most treacherous river
in all Scotland — I believe I may also say in England, as we were
at this time in England— and in which Mr. Sitwell of Barmoor
Castle (author of the Letters of Nim North), so nearly lost his
life. However, as the hounds crossed it, of course the most of
the field crossed it, and without any disaster. But my attempt
was an unfortunate one, by coming down upon it in a treacherous
place, which, with a horse dead blown, was very far from a joke.
I had not proceeded many yards, about belly deep, and with a
very strong current, before my horse dropped overhead and ears
into a hole, but quickly struggled out of it. He then fell on his
head over a huge stone, but we did not part company, In
another ten yards, over head and ears he went again, but still we
stuck to each other, " like a lover to his bride," as Saddell says
in his song, and at last reached the bank. Captain Grant of the
Ninth Lancers, who was likewise on one of " the royal stud," a
thoroughbred one too, but so blown, that, like my own, he could
scarcely scramble over a gap, was close behind me at the time,
but, supposing that I was gone salmon fishing, looked for a safer
place and made his way across the stream.

But what situation was I in when I found myself on terra,
firma ? By the time I had ascended the steep bank, and steep
indeed it was, my horse could scarcely stand, although I led him
up it in my hanH. I espied a hard road in the direction the
hounds had taken ; I thought I might bring him round a bit
upon that ; but alas ! I had left a fore-shoe in the Till, and the
road was newly stoned. I then turned into the enclosures, and
following as well as I could in their wake, in company with

122 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

another unfortunate, got up to the hounds about ten minutes after
they had worried their fox— say twenty from the time they had
killed him.

The first person who addressed me was Lord Frederick Fitz-
clarence, who, like myself, had been in trouble, for his face was
bleeding from a wound. " Go to him " (St. Paul), said his lord-
ship, " and make him happy, his hounds have behaved to ad-
miration." The next was Lord Elcho. " I do not hesitate," said
that fine sportsman— and observe, reader, they are words spoken
by the master of a neighbouring pack, as applying to the merits
of another neighbouring pack — "to say that, barring two or
three in Leicestershire, I have seen to-day the quickest and
straightest thing from end to end, that I ever saw with hounds
in my life." As to the gallant master of the pack, it was allowed
by all, that there could be no such happy man as himself, that
day, in Northumberland, neither do I suppose there was, for his
hounds had given unbounded satisfaction to a field, and a field
chiefly composed of sportsmen. I regret to say that Sir David
Baird missed this fine run ; he left us before we descended into
the vale, having fixed to look at a horse at Kelso, and to return
to Dunse that night. It would have just suited him, and no
doubt he would have added one to the happy trio who saw it
all.

We killed him at a place called Tiptoe, above Greaveslead,
some miles above the celebrated Twizle Castle.

Lord Elcho this day rode a horse called Beppo, purchased of
those celebrated dealers, Messrs. Elmores, and well known in
the neighbourhood of London, as having distinguished himself
in steeple-chases. He is exactly his lordship's sort of horse —
well bred, not too big for the cramped fences of Berwickshire,
and quite perfect in his work ; but unfortunately he kicks
hounds, therefore he cannot ride him with his own. If I had
such a horse, I should be tempted to try an experiment with
him. I should keep two or three black and white coloured curs
with him in his box, with the hopes of his becoming reconciled
to them in time ; and if he killed a few of that description of
vermin, society would be benefited by their riddance, for nine
cases in ten of hydrophobia have their origin in half-starved
curs. Lord Eglinton rode a large thorough-bred horse, whose
name I cannot remember, but a truly Leicestershire-like hunter ;
Mr. M'Kenzie Grieve was on the flower of his flock, but the
name has likewise escaped me.

The day's alloy was now at hand — namely, the ride home,
nearly twenty miles, with a horse in a doubtful state. He carried
me, however, tolerably well when in company with the party

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 123

who were making their way for Cornhill, where their hacks were
awaiting their arrival ; but after having stopped at a blacksmith's
shop, at the end of about four miles, my situation was by no
means an enviable one. Losing the excitement of good com-
pany, my nag began to exhibit awful symptoms of being tired
when I got him under weigh again, and one which I had never
experienced before. This was, " his forming up," a la dragoon,
to every coal-cart horse he overtook on the road, and scraping
acquaintance with him, by a neigh. However, by easing him of
my weight for the greater part of the distance, and coaxing him
along over the remainder, I got him to Cornhill, with the inten-
tion of leaving him there for the night ; but as there was not a
hack to be procured, a pint of sherry and an hour's rest enabled
him to carry me to Kelso.

The party from Dunse had not left Cornhill when I arrived
there on my tired horse, having been detained by two separate
causes — first, to refresh themselves after the fatigues of the day,
for independently of the run, the morning had been rude and
tempestuous ; and secondly, they were under alarm for the safety
of Mr. Charles Lamb, who by his not having made his appear-
ance either at the finish, or at Cornhill, where his hack was "
planted, it was feared might have been left in the Till ; the
alarm, however, was groundless ; but how he disposed of his
time, or where else he crossed the Tweed, I forgot, subsequently,
to inquire.

I was this day invited to a large dinner party, at Dunse, given
by Lord Saltoun'and Mr. M'Dowall Grant ; but great as was the
temptation, I was unwilling to miss the next day's hunting with
the duke, and a mount from his Grace's stud. Mr. Callander
and myself then — for he was kind enough to wait the restoration
of the bodily powers of my horse — set forward for Kelso just as
the night was setting in. And here I have a word to say. I
had formed an opinion that the lower orders of the Scottish
people, by the beneficial effects of education, unknown to English
boors, were humanized by such means far beyond their neigh-
bours. It may be so ; and we should not judge, generally, by
individual cases ; but Mr. Callander will back my assertion, that
a more ruffianly set of fellows than the drivers of the one horse
carts which we met that night on the road, never disgraced any
civilized country. In fact, such was their recklessness of limb
or life towards those persons they met, or passed, that it was
next to miraculous that no accident occurred. As for ourselves,
although by the fact of Mr. Callander being mounted on a white
horse, our approach was sufficiently visible, it was only by creep-
ing into ditches that we twice saved ourselves from being run

124 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

down, when on the right side of a very wide road. Drunkenness
might have been pleaded in excuse, it being market day, but of
what avail is education if it correct not such evils as this, and in
a country purely agricultural ?

Having arrived in safety at Kelso, a change of scene presented
itself. The Cross Keys inn looked as if it was illuminated, at
least every room in the house appeared occupied, and, as we
entered the gateway, the words " hip, hip, hip, Hoo-RAY," re-
sounded in our ears from above, as the welcoming of a popular
toast. " There is a jovial set somewhere," said I to my friend,
" no doubt they are drinking ' Fox-hunting.' ;; The cheering
sound, however, proceeded from a party composed of about half
a dozen gentlemen of landed property in Roxburghshire, and
two hundred of the yeomen of the country, writh the Duke of
Buccleuch at the head of them, who had just finished their
dinners. But I was wrong about the toast — it was " the King,"
that called forth this ebullition of good feeling ; yet, strange to
say, the health of all " the kings of the earth," at popular meet-
ings of this sort, would be drunk in silence, when compared with
the toast ®i fox-hunting, and in about an hour afterwards, as we
sat at our dinner, we heard the whole house ring with another
of these boisterous overflowings of the soul, enough to shake it
to its foundation. " Now they are drinking fox-hunting," said I ;
and7Jon Peter being despatched to ascertain the fact, we found it
was even so. " The gentlemen have been drinking the duke
and his fox-hounds," was the result of Peter's mission. Then
soon after this the Welkin rang again — for neither roof, nor wall,
could confine the uproarious shouting of this jovial party at the
moment. "What now, Peter?"— " Why," replied Peter, "Mr.
Hay of Dunse Castle has been giving 'em a speech, and he said
something just at the fi-nish of it that seemed to tickle a' the
gentlemen vastly." Now here we have the orator, inasmuch as
what the death of the fox is to the chase — the climax is to a
speech.

"Still rising to a climax, till the last
Surpassing all is not to be surpass'd."

And no wonder that an old master of hounds, like Mr. Hay,
should leave something good for the finish. But all climaxes
won't bear the types, and perhaps this will not. It was, I believe,
a happy allusion to some part of the dress of a Highland chief
— a fair subject for a joke, and I must leave my readers to guess
the use that was made of it.

Having learned from Peter that the duke and a few of his

NIMROUS NOR THERN TO UR. 125

friends had retired into a private room, Mr. Callander and my-
self joined them, and described the fine run we had had in the
morning, with St. Paul, in the pleasure of which they partici-
pated, from regard to the owner of the hounds, and I was con-
gratulated on my escape from the Till, which several of the
party declared to be the most dangerous river in the country,
from the numerous holes with which it abounds, in addition to
the rapidity of the current. Mr. Sitwell, they said, was saved in
it as by a miracle, by catching the end of the lash of a whipper-
in's whip, just as his strength had ceased to enable him to
struggle any longer against the stream.

I have already observed that few men work harder than the
Duke of Buccleuch does, and here is one proof. Seeing his
Grace booted and spurred, and with a'whip in his hand, I asked
him " how he was going home." " On horseback," was the
reply. Now the night was neither wet nor rough, but so dark
that one gentleman, though perfectly sober, had a miraculous
escape for his life by falling, horse and all, down a precipice
close to the river Tweed, into which his horse went. On my
asking his Grace afterwards, how he got to Bow Wood, full
twenty miles, he answered, " Oh ! very well ; a neighbouring
miller and myself travelled very comfortably together." Now
this circumstance would not be worthy of mention here were it
not for a comment upon it ; and I think I know enough of
human nature, at all events of the nature of that description of
men whom the duke had this day honoured with his company
at a convivial meeting at Kelso — to pronounce that had his
Grace stepped out of his carriage and four, on his arrival, and
into it at his departure, it would have stripped the honour he
had conferred upon his countrymen of much of its value in their
eyes. This sort of cessio bonorum, if I may be allowed a lawyer's
phrase — this putting himself personally on a par with the smallest
farmer at the dinner, was, I will answer for it, not void of effect,
although perhaps unintentional on the duke's part ; and the
riding " comfortably home with the miller," like Mr. Hay's
fi-nish to his speech, was the climax.

It amused me to hear that the duke introduced into his speech,
not only the great advantages farmers derive from fox-hunting,
but as much as told them, that their corn and grass would be all
the better for being ridden over. If his Grace's words were to
be taken literally, perhaps they would not always be borne out
by experience ; but with reference to consequences they were
strictly true.

The next morning, Saturday, 29th, the punctuality of Peter
was once more to be put to the test. Having again sixteen miles

126 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

to go to cover, our first breakfast was to be upon the table
exactly at seven o'clock ; and at half-past seven Mr. Callander
and myself were on our hacks — Mr. C. on a trotter for which he
had given two hundred guineas, and I suppose the fastest in
Scotland, bred by Mr. Theobald, of Stockwell, and myself on
one of Kings' " hunters," which was certainly an excellent hack —
on our road to a second breakfast at Spottiswoode, sixteen miles
from Kelso, a mansion-house not then quite completed, built on
a domain manufactured out of a black turbary bog ; and where
anything wanted to display the unrivalled energy of the British
mind, the reclaiming, by draining, the planting, improving, and
building a mansion upon this black bog would do the business.

After a good second breakfast at this hospitable mansion, the
duke's hounds made their appearance, that place being the fix-
ture for the day. Now it is not every man who is considered fit
to be trusted on the back of a duke's horse with hounds, but a
still higher honour was conferred on me this day. A horse
called Perseverance, the only horse in the stud the Duchess of
Buccleuch ever rides with hounds, was brought to Spottiswoode
for me, and a most perfect hunter did he appear to be. But I
must make short work of this day's proceedings.

It has been well said —

" Who from the1 morning's brightest ray
Can promise what will be the day ?"

and although a finer morning than this was never seen on the
last Saturday in November, the rain began to pour down as soon
as we proceeded to business ; and although there was no lack
of foxes, there were no hopes of sport. Add to this, Persever-
ance was clipped, and shivered with cold, as we stood, sheltering
under some fir-trees ; and as the hounds were only running from
one bog to another, there was no inducement to follow them.
Fearing then I might injure this valuable horse, I galloped away
to the village of Lauder, where my hack was stationed, and
after a ride of nearly thirty miles in incessant and hard rain,,
arrived at Chester Hall, twelve miles from Edinburgh, in a con-
dition that does not require to be described.

Chester Hall, in the parish of Oxenford, twelve miles from
Edinburgh, is (or at least at this time it was, for he has pur-
chased an estate in the neighbourhood, on which he was about
to build himself a house) the residence of the Hon. William
Keith, a captain in his Majesty's navy, and the only brother ot
the Earl of Kintore. Here I found assembled what may be
called a family party, and none the worse for that ; for it is in

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 127

society, as in love, the nearer the equality the closer the bonds,
and it is here, and perhaps only here, that people appear towards
each other quite without dissimulation and disguise. In addition
to my host and hostess, then, there was Mr. Bannerman — brother
to Sir Alexander, and maternal uncle to my host — a great and
scientific agriculturist, and, I have reason to believe, more than
usually skilled in the knowledge of our various grasses ; also Mr.
Adam Hay, of Duddingston House, near Edinburgh, a partner
in Sir William Forbes's bank, and whose lady, who accompanied
him, is sister to Mrs. Keith. -Here then was a contrast to the
rude scenes of the morning— to the "pelting of the pitiless
storm/' to which I was exposed for full six hours and more. An
excellent dinner — everything comme il fautj the presence of
two of the most splendid women Scotland can produce — second
Lady Cunliffes in my eyes ; the society of two sportsmen and a
farmer ; and under the roof of the brother of my friend who in-
vited me to this hospitable land ! There was but one alloy —
the pleasure was short-lived. Mr. Bannerman proceeded on the
morrow on his journey towards Leamington, in Warwickshire :
Mr. Hay left on the Monday, and my visit was restricted by my
engagements to only a few days.

" Non eadem sede morantur
Majestas et amor." — OVID.

Not having up to this period hunted in the duke's home
country — the Dalkeith kennel is within six miles of Chester
Hall — I had not seen Captain Keith with hounds ; and he was
prevented being at Dunse, during my visit to Lord Elcho, by
reason of his stable going wrong. In fact, every horse in it had
a screw loose, which is more than usual ill luck, even in the
most punishing of our countries. On the authority of Lord
Kintore, however, he is a sportsman, and, of all I heard speak of
him, a horseman. I believe also I may say the same of Mr.
Hay, who I should think gives little change out of sixteen stone,
with his saddle ; but I left Scotland without seeing either of
them in the field. Both these gentlemen went soon afterwards
to Dunse for a fortnight, and were lucky in seeing four good
days' sport with Lord Elcho, and a beautiful burst of thirty-nine
minutes with Major St. Paul from a small patch of gorse ; and
over part of the same country that we went over from Learmouth
Bog, at least up to the Till, which the fox did not choose to
cross, but went to ground on the bank of it.

Nothing gives me a higher opinion of a man than that sort of
unaffected openheartedness which lets you as it were into his

128 N1M ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

character almost at first sight. This is eminently conspicuous
in Mr. Adam Hay, and your readers will give me credit for the
assertion from the relation of one little anecdote. I forget what
led to the remark, but it must have been something in allusion
to gentlemen leaving town for the country, when the session of
Parliament is at an end. " When / was in Parliament/' said he,
" I read in the Morning Post, that Adam Hay, Esq., had left
town for his seat in Scotland. They ought to have said — For
his three-legg'd stool in the Bank."

In a sportsman's diary Sunday is generally a dies non : but
this was not the case with me to-day. For the first time in my
life, I submitted myself to the discipline of the Scottish kirk.
It appeared like putting the cart before the horse, instead of the
horse before the cart, to hear the sermon precede the prayers ;
and the men all with their hats on looked queer to me \ but this
matters little, provided the end be answered. I must say I never
saw a congregation more devout than this, or a country church
more full. The style of the sermon, as well as the prayers, was
extemporary and declamatory, all very well now and then, and
always well if accompanied with the touching eloquence of a
Chalmers, but I cannot help thinking, that if a clergyman can
preach a tolerable sermon out of book, as the saying is, he would
preach a much better in one. The subject this day was one I
have heard discussed before — namely, that poverty is better than
riches, a doctrine that always reminds me of Seneca, with his
belly-full (no man I believe had a better cook than he had),
preaching against the good things of this world, and showing us
the distinction between precept and example. But " Credat
Judseus— non ego? nor do I imagine the incumbent of Oxenford
to be exactly of this opinion, as I was given to understand that
if a living becomes vacant within two days' journey of the
mi-nis-ter's mare, a hint is given to the patron, that it would not
be unacceptable to this would-be Diogenes. But, as Shake-
speare says,

" Lowliness is young Ambition's ladder,
Whereto the climber upwards turns his face :
And when he once attains the upmost round,
He then unto the ladder turns his back,
Looks at the clouds, scorning the base degrees,
By which he did ascend."

All I can add is, if anyone is inclined to swap riches for poverty,
I am his man for a deal.

After the service, Captain Keith, Mr. Hay, and myself, walked
round the noble domains of Oxenford Castle (General Sir John

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 129

Dalrymple's then, now Earl of Stair's) and Preston Hall (Mr.
Burn Callander's), and on our return visited the homestead
cattle-stalls of a very large farmer, a tenant upon the first-named
property. The arrangements for feeding were excellent, and
such as for convenience and order I had not before seen ex-
celled. There were at least a hundred head of prime beef in
the stalls, which are not every day to be met with in one man's
yards.

But I have not yet finished this said Sunday. We had ai*
addition to our dinner party of Mr. Whyte Melville, who, witk
Captain Wemyss, is at the head of the Fife hounds ; Mr. Earle,
a Lancashire gentleman, residing in Edinburgh, and — by no
means a bad name for a hard rider — Mr. Horsman, also re-
siding in the Scottish metropolis, and the unsuccessful aspirant
to the honour of representing Cockermotith (ye gods, what a
name !) at the last general election although elected since. Mr.
Melville had an elder brother with whom I became acquainted.
in Leicestershire and Oxfordshire — and on whose decease the
gentleman I am now speaking of succeeded to his large property
in the West Indies and in Fife. As I was about to visit Fife, >I
was happy in this opportunity of being introduced to one of the
masters of the pack which hunts that celebrated county, and
one of the conductors of an establishment which has so long
been held in high estimation by the sporting world. A strict
intimacy subsists between Captain Keith and Mr. Whyte Mel-
ville— in every respect congenial souls, both highly-bred gentle-
men, both delighting in hunting— but I have reason to believe
the appearance of Mr. Whyte Melville at Chester Hall this dar
was one amongst the many proofs of my host's wish to make
my visit to him more agreeable.

Fortunately for me Monday, December ist, was a dies non —
that is to say, there were no hounds to be reached on that day
from Chester Hall. I say fortunately, for a more wet and
boisterous one was never seen. Sportsmen's stables, however,
must be replenished, and bad as it was, Captain Keith went ta
Edinburgh to look at a horse, with what success remained to be
proved. Mr. Hay quitted us before breakfast for "his seat" ia
the bank ; and on me devolved the task of making the agreeable
to the ladies. The case was, however, as usual, reversed. Mrs.
Keith amused me greatly by a minute detail of her farming
speculations conducted solely on her own account. They are
not large, but have the rare qualification in these times of bein£
profitable, which must be attributed in part to the vicinity to the
metropolis — only twelve miles distant — and otherwise to her
keeping her stock so well. I never saw milch cows in better

9

130 NIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR.

condition, or more full of milk at that season of the year. How
lucky would it be for our female aristocracy if, when doomed to
reside in the country, those pursuits were, oftener than we find
them to be, pursued by them. Milliners' and dressmakers'
bills, so frequently the ruin of domestic peace, would be greatly
lessened by such means.

Tuesday, December 2nd. — " A willing heart," says the proverb,
"adds a feather to the heel;" and although the fixture of the
duke's hounds was computed to be twenty-eight miles from
Chester Hall, I found it thirty. I was not to be deprived on
that account of the chance of another fifty-five minutes from
East Gordon Gorse, and such was the meet of the day. This
was rather a long morning's trot for the month of December,
but although I stopped twenty minutes at Carfrae Mill Inn, for
breakfast ; had a high mountain to traverse, added to three
miles of newly stoned road which I could not break away from ;
I performed the task in exactly three hours. One of King's
horses,* however, with no pretensions to be called a hunter, was
a very capital hack, as he proved himself this day, for I galloped
Mm nearly at the top of his speed, upon grass by the road side,
for the last five miles, and he did not appear distressed. But
I had another reason why I was not to be stopped by distance
from meeting the duke's hounds this day. I had had paid me
the very high compliment of a special invitation from that cele-
brated sportsman, Mr. Baillie of Mellerstain, to visit him after
the sport of the day was concluded — considered a still higher
compliment from the fact of his having been for some time pre-
cluded from the pleasure of seeing his friends by reason of a
late somewhat serious indisposition, but from the effects of which
be was at this time recovering.

From the celebrity given to East Gordon Gorse by the sport
its foxes had afforded, in addition to Tuesday not being a hunt-
ing day with Lord Elcho, there was the largest field, this morn-
ing, that I ever saw in Scotland — not less, I should say, than a
hundred and fifty horsemen ; and the numerous carriages that
stood in the road, after having discharged their loads, had quite
a Ranksborough Gorse-like appearance. Amongst the spectators
on foot— having just alighted from his carriage — was Mr. Baillie,
to whom I was immediately introduced, and most kindly indeed
\vas I received by him. The cover we met at I have, I believe,
already stated, is his own.

* An Irish horse, with twisted fore legs, but with those finely formed
lengthy shoulders which preclude the possibility of his falling down,
with anything of a horseman on his back;

NIMROHS NORTHERN TOUR. 131

Having made my bow to the Duke of Buccleuch, and returned
his Grace thanks for again sending me one of his own favourite
horses (the Bishop), I proceeded to pay my respects to my other
numerous friends. I am sorry, however, it is not in my power
to give an interesting description of this day's sport, for although
a good run was very generally looked for, from the notoriety of
the cover, in addition to the " skyey influences" being apparently
in favour of it, we were not in luck's way. Our first fox went
gallantly away, but having been coursed by a dog he met on a
moor, he was driven from his point, ran short, and was eventually
killed in the village of Greenlaw, having laid down in the minis-
ter's garden. The powers of these animals, however, as well of
the fox-hound, were displayed on this occasion. On jumping up
in view, in the garden, he crossed the road and sprang at a wall
certainly not less than eight feet in height, the top of which he
succeeded in gaining, as also did one of the hounds. It was the
most extraordinary feat of this description I ever beheld, but it
availed him nothing, as he was pulled down by the pack in the
very next field.

I witnessed a ludicrous scene on the first breaking cover by
this fox. Having an eye to Williamson, I followed him to a gate
out of the road, which led into the field over which the pack were
streaming away, with apparently a breast-high scent, and which
gate the duke was in the act of opening. " Will it do, your
Grace ? Can we get across it ?" I could hear Williamson say,
in somewhat a doubtful tone. " We'll try it," replied the duke,
and away we went to the number of about half a dozen, all the
rest of this large field having branched off to the right or to the
left of the line in which the chase lay. This " it" proved to be a
black bog, about twenty yards in width, which I was afterwards
given to understand had never before been crossed by horsemen,
at all events not in the winter months. The duke and his hunts-
man, however, got through it without being dismounted, but such
was not my case, nor that of Frank Collison, who preceded me,
by reason of our being obliged to go a few yards to the left of
the spot over which our leaders had passed. But the reason for
this was rather an extraordinary one. Four heavy cart colts
alarmed by the cry of the pack, rushed headlong — although ap-
proaching it from the opposite direction — into the pass which
we were about to attempt, and all fell down together in a cluster,
one sticking by the hinder quarters, another with his head in the
bog, and one struggling upon his back with his heels capering in
the air. As for myself, I escaped pretty well, my only alarm
being for the fate of my horse, it being at one time doubtful
whether he would be able to struggle out of his difficulties ; but

9-2

132 NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

Frank was not so fortunate. His young thorough-bred one
rolled over him once, and then knocked him down with his headr
making so complete a pie-ball of his exterior as to have an irre-
sistibly ludicrous effect. This, added to the coolness with which
this fine old sportsman endured all the buffeting and besmearing
he received from the impetuosity of his nag (for he kept up a sort
of conversation with him all the time, such as " What are you
about, man ? you are in a devil of a hurry this morning") so pro-
voked my risible faculties that when I got upon sound ground
nearly a minute elapsed ere I could mount my horse. Frank,
however, was in his saddle in the twinkling of an eye, and putting
the young one at a wall — rather a queerish place, by-the-by, in
a corner — soon piloted me to the hounds, which we got up to
just in time to witness the destruction to our sport, by the cours-
ing of our fox by the " collie," as a sheep-dog is called in Scot-
land. Neither did we gain much by the straight cut we had
taken through the turbary, for a few of those who had gone round
to avoid this bog got to the hounds rather before we did, thus
verifying the adage, that the farthest way about is often the
nearest way home. This run lasted forty-five minutes, but there
was nothing like pace after the first ten minutes. This was a
very great disappointment to me, for had the fox not been coursed
by the dog, but taken over the fine country that was before him-,
there would have" been a fine display of horsemanship, as all the
best men in the country were in the field. We found a second
fox, but he was so hard pressed by the pack, who appeared to
have a burning scent, that he had not courage to break cover
until he was so blown that he crept into the first little drain he
could find — a conduit across a road — from whence he was bolted
and killed after having been not more than fifteen minutes on
his legs — but they were fifteen minutes of peril to him, for the
pack were never many yards from his brush. This was a capital
scenting day.

The duke rode to Edinburgh after the first run — nearer fifty
than forty miles — having a relay of hacks on the road, one of
which I saw at the inn at Carfrae-mill.

Williamson did not please me by his operations at this drain.
In the first place, why bolt his fox at all ? Surely his hounds
could not have wanted blood, and this fox might have shown
him a clipper on some future day. " Murdering foxes/' says Mr.
Meynell, " is a most absurd prodigality — seasoned foxes are as
necessary to sport as experienced hounds ;" and I am decidedly
of his opinion. Then again, he neither gave his fox a chance
for his life, nor, consequently, his field a chance of a gallop, as
almost every hound was within ten yar4s of the drain when he

NIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR. 133

jumped out of it, apparently none the worse, and a good country
was before him.

The method taken to bolt this fox reminds me of the fact of a
fox having been bolted out of a drain before these hounds the
season before last, by an expedient quite new, I should imagine,
to all the sporting world. Our fox was started from his hiding
place by the means of a long rail which reached more than half
the length of the drain ; the other by means still more appalling
to poor Charley's ears. The curricle mail coming past the place
at the moment, either Sir David Baird or Mr. Campbell of
Saddel— but I forget which — took the guard's horn (one of un-
usual length) and putting it up to its mouth-piece in the drain,
gave a blast that, aided by its subterraneous force, soon did the
business. The cry of hounds must have been sweet music to it.

One more word or two of this Gordon country, which is
becoming notorious from the sport it has shown ; for when I
was at Cask, Lord Kintore received a letter from Captain Bar-
clay of Ury, to which the following P. S. was appended : — "The
duke has had another brilliant thing of fifty-seven minutes from
East Gordon, and killed in the open. Pace, tremendous; out of
a field of forty, eight only saw anything of it." West Gordon,
where the hounds met on the day I have been just speaking of,
is also renowned in the domestic history of Scotland. " The
parish of Gordon," says the author of the " Beauties of Scotland,"*
" is said to have derived its name from a person, or his de-
scendant, that came to England with William the Conqueror."
Having visited Scotland during the reign of Malcolm Canmorc,
and killed a wild boar that infested the neighbourhood of the
parish alluded to, he received a grant of certain lands there, and
gave them his own name of Gordon. The Dukes of Gordon arc
descended from him ; and in memory of this exploit, the white
boar makes a part of the family arms.

Although we were deprived of our sport with the hounds by
untoward circumstances, several little incidents occurred to
make the morning of this day agreeable. One was the recapitu-
lation of some of those which took place at the dinner given to
Mr. Listen, at Edinburgh, to which I have before alluded, as
also to Williamson's presence at it. He was asked by several of
the field why he did not make a speech upon the occasion — par-
ticularly when the duke and his fox-hounds was drunk (indeed
Mr. Campbell's prolific imagination made an admirable one for
him on the spot, which his Grace appeared to enjoy as much as
any of us) — but he modestly replied that although he knew how

* Vol. ii. p. 14.

134 • NIMROUS NORTHERN. TOUR.

to talk to a pack of fox-hounds in the field, he was very unfit to
address a body of gentlemen in a dinner-room. " But what
should you have done," said Mr. Campbell, " if the chairman
had proposed your health ?" " Why sir," replied Williamson,
" taken up my hat, and run out of the room at once." Hrs ac-
count to me, however, of all his proceedings on this occasion was
most amusing, and I am sure will be considered so by your
readers. First — his interview with Mrs. Liston on his arrival in
the town before dinner. " I am highly proud of the honour,
madam," said Williamson, " of paying a tribute of my respect to
Mr. Liston by attending his dinner this day, which I assure you
I do at great personal inconvenience, for I must be back again
by ten o'clock to-morrow morning, to meet my hounds full fafty
miles from this. But it is a ma-Ian choly thing for the country,
madam, to think that a gentleman so eminent in his profession
as Mr. Liston, and also so fine a sportsman, and so fair a rider,
should leave his native toon, and go and live in London. We
shall miss him sadly with the hounds." " Perhaps so," replied
Mrs. Liston — in perfect good humour — " but if it had not been
for you and your hounds, Mr. Liston would have been in London
sixteen years ago." So much for the charms of fox-hunting, to
which not only honours, but wealth itself succumbs.

" But," said I to Williamson, <c did no one speak on the subject
of fox-hunting, on such an occasion as this — a dinner given to so
conspicuous a sportsman as Mr. Liston ?" "No one," replied
he ; " but Sir David Baird's speech smelt strongly of the shop.
In allusion to the retirement of Lord Grey, and the prospect of
a competent successor to his lordship, Sir David made a com-
parison to a pack of fox-hounds in chase. ' If the one that leads,'
said he, 'retires, another, perhaps equally good, takes his place/
But," continued Williamson, " I rather differed with Sir David
here, and pulling my next neighbour by the sleeve, whispered in
his ear — that depends on circumstances. WThen all goes smooth,
and well, and with a good scent, a hound of moderate abilities
may guide the pack to their fox ; but when difficulties occur,
superior nose is wanted to insure success to the chase." Whether
or not this superior nose has been found it is not for me to say ;
but Williamson was at his post, full fofty miles off, on the fol-
lowing morning, and had the satisfaction of showing an excellent
day's sport.

Nothing more being about to be done after the murder of our
second fox, I accompanied those eminent sportsmen, Mr. George
and Mr. Robert Baillie to their father's mansion, at Mellerstain,.
where I anticipated the reception which I met with, from every
part of the family. Some idea may be formed of the size of this

NIMROVS NORTHERN TOUR. 135

mansion from the following rather remarkable coincidence : — It
is said to contain just as many windows as there are days in the
year, which speaks not so much for its antiquity— it has not the
appearance of being an old house— as for its having been built
previously to the tax upon window lights. It is, however, an
immense pile, and contains some good rooms ; is situated in a
finely timbered domain, and in front of a noble piece of water,
with a fine trout stream running through it.

But it is of the occupiers of these halls and the owner of this
domain that I am now called upon to speak. The name of
Baillie is conspicuous not only amongst the sportsmen, but it
stands forth in the front rank of Scottish patriots, the present
laird being lineally descended from, and the actual representative
of, his illustrious namesake of Jerviswood,* in the county of
Lanark. His history is well known. He was the Sydney of
Scotland, and suffered death in the same cause with that great
patriot, during the infamous reign of the Second Charles. But,
although his death was an ignominious one — he was hanged like
a dog — he died nobly, and with a Roman spirit not often dis-
played in the last hour, inasmuch as his life would have been
saved had he peached. " Tell them,7' said he, " who make such
a proposal, that they neither know me nor my country !" Brutus
did not much beat this.

The present laird of Mellerstain first kept hounds which
hunted both hare and fox for several years after he came of age,
but sold them in 1791, and kept fox-hounds, without any inter-
mission, from 1792 to 1826, being thirty-four years ! There is
not a kennel in Scotland that has not some of his blood. He
hunted Berwickshire, Roxburghshire, Selkirkshire, and occa-
sionally part of Northumberland, and his hounds were in high
repute when Nim North contributed his admirable letters to the
old Sporting Magazine. They have been given up about ten
years, in consequence, partly, of their owner's health being
scarcely equal to the fatigue of following fox-hounds, in a strongly
enclosed country, and particularly so as Mr. Baillie is at the head
of the high weights. I have always understood himself and his
men were capitally mounted in the field, on horses bred by him-
self for the turf, of which he was a great supporter. The stud,
indeed, that I saw at Mellerstain confirmed the character I heard
of them. They were full of high breeding, and a bay mare of
Mr. George Baillie's (the eldest son) struck me as being the
strongest thorough-bred hunter I had ever before seen. Perfect,

* The attainder of Jerviswood, together with that of Argyll, was
reversed by the Conventional Parliament at the Revolution.

?S6 KIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR.

however, as this mare is, she proved the truth of the anathema
pronounced against mares by the late Lord Forester, who would
never have one (nor a stallion neither) in his stable. " You can
never depend upon a mare," he would say, " the season through-
out. She will be very good one day, and not worth a shilling,
as a hunter, the next. Nay, more than this. She will be very
good at ten o'clock and very bad at twelve o'clock of the same
day." I certainly saw nearly all this exemplified in the fine
animal I am now speaking of. We crossed a gentleman's
grounds in chase, which was divided into several compartments
by rails not more than three feet in height. The mare refused
them all — some once, others twice ; and absolutely ran through
one of them, although she could have leaped twice as high as
the highest of them. The cause of this I need not trouble
myself to state. In the same gentleman's stud there was a
chestnut horse which he has ridden many seasons— quite a
model to carry weight ; and, like his father, Mr. George Baillie
can give little change out of sixteen stone. He also resembles
his father in another respect. He is accounted one of the best
sportsmen in Scotland.

In Mr. Robert Baillie's stable there was also an immense
thorough-bred horse, nearer seventeen than sixteen hands high,
and with a fine set of limbs. It was his second, if not his first
season ; but he was progressing towards perfection. He was,
however, in the right man's stable for that, for a finer horseman,
or better rider to hounds than Mr. Robert Baillie is, need not go
into a field, let the country or the pace be what it may. His best
hunter, a thorough-bred mare, by Stainborough, I did not see
out, she being unsound at the time. I have, however, reason to
believe this young gentleman is not very particular about the
nag he rides — let him only be well bred, and with a heart as good
as his own. I have already said that the laird of Mellerstain
was at this time living in privacy on account of a recent indis-
position, and consequently I did not expect to find eiany guests
under his otherwise hospitable roof. There were, however, Mr.
Henry Scott of Harden, a near relation of the Duke of Buccleuch,
and Captain Elliot, brother to Sir William Elliot. But guests
are not wanting at Mellerstain to make a numerous fire-side,
forasmuch as when they are all at home, the sons and daughters,
with the laird and his lady, are quite equal to that. I should
2iave much liked to have seen this family party entire, as from
what I have seen, and from what I have heard of them, they do
honour to the human race. It is not usual to place young ladies
under the standard, therefore on that subject I am silent ; but
nil the sons stand upwards of six feet, without their shoes !

NORTHERN TOUR. 137

At the hour of six precisely, we found ourselves at the dinner
table, no bad finish to a long morning's work. But independently
of mere animal gratification, it was here that I had the pleasure
of discerning the flattering estimate my host had formed of his
stranger guest. Not only was I commanded by him, when
dinner was announced, to offer my arm to his lady, in the presence
of two, my superiors in rank, but he had ordered his butler to
produce a bottle of wine, and as he informed me, nearly the last
of such wine perhaps as could scarcely be matched in Europe. It
was the wine of Syracuse — such as we may conclude Archimedes,
who was born there, may have drunk, or Cicero in his /Edileship
— that had been in the cellar of himself and his ancestors exactly
one hundred and one years ! ! Very old and very bad wine are,
generally speaking, synonymous words ; but here was a striking
exception to the rule. This wine had not only not lost its
strength, but there was a richness of flavour scarcely to be ex-
pected in wine>of such an age, and not wanting in aroma, or
what the French call " bouquet." What the original colour of
Syracuse wine may be, I know not, but this resembled sherry,
with somewhat of a brown hue. Mr. Cyrus Redding, in his
history and description of modern wines, says, the wines of
Sicily are good and strong. Of what strength must this have
been when it first came from the vat ? In the time of the elder
Pliny, we are told there was wine selling at four pounds, of our
money, per ounce, by reason of its having been made during the
consulship of Opimus, and consequently a century older than
that of the Laird of Mellerstain ! This, however, must have been
of a rare quality, for it was Pliny's opinion that, speaking gene-
rally, wine was not fit to drink after its twentieth year. " Non
alia res majus incrementum sentit ad vigesimum annum, majus-
que ab eo dispendium."

There is no more exhilarating sight than a large and affluent
family living together in a state of unreserved unity and affection.
No wonder it has been styled the "precious ointment," which
brightens everything by its presence, or " the dew of Hermon,"
which refreshes as it falls, for its price is not known until it is
lost, and then it is often looked for again in vain. This agreeable
picture is to be seen in the family of which I am now speaking,
and in colours of the brightest hue. It is true nature has fixed
the limits of youth, beauty, and vigour ; but, thank heaven, she
has not set bounds either to the cheerfulness of the spirits, or to
the gaiety of the heart ; and a merrier party was never assembled
than that of which I had the pleasure on this day to form one
within the walls of Mellerstain. It was not "song on song
deceived the night," but story after story, anecdote after anecdote,

i38 N1MROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

of hounds, horses, men, and women, until another scene was to
open to our view — the drawing-room, where for the first time, I
saw the dancing of the Highland reel, to its own proper music,
and in its own proper form. No sooner was coffee over, but the
sound of music arose in one part of this large room, and as if by
the tap of the enchanter's wand all present, excepting Mr. and
Mrs. Baillie and myself, were upon their legs in one minute, and
in " attitude," as the fighting men used to say, in another. But
the music ! It was not — " Daughter of Toscar, bring my Harp ;"
but the chief performer in this rapid, and consequently difficult
execution, was Andrew Lwmsden, the laird's old huntsman, and
how little soever in accordance may be the unison of huntsman
and fiddler, Scotland cannot, I understand, show a better per-
former in this department of the fiddling art, than the said
Andrew, whose ear was once, perhaps, more tuned to more con-
genial sounds. Being no judge of music, I have pronounced this
encomium on Andrew, upon authority better than my own ; but
I must say, as far as I am a judge, he is capital over the cat-gut,
whatever he might have been over the grass, on Vixen, Snip, or
Rattler, his three favourite hunters, which he is very fond of talk-
ing of, but which I, to my cost, never saw. I can only say, I
stood by his side this evening whilst he accompanied one of the
young ladies on her pianoforte, in a Highland reel, and I can
answer for his having gone the pace then. No fiddler's elbow, I
should think, ever travelled faster.

Between the reels I had a word or two with Andrew, whose
old soul seemed mellowed — first, by the inspiration of music,
which he appeared really to enjoy ; secondly, by seeing his worthy
master's family amusing themselves, partly through his means ;
and lastly, by a jug of good Scotch ale which he had very nearly
found the bottom of. " The wrong sort of music this, for you,
Andrew/' said I to him, in a kind of under tone. " It's no like
t'other," said he, " I ken what you mean ; but its no much amiss
when a man grows auld." I looked at Andrew, then at his
master, and muttered to my self, "I wish I could give you both the
Promethean touch of youth." "You appear to have escaped
well, Andrew," resumed I, " after hunting hounds so long in so
many rough countries." " Wall," replied he, " there's no much

i eyes brightening ;
Rattler were but wee morsels to look at, but not many could gang
by them, wi' a hull" (ahill) "in their teeth." " Thorough-bred ones
of course," I observed. Andrew nodded assent, and putting the
fiddle under his chin, obeyed the signal for another reel. He

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 139

afterwards told me of a wonderful escape for his life, that he had
when riding Vixen, the particulars of which I cannot at this
moment recollect.

Having never seen either Andrew or his hounds in the field, I
must of course be silent as to their merits ; but the following
anecdote of the former amused me, and it is in character with
the dash of the fox-hound, the principal feature in his nature after
all. " Why stop those hounds ?" said Sir David Baird to him
one day, as a whipper-in was endeavouring to do so, it being
suspected foey were on a wrong scent. "Never heed him, Sir
David," observed Andrew ; "//*'// no stop them if they are on
a fox."

Although unable to speak, from personal observation, to the
merits of Mr. Baillie's fox-hounds, I may safely record them, on
the authority of those well able to appreciate them, and they are
* generally well spoken of in Scotland. Their character, indeed,
is thus neatly sketched by the able pen of Nim North. " His"
( Mr. Baillie's) " hounds are very large, of^ a capital sort, having
been crossed with the best packs in the kingdom, and can go as
fast as any I know of ; and you may depend upon it, require a
good horse and a good rider to stick to them. His establish-
ment is maintained in first-rate style without any subscription —
huntsman, two whippers-in, &c. They are all well-mounted, for
he breeds for the turf, and when they do not turn out racers, he
puts them into the hunting stable." In another place this writer
does justice to the master and his men. " Like master like
man," says he, "all Baillie's men are very civil, and Andrew
Lumsden, the huntsman, uncommonly so."

The morning following this, to me, most agreeable evening,
was passed very much in the manner in which most mornings
are passed at the houses of fox-hunters, on non-hunting days.
The first step was to the stables, which are most commodious
and excellent ; and although not filled as they were wont to be
when the kennel was also filled, contained some good hunters,
the property of the two only sons then remaining at home. In
one of these stables, I passed a delightful hour, when listening
to Mr. Baillie, seated on the corn chest and recapitulating some
of the proceedings of the Mellerstain hounds, and those who
followed them in former days. Amongst others, the following
anecdote amused me, "You may find some of my blood, ;; said
he, " in your friend Lord Kintore's kennel ; and," added he,
" you may perhaps hear his lordship, as a friend of mine once
heard him, holloaing — 'Have at him, old Baillie/ to a hound in
chase ; and, * old Baillie again] at another good hit." He then
spoke of the Hon. John Elliott, of whom Nim North speaks so

J40 NIM 'ROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

handsomely as a sportsman, a horseman, and a companion, —
and regretted his absence in India. When at the Cape of Good
Hope, said Mr. Baillie, he went out with the hounds, mounted
by a rich butcher. "It doe's me good," said the butcher, " to see
that thick man ride.7' By all I have heard of him it would do
me good to see this thick gentleman in any situation, but I fear
I never shall.

" What fates impose, that men must needs abide.
It boots not to resist. both wind and tide."

But there were no steam-boats when Shakespeare penned these
lines.

In the course of this agreeable hour's chat Mr. Baillie informed
me of the singular fact that he was the first master of hounds to
send his fixtures to a newspaper. Nor was this all, the proprie-
tor of one attempted to fix him with the charge of twenty-two
pounds, for advertisements, but failed. The proprietor must
have been a slow hand ; for all newspapers have found their ac-
count in being the medium of making public the fixtures of
various packs of hounds ; and before the practice became so
general as it now is, I knew many sportsmen who took certain
newspapers solely on that account. Still it would be well if
London editors, or their subs, would condescend to throw their
eye over these announcements, as it often happens that the fix-
ture is gone by ere the journal reaches the country. Again, we
often see the word " to-morrow " to a fixture two hundred miles
distant. The space thus occupied might be turned to better ac-
count, in the same line of information. Mr. Baillie was likewise
the first to introduce into Scotland the celebrated breed of
South-down sheep, a flock of which I saw in his grounds, but
not near enough to form a judgment of them. And I saw, on
another part of his domain, what should be seen on that of every
sportsman who can afford the expense of it, I saw some worn-out
hunters enjoying the repose of an inactive life, and well fed —
without which, and warm sheds, it is more merciful to destroy
them. The Laird of Mellerstain has read Virgil : —

" Rune quoque, ubi aut morbo gravis, aut jam segnior annis
Deficit, abde domo, nee turpi ignosce senectas."

Our conversation in the stable ended with the following injunc-
tion from Mr. Baillie. " When you visit Lord Kintore," said he,
" at Gaskf don't forget to see John Crack who resides at Turriff.
He is the oldest huntsman now alive in Scotland, and I think he

NIM 'ROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 141

will amuse you with some of his anecdotes of days long since
gone past." This injunction I was not likely to overlook ; the
very name was a security against my doing so, crack men, crack
hounds, and crack horses being the main objects of my pursuit.

Previously to my return to the house, we strolled about the
domain, and Mr. Baillie appeared to take an honourable pride
in showing me the neat and comfortable houses in which his la-
bourers and artisans, necessary to such an establishment as his,
are lodged. Amongst others I stepped into that of the family
blacksmith, who happened to be within at the moment. " So,"
said I, " you take Bell's Life in London, do you ?" (the last num-
ber lay on his table, pretty well thumbed). " Ay, do I," replied
this son of Vulcan, a very respectable-looking man, as the term
is, "and I ken who yon are ; I have read your writings." " Then
I hope you are the better for them," was my rather natural remark.
" Wall, I am none the warse" was all I got from him in reply.

" Oh, that men's ears should be

To counsel deaf, but not to flattery !"

This was somewhat of a damper.

We proceeded on our walk. " Did you ever eat a haggis ?"
said Mr. Baillie to me, as we approached the mansion. " Never,"
replied I ; " neither do I think from what I have heard of it, I
ever shall. They tell me it is a sheep's head, dressed with the
wool on, with the agreeable addition of liver and lights." " Don't
regard what you have heard of it," resumed the laird ; " we will
have one at dinner to-day." We had one and I tasted it ; but I
think what was said of the Spartan broth may be said of the
haggis. To like the one, a man should be dipped in the Euro-
tas, and to like the other, he should be born in Scotland. That
is to say he should be used to it from infancy. " Take the dish
to Mr. A.," said Mr. Baillie, seeing I did not eat what I had on
my plate ; " perhaps he will like it better when he sees it." But
it is not everything that will stand close inspection, nor would
this.

At two o'clock the whole party — male and female — walked to
view what we call in the South, the Homestead, or the Barton
as it is termed in the North ; in plainer English, the place where
all farming operations are performed, save those carried on in
the fields, and to which all produce is brought home, and secured
— distant about a mile from the mansion house. The amount of
live and dead stock here, showed the owner to be a farmer upon
a very extensive scale ; but the chief object of attraction was a
water-wheel of a very large diameter, which sets a-going a corn

142 NIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR.

mill, with three pair of stones, a bone-crushing mill, and a saw
mill. The latter I had never before seen at work ; but from the
rapidity with which it cuts every description of wood into any
substance that may be required, and, especially, rails for fences^
such an engine should be erected upon every large estate which
will admit of its being driven by water.

The bone-mill is likewise a most valuable adjunct in countries
where the material can be conveniently found. Mr. Baillie's is
in great part supplied by the gypsies of Yeth-holm (muggers, as
they are called in this part of Scotland), who collect the bones
from the various kennels, private houses, and villages in the
neighbourhood ; and, as it fortunately happened — for everything
relating to this race of people is interesting — one of them,
apparently a very old man, arrived with a cart-load of bleached
bones during our visit. As may be supposed, I had some con-
versation with this would-be Ethiopian, and found him, what
they are all indeed, shrewd and very ready with answers,
delivered in their usual quaint terms of expression ; but was it
not from the wandering tribes of ancient Greece that the world
is indebted for all that contributes to sweeten and embellish
social life ? Regarding the first-named wild and wayward tribe,
indeed, it has been elegantly observed, that men of letters, whilst
eagerly investigating the customs of Otaheite or Kamschatka,
and losing their tempers in endless disputes about Gothic and
Celtic antiquities, have witnessed with apathy and contempt the
striking spectacle of a gypsy camp. Leyden has painted them to
the life—

" With loitering steps from town to town they pass,
Their lazy dames rock'd on the pannier'd ass,
From pilfer'd roots, or nauseous carrion, fed,
By hedge -rows green they strew the leafy bed ;
While scarce the cloak of tawdry red conceals
The fme-turn'd limbs, which every breeze reveals ;
Their bright ^lack eyes through silken lashes shine,
Around their necks their raven tresses twine ;
But chilling clamps, and dews of night impair
Its soft sleek gloss, and tan the bosom bare."

" I have read," said I to Mr. Baillie, " that these ' Lordes of
Little Egypt/ in addition to their strong spirit of independence,
have some kind of honour in their community ; how do you find
them in your dealings with them?" "Tolerably correct," he
replied ; " although this old fellow did once sell me the bones of
a favourite old hunter which I had had buried in his shoes and

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 143

skin/ " That was well done," resumed I ; " I should like to
know to whom he sold the shoes and the skin."

On our road homewards, I, for the first time in my life, heard
the word "laird," applied in propria persona. " I don't see the
laird coming," said Mrs. Baillie, looking back towards the farm.
Now there is, to my ear, something soothing as well as patri-
archal in this word laird, and though not so high sounding
and aristocratical as thane, is a thousand times better than
squire.

It is impossible to be long in Mr. Baillie's presence without
something to make you laugh. As we entered Mellerstain House,
a portrait in one of the passages attracted my notice. " I can
tell you a good anecdote about that old fellow/' said the laird ;
" his name was Duncan Gordon, and he was huntsman to my
father. There happened to be, at one time, some savage hounds
in his kennel, which it was by no means safe for any person to
approach, unless very well known to them. On the wife of this
man being one day seen coming out of it, by herself, she was
asked, if she were not afraid to trust herself there alone. ' Na,
na/ she replied ; ' they'll no meddle wi? me ; I suppose they find
something of Duncan aboot me.7 " This almost comes up to the
notion of Homer in the Odyssey, and which notion, as I have
read, was once popular in Scotland — that dogs are sensible when
a good or evil spirit comes into a house : —

" The dogs intelligent confess'd the tread
Of power divine, and howling, trembling fled."

After another agreeable evening within the walls of Meller-
stain ; another specimen of Andrew's fiddling ; a good night's
rest and a Scotch breakfast, I mounted my hack and returned
to my quarters at Chester Hall ; and with a tinge on my mind
that, unless deprived of recollection, can never be effaced. It
was my first visit to a Scotch family, and to one of which, having
heard and read so much, I had almost made myself believe I was
already acquainted with. I had also the satisfaction of knowing
that I had made' acquaintance of one of the first sportsmen in all
Scotland, and from the pressing invitation to repeat my visit, of*
indulging in the hope that that acquaintance was likely to be
continued.

On my arrival at Chester Hall, I found a letter from Mr.
Ramsay of Barnton, the master of the Linlithgow and Stirling-
shire fox-hounds, which, besides others, haunt the West-Lothian
country, considered the best in Scotland. It was dated from
Calder House, the seat of Lord Torphichen, who is father to his

144 NIMRO&S NORTHERN TO UR.

lady, and contained the agreeable intimation, that he should be
happy to show me his hounds, and mount me — naming the
following Saturday, as a fair fixture and a sure find ; and saying
that a horse should be at the cover for me. On the following
day then — Friday, December 5th — I took my departure for
Edinburgh, accompanied by Captain Keith, and took up my
abode at Douglas's Hotel in St. Andrew's Square — the Fenton's
of Edinburgh. This I did at the suggestion of Lord Kintore,
who, knowing I should be only a few days in the metropolis —
for these swell hotels, as John Warde said of the Pytchley-hunt
dinners, when he hunted Northamptonshire, are " all very well
but the reckoning" — wished me to have a taste of this house,
which he assured me is the best he ever broke bread in, in any
part of the world, and I can fully confirm his encomium.

I had not been long in Edinburgh before I called upon Messrs.
Blackwood, the celebrated publishers of George Street, and
arrived at a lucky moment, for in ten minutes Professor Wilson
made his appearance, and requested to be introduced to me.
This was followed, instanter, by an invitation to dinner ; in two
hours' time I had my feet under his mahogany, and the very
name of my host is a sufficient voucher for a most agreeable
evening. We talked of everything but moral philosophy, of
which Mr. Wilson is professor ; but as that celebrated naturalist
Mr. James Wilson, the Professor's brother, was one of the party,
natural philosophy ', which includes fox-hunting, was a frequent
topic. "I have been in at more deaths this year, than you will
be in at," said this well-known entomologist to me, facetiously ;
" I have killed one hundred and sixty-four different kinds of
beetles." " Indeed !" I replied, " I was not aware there were so
many to be found." (Ray only reckons one hundred and fifty-
four.) And I wonder how many butterflies you have impaled,
thought I, quietly within myself ! But I rather like to hear of
these scientific tormentors of insect life ; they form somewhat of
a set off against the charge of cruelty we fox-hunters labour under,
in the torments we inflict upon the animal world. Shakespeare
says,

" The poor beetle that we tread upon,
In corporal suffrance feels a pang as great
As when a giant dies !"

I am not able to say, exactly, how long the Linlithgow hounds
have been established, but I believe about fifteen years. They
are in the hands of a good man named Scott — commonly called
" old Scott" — particularly good, I was given to understand, in

N1MRODS NORTHERN TOUR. 145

the kennel department, and an excellent servant throughout.
He is a Yorkshireman, as his tongue proclaims ; and was brought
up in the racing stables of Sir William Maxwell, and now, as he
himself says, " walks fourteen stone upon the same legs that
carried him when he rode exercise in Sir William's service." Al-
though, as I have already said of him, an excellent servant, he
is not the most polished of his caste. Neither do I suppose, by
the orthography displayed in the list of his hounds, that the
schoolmaster had been " abroad" in his younger days ; but what
was the printer of Falkirk about to let such a list go forth to the
world? I can only accountfor it by his taking forgranted that we fox-
hunters have an orthography of our own.* However, to business.

The fixture on this Saturday (the 6th) was Ormiston-hill,
about twelve miles from Edinburgh, on the Glasgow road, and,
as I was informed by Mr. Ramsay, a sure find. Being anxious
then to have a sight of the hounds previous to their being thrown
Into cover, as well as to have a word with " old Scott," I took
time by the forelock, and came up with them about three miles
short of it. I first took the measure of Scott with my eye before
I ventured to ride alongside him, and found him exactly what 1
had conceived him to be— rather over-topped, as we say in the
stable, but not looking much amiss in his saddle ; with a ruddy,
but healthy looking face, and somewhat of an intellectual eye.
This being accomplished, I ventured to address him, and the
dialogue, as will be imagined, was not much amiss.

Nimrod. — " A bad morning for hounds I fear." (It was blowing
something like a hurricane.)

Scott. — "Yes" — the word yes sounding very much like the
German word yau, which also is opposed to negative ; at the
same time throwing his eye over me with a look (I was not in
scarlet) which as much as said — "What the devil do you know
about a bad morning for hounds."

Nimrod. — You have got some powerful hounds here, Mr. Scott.

Scott. — " Yes" (or rather yau, again) ; at the same time singing
out, " Ware horse, Belmaid,t (one of the finest bitches in the
pack by-the-by) what do you do under horse's feet, eh ?"

Nimrod. — Are those Mr. Ramsay's horses that are forward on
the road ?

Scott— Yes.

* As in these days of " Schoolmasters abroad" we don't often meet
with such specimens, I subjoin the following : — Prosopene, Barroness,
Willin, Breuser. Matchom, Streacher, Mamlock (for Mameluke, I pre-
sume). What Vilo means I am unable to guess ; were it not the name
of a bitch, I should have taken it for Filho (da Puta).

t Alias Zte//maid. Vide List.

10

145 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

Nimrod. — I am going to ride one of them to-day.

Scott. — (With a slight touch of his cap.) Oh, you be Mr.
Appleby, be you ? Glad to see you, sir ; I've heard talk of you.
You have been to see Lord Kintore, haven't you ?

Nimrod. — Not yet ; but intend doing so soon.

Scott. — A very quick man in the kennel, that Lord Kintore ?

Nimrod. — Yes, and out of it, too.

Scott here alluded to his lordship's uncommon facility of
knowing the names of hounds, after having once seen them drawn
to the feeding troughs. Walker told mehe knew every one, save one,
of the South Wold pack when he drew them for his inspection.

This reminds me of two anecdotes. A major of a crack regi-
ment once asked Mr. Assheton Smith how he managed to
remember the names of all his hounds. " Pray, sir," replied
Mr. S., " don't you know the names of all your men ?" A quon-
dam master of fox-hounds, however, never could acquire a know-
ledge of more than a few couples of his kennel, saying — " How
is it possible to know them all ? When I look at a hound on
one side I find three spots ; but if he turns the other to me I
find five." Some brothers and sisters, however, are sometimes
so much alike that it even puzzles their owners to distinguish
them, as in the case with Dragsman and Dragman in Lord Kin-
tore's kennel. I observed his lordship always looked at their
legs before he drew them to the trough, one not being quite so
straight at the knee as the other. Huntsmen also distinguish, in
great part, by the countenance, as shepherds do sheep.

In ten minutes more we were at the place of meeting, where a
sufficiently numerous field were got together ; and although a
stranger to Mr. Ramsay I was instantly set at my ease by his
approaching me with outstretched hand, and telling me he was
happy to see me with his hounds. He then apologized for not
having sent for me quite the horse he wished to send, in conse-
quence of his stable having gone wrong, as the term is. " I have
plenty of them," said he, "but am unfortunate in having several
at present amiss, and the horse you are going to ride is rather
short of work, as I have only lately purchased him. On our next
day's hunting I shall be able to mount you better."*

Amongst all the truisms which Beckford published, relating
to the science and practice of hunting, there is none more worthy
cf regard than that which points out the disadvantages under
which hounds labour in high winds ; stating, emphatically, that
" the kennel is the best place for hounds on a windy day." The

* Among other casualties, Mr. Ramsay told me three of his horses
had gone wrong through being clipped. I shall never hold with that
practice, neither did I see a dozen hunters clipped in Scotland,

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR, 147

force of this remark was amply exemplified on the morning I am
speaking of. Mr. Ramsay's hounds are noted for their steadi-
ness ; but had a person, unaccustomed to hunting, and conse-
quently unequal to making those allowances which accidental
circumstances demand ; had such a person, 1 repeat, seen them
draw for their first fox this day, and then left them, he would
have left them with the impression that they were wildness
personified. In short, they were running about in all directions,
and would neither come to horn nor holloa !

Our first scent was on a disturbed fox which we could not
hunt up to, to do any good with, so went to try for another. We
found in Calder wood, the most extraordinary, and the most ro-
mantic place, save one, that I ever saw a pack of fox-hounds
thrown into. In fact it was a place that appeared to me like a
forlorn-hope ; but owing to a combination of circumstances, for
instance, an improvement in the day, and the exertions of the
men (the activity and science displayed by the first whipper-in
delighted me ; he was a perfect Mungo, here, there, and every-
where, telegraphing with his hand and whip when he could not
be heard, and giving the office with his voice when he could),
added to the steady working of the hounds, our fox quitted this
wild ravine, and boldly faced the open country. But I shall not
soon forget the crossing of this ravine, or the rocky bottomed
brook that was roaring in the hollow, or the narrow path by
which we gained the opposite side. The scene was really an
imposing one. The clatter of the horses' feet among the stones,,
as they scrambled, as it were,

" Up the margin of the lake,

Between the precipice and brake"

with the cry of the hounds, beautifully re-echoed from the deep
and winding valley which was below us, gave a wildness to the
scene seldom experienced in fox-hunting, and requiring an abler
pen than mine to describe.

When once clear of this awkward and perplexing defile, a
good country presented itself ; the pack settled down to their
fox, and I thought we were in for a second East Gordon clipper,
as these out-of-the-way-looking places generally produce those
that can fly for their lives. At the end of a mile and a half,
however, the hounds came to a check in a road which would
have been a fatal one but for the following circumstance. As
Lord Hopetoun and myself were in the act of leaping a low wall
into the road, his lordship exclaimed to me " There is the scent "
— catching with his eye, what escaped mine, namely, two couples
of hounds carrying it down a strip of plantations, on the opposite
side of the road. Clapping spurs to my horse, 1 gave Scott the

10—2

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

e, and he instantly brought the body of the pack on the line,
but they soon threw up again. Having an eye to his point how-
ever, he persisted in pursuing the line, even beyond what appeared
to me to be warrantable, as not a hound even feathered on a
scent ; but he was rewarded for his perseverance. He had the
pleasure of seeing his hounds take up the scent all at once
through a gate, into a grass field, and never quit it till they ran
kito their fox at the end of forty minutes (an hour in all), over a
fine scenting country ! I did not see the finish, having been
64 ten minutes behind time," as we say on the road; but the
depth of the ground and the pace were not suited to something
little better than dealers' condition, and I was fearful of trespass-
ing too far upon a promising young horse, which Mr. Ramsay
told me was not in strong work.

Two horses distinguished themselves in this short, but sharp
affair, and were in consequence sold. One was a bay horse
ridden by a wealthy farmer by the name of Wilkie — the Thomlin
of that part of the world— and purchased by Captain Peter Hay,
©f Mugdrum-house, in Fife (who went as usual on his celebrated
©Id horse Coroner), at the now large price of two hundred
guineas. The other was a grey, showing a great deal of blood,
and who, although sadly over-weighted — but none but the well-
bred ones can do it — cleared a ditch and a bank and a wall in
great style towards the end of the run. The space covered was
afterwards measured by Mr. Wilkie, and found to be twenty-two
feet, from hind foot to hind foot. It is true he had a good work-
man upon his back, of the name of Mountain, formerly groom to
Colonel Fotheringham, of whom I have already spoken, as
having had Mr. Musters for his guest. Two or three of the field
were nibbling at the grey, amongst them Captain P. Hay and
Mr. Ramsay ; but declined him on account of his speedy-
cutting, as it is termed ; but as I hold that to be no serious
©bjection to a good hunter, I recommended him to Sir David
Baird, who purchased him.*

Mr. Ramsay rode a very clever hunter this day — a chestnut,
with a blaze of white down his face — which I was told is his
favourite horse, and he certainly appeared perfect Lord Hope-
toun was also splendidly mounted, and rode well to the hounds.
I do hope, however, I may live to see the scissors applied to the
tails of hunters. What is the object of the switch tail ? Is it to
make the hunters under sixteen stone — about Lord H.'s mark —

* In a letter I received from a friend, describing a capital hill run of
5fty minutes with the Duke of Buccleuch, at the end of last season, it
was stated that Captain Peter Hay showed them all the way on this
iorse, the last quarter of an hour.

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 14?

look like the racer under seven ? Its effect is destructive to
horses of more than a certain degree of substance — so much sa
indeed, than an inexperienced eye might have mistaken this fine
hunter for a brood mare just brought from the paddock. That
noted old sportsman, Major Shairp of Houston, also went well
on a weedy thorough-bred mare. I saw him jump a very wide
place, from a stand, in which he showed how well he could
handle them ; and he can go the pace too. On perceiving he
carried music about him, I asked him how happened it ? " Why,"7
replied he ; " this mare was sound when I turned her out, but
she came up a whistler." " Major," said I ; " you and myself
came into the world about the same time ; have you not yet
found out, what I found out thirty-two years ago — to let well
alone ; and that half the hunters in Great Britain have been,
destroyed by being turned out to grass ?" The major said, as we
often say on other occasions, " I won't do so again"

There was something about this Major Shairp that took my
fancy much, independently of his fine horsemanship, and nerve,
not very common at his period of life ; and also of his reputation
as a sportsman, which stands high in Scotland. There appeared
a straightforward open-heartedness about him, which, although
extremely agreeable in all descriptions of men, is, I must say,
the general characteristic of the sportsman.

It is well said by Aristotle, " That he who is pleased with soli-
tude, must either be a beast, or a god !" As I hope I am not
the one, and am sure I am not the other, I have no predilection
for an evening by myself, even at Douglas's Hotel, with only a
newspaper to read. Such, however, would have been the case
on the evening of this day, had it not been for a somewhat strange
occurrence. It being dark when I arrived in Edinburgh, and
having forgotten on which side of the square my hotel was
situated, I was in the act of asking an old woman, when a voice
exclaimed — " What ! Nimrod, is that you ?" Who should it be
but a near neighbour of mine in this country (France), who was
just arrived in Edinburgh to arrange some domestic affairs ; and
happening to be disengaged, he came and passed the evening
with me !

Previously to my rising on the following morning (Sunday, yth),
a note was brought to me from my old acquaintance Captain Dow-
biggen, to invite me to breakfast with him at the Royal Hotel, ia
Princes Street, when I should meet his brother-in-law, the Hon.
Fox Maule ; and after church, Captain Dowbiggen and myself
went to pay our respects to a very celebrated character in our
line — the Captain Ross of the Red House, and of Melton Mow-
bray, but the Mr. Horatio Ross of Scotland, late M.P. for Moo-

jro NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

trose, and at that time a candidate for Paisley. He was residing
in Melville Street, Edinburgh, awaiting the arrival of his son
and heir, who made his appearance soon afterwards, but not in
time for me to have a view of him.

If he makes a better man than his father is, no one will com-
plain of him on that score ; and if he makes as good a one, he
will do. The result of our visit was an invitation to dinner, and
I was delighted at finding myself once more under the roof of
not only a kind and sincere friend, but of a gentleman who has
done so much to uphold the character of a sportsman, and of
sporting generally.

Our next visit was to the stables of Mr. Inglis, the principal
Edinburgh horse-dealer ; and I found him, what Lord Elcho had
represented him to be — a person of respectable appearance, and
of good address, entirely divested of blarney. In other words, he
appeared to be a man with whom business could be transacted
offhand, in a straightforward, business-like manner, which
cannot be said of all those who follow his calling. There is
generally too much "gab" about them, to use a still more vulgar
term, and a lesson from Hesiod on the provident use of the
tongue — the happy medium — would be of more service than they
are aware of. I have been more than once under the necessity
of exclaiming to a dealer, — " D — n it, my good fellow, tell me the
price of your horse, and P II find out the rest myself"

As may be supposed, during the hour I passed in Mr. Inglis's
stables, horses, their form, and merits were the chief topic of our
conversation. "Have you purchased that horse from Lord
Kintore yet ?" said I to Mr. Inglis, with a look which he under-
stood. " I have not/7 he replied ; " but if you tell me where he
is to be found, I will go some hundred miles (and put some hun-
dreds in my pocket) to see him/7 But hereon hangs a tale.
Being about to describe the form and points of a hunter, for a
certain work, I wrote to Lord Kintore, to request he would give
me his ideas of the modern hunter, in his very best form. My
friend's answer was to the purpose, — the following transcript of
a letter he had that day written to Inglis : —

" When you happen to have a horse answering this description,
drop me a line : — Thorough-bred, with substance and action ;
fit to carry fourteen stone through dirt ; height 15 . 2 ; not more
than seven years old ; colour dark brown, dark grey, dark chest-
nut, or dark bay ; small head ; large nostril ; no coaching neck ;
light at the throat lash ; good shoulders ; deep at his girth ; with
strong back and loins ; good gaskins ; good sound feet and legs ;
neither too short nor too long in the pasterns ; warranted sound,
and with good temper."

NIM 'ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 151

I think my brother sportsmen will admit, that a more graphic
description of the modern hunter could not have been given in
fewer words. Mr. Inglis showed me this letter on his file, and
said he should preserve it as a guide to his future purchases, al-
though he feared it might be long ere he met with the animal it
-described.

The month of December is not the time to see many good
hunters in a dealer's stable ; and I have reason to believe, they
are pretty quickly, after their arrival in Edinburgh, picked out
of these and the other sale-stables, if likely to " do the trick."
Mr. Inglis had but a few in his, and those not exactly my sort ;
but he told me he was on the point of setting out for Yorkshire
to procure a fresh lot, that being the county to which he looks
for a supply. When on the subject of horses, and their essentials,
however, he mentioned a fact that surprised me. It was that of
a horse which had been hunted thirty-one seasons; that he was
still alive, and at Mr. Ramsay's, of Barnton. We may here con-
clude one of two things — that he was hunted with harriers or
beagles ; or that he belonged to one of Williamson's " pusilani-
mous riders."*

Monday, 8th. —Met Mr. Ramsay again, about ten miles from
Edinburgh, the morning stormy and wild — " ventosus '*' again, as
. Lord Kintore says, with the addition of a driving snow storm,
that drove me into a house for shelter, on my road to cover. But
by way of amends for this, I saw something as I rode along, to
amuse me. I observed a man upon a bay horse, two or three
hundred yards a-head of me, which I concluded he was taking
to meet the hounds. I observed his horse stop short and kick.
I thought little of this ; he might be fresh, and I only hoped the
kick would be taken out of him before night. I then got along-
side of him, and a short parley took place between his rider and
myself — having first satisfied myself that this said horse had been
given up by Sir David Baird, who had him at Dunse, as per-
fectly useless as a hunter, for he would not only refuse his fences,
but stand still and kick in the middle of a field, while the hounds
were running : —

Nimrod. — You have a fine slapping horse there. (He was
quite the stamp for Leicestershire.)

Servant. — A capital hunter, sir,

* Some one was describing a run of a certain extent to Williamson,
in which the hounds had run clean away from the field. "Indeed !"
said he, " and over that fine country, too ! Surely they must have been
mounted on vary indifferent horses, or been vary pu-si-la-ni-mous
riders."

?52 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

Nimrod.— \§ he temperate with hounds !

Servant. — A child may ride him, sir.

Nimrod. — Why put that martingal on him ?

Servant. — Master likes it, sir ; no sort of occasion for it.

Nimrod. — What made him stop and kick with you on the
road ?

Servant. — Full of play, sir ; he saw that there donkey. (I saw-
no donkey.)

Nimrod. — Is he for sale ?

Servant. — Yes, sir.

Nimrod. — His price ?

Servant. — A hundred guineas.

Nimrod. — Warranted sound ?

Servant. — Yes, sir.

Nimrod. — And good-tempered ?

Servant. — Yes, sir.

A gentleman coming up at the moment, with whom I entered
into conversation, our parley ended, and I dropped astern again.
Very shortly afterwards, however, I saw my old acquaintance
once more at his " play," but the man managed him well, and
he went on. Getting alongside him a second time, the parley
was resumed.

Nimrod. — So you have had another game zkplay.

Servant.— Yes, sir ; he seed that there windmill. (Now there
was a windmill, and going at a merry pace too, but it was rather
better than half a mile distant, at an acute angle.)

Nimrod. — Pray, did I not see this horse lately at Dunse, with,
Lord Elcho's hounds ?

Servant. — Mayhap you might, sir.

Now there is a saying amongst horse-dealers— this horse be-
longed to one of the fraternity — and one by no means at variance
with the soundest logic of the schools — namely, " If we buy the
devil, we must sell the devil ;" but who was the purchaser of this
" devil" I know not. There may be, however, some who have
not in their " mind's eye" a just comprehension of the sort of
person who was on this occasion employed to prove the value of
this logical argument. In other words, they may have never re-
marked the peculiar stamp and character of a horse-dealer's man,,
of whom I will now give a sketch, taken on the day I am speak-
ing of, from the life : —

He was a shortish man, not heavy of course, and what there
was of him lay chiefly in his carcass, for of legs he had anything,
but the Irishman's share. He had bloated cheeks and a round
face, which perhaps looked rounder than it really was, by the
help of a sort of skirruning-dish-looking hat ; his nose had every

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 153

appearance of having been formed for the purpose of inhaling
the fragrance of whiskey or gin. Neither were his clothes a whit
less in character. They consisted of a brown frock coat, and
black waistcoat, none the better for wear ; dark-coloured corduroy
breeches, made darker by town smoke and sundry other aids,
which, with small and very shallow cloth tops to a pair of very
seedy boots, and an old spotted cravat, made the toilette complete.
How admirably has Martial — barring the one eye — described a
person of this sort, and what may be expected of him : —

" Crine ruber, niger ore, brevis pede, lumine laesus :
Rem magnam prsestas, Zoile, si bonus es."

I liked the appearance of things at the cover side this morning
— a fine gorse cover in a roomy country ; and Mr. Ramsay
mounted me on a strapping grey horse, that had lately cost him
two hundred guineas, and which appeared to me to know his
business, and also to be pretty fit to go. There was, however,
I am sorry to acid, nothing for him to do. The morning was
wild ; the foxes bad ; and it would be a waste of words and time
to give the result.

I must not here depart from my general practice of offering a
few remarks upon the hounds and their huntsman. The general
character of the Linlithgow pack may, I think, be summed up in
a few words. They are not hounds to strike the eye, or exactly
perhaps to please the eye of a nice observer of form and points.
It is evident, indeed, that in the breeding and the drafting of
them, appearances have not been allowed to preponderate much
in the scales. There are some coarse hounds among them ;
nevertheless they are a very business-like looking pack, taken as
a whole, and the character they bear is highly creditable to
them. It is indeed from character — from report chiefly that I
am enabled to speak of their performances ; for with the excep-
tion of the finish to the first day's run, no circumstances could
be more untoward than those under which it was my ill fortune
to see them. But the man who wishes to see hounds in perfec-
tion, must first ask permission of the heavens.

Of their huntsman, Scott, I am also unable to say much except
from general report, which speaks favourably of him. His con-
dition! thought good ; but it is in the kennel that he is considered
to shine. As a huntsman he labours under disadvantages — not
those of age, for although he has the honourable appellation of
" Old Scott," there is nothing against him on that score. But
no man of his form can ride forward enough to see hounds in all
their work, over any country that I have yet seen, much less over

1 54 NIM 'ROD'S NOR THERN TO UR.

his, which is strongly fenced and deep. If, however — as I said
of Stephen Goodhall, when he hunted Sir Thomas Mostyn's pack
— Scott could hover over his hounds in a balloon, or fly through
the air like Pacolet on his wooden horse, no one would doubt the
full value of his directing hand. It is hardly fair to pronounce
an opinion on the merits of a huntsman, principally from common
report ; but the frequent mention I heard made of the one I have
been speaking of, in part removes this objection. Scott's long
experience, and general knowledge of hounds and hunting, make
him often quoted in Scotland as authority ; and, moreover, he
has been the theme of many a good joke. In short — he is what
is called a character, as the following anecdotes will show.
Being some distance behind his hounds one day when they were
running very hard, Mr. Maxwell (the son of his first master, Sir
William) passed him, with the hope of being able to catch them.
" It won't do, sir," holloas Scott to him ; " 'tis no use your
haggrivating your horse in that manner • if you was on a heagle
yoii would not catch 'em." On another occasion he missed some
hounds after a long run in a wild country, and they were
eventually lost. On some one condoling with him upon what
most huntsmen would consider rather a serious bereavement,
Scott, replied with a smile, " Oh — it's nought worth thinking
about ; it is a poor consarn that can't afford to lose a hound or
two"* Here is philosophy for you, reader ; " rough clad'; if
you like ; but there is nothing like taking things coolly in this
world. As Scott's list, however, only gives a sum total of thirty-
five couples of working hounds, the consarn cannot afford many
such trifling losses in the year.

On Monday the Qth, by the kind attentions of Mr. James
Blackwood, I was enabled to see some of the principal lions of
Edinburgh — " the modern Athens," as this seat of learning and
philosophy is now called ; which certainly sounds better to the
car than the " modern Babylon," as our metropolis is designated,
chiefly by reason of its great extent. Holyrood Palace (with
which most of my readers are, no doubt, so well acquainted,
that a description of it would be to them " tedious as a thrice-
told tale ") was our first object; from whence we proceeded to
the High School, a splendid building on the Calton Hill, and
thence to the Register Office, which is out-and-out the most

* This reminds me of a story .1 heard of " Robert" somebody,
formerly huntsman to the Northumberland hounds. A runaway horse
dashed with his rider among the pack — C{ That's right, sir !" exclaimed
Robert, " that's right — ride among 'em ! kill a hound or two ! we've
plenty mair (more) at home 1"

NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 155

elegant public building I have ever yet seen in any country
which I have visited ; and very unlike some I could name, in
which may be found

" Windows and doors in nameless sculptures drest,
With order, symmetry, or taste unblest ;
Forms like some bedlam statuary's dream,
The craz'd creations of misguided whim."

We then walked into the Parliament House that was — the
Court of Session that is. In other words, we got amongst the
•^lawyers, than which, they say, there is only one worse place in
which a man can find himself. My chief object here was to
have a sight of Lord Jeffreys, who did so much honour, not to
fox-hunting, but to sound learning as well as the general litera-
ture of our country, when editor of the Edinburgh Review. And
in truth he is well worth looking at, for a countenance or an eye
more expressive of intellectual powers cannot I think be imagined.
I forgot to ask before which of the three or four judicial big-wigs
I saw this day sitting in the judgment-seat, Williamson once
appeared as a witness in a horse cause, as thereon hangs rather
an amusing tale. On being called on for his testimony, he put
his spectacles on his nose, and pulling a large book (his hunting
d ry) out of his p ocket, begantoread : — " The hound s met this
day, my lord, at H addon Rig, and we found our fox at ten
minutes past eleven," when his lordship informed him that all
extraneous matter might be dispensed with, and desired him to
confine himself to facts.

It was my intention this day to have heard Professor Wilson
lecture, but learning from Mr. Blackwood that he was indisposed
with a cold, I thought it prudent to await a fitter opportunity.
I finished the morning then with a lounge in Mr. Inglis's stables,
which was rendered more than usually agreeable by meeting
several of my sporting friends in them, who had arrived, in
Edinburgh to attend one of the periodical dinners of the Royal
Caledonian Hunt Club. Amongst them was Mr. Campbell of
Saddel, who had seen a run that morning with the Duke of
Buccleuch's hounds, and who, accompanied by his Grace, had
ridden to Edinburgh after hunting — the distance just fifty miles.
Nor was this all. Mr. Campbell rode the same number of miles
the next morning to meet Lord Elcho's pack ! So much for the
charms of fox-hunting ; but what other pastime would be pur-
chased at such a sacrifice as this ?

My notice of Edinburgh would be very incomplete, were -I to
pass over, without remark, this justly celebrated club, of which
the King is patron ; and which consists of most of the noblemen

156 N1MROHS NORTHERN TOUR.

and gentlemen now resident in Scotland. It was instituted in
1777 ; and it appears that the oldest member of it is Mr. Baillie
of Jerviswood — z>., of Mellerstain, where he now resides.

I was given to understand that the funds of this club are very
considerable, notwithstanding the numerous acts of beneficence
which emanate from them ; and the honour attached to an elec-
tion to it is shown by the number and rank of the several candi-
dates. It undoubtedly towers far above all other hunting or
racing clubs, perhaps I may venture to say, in Europe. The
annual autumn meeting is held (having been first fixed upon by
ballot) at different places in Scotland, when, as all your readers
know, there is much excellent racing, and where the fox-hounds'*
of the country attend. It was last year at Ayr, where those of
Lord Kelburne attended ; and, as I was informed by a friend
who partook of it, showed some very good sport — " unusually
good, indeed" — were his words — "for that time of the year."

Like the fablers of antiquity, I wander from country to country ;
but, unlike them, I state nothing that I do not know, or have
good reason to believe, to be true. I have already mentioned,
that the result of my meeting Mr. Whyte Melville, at Chester
Hall, was an invitation to his house in Fife, for the purpose of
seeing the Fife hounds ; and I was also given to understand,
that there were other houses in his neighbourhood whose doors
would be open to receive me — amongst them that of Sir Ralph
Anstruther, Bart., of Balcaskie, represented to me as just the
sort of person I should like to visit— the well-bred, but unaffected
country gentleman and sportsman, and keeping what is called
an excellent house, in other words, a good larder and a good
cook. But my first start from Edinburgh was to Mount Mel-
ville, and having sent my servant and horses forward on the
Tuesday, I found myself on the morning of Wednesday (loth)
seated, cum multis aliis, in a one-horse omnibus, a sort of
"cruelty drag," which conveys passengers to the quay from
which the Largo steamboat starts, that being the route marked
out for me, and where I had appointed to meet Mr. Earle, who
was also booked for Mount Melville.

The road may be termed the theatre of adventures ; and I
have oftentimes diverted myself with thinking that an amusing
episode might have been the result of my having been acquainted
with the history of all my fellow-passengers, and there were
some queer-looking ones amongst them, in this " cruelty drag."
Just, however, as the clock struck nine—the precise hour of
starting— the door opened to add one more to the number, and
in stepped a stout but comely person, just in the prime of life,
carrying a brown paper parcel in his hand of no inconsiderable

NIMRODS NORTHERN TOUR. 157

size, out of one end of which popped the head of a wooden
horse, and out of the other his tail. " Ah," thought I within
myself ; " you are some happy man in the full enjoyment of
domestic felicity" — (recollecting also at the moment that, about
that time ten years, when on one of my tours, 1 was detected in
the self-same act myself, although I was silly enough to feel
ashamed of it) — " and are returning to your wife and children
in the country, after a week's visit to the metropolis." Now who
should this fond father be, but the aforesaid Sir Ralph Anstruther,
to whom I was, immediately on my arrival at the quay, intro-
duced by Mr. Earle, and who, after a pleasant trip of about
twenty miles, was met on the opposite coast by his lady in her
pony-phaeton with two beautiful greys, for the purpose of con-
veying him to Balcaskie. Mr. Earle and myself got into a
"yellow post-chaise," and arrived at Mount Melville by dressing
time — not, however, without a day having been fixed for our all
meeting together at Balcaskie.

It is not necessary for me to say much more of Mr. Whyte
Melville, at least of his private history, as from his having been
several seasons at Melton Mowbray, he is very well known to
the sporting world. To the fashionable world he cannot be a
stranger, for his manners and deportment at once prove that
they were formed and nurtured in that school ; and his having
married a sister of the Duke of Leeds is a voucher for my asser-
tion. For a manager of a pack of fox-hounds no man can be
fitter, for he is a good sportsman, a fine rider, and his very
gentlemanlike conduct in the field makes him highly popular in
the county.

The house of Mount Melville — built of a stone equal, to ap-
pearance, to that called Portland, or Bath, and standing on an
eminence commanding a view of St. Andrews and its beautiful
bay — at the desirable distance of three miles — has an imposing-
effect, and I consider it to exhibit the handsomest exterior of all
I saw in Scotland. In its interior is everything in keeping with
the correct taste of the owner ; and amongst its various decora-
tions, is a magnificent picture over the sideboard in the dining-
room, containing portraits of thirteen of Mr. Melville's horses
and their riders, twelve of which, including himself, are ridden
by distinguished Meltonians, whose likenesses are admirably
preserved by the artist.* They are all going very well, and
" best pace," over the finest part of Leicestershire, with the ex-
ception of one who has a fall and is being leaped over by Mr.
Maxse, by way of a foil to the rest. He is supposed to be a snob

* Ferneley, of Melton.

158 NIMROHS NORTHERN TOUR.

in a black collar, to distinguish him, no doubt, from the dlite.
The library is a small room for a house of this size, yet contains
a lot of very valuable books, particularly in that department of
literature called the Belles Lettres ; but I should have passed
this over had it not been for one individual circumstance. There
lay upon the table, the last number of the New and of the Old
Sporting Magazines, and the difference in the appearance of
them consisted in something beyond the colours of the covers.
The former had evidently been read throughout ; the leaves of
the latter were still uncut. " This was not the state in which the
Sporting Magazine was wont formerly to be found, in a master
of fox-hounds7 house, towards the middle of the month," thought
I, within myself, with feelings, I admit, nearer allied to pride
than teeming with that indispensable virtue called chanty !

Although I have called Mr. Melville a master of the Fife fox-
hounds, he has a partner in the duties attending that honourable
post, in Captain Wemyss, of Wemyss Castle, M.P. for the
county, who manages the pecuniary part of the concern, leaving
the affairs of the country, the fixtures, and the kennel, to Mr.
Melville. And it is well he does so, for what with attractions of
politics and other more serious, but I should imagine by no
means more alluring, avocations, the captain only once took the
field during either of my visits to Fife, nor do I believe that, fond
as he appears to be of hunting, he enjoyed it half a dozen times
during the season. The conflicting political interests, however,
of this individual county appeared, as it were, to be tearing up
society piecemeal, although, I must say, it is the only one in
which I ever heard of politics preventing a man hunting in one
part of it, but not in another; yet such was the case with Cap-
tain Wemyss, previously to his having been elected its repre-
sentative.

On our voyage from Edinburgh to Largo, we passed within
view of Wemyss Castle, and also of the residence of a quondam
celebrated Meltonian — namely, Mr. Cristie of Dtiry, who I was
sorry to hear had retired from the field in which he was so con-
spicuous, not only as a rider, but as a sportsman, and this upon
a conscientious scruple. If he thinks fox-hunting is wrong, he
is not wrong to discontinue it ; but, for my own part, I see
nothing in it that can hurt the soul, however the body may be
affected by it, and I am ready to exclaim with Falstaff— " If sack
and sugar be a sin, God help us all." The Castle of Wemyss
stands nobly, showing a majestic front ; yet the tout ensemble,
to the eye, is spoiled by a most infernal-looking village that is
below it ; but like many other infernal places, apparently full of
money or money's worth — namely, coals and salt (not Attic, I

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 159

believe, as Cicero would say), and therefore by no means to be
sneezed at in these money-getting times. However, to return to
the owner of it, Captain Wemyss, a captain of his Majesty's
navy, and from all I heard of him in private life, as straight-
forward, as hospitable, and as honest a man as ever entered a
cockpit (for which, by-the-by, he must have been rather an in-
convenient height, being certainly upwards of six feet without
his shoes) ; and, although from only one day's observation of
him in the field, I am unable to appreciate him as a sportsman —
I may add, a hard rider to hounds, taking everything that comes
in his way, with the characteristic intrepidity of his profession.
That he believes himself to be a sportsman, however, did not
admit of a doubt from the various telegraphic signals that the
huntsman received from him on the day I saw him in the field,
during a most perplexing run of an hour, which, notwithstanding
all things, ended in the death of the fox.

An expression of Horace's now crosses my path, and all but
brings me to a check. It implies the difficulty of discriminating
between what is fit, and what is not fit — " Quid decet, quid
non" — in what we do or say, and especially so when we comment
upon the doings or sayings of other people. But Captain Wemyss
is a character — a good one I have acknowledged him to be — that
must not be passed over by me in silence, and I am sure he will
pardon a short notice of him here, particularly as he has already
appeared in the pages of the New Sporting Magazine. And it
is thence that I derive the materials for the' first anecdote I have
to relate respecting him.

Your readers, Mr. Editor, will recollect that, a year or two
back, somewhat of an angry correspondence was carried on be-
tween the captain and yourself, respecting the insertion of a
paragraph relating to the Fife huntsman (Walker) which did not
prove to have been founded on fact; and that for the commission
of the error, the atonement on your part was considered amply
sufficient for the sporting world, and also by some of the cap-
tain's most intimate friends, in my presence. But here arose a
question that admitted of some speculation. How would Nimmd
be received by the captain at the cover-side ? the said captain
knowing him to be one of the " Magaziners," to use a term of his
own ; and, therefore, for aught he might know to the contrary, to
have had a finger in the said pie ? Your readers shall hear.

On the morning after my arrival at Mount Melville, Mr.
Whyte Melville, Mr. Earle, a gentleman of the name of Mel-
ville—residing in Edinburgh — and myself, set forward to meet
the Fife hounds, distance about eight miles, and not a bad
morning for December in Scotland. On the further side of a

160 NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

gate, about half a mile from the cover, stood the captain on his
feet, on a smooth patch of grass, being just about to exchange
his hack for his hunter. Our approach towards him was an-
nounced by himself in these words, and in a voice that would
have put Homer's herald to the blush. " ;Tis no use to think of
hunting ; a damned stormy morning, sir; \ve may as well take
the hounds home." Then came the climax, but George Cruick-
shank should have been on the spot to have illustrated it, for it
sets the pen at defiance. " Give me leave to introduce Nimrod
to you," said Mr. Whyte Melville. The captain having drawn
himself up, as straight as a fugleman upon parade— brought his
right hand to his head by a slow, but very graceful semicircular
motion of the right arm, took off his hat, and nearly prostrating
himself to the earth (his hat, indeed, did touch it), made me a
most respectful obeisance. As I was upon my hack, I could not
offer him the salaam in return ; but the effect of this extraor-
dinary reception was greatly increased by the accompaniment of
a look he cast upon Mr. Whyte Melville at the moment, which
was as much as to say — was not that well done ? Now it really
was well done ; and clone, I have reason to believe, in perfect
good feeling to all parties concerned. But this justifies me in
saying the captain is a character, of which I shall presently have
to offer some still better proof.

But I must not get a-head of my subject, and shall therefore
make a cast back, and present my readers with all I know of
the origin of the Fife hounds. They were originally established
on a small scale by the late Mr. Anstruther Thompson, of Charl-
ton, who kept them for several years, and then presented them
as a gift to the resident gentlemen of the county, by whom they
were "kept, as a subscription pack, until the year 1809 or 1810.
At this period, James Horn Rigg, Esq., of Tavit, purchased
them, together with the kennel stud, at a valuation, and hunted
them himself for three seasons, when they again became the
property of the gentlemen of the county, but still remaining
under his (Mr. Rigg's) management, with a huntsman whose
name was Luke, until the year 1828, when he went to reside on
the Continent, and they have remained a subscription pack to
this day. The amount of the subscription is, I was given to
understand, upwards of ,£1300 per annum, which may be called
equal to .£2000 in times not long since gone by.

Although he has now been six years in his grave, " and to our
purposes he lives no more," I cannot pass over a celebrated
character connected with the Fife hounds — the late Tom Crane,
their huntsman ; and particularly so, as we were born and bred
within nine miles of each other, and were both entered about

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. c6«

the same time, to the same pack of fox-hounds — those of Si<r
Richard Puleston, to whom Crane's father was for many years
butler, and afterwards, for the remainder of his life, steward.
Here then was Tom's debut, or start as it may here perhaps be
more technically denominated, and no bad one either. In the
first place, his father was a very sensible and well-conducted
man in his situation of life, and the son had the benefit of good
example. In the next, he was, we may say, cradled in a kennel,
and in one of as good a judge of hounds, and of everything
appertaining to hunting, as England has hitherto produced.
Lastly, no man in that part of the world had an establishment
of such orderly, well trained servants as Sir Richard Puleston
always had, and I may add, few servants have a kinder or more
considerate master ; but it is good masters alone that make good
servants.

The history of Tom Crane is this : — When Sir Richard
Puleston went to Ireland as Lieutenant-colonel of the Ancient
British Fencibles — a light dragoon regiment, raised by Sir
Watkin Williams Wynn, Bart., and which greatly distinguished
itself in the unfortunate Rebellion in Ireland, in 1798 — he gave
up his fox-hounds pro tempore, and Tom accompanied him as
pad-groom, if such a term may be applied to a military gentle-
man's stable servant. And it was here he may be said first to
have displayed that quickness and decision of character for whick
he was, through life, so conspicuous. In one of the several
engagements which this gallant little regiment took part in, a
beautiful black mare called Priestess, the gift of the — by aU
sportsmen — ever-to-be-remembered Mr. Corbet, of Sundorne
Castle, Shropshire, to Lady Puleston, his daughter, was shot
dead under Sir Richard, and his life was greatly endangered by
the circumstance. It being observed, however, by Tom Crane,
who was in the rear, with a led horse, he dashed through the
fire with him towards his master, and thus saved him from de-
struction. An act of this description was not likely, sooner or
later, to go without its reward. The cause of Crane's quitting
the service of Sir Richard I do not at this moment recollect ;
but he did quit it soon afterwards, and served as a private soldier
in the late Peninsular war, under the Great Captain of the Age^
although he was not long in the ranks, having become batman
to Colonel Freemantle, of the Guards. When, however, a pacK
of fox-hounds was sent out to this great captain, Sir Richard
exerted his influence in favour of his late servant, and he wns
appointed by the Duke of Wellington to hunt them. He hunted
them, I understood, quite to the satisfaction of his noble master ;
and by way of showing that neither the change in his habits of

II

r62 NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR

fife, nor the dissipation of a camp, had eradicated the good
principles that his father had instilled into him, I am proud to
record the following circumstance. Sir Richard showed me a
letter from him to his father, which not only contained a most
correct expression of his sentiments upon various other subjects,
but highly creditable appeal to himself as to a step he was about
to take. It appeared the hounds were about to be given up by
the duke, and to be transferred to the possession of Lord Stewart.
The purport of this appeal then was, to obtain the sanction of
Sir Richard as to his (Crane's) continuing to hunt them, after his
Grace gave them up. And here, as may be imagined, conflicting
circumstances were at work. Crane was aware that the duke
was partial to him as a servant,* for, in delicate but not incom-
•prehensible terms, he signified as much in his letter ; and he
likewise expressed his high regard for his Grace, as well as his
gratitude for the favours he had received from him, — his dis-
charge from the army 'one of them. But the fact was, Crane
was still more partial to his hounds, and expressed a strong
desire to go with them, — leaving, however, that point entirely to
the decision of Sir Richard Puleston, with the assurance that, if
he thought he ought not to quit the service of his Grace, nothing
should tempt him to do so, unless it were his Grace's pleasure.

Crane, however, did goto Lord Stewart with the hounds ; and
several good anecdotes are related of him in Fife, during his
career with his lordship, as well as that with the duke. Amongst
them, the following may not be thought unworthy of being re-
corded. During the Peninsular war, the opposing armies were
in front of each other, but no active operations Agoing on. Of
course the line of demarcation between them was drawn out,
and Crane was told of the consequences that might be the result,
if his ardour in following his hounds led him within the enemy's
lines. It, however, did one day lead him within them, being
determined to follow his hounds ; nor did he retire until two
shots were fired at him by the videttes ! So much for the
enthusiasm of a sportsman. On another occasion, when with
Lord Stewart, he was told he ought not to ride before the King
©f France (Charles X.), with whose hounds he was in the field as
an amateur. Some high park hurdles, however, presenting
themselves, and none of the field appearing inclined to leap

* On peace being restored, the duke took Crane into his service
again, and he had the care of his Grace's stud, then kept at Hatfield, in
Herts with permission to ride them whenever he liked. It was here
that he married his wife, a daughter of the Marquis of Salisbury's
steward ; but preferring hunting to following hounds, he applied for
and procured the situation of huntsman to the Fife pack.-

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 163

them, Crane charged them, and got to the hounds. At the first
check, he found himself in the custody of two gens d'armes !

Perhaps the boldest turn that can be given to oratorical elocu-
tion is that called prosopopoeia, inasmuch as it opens tombs,
raises the dead, and makes even heaven and earth to speak. The
delusion, however, vanishes when the orator becomes silent,
and there is no power that can raise poor Crane from the tomb.
I wish, however, I could represent him to my readers, as he was
represented to me in Fife ; but as I cannot do that, I must be
content with progressing quietly with his history, mixed up as it
is with that of the Fife hounds.

Crane commenced as huntsman to the Fife hounds — having
succeeded Luke, considered very inefficient — in the year 1821,
and had many trying difficulties to contend with. The amount
of the subscription had fallen off; the country was bare of foxes,
so much so, as in his first season's hunting to have produced
fifteen blank days before Christmas ; and, as a natural conse-
quence, the hounds were become slack in the extreme. To
almost any man but Crane, these difficulties would have been
considered insurmountable ; but having learnt in the service of
the Duke of Wellington to consider difficulties as trifles, he set
to work, nothing daunted, to overcome them ; and was proceeding
rapidly in making his hounds what they ought to be, when a
new obstacle presented itself. A few years previous to his
entering upon this task, Lord Kintore had made a junction of
his kennel with that of the Fife, on condition that he should
claim fifteen couples of hounds (of course each party picking
hound for hound, in the draft) whensoever he might be disposed
to set up another pack for himself. The claim being made by
his lordship, was of course another damper, causing a diminution
of the subscription ; and Crane was told that he could only be
allowed one, instead of two whippers-in, and this is in a country
abounding with all sorts of riot. But Crane was neither to be
damped nor foiled. He had become attached to the country,
still more so to his employers, and so far from being cast down
by adverse circumstances, he doubled his efforts to overcome
them, and he did overcome them at last. But, as a great
admirer of his said to me in Scotland, " one of Crane's eyes was
worth two of most other men's, any day in the week, in the
field ; and his ear was as true as his eye was quick."

Crane's career in Fife was brilliant, but unfortunately short.
It commenced, as I have already said, in 1821, and ended in
1830, when his health became seriously affected ; and during
the long frost of that year he died of inflammation of the lungs.
But it will be long before his name dies in Fife, or in the other

II — 2

1 64 NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

counties in Scotland in which he was known. In fact, sports-
men, and, indeed, many others, appeared to me to retain an
unusually pleasing remembrance of " poor Crane," and his
memory is cherished to somewhat of an extraordinary extent.
His funeral was attended by most of the gentlemen of the hunt,
and the principal ones among them were his pall bearers. Thus,
reader, may death be seen to confer, as well as level, distinction ;
and if it cannot be said of Crane, that he was, like Daniel,
favoured of God, he was undoubtedly honoured by men.

There is one line of Homer admirably translated by Pope : —

" What honours mortals after death receiver
Those unavailing honours we may give. "

But the honours given to Crane, by the gentlemen of the Fife
hunt, were neither unavailing nor empty ones. They settled an
annuity of fifty pounds per annum on his widow, for her life, and
she still resides at Cupar Angus, where the principal Fife kennel
is situated.

I regret to perceive, that in your number for February last
you forestalled me in the insertion of the excellent monody upon
this celebrated huntsman, from the pen of Mr. Carnegie ; but I
must request their re-insertion here, and for these particular
reasons. First, my notice of his character and death would not
be complete without them, as they so truly mark the peculiar
features in the one, and the regret shown for the other ; and,
secondly, they were extracted by me from the album of a lady, a
friend of the author, and a great friend to fox-hunting.

" So merry Tom Crane is departed at last,

The grim huntsman has him run to ground ?
No more shall we listen his soul-stirring blast,
Or hark to him cheering the hound ! >:

" He is gone to his slumbers ; but long, for old Tom,

Every sportsman must feel a regret ;
In field and in kennel supremely at home —
Methinks that I see him e'en yet !

" His weather-beat visage — his game-looking eye —

His top-boots dark coloured, but bright ;
In his left hand his whip, planted firm on his thigh,
And the loose-shaking rein in his right.

" He is gone ; but while hunter shall follow the hound,.
While lasts the prime joy of the plain,

up '
of.

NIMROHS NORTHERN TOUR. icj

.No sportsman shall bound to the soul-stirring sound,
Without heaving a sigh for old Crane!"

It appears from these lines, that there were peculiarities about
fais person as well as his seat on his horse. As regarded the
former, he was cleanly to an extreme for a person in his situa-
tion, and especially observant of the colour of his breeches and
boot-tops, which was dark, but with a strong polish on the latter.
His address was remarkably good, and there was something in
his general demeanour that would have led a stranger to suppose,
that there was a cross of good blood in his veins — in short, that
he was the son of a gentleman, instead of a gentleman's steward.
As a horseman, he was super-excellent ; and yet, he was what is
•called a left-handed horseman (although in fact not a left-
handed horseman, which every man is taught to be, and what
raine hundred and ninety-nine in a thousand are), for he held
his horse with his right hand, and, his whip in his left.* But he
rode with a peculiarly light hand, and had a curious, I might
say unique, method of shaking the reins of his bridle, when going

I to a large fence, which no doubt his horse knew the meaning
He was, I have reason to believe, a very quick man over a
•country.

But desirable as quickness, both of thought and deed, may be
in huntsmen, there is one evil attends it when carried to an ex-
treme ; they expect their ivhippers-in to be equally quick . as
themselves, and such I understood was Crane's case. Some
other amusing stories, indeed, are afloat in Fife, as regards him
and his men in the field. For example — Tom Batters, now first
whip to the Fife — and a capital one he is — also whipped-in to
Crane, but it was young days with him then. After one or two
good ratings from him, on one occasion, administered rather
quickly in succession, the following soliloquy was overheard from
poor Tom, as he was trotting to a point, round the cover. " It's
d — n my eyes if I go here ; and it's d— n my eyes if I go there ;
and d — n my eyes if I knows where to go." This will remind
my readers of Williamson's speech about his terriers, and Sir
David Baird's comment upon it.

I should never have written my Letters on the Condition of
Hunters, had there been a hope, that in these days of education,
some intelligent groom might have taken up his pen on the sub-
ject ; but there was none who considered himself equal to the
humble task. Now the observations and experiences of such men

* A coachman who holds the reins in his right, and the whip i:i the
left hand, is called a left-handed coachman.

i66 NIM POD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

as Crane and Williamson, on fox-hunting, would prove a treasure
to the sporting world — indeed, what is the Book of Proverbs, if
we look at it as mere human writing, but a collection of such-like
valuable materials, although upon a very different subject. De-
sirous then of obtaining some of the results of Crane's practical
experience of hunting, and everything belonging to hounds,
Lord Kintore showed me a few observations of his own, in
manuscript, of which he had sent him a copy, with a request that
he would make his comments upon them without reserve, but
the request was made in vain. I remember being much pleased
with the unassuming little preface, by which his lordship intro-
duced his remarks to the notice of Crane, and it was, as near as
I can recollect, this : — "To Thomas Crane — from one who has
seen and learnt a little, but who has yet a deal to learn from
those who have had longer experience than himself. The writer*
would feel obliged to Crane, to add his own remarks to the en-
closed, on any part of the noble science of fox-hunting."

The following passage also attracted my notice, and I believe
I can give it pretty correctly : — " I like a burst of twenty minutes,
and I do admire a real hunting run of an hour, at a fair holding
pace, when every hound does his share of work ; and then,
to find them increasing their pace by degrees — your fox sinking
before them, and running at last from scent to view. This is a
pleasure to be felt, but not to be conceived." I was pleased by
the distinction between " liking" and " admiring ;" there is en-
thusiasm in the latter, which should be inseparable from fox-
hunting ; and no one can doubt Lord Kintore having his full
share of that quality, what pursuit soever he may engage in.

The Fife hounds originally hunted the greater part of the
counties of Fife and Forfar, but were turned out of Forfar, in
consequence of the splitting of the pack, diminution of subscrip-
tion, &c. They, however, found a new country in Perthshire, and
in the best part of Fife, in which they have a kennel, at a place
called Torryburn. It is called the "West of Fife" country, and
affords excellent sport. A short time before I visited Mount
Melville, the hounds had been enjoying a succession of diversion
in it— namely, nine good runs in eleven days ! They had another,
a third kennel, at Lord Kinnaird's (at Inchture), but which -has
been given up in consequence of their having hunted Forfarshire,
since Mr. Dalyell left it. Lord Kinnaird, indeed, who, my readers
will remember, undertook the management of the Quorn country
for Sir F. Holyoke Goodricke, during part of the first season after
the late Sir Harry Goodricke's death, has now a pack of his own,

* Of course, Crane knew who the writer was.

NIMROUS- NORTHERN TOUR. 167

having for his confederate, Lord Duncan, son of the Earl of
Camperdown.

I must now describe the first day's sport with the Fife hounds,
having hitherto proceeded no further in it than my introduction
to Captain Wemyss, at the gate, which, however, may be classed
under the head of sport. But to be serious, the doings of this
day in the field are well worthy of being recorded, and were
highly interesting to me from the fact cf its having been the first
time of my seeing another crack huntsman in the field — the
'•' Merry John Walker," as Lord Kintore calls him — the said
John Walker having been promoted to the situation of huntsman
to the Fife, from that of first whipper-in to his lordship.

Now then to business, and this day (December nth) might be
actually termed a day of business, for we ran a leash of foxes —
one to ground, and the other two to death. But the last fox was
just the fox I wanted, for he was the most shuffling, dodging,
short-running, puzzling devil, in that shape, that ever presented
himself to my notice before, and it might almost appear, having
for his object the putting the merits of both hounds and hunts-
man to the test. I am quite sure he never ran half a mile in any
one direct line, nor did I ever see a fox turn so many times, short
* back, as he did. Neither was he content with all this — he ran
amongst buildings, tried lime-kilns, appeared to look out for fal-
lows, in short he tried every expedient a fox could try to baffle
hounds and save his life. But all would not do ; at the end of
one hour and fifteen minutes close hunting, with only one view
holloa,* and no horn, " Merry John" and his pack ran into him,
in view, to the great satisfaction of a rather numerous field, one
of whom was a master of a neighbouring pack. And it was high
time he should do so, for it being half-past three o'clock when
Reveller first spoke to him in the cover, it was become nearly too
dark to ride over the fences before we killed him. It was alto-
gether a slow thing, but at times a fine test of hounds, and on
my congratulating the captain on the finale, we exchanged a
shake of the hand. I rode a perfectly made hunter, called
Duncan, sent to cover for me by Captain Peter Hay of Mugdrum,
but who, unfortunately, went home after we had killed the
second fox.

The mention of this second fox reminds me of a circumstance
that redounds to Walker's credit. Just before he died, he
was viewed by a farmer, who gave a slight holloa, but not of

* Having heard the pack turn short in a cover, I rode quickly back
to the lower end of it, and viewing him away, the second whip and my-
self gave the office.

iC3 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

that nature likely to be understood by the hounds. " No holloa-
ing/' cried Walker (I was close to him at the moment), " if they
can't kill him without that, let him live." Observe — capping for
the men is allowed with the Fife hounds ; and it was now getting
late in the day for the chance of finding another fox.

The master of fox-hounds of whom I have spoken as having
been in the field on this day, was Mr. Dalyell, then at the head
of the Forfarshire hounds, but now, as your readers know, of the
Puckeridge, in every respect a worthy successor of the much la-
mented Mr. H anbury. Mr. Dalyell was on a visit to his brother-
in-law, Sir Ralph Anstruther (whose sister he married), and
having been previously introduced to his character as a sports-
man and a gentleman, I was gratified at being made known to
bim personally.

But I must hark back to the captain, as this was the first and
last time of my seeing him. Of the captain's oratorical exhibi-
tions on the hustings, some excellent anecdotes are " afloat," as
he himself would say. Having gone to sea at the age of eleven
years, when he could but just write his name, and having received
no other education than that which he got on board a man of
war — no great shakes, I believe, in those days — the flowers of
oratory were, he said (in a speech at Cupar), not to be expected
from him. Yet there is a language which, like the poet's beauty,
when " unadorned is adorned the most " — a style of speaking ad-
mirably adapted to the refined taste of a radical mob, and that
style is the captain's. Now then for a specimen. " I say, captain,"
cried one of the unwashed to him, under the hustings, whilst
undergoing the catechizing which those gentry are now prone
to inflict on all such a"s solicit the honour of representing them in
a certain place; "how do you mean to vote about the bishops ?"

41 Hold your tongue, you ," roared the captain, " what &Q you

know about bishops ?" " I say, captain," bawled another of the
unclean ; " are you for annual elections ?" " No, you d — d
fool." replied the captain, " nor would you be for them, if you had
to pay for them" Now, if not the honesty, there is the bluntness
of the sailor in both these replies ; and, strange to say, the rhe-
toric of a Cicero would have no chance against such eloquence
as this, with the class of persons to whom it was addressed.
Indeed, the captain himself furnishes the proof, forasmuch as he
Is popular amongst the ot TroXAot, and, I am told, has a peculiar
manner of initiating himself into their favour. For example:
Suppose he wanted one of his constituents to open a gate for
him, or hold his horse, he would address him thus : — " Come
here, you ten-pound radical rascal, and open this gate." All this
appears strange at first sight, but unaccountable as it may seem

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 169

to be, there is something in it that takes^ and I can produce a
striking instance of its persuasive power. A few years back, a
common sailor brought an action (at Lancaster, I believe)
against a captain of a merchant-ship, for ill usage on the
voyage, when, on its appearing to have been the second time of
his having subjected himself to it, he was naturally enough in-
terrogated by the judge as to his reasons for again sailing with
such an inhuman captain. " Why, please your honour," said
Jack, " I warn't for sailing with him again, but I couldn't help
it ; the captain had such 'winning ways with him." " Winning
ways/' observed his lordship ; " what do you mean by winning
ways ?'' " Why please you, my lord," resumed Jack, " the cap-
tain comes alongside me, on the quay, slaps me on the back, and
says — * What ! Jack— you d— d ill-looking, blear-eyed, squinting

, aren't you a-going to sail again along with me ?' Please

your honour, my lord, I couldn't help it arter all that there kind
discourse.'7

Of Captain Wemyss's power of voice I have already spoken
and I should think it seldom needed the aid of the trumpet, even
on the quarter deck. Indeed, his chairman at the Cupar dinner
in allusion, perhaps, to his speaking the sentiments of his
constituents — pronounced the captain to be "no whisperer, even in
a drawing-room ;" but the following anecdote, related to me by
one who was a party concerned in it, will plainly show, that the
captain speaks out everywhere. My informant and himself, it
appeared, were one Sunday in the same pew, in the most aristo-
cratic church in all London. " I say, Melville,"* said the captain,
loud enough to be heard by half the congregation at least,
" thafs a d — d dandified looking fellow; is he not?" Mr.
Melville dropped as if he had been shot, and was some time ere
he could venture to raise his head. But, reader ! who do you
imagine this "d — d dandified looking fellow" to have been?
why no other than the parson who had just settled himself
in the pulpit, ready to commence his discourse, a time at which,
of all others, the greatest silence generally prevails in churches !
Speaking out in a church, however, is no great novelty— Sir
Roger de Coverley to wit, who would let no one sleep during the
sermon but himself, calling to them with an audible voice if they
did ; and it is written of the celebrated Lord Sackville, of former
days, who is said to have gone every Sunday to church at the
head of his whole establishment — " leaving only a sentinel to
watch the fires at home, and mount guard upon the spits" — that

* Not Mr. Whyte Melville.

170 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

he would occasionally throw his tongue in church ; and oftce to
the. amusement of his hearers. Wishing to encourage a young
declaimer in the pulpit, he was not content with nodding assent
to several passages that struck him, but at last cried out in ecstasy,
— " Well done, Harry /"* Then again— "The preacher seems a
very ungainly person," whispered Mannering (Guy) to his friend. -
" Never fear? replied the latter, " he is the son of an excellent
Scotch lawyer; he'll show blood, I'll warrant htm" These are
the graphic words of Scott, when giving a vivid picture of a
celebrated character of this day ; but it is to be hoped the
whispers of neither party reached quite so far as the pulpit, from
which " the still small voice of reason" ought to whisper to us.

With the captain's politics I have no right to find fault. He is
an out and out radical ; on principle, I conclude. The celebrated
Tom Pye, however (of the Edinburgh mail), says, the captain's
politics remind him of the clock at York, (Janique bifrontis
imago !) but why, or wherefore, I leave Tom to explain. It
certainly does appear that the captain was bred and reared in
the Tory school, as his chairman acknowledged at the Cupar
dinner ; and whether, like too many of his kidney, he became so
stout a radical as he now is, from a feverish appetite for popu-
larity and distinction, or from a sincere conviction — far the more
probable of the two— that he is thus more signally benefiting his
country, is not for me to hazard an opinion upon here. But I
greatly admire his laconic answers to the questions of the " un-
washed." No government, nor scarcely any human institution,
ever yet existed, but what was censured and opposed; but
neither errors nor faults can justify an appeal to a rabble, who
cannot possibly judge of what they cannot possibly understand ;
whose opinions are not propagated by reason, but caught,
like the small-pox, by contagion.

Friday the I2th being a non-hunting day, I rode to Cupar to
see the kennel and the whole establishment, and to have half an
hour's chat with Walker. The kennel is close to the town, and
yet not inconvenienced by its vicinity to it, no thoroughfare being
near ; and it is equal to the accommodation of the pack, which
does not exceed forty couples ; and it also has the advantage of
being healthy. The stables likewise are adjoining ; rather so-so
in appearance, and their contents more useful than ornamental.
Indeed, I should not say the Fife servants are well mounted ;
but the lacerating nature of the stone with which the greater part
of the Fife walls are erected — a sort of whin, or slate stone — is a
damper to the purchasers of high-priced horses, as a walk
through these stables would show. There is, however, no lack
* Rev. Henry Eatoff.

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 171

of strength. The men have four horses a-piece, about the
average number, but some of them must always be out of work
from the circumstance to which I have alluded — namely, the
cutting nature of the stone. Walker's favourite horse was a low,
but very thick, chestnut, purchased out of a Highland drove, for
the sum of thirty pounds — a most extraordinary animal for his
size. He is— or perhaps I should write, was, for he had awfully
looking legs, rather rounder than mill-posts, when I last saw him
—•an admirable fencer, with fully sufficient pace, and as stout as
steel ; and although, of course, nothing can be known of his
blood, his skin denotes that he has not many blots in his es-
cutcheon. The switch tail is the order of the day in this stable,
which is a great disfigurement in horses not in tip-top condition ;
and that of the Fife stud is but of the middling order. I think
the captain, who orders these matters, puts too much faith in Dr.
Green.

The Fife hounds, as will be seen by the list, have been bred
with great care, and without regard to trouble in going from
home for blood. And, unlike the man's razors, meant only for
sale, they are drafted with an eye to business, and not to please
the eye. They are not a show pack — not an even lot — but with
the exception of Climbank, Limner, and one or two other plainish
hounds, but too good to be drafted,* they are such as all sports-
men must be pleased with. They stand well on their legs ; I
do not indeed recollect to have seen one faulty in this very
material respect for all rough countries ; and there are many
very perfectly formed hounds in the pack, for example, Reveller,
Brevity, Milliner, Lavish, Caroline, Caution, Nosegay, Melody,
Dauntless, and Belfray — the last-named bitch quite perfection
in my eye for the Fife country — short-legged, and good in all
her acting parts. Dauntless is likewise a most valuable bitch ;
I saw her one day guide the scent through the horses in a style
very rarely equalled.

Some seasons back, in 1827 I believe, this kennel received a
great acquisition in a present to Crane, from his old master, Sir
Richard Puleston, of two stallion hounds, viz., Mulciber and
Comus, the latter by his Lucifer, out of his Cowslip. There
was only one Mulciber hound in work when I was in Fife, but
the Comus hounds are and have been all clever and good.
Among the nine couples of young hounds also, are several of the
right sort— Ajax and Archer (brothers) for example; Merlin.
Marplot, Boxer, &c., &c. But of all the blood-thirsty animals J

* Climbank and Limner are capital workers, got by Lord Kintore'f
Rubicon, who, Walker says, never did wrong.

172 N1M ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

ever saw in the shape of a fox-hound, I never witnessed any to
be compared with these two brothers, who not satisfied with the
lion's share, appeared to consider the fox to be all their own;
and, it appeared, they carry some of their savage propensities
into the kennel. On my speaking of them, one day, to Walker,
he said that Ajax could turn the feeder out of the kennel when-
ever he liked to do so. He is a hound of superior strength and
size, and, like his namesake of old, who made the Trojans tremble,
and even Hector look queer, on that account fearless.

I have heard many people say — " fox-hounds are fox-hounds ;
there is but little difference in the appearance of one pack
and another," — meaning, of course, long-established packs.
Indeed ! Now I will admit that there is a closer resemblance
between hound and hound, and greyhound and greyhound, in
form and colour, than between any other kind of dog familiar
to our eye ; but I positively deny the above assertion, and need
go no farther than the kennel I am speaking of in support of the
same. There is in it a bitch called Bluebell (not in the List, for
she is stone blind, from cataracts in both eyes), from the Belvoir
kennel. Now I would give Walker, or any other huntsman in
England, the chances of three crosses, and challenge him to
produce a fox-hound of similar shape, appearance, and symmetry
to this Belvoir bitch. Although far from faultless, she is alto-
gether a splendid animal of her sort, and an entire pack, all like
her, would be such a sight as the world never has seen, neither
is it ever likely to see. She exhibits the very ultra extent of
high breeding in the fox-hound ; in other words, the nearly
astounding length to which the presumption of man has carried
him, in improving upon the works of his Maker.

A LIST OF THE FIFE FOX-HOUNDS.

1835-

Ages. Names. Sires. Dams.

Years.

Seven. Champion .Sir R.Puleston's Mulciber His Caroline
Six ...Prudence... Mr. Foljamb's Piper Lord Yarborough's Colum-
bine

Smasher . . . Smasher Rival

Songstress . Ditto Ditto

Monarch . . . Ditto Madcap

Music Ditto Ditto

Brilliant ...Bustard... ...Rakish

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

173

Ages. Names.

Years.

Six ...Lavish

Sires.

Dams*

Five .

Four.

Melody ..
. . Lady
Coaxer
Curious .
Rantaway
Boaster . .
Favourite

Milliner .
Topper ..
.. Constant ..
Comedy ..
Caution ..
Fiourisher

Tempest ..
Racket
Ranter
Belfray

Mr. Chalmers' Lucifer ...Lord Yarborough's Fa-

vourite
..Mountain ..................... Mr. Chalmers' Watchful

Bustard ........................ Loyalty

Sir R. Puleston's Comus .Merrylass
. . Ditto ........................... Ditto

. Sportsman .................. Ruby

. Sultan ........................ Blowsy

.East Lothian Chronicle ...Lord Yarborough's Fa-

vourite

..Mr. Chalmers' Latimer ...Mr. Lambton's Margery
.Lord Yarborough's PlatoffHis Trophy
.Sir R. Puleston's Comus... Darling
.Ditto ........................... Ditto

.Ditto Champion ............ Modish

.Lord Yarborough's Fair- His Wanton

play
.Mr. Chalmers' Finder ...... Mr. Hodgson's Tempest

Sir R. Puleston's Comus .Rakish

Lord Middleton's Pontiff . His Racket

Colonel Windham's Bell-Mr. Nicoll's Willing

Nosegay ...Sir R. Sutton's WatchmanHis Xelly

Bluebell ...Sir T. Syke's Splendour .His Bluebell

Sprightly... Lord Yarborough's ShinerSongstress

Vanguard .Beaufort Victor ............ Mr. Assheton Smith's

Blemish

Rochester .Beaufort Rutland ............ Out of Lord Kintore's

Whimsey
Three .Chronicle . Chronicle ..................... Merrylass

Chanter ...Ditto ........................... Ditto

Cottager ...Ditto ........................... Ditto

Cheerful ...Ditto ........................... Ditto

Duster ...... Lord Yarborough's Chora-Darling

ter

Daphne ...Lord Yarborough's DarterLoyalty

Dauntless .Ditto ........................... Ditto

Regent ...... Mr. Hay's Hotspur ......... Rally

Bertram . . . Lord Yarborough's BowlerHis Glory

Reveller ...Lord Yarborough's Darter Rakish

Bravery ...Lord Kintore's Bustler ...Susan
Two... Striver ...... Sailor ........................ Comfort

Saladin . . . Ditto ........................... Ditto

Roundelay . Jupiter ........................ Rally

Ruby ...... D itto ........................... Ditto

Climbank .Lord Kintore's Rubicon... Curious

1 74 NIM ROD'S NOR THERN TO UR.

Ages. Names* Sires. Dams.

Years.

Two... Caroline ...Lord Kintore's Rubicon :Curious

Brevity ...Lord Kintore's Bustler ...Comical

Bonnylass .Ditto Ditto

Bruiser Lord Kintore's Bruiser ... His Welcome

Pontiff ...... Lord Kintore's Pontiff' ...His Rosemary

Lirnner ...Lord Kintore's Rubicon... Lavish

Lively Ditto Ditto

Gaylass ...Mr. Ramsay's Gulliver ...Melody

Blucher . . . Lord Yarborough's Druid. His Boundless
One .,Ajax Auditor Comfort

Archer Ditto Ditto

Auditor . . .Ditto Ditto

Boxer Duke of Buccleuch's BoxerLavish

Dexter Bertram Darling

Driver Ditto Ditto

Dairymaid . Ditto Ditto

Marplot . . . Lord Harewood's Guilder. Milliner

Minister ...Ditto Ditto

Milkmaid Ditto Ditto

Glancer . . .Ditto Nosegay

Graceful ...Ditto Ditto

Chantress .Lord Scarborough's Mill-Chantress
wood

Stately Sailor Favourite

Mill wood... Lord Scarborough's Mill-Racket
wood

Merlin Lord Middleton's Marplot Makeless

Senator ...Smasher Margery

Old Hounds 27! Couples.

Young Hounds 9 Ditto.

Total 36! Couples.

Walker has a neat and comfortable house within less than a
hundred yards of his darlings — no man is fonder of his hounds
than he is — where himself and Mrs. Walker sojourn comfortably
together. His parlour is very neatly furnished, and, as may bs
supposed, embellished with some of the insignia of the chase.
Amongst them is a silver hunting horn, the gift of the Earl of
Kintore, with an inscription that must be grateful to the feelings
of the owner of it, being the testimony of a master to the good
conduct of a servant ; and also a picture of the bitch Lavish, in
cha.se; a very good likeness of her. She is by Mr, Chalmers'

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 175

Lucifer, out of Lord Yarborough's Favourite, and the dam of
Limner and Lively, by Lord Kin tore's Rubicon ; and of Boxer,
by the Duke of Buccleuch's Boxer, a very elegant young hound.
Walker's wages are a hundred and forty guineas a year, which,
with cap money, draft hounds, and other little et ceteras, make
up a comfortable income — but not a shilling more than a man is
deserving of, who does his duty in the situation in which he is
placed^ and risks his neck so many days in the year for the
amusement of his employers and their friends.

I have, I believe, before acknowledged the difficulty of making
parallel of men who shine in the same sphere, neither could I,
if disposed to it, compare Walker as a huntsman with Crane,
because I never saw the latter in that capacity at all. But I
cannot pass over Walker, were it only from the very high cha-
racter that had been given to me of him by so many, and those
well able to appreciate it, previously to my seeing him in the
field. Indeed I consider it but justice to give praise where praise
is due, and so far from its being injurious to persons in his
(Walker's) situation in life, it must have a direct contrary effect
— it must act as an incentive to good conduct, if it were only to
preserve the good name already acquired. I can, in fact, here
speak from my own personal feelings. The love of admiration
may be a weakness, but it is a weakness inseparable from our
nature, and anything but unfavourable to our future exertions to
attain it. In short, logically speaking, the desire of praise is
nothing less than a motive to do that which we think may deserve
praise.

Now, if I may use such an expression, Walker's good name
appears to be " potted" in Fife. He is not only one of the most
civil, unassunling men in his station in life that I ever came
across, but taking into consideration the few years' experience
he has had in that station, he has shown himself to have been
almost miraculously gifted. In the "observations" Lord Kintore
sent to Crane for his perusal, he said, "a huntsman's talent (like
the poet's) must be born with him." The happy association,
then, is self-apparent in Walker, and when that talent becomes
to be still more improved by experience, and still more chastened
by judgment, I do not hesitate in giving it as my opinion that he
will make as perfect a huntsman as ever holloaed to a hound.
He has every qualification for his art. He has the eye of a
hawk ; the quickness of a Shaw, without his rashness ; the judg-
ment of an old man, although a young one, for he is in the prime
of his years ; and when I say he has the zeal and enthusiasm of
a Kintore. I think I have said enough. " Go to the ant, thou
sluggard/' sums up the moral of rather a long fable.

176 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

As a horseman, Walker is also pre-eminent, although now and
then a little regardless of, or, perhaps, I should say, a little too
severe on, his horses. But he will be " with 'em," if there is any
go left in his nag ; and hence he derives a great advantage over
his fox, which I have reason to believe seldom escapes him with
a fair scent, and provided he will stay above ground. But the
numerous open drains in Fife and Forfar save the lives of half
the foxes that are hunted, and may be said to mar half the sport
of a season. On this subject I shall have a word to say at
another time.

I must not, however, dismiss the character of John Walker,
as huntsman to the Fife hounds, without the following remark,
in qualification, as it were, of the almost extravagant praise I
have bestowed upon it. Without any disparagement of his zeal
and talent, but merely to account for his almost unequalled suc-
cess, it must not be forgotten that he stepped into his situation
at a most favourable period — just in the nick of time, it may be
said, to derive the advantage of his predecessor Crane's equally
zealous and highly effective exertions in making a country, and
reforming a pack of hounds. On the other hand, there is an
acknowledged disadvantage in immediately appearing after a
well-graced actor, on any stage, and this must be placed to
Walker's credit.

I saw an average statement of the expenses of the Fife hounds
(observe, they have three kennels) for the years 1830, 1831,
amounting to .£1468 145. 6d., in the following disbursements: —

Stable e £543 8 9

Kennel 316 13 7

Servants 419 o 9

Incidents, including ^97 195. gd. >
for hounds purchased in the

two years 189 n 5

,£1468 14 6

I considered Walker to be well assisted in the field. His first
whip, Tom Batters, is a good man with hounds, and no doubt
all the better for the blessings Crane bestowed upon him. The
second, well bred for the situation, being a son of Smith, the
celebrated Brocklesby huntsman (Lord Yarborough's), has since
left him. It was young days with him when I was in Fife, and
unfortunately for human nature, judgment ripens slowly ; but I
liked what I saw of his performance, and there appeared to be
nothing like riot about him. He must mind what he is at, how-

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 177

ever, for when I saw him in the kennel I thought his jacket and
breeches were a tight fit. I fear he will get heavy, which I
should regret, being of opinion that some day or other he will
.signalize himself as a sportsman. I was given to understand
that his father only placed him tinder Walker by way of entering
him to hounds, as the term is ; and he could not well have chosen
a better preceptor for him. He would teach him to be quick
and decisive ; and when experience and good judgment are
united to quickness and prompt decision, a huntsman may be
said to have arrived at a point very near to perfection.

Saturday, I3th.— From my visit to the kennel at Cupar I pro-
ceeded to Balcaskie, where my friends from Mount Melville
were engaged to meet me, and moreover the next morning's fix-
ture was one of Sir Ralph Anstruther's covers. The house of
Balcaskie is one of apparently very considerable antiquity — al-
though replete with every comfort — having the Gothic window,
the tower-like staircase, and the flower-garden, laid out in hand-
some parterres, divided by wrell trimmed yew hedges, after the
fashion of our forefathers, with the advantage of a beautiful
terrace the entire length of the house, which overlooks the whole,
furnishing to the eye a most agreeable prospect. And as if it
were in keeping with this old-fashioned mansion, its yew hedges,
its Gothic windows, and its tower-like staircase, there is to be
seen at Balcaskie a very good fashion to which I would reluc-
tantly apply the epithet " old." This is — a young couple, whose
means would allow of their entering into the dissipation of either
metropolis, enjoying by preference the endearing familiarities of
domestic life, together with the pleasures of the country ; and
finding, in themselves, the reciprocal cause of mutual happiness.
Depend unon it, reader, they are right. The atmosphere of the
one abounds with taint and corruption, in which the heart shrinks
and withers like a blighted flower ; whereas, in the pure and un-
contaminated tranquillity of the other it flourishes and continues
to expand to delight*

* Having had the pleasure of meeting Sir Ralph Anstruther a few
months back, at Mr. Dalyell's (his brother-in-law), in Hertfordshire, I
was amused and gratified by the following anecdote. "I was much
delighted," said Sir Ralph, " with your article on the Horse, in the
Encyclopedia Bntannica^ and, exclusive of the pleasure the perusal of
it gave me, I was a great gainer by the purchase of the volume which
contained it, for the following reason : — I was, at that time, making some
improvement in my old-fashioned garden at Balcaskie, and availed my-
^self of some excellent hints on that subject, given in an article on Hor-
ticulture, which immediately follows yours on the Horse."

173 MMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

After a most agreeable evening, heightened by the exquisite
performance of Lady Anstruther on the harp, and a good night's
rest, I arose the next morning in the anxious expectation of a
day's sport with " merry John" and his pack, as also of another
day's experience of the captain in the field, which I assure you,
reader, is no small treat. But, alas, politics — accursed politics,
absolutely becoming the bane of society, and now even showing
its ugly face in the hunting-field — would not allow of his being
out on this day, nor did I ever again see him with hounds.

It should, however, be made known, that it was just on the
approach of his contest for the county, in which he beat his ad-
versary, Colonel Lindsay, by I believe the largest majority that
the annals of Scottish elections can exhibit, and this in a year of
unparalleled excitement, in that country. In fact Church and
King had not a chance against the captain's broadside and his
twenty-four (alias ten) pounders !

I regret my inability to give a flattering account of this day's
proceedings in the field. In the first place, the fog was so thick
in the morning, that Walker got lost in coming to cover with the
hounds ; and in the next, by some unaccountable accident, not
one of Sir Ralph's foxes was at home — I say unaccountable
accident, because, as may be supposed, Sir Ralph, although his
covers abound with pheasants, is a strict preserver of these
animals. We did find late in the day ; but what with interrup-
tion from the fog, a drizzling rain and bad scent, we could do but
little, — nothing in fact worth recording, although we were in what
I call a very fair country for fox-hunting. But something always
turns up in the hunting-field to make amends for casual disap-
pointments. There were staying at Balcaskie three young
ladies,* first cousins to Sir Ralph, and well bred ones for this
sport, being daughters of the late Mr. Anstruther Thompson, of
Charlton, the original proprietor, as I have already stated, of the
Fife hounds. One of these young ladies accompanied Lady
Anstruther in her phaeton, and of course only now and then
caught a sight of the hounds ; but her sisters accompanied us
throughout the day, and I must give them a niche in our Temple
of Fame. But what if I could have placed them in your gallery
of portraits ! I can assure you they would have afforded excel-
lent subjects for the skill of your artist, as well as excellent
samples of the bonnie lasses of old Scotland. Nevertheless, it
is as regards their performance in the saddle alone that I venture
to introduce the names of any young ladies to the notice of the
sporting world ; and perhaps had not the Miss Thompsons been

* One of these young ladies is since married.

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 179

the daughters of Mr. Thompson of Charlton, I should have
doubted the propriety of doing so by them. But I must say, I
never saw two better horsewomen (I do not mean riders, because
I know hundreds of good riders, as they are called, and elegant
ones too, on perfectly broken-in horses) ; and " horsewomen "
they must have been, to have ridden the nags on which they
were mounted. They appeared all but, if not quite, thorough-
bred, with ill-set on heads, very ticklish mouths, and very much
inclined to play tricks ; notwithstanding which, these young
ladies were as much at home upon their backs as if they had
been sitting on a drawing-room sofa. In short, on seeing them
both going at nearly the top of their horses' speed, over some
very rough ground, I could not help exclaiming to Mr. Dalyell,
" Surely those young ladies have borrowed Sam Chimey's
hands."

The Fife country. I scarcely saw enough of the Fife home
country to offer a decided opinion upon it, and I did not see that
called the " West Fife" at all, which is much the best, and which,
as I have before said, has shown great sport.* Like most parts
of Scotland the covers afford riot, the chief of which is roe ; but
I must say the Fife hounds are very steady in drawing, and at
all other times. I only saw one hound come out of cover, with
roe, when, although in view, he was stopped by Tom Batters, by
one single rate. The part of the country which I saw was far
from objectionable, although the covers are nearer to each other
than may be agreeable ; but it rode sound and well, and with
horses used to the fences, a man may follow hounds pretty
straight in it— that is to say, if he can ride, but it won't do for
the " tailors." There may be bogs in it, and no doubt there are.;
but I saw- none, and it is the only country in Scotland in which
I did not get floored in one. It is the only country also in Scot-
land, or indeed elsewhere, in which I saw the roe-buck in his
wild state ; and I was anxious to see an animal of such poetical
association — one who, like the stag, may be said to embellish the
forest, and animate the solitude of his native wilds. Neither
did he disappoint me ; for, from the graceful freedom of his step,

* This West of Fife country afforded a capital run in the March
month, after I quitted Scotland — from a moor near Queensferry. It was
twelve miles, with scarcely a check ; and so fast that only four of the
field saw it. These were, Mr. Whyte Melville, Mr. John Grant, General
Bucckle, and Walker. By-the-by, Mr. Editor, have I not omitted the
mention of General Bucckle in my notice of the party at Dunse ? He
was out twice with Lord Elclio, during my visit to him, is a hard rider,
and a sportsman ; and was at Melton the last year of Mr, T. A. Smith's
hunting the Quorn country.

12 — 2

a£o NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

and the rapidity of his action — although not perhaps to be put
in comparison with the " antlered monarch of the forest," when
)ie first darts before the opening pack,— he realized the flattering
allusions to his form and qualities by the various writers, both
sacred and profane. One Asahel, for example, one of the three
sons of Zeruiah — an active chap, no doubt — is said to be " as
light of foot as a wild roe," in the description given us of a
mortal skirmish, in the second book of Samuel; and even female
»»race and beauty in the human race have found similitude with
the roe.

But these highly picturesque and poetical animals are very
devils in the sight of huntsmen and their masters ; for they not
only leave a ravishing scent behind them, but they have the pro-
voking propensity of describing a circle in their flight, so as often
actually to overtake hounds that have been induced to follow
ihem, and thus to make it more difficult to get them stopped.
For this reason, they have been so seldom thought worthy of
being considered beasts of chase ; and, with one exception,*
joe-buck hounds have long been discontinued in England. In-
deed the last English roe-buck was said to have been killed by
44 one Squire Whitfield, of Whitfield, in Northumberland," and I
am quite sure all the fox-hunters in Scotland would be very glad
to see another " Squire Whitfield" among them, if he could per-
form a like act. There would then be no occasion for the use of
the very unfoxhunting-like rate of " Ware haunch." " Ware
liare" is quite enough.

Sunday the I4th, was passed as that day is usually passed in
she houses of country gentlemen, — namely, with that respect
ivhich is its due ; and at an early hour on the following morning,
Sir Ralph Anstruther's carriage was at the door to take himself,
myself, and Mr. Daly ell to meet the Forfarshire fox-hounds, of
which Mr. Dalyell was at that time the owner, at Gregstone- toll-
bar, about seven miles on the Forfar side of Dundee, and nearly
ihirty from where we then were. The cause, however, of this
*arly start was, the necessity of being at the Dundee ferry at the
precise time the steam boat passes the Tay, and we did but just
nick it. A good breakfast awaited us at the inn in Dundee, and
we proceeded to the place of meeting in post chaises.

According with my usual practice, on my first appearance with
Lounds in a country which is new to me, I shall offer some re-

The late Mr. Pleydell, of Whatcombe House, Dorsetshire, kept a
.t until his decease, which took place a few years back. Xenophon
^millions chasing the roe, by horsemen — on thorough-bred horses no
See Percy's Rel. Anc. Eng. Poetry.

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. iHi

marks upon Forfarshire ; and it is particularly entitled to the
notice of sportsmen from the fact of its having been the scene of
fox-hunting in very early days. William the Lion, Alexander
the Second, and Alexander the Third, all Kings of Scotland,
hawked and hunted over it, and the one last named held his court
at the palace of Forfar nearly half the year, for the purpose of
sporting over the county. In what state it then was as to enclo-
sures, or agriculture, I am unable to conjecture, but it is now saki
to contain 340,000 acres of arable land, and appeared to me to
be the most roomy enclosed county, if such an expression may be
allowed me, that I hunted over in Scotland. It has been regu-
larly hunted by fox-hounds for about eighty years. Lord Kintore
hunted it twice, and the renowned Captain Barclay of Ury once;
and it is from their experience I speak as much as from my OWR.
It has an advantage over Fife in the nature of the stone with
which the walls are built, which seldom lacerates, and, generally
speaking, it holds a fair scent — I may perhaps say more than a*
average scent for a ploughed country, which the greater portion
of the enclosed part of it is. This may in part be accounted for
by the fact, that, by the universal law of nature, all mountainous
countries, like Scotland, accumulate much moisture, so that the
surface of the fallows do not become arid and scentless, as they
do in the flatter but exposed counties of England, during the
prevalence of high and cold winds. But all " walled countries,1*
as they are called, are objectionable, it being injurious to hound*
to jump off from them, which they do with great violence when
their fox is sinking before them — the time of all others when the>
are less able to withstand the force of the shock they sustain by
it. It is true there are many— perhaps too many— large woods
in Forfarshire, but there are whin covers in it that would do
credit to any shire.

It is scarcely necessary to observe, that Mr. Dalyell at this
time, as at the present, hunted his hounds himself, assisted in
the kennel as well as in the field by John Skinner, his first
whipper-in, a name very well known in the fox-hunting world.
There are three brothers, all at present with hounds, and the
father of them, brought up by the late Mr. Meyneil at Ouorn,
was fifty-five years with fox-hounds, without once being absent
from them, with the exception of the period of nineteen weeks,
when he was confined to his bed by a fall. One of his sons also
had an awful fall some years back, by which an arm and thigh
were fractured ; and Tom Skinner, now huntsman to Mr. De
Burgh's stag-hounds, whom I knew in Warwickshire, when he
whipped-in to Mr. Hay, met with a sad accident last winter ini
the field, from which I much fear he is not yet recovered. His

ySa NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

foot was dreadfully crushed by his horse falling upon it, and
either by ill-treatment or neglect, the wound was suffered to
mortify. " If anybody can save me," said Tom to his brother
Jack, who, by the kind permission of Mr. Dalyell, was with him
at the time, " it will be Dr. Liston ; I wish he could see me."
This being communicated to Mr. Liston by Mr. Francis Grant,
who heard of it by accident at the cover-side, he instantly,
accompanied by Mr. Grant, went down to him in the country,
and was in time to save his life. I must not omit stating, that
this eminent surgeon charged his brother sportsman nothing for
his attendance ; but rather a rich anecdote accompanies his
first inspection of the wounded limb, and we may imagine we
see him opening his instrument case at the moment. " This is
a bad business, Tom," said he ; " but I think I shall be able to
save as much of your foot as will keep your spur on." Pocr
Tom smiled, and seemed to enter into the spirit of the joke.
Tom went from Mr. Hay to Mr. Grantley Berkeley, in whose
service he remained till he gave up his hounds, when he entered
that of Mr. De Burgh.

The particulars of the interview with Mr. Liston I had from
Jack Skinner (who was present), as he returned from his brother
during my visit to Mr. Dalyell last winter ; neither did he1 omit
to mention the very great attention and care the sufferer received
from Mr.. De Burgh. The other brother, Harry, whips in to
Lord Segrave.

John, or Jack, Skinner, as he is called in Scotland, where he
has been the greater part of his life, is an excellent man with
hounds ; very fond of fox-hunting ; as neat and as clever a
horseman as ever threw a leg over a saddle, and a faithful servant
withal. Of his master, Mr. Dalyell, it is not necessary for me
to say much at present, his name and character as a sportsman
and a rider having been lately made known through the pages
of this Magazine. Neither need I trouble myself to describe his
person, which Mr. Francis Grant has given " to the life" in your
number for October, 1835 '> ^ut as m ^e character of huntsman
he was then new to me, the first meet with hounds was one of
considerable interest. Neither did it end with himself. The
act of meeting a new field at the cover-side is one of an unusually
exhilarating nature ; and, calling to my recollection an account
of a capital run over this part of the country about six years
back, as recorded in the pages of the Old Sporting Magazine, in
Mr. Chalmers's day, in which Mr. Chalmers himself, the Doug-
lases of Brickton, Captain Peter Hay of Mugdrum, Mr. Hay of
Latham, Mr. Stewart of St. Fort House, and Mr. Greenhill had
particularly distinguished themselves by their horsemanship, I

JMMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR. 183

naturally sought their acquaintance. To two of them, indeed, I
was already personally known — namely to Mr. Archibald Doug-
las, by having met him at Melton, when he contended against
Captain Ross in a steeple-chase, and to Mr. Stewart of St. Fort,
whom I had met with the Fife hounds, and who had kindly
mounted me this day. Indeed, Sir Ralph was at the mercy of
his brother-in-law for a nag, having considered it scarcely worth
while to send one of his own stud so far ; and he was entitled
to a mount from him in consideration of the gruelling he gave a
thorough-bred one of his own, in our first and second run with
the Fife. But these things go for nothing between brothers-in
law whose souls are in the sport.

The first approach to a strange pack naturally calls forth a
remark. That of Mr. Dalyell, at this time, is described in a few
words — in the words indeed of Jack Skinner himself. " We keep
no cats that don't kill mice," said he to me, as I rode around them
to look them over ; " ours is not a show pack ; but if we can
find a good fox, I think they will give a good account of him."
(The strength of the kennel at this time consisted of twenty-
three couples of old and ten couples of young hounds.) But, alas !
no fox was to be found, although we drew till past three o'clock,
a circumstance I much regretted. In the first place I regretted
it on Mr. Daly ell's account, in the second, we were in a very-
pretty country for sport, the day was a favourable one, and I was
on as clever a little nag as I ever mounted or saw. I call him
" little" because he is near the ground and on very short legs, and
therefore named Deception ; but he is more than equal to my
weight. He was then in his nineteenth year, and quite fresh on
his legs and feet, which circumstance I mention for the sake of
drawing the attention of sportsmen to one or two points well
deserving of it, in reference to the purchase of hunters. The
legs and feet of this horse appeared quite equal to a body half as
big again as his own ; and his fetlocks — those most essential
points in a hunter — are as strong as those of an ox.

There is luckily for all mortals a balm for most wounds ; and
chagrined as we were at this most unexpected blank, it was not
long ere it was administered to us. We recrossed the Tay ; re-
placed ourselves in Sir Ralph's carriage ; and at the end of a
two hours' drive, found ourselves at Mount Melville, where the
friends we had left behind us at Balcaskie were ready to receive
us. Of our morning's diversion we of course " sung small ;" but
atthough we could not find a fox in the numerous good covers
we had drawn, we found in the dining-room and drawing-room
of this elegant mansion, all that human nature could, short of
presumption, demand.

1 84 NIM ROD'S NOR THERN TO UR.

The next day (Dec. i6th), met the Fife hounds at Kingsmuir;
being again mounted by Captain Peter Hay of Mugdrum, upon
St. Edmond, and not Duncan, as miscalled in my last. We
found at Bonerbo, and again at Redvvells, and killed after a
hunting run of an hour in which Walker displayed much science,,
and could have again killed his fox sooner than he did, had he
had recourse to mobbing. " Leave ;em alone/' halloaed he to a
person who would have had recourse to it ; " let ;em have their
fun out." *

December 18. — The Fife again at Kemback. I was again:
capitally mounted this day by the Earl of Rothes, who kindly
invited me to his house on my return to Mount Melville, of which
I this day took my leave ; but I am sorry to say an evil genius
pursued us. We drew the finest gorse cover in the hunt — indeed
I know none finer anywhere— called Bishop's Gorse, so called
from the fact of Archibishop Sharpe, the last but two, I believe^,
of Scotch bishops, having been murdered on the ground on which1
the cover now stands, the very spot being marked with a stone ;
but we drew it blank. Something was said of a litter accident-
ally killed by putting a grate at the mouth of a drain, it not being
known that it was used by a fox at all. There must indeed have
been some cause for our disappointment, and for the sake of fox-
hunting I hope that is the real one.

But as I have already said, this was an unlucky day, for there
was a breast high scent, and still no good could be done, from a*
series of untoward events. Twice the hounds slipped away out
of a large woodland at an awful pace, and each fox headed back
into foUed ground— no one getting well away with them but
Walker and Mr. Earle, who had three falls in less than three
miles. But he cares little for falls, and will be with them, if
possible. Bad however as the hunting of this day was, it had
some redeeming qualities, as the greater number of those devoted
to fox-hunting have. We were not without our sport. " GONE
AWAY !" holloas one sportsman. " YONDER THEY GO !" exclaims
another. "True enough," said I, on seeing two horsemen a
long way forward, going the very ultra pace, and alongside a
large woodland cover. " How I envy those two fellows," said I
to myself ; as I clapped spurs to my lord's clever little nag ;-
" they are riding parallel with the pack, who are ' a physicking
on him/ as the old Shropshire farmer told Sir Bellingham
Graham, in the cover !" But lo and behold — who should these,
by me so much envied, mortals be, but Mr. Whyte Melville's
son, an Eton schoolboy, whose horse was running away with
him, pursued as Johnny Gilpin was by the post boy, by a gentle-
man who thought the boy was riding after hounds, which it

NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 185

appeared had gone exactly in a contrary direction ! It is by
such doings as this —riding forward to points without knowing
why. — that so many foxes are headed in woodland countries, and
much sport spoiled.

Then again, at Bishop's Gorse, something occurred to amuse
me. I saw " old James" — as Lord Rothes's groom is called, and
an excellent one he is, for I knew him well in Warwickshire —
riding a clipped horse of his master's, through gorse higher than
his belly, and expressing surprise that he did not at all relish it,
and at his jumping every now and then to avoid it. "What's
come to you this morning, you fold fool?" said he; "you don't
seem to like it." " I should think not, James," was my remark,
being close to him at the time ; " neither would you like to walk
through such thick whins as these." " And without your breeches
too, James" added Captain Balfour of the Guards (who made
one of our party at Mount Melville), in allusion to the horse being
clipped. " Thank ye," said I, " for the climax ; I shall book it/'
I may also here remark, that this was only the fourth horse I saw
in Scotland that had been clipped, and in the large stud of Mr.
Ralph Lambton, whom I visited on my return homewards, I
could not find one.

My hack being at Cupar, I made the best of my way thither,
after this bad day's hunting was over, and got to Dundee to my
dinner, sleeping there that night, to be ready for Mr. DalyelFs
hounds on the morrow. But here I was once more foiled. He
had kindly offered to mount me, and had one of his own horses
at the place of meeting for me, but the frost was so severe in the
neighbourhood of Dundee, that after sliding upon ice for two
miles on my hack, I returned to whence I set out, supposing it
to be impossible to hunt even at any time of the day. About ten
o'clock, however, Mr. Stewart of St. Fort made his appearance,
and we agreed we would make the attempt, as it was probable
Mr. Dalyell would draw some covers near the sea (near Arbroath),
which he did, and we were lucky to arrive at one of them just as
he had found his fox. But our luck was of short duration.
Five couples of hounds had slipped away with the scent, and got
three fields a head of the body, and although Mr. Stewart and
myself, who met them, had it in our power to stop them, still the
mischief was done. The ground was stained and the scent bad,
and had not old Racer most scientifically marked him into a whin
cover, for which his master cheered him, we should have seen no
more of our fox. But here our evil genius pursued us. He was
handsomely refound ; twice attempted to break cover ; but having
been twice headed back by the second whipper-in, he fell a prey
to the pack. This was death to the hopes of all the field, for the

1 86 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

day was far spent, and it was freezing very hard ; but although
no one was left with the hounds but myself and Major Wemyss
(not " the captain"), who was going to Mr. Dalyell's house,
nothing would satisfy the master of the pack short of finding
another fox. " We will draw the schoolmaster's cover," said he
to me ; " it is just in our road, and the best cover in the country.''
I begged him not to do so, for the fallows were as hard as flint,
and it was nearly three o'clock. Add to this, I was on one of
King's rips, that I had ridden from Dundee in the morning, for
the boy who brought a horse of Mr. DalyelPs to cover for me,
had despaired of my appearance, and taken him home. I found,
however, I might as well have addressed myself to the winds ;
the hounds were thrown into the cover ; a fine fox crossed the
road almost under my horse's head, and, after twenty-one minutes
with such a scent as is very seldom witnessed \ he was run into in
a drain, and killed ! My horse having fallen twice before he had
gone a mile, I pulled up short, and saw nothing of the burst ; but
Mr. Dalyell, who was with them all the way, assured me he had
scarcely ever witnessed such a scent ; a fact worth noticing, as
it was freezing most INTENSELY at the time.

On my arrival at Burnside, I was kindly welcomed by Mrs.
Dalyell, whose acquaintance I was delighted to make, not only as
the sister of Sir Ralph Anstruther, but also from having been
told that she was as fond of fox-hunting as her husband is, and
one of the best and boldest horsewomen in Scotland. Now as
there is nothing like producing proof, and making matters clear
as we proceed, I will at once substantiate what I have asserted
as to the enthusiasm of the husband, and the fine horsemanship
of the wife. " You have a good garden here, no doubt," said I
one day at dinner at Burnside, to the former when discussing the
merits of some very fine sea-kale. " / believe there ts" was the
reply ; " but to tell you the truth, I have never been in it. // is
too far from the kennel" Mark, reader, this " too far" is some-
where about one hundred yards ! But neither Millwood nor
Margery, Racer nor Roundelay, Gilder nor Gadfly, were to be
seen there, and anything appertaining to the cabbage genus
would have proved a poor substitute for them. The accomplish-
ments of the lady, — " a second Minerva in her studies, another
Diana in the field3'— are told in a few words. During a visit I
paid to this sporting couple last winter, at their new residence in
Hertfordshire, I found she had so distinguished herself in a run,
which very few saw the end of, that the fame of her horse reached
the ears of the present Duke of Beaufort ; and his Grace having
ascertained his price, sent a servant with a cheque for 250
guineas for him on the day previously to my arrival. He is called

NIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR. 187

Tom Thumb ; is upwards of sixteen hands high ; goes in a plain
snaffle bridle, and as light in hand as a pony. I rode him twice
during my visit to Scotland, and therefore can -vouch for what I
have said.

By-the-by, I must add one word more to the credit of this
lady as a horsewoman ; but if I were to relate all her feats, and
the number of miles she has ridden to and from hounds, and with
hounds, in one day, I should require second wind. Mr. Dalyell
told me that towards the end of the capital run I have alluded
to, when (as the Duke of Orleans said to me) " the field had
become select," he rode over a stile at which the ground at the
rising side was very rotten and bad. On looking back to see how
his lady managed it, he saw Tom Thumb— who slipped, for
timber-jumping is not his forte — on his head on the landing side,
having broken every bar. And where was his lady ? a la Snob
in the mud ? Not a bit of it : she was in her saddle, and rose, a
la Musters, with her horse.

Burnside is a convenient house for a sportsman, sufficiently
large for a family of moderate pretensions, and pleasantly
situated three miles from Forfar, a good market town. It was
the residence of Lord Kintore when he hunted the country, and
no doubt has been the arena of many a jovial night. My first
evening under its roof could not fail to be a pleasant one, for in-
dependently of my host and hostess, a more amusing companion
than Major Wemyss is very rarely met with. His good nature
is proverbial ; there is no subject on which he cannot, at all
events on which he will not, discourse ; he has been everywhere
and seen everything ; and all who have seen him have seen a
devilish good-looking Scotchman, a fit mate £or the finest young
woman in the land. Moreover he is very fond of hunting, and
is a coachman certainly of the first class ; and as Ascanius in
the field was Cupid in disguise, how is it that no female captive,
no Venus venatrix, has as yet fallen into the toils of this venator
Apollo ?

The late Lord Forester used to say, that the best music to his
ears in the month of December, was the clatter of pattens in the
streets of Melton about ten o'clock at night, as he was then sure
of a hunting day on the morrow. The morrow of this day told
a different tale ; there was every appearance of a shut- up for
some time to come ; and as I was, by invitation, engaged to
spend my Christmas at Keith Hall, the seat of the Earl of Kin-
tore, and as all brother-huntsman have a carte-blanche there,
Mr. Dalyell agreed to accompany me to Aberdeen, on our road
thither. I will give a short account of our start.

It is impossible that some of my readers may not have heard

183 NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

or read of the renowned Defiance coach from Edinburgh to
Aberdeen — the Wonder* of Scotland — which rightly indeed may
it be called. Any person, however, who may chance to be at
Edinburgh, and to step into the coach office of the Waterloo
hotel, will see announced, amongst many others, though this
stands first on the list, — " The Defiance Coach to Aberdeen,
matchless for speed and safety, at half past five o'clock every
lawful morning." And " matchless" no doubt it has been in this
part of the world ; for despite of a wide ferry to cross, unloading
one coach and loading another, breakfast and lunch on the road,
it has been remarkable for keeping its time, both in winter and
summer, with unusual punctuality at all periods of its ground ;
which time is only twelve hours and thirty-five minutes, which
will be found to be within a minute fraction of the rate of ten
miles an hour, taking the ferry and stoppages out of it ! And to
whom has Scotland been indebted for this " wonderful coach,"
which has been on this road upwards of seven years, having
started July 1st, 1829? Why, to that wonderful man, Captain
Barclay of Ury, " the man vot walked a thousand miles in a
thousand hours," and who continues to walk more miles every
day than any postman in the country. But to be serious. This
coach reflects great credit on the Captain and all others con-
cerned in it ; and I am sorry to hear that the cheap conveyance
by steam, coastwise, is likely seriously to injure it. Hitherto — the
fares having been good, namely ^2 xos. inside, and ^i 6s. out —
it has paid pretty well, averaging £$ per double mile, which is
as much as could be expected from the pace, which requires a
horse to a mile, and the Defiance had something over that
number when I was in the country it travels through. So com-
plete, however, are its arrangements ; so respectable and civil are
the servants employed upon it ; so well does it keep its time —
in addition to the honour of very often being driven by the Captain
himself—that the first people in the country are, or were, found
in and about it, including even the late Duke of Gordon himself,
who would frequently be seen in it on his road south, although
some of his own carriages might have been on the road on the
same day. Having myself had a carte-blanche from the Captain
and his partner to travel by it, and to drive it, whenever I liked,
scot free (servants of course excepted), I was indebted to them
for many a pleasant drive ; and there being so many interesting

* The Shrewsbury and London Wonder Coach is considered the best
in England for that length of ground ; and was so called, because it
was the first that was attempted to he worked over such a distance —
152 miles in one day.

NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 189

anecdotes relating to it, which I think will amuse my readers,
coaching ones in particular, I shall, in all probability, resume my
notice of it at a future day.

To enable me, however, to make my first start by it, I must
name the coachmen on this out-and-out drag, leaving the notice
of the guards — out-and-outers also in their line — to another time.
George Murray and James Lambert drive over the lower ground,
from Edinburgh to Perth ; and Arthur Farquhar and David
Roup, a thundering stout Highlander, over the upper, from
Perth to Aberdeen ; consequently each coachman drives about
half the ground, and has one coach a day.

On Saturday, the 2oth of December, then, Mr. Dalyell ac-
companied me to Forfar in his phaeton, to meet this renowned
drag ; and the box and a front seat on the roof were secured for
us. The flash coachman, I was told, was Arthur ; but this was
the Highlander's day up, which I was glad of, having never seen
a Highlander at this work. Now what were my expectations ?
Why, 1 will candidly declare them. I expected to see a devilish
stout, raw-boned chap, v/ith a hand as big as two hands, safe of
course, or he would not be where I should find him, but pulling
at his horses ready to pull their heads off, with legs and arms all
at work at once. Moreover, I had been a little prejudiced
against this Highlander, by hearing him put in contrast with Ar-
thur, and the preference being given generally to Arthur on the
balance. Guess my surprise then, when, before I had seen him^
at work ten minutes, I pronounced him a first-rate workman ;
and barring his incomprehensible lingo — the real native Doric —
fit to drive the Wonder out of London any day, if Mr. Wood*
would give him leave. His seat on his box is perfect ; his reins
well laid over his fingers, and as firm as if they were stitched
there ; his hands as quiet as if he were asleep, the right hand
never stirring at all till it was wanted, when it was used as it
should be ; and taken altogether, there was a combination of
strength with ease and smoothness, about his performance, that
pleased me as much as it surprised me. " Well done, Captain,"
said I to myself, " what must your flash man be over this ground,
if David Roup the Highlander can do the trick like this."

David of course had the office given him, and before the quar-
ter of an hour was up, he stuck his whip into the pipe of his box,
and turning towards me, said — " Ye'll tak 'um noo, sir ; ye'll find
;um nane of the warse." No sooner were the reins in my hand
than David was behind me on the roof, and Mr. Dalyell beside
me on the bench. " We gang awa' (away) over this ground,"

* Mr. Wood — an out-an-outer in his line — drives the Wonder out of
London.

I9o NIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR.

was all he said to me till we came to the change, when he cau-
tioned me against a shy leader, and once told me I was losing
time ; but he made us laugh when we got to the Captain's horses,
a few stages further. " David," said I, " why don't you put a
check rein on that off leader ? he makes my arm ache infernally."
" And mine, too/' replied David ; " but the Captain woona hae
nae cheek rein ; the Captain swears he na pulls ataal." " Very
likely," resumed I ; " but all arms are not so strong as the Cap-
tain's." We took up a link or two in his curb chain, however,
and my arm found the benefit of it.

Precisely at the appointed time we were landed at M 'Cray's
hotel in Aberdeen, where a room and dinner were prepared for
us by order of Lord Kintore ; and it was our intention, next
morning, to have proceeded to Keith Hall after breakfast. Being,
however, aware that his lordship's hounds were then in his
Turriff country, and having heard some of Lord Forester's music
in the streets — indeed we had observed symptoms of a change of
weather, in the shot thrown up from the wheels over the two last
stages — it became doubtful whether we should proceed to Keith
Hall at all at this time, and whether Mr. Dalyell would not re-
turn home to hunt his own hounds on the Monday. But where
was David Roup ? We had desired him to come to us at the
hotel to receive the usual fee, yet we saw nothing of him that
night. But more of this anon.

Early the next morning (Sunday) a servant from Keith Hall
appeared with a letter, altering, as we suspected, our course, and
directing us to be at Gash on the Monday, ready to take the field
on the Tuesday ; also informing us that we should have an ex-
cellent dinner and good company that day at the Provost Blakie's
in Aberdeen, who is his lordship's Delphic oracle on all profes-
sional matters. As far as myself was concerned this prophecy
was fulfilled, but Mr. Dalyell returned to his " darlings." The
cheer was good, the host a man after my own heart, barring his
knowing nothing of fox-hounds ; and the " company" — con-
sisting of Lord Marcus Hill, Mr. Ferguson, M.P. for Banff, and
Major Johnson of the gallant 42nd regiment, then quartered in
the town — of the right sort, and particularly so as the first-named
two, just arrived from London, were fresh from the focus of news.

But what is this " more anon" of David Roup ? Why, finding
that— in respect for Nimrod, I presume — he did not intend to
"kick" his two passengers from Forfar, we sent for him to our
hotel, for that purpose, the next morning, and the answer re-
turned was — " he would wait upon us after kirk ;" for, as we all
know, there is no coachmen in Scotland at work on the sabbath,
those on mails excepted.

NIM 'ROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 19!

At the hour appointed David arrived ; and, after the usual sa-
lutation, the following parley ensued : —

Nimrod. — " Well, David, we thought you were lost ; but we
are not going to ' tip you the double/* You have been to church,
I find ; I hope you have heard a good sermon."

David—" Wail— 'twas no much of that, sir."

Nimrod. — :' No much of that ! then did not the parson please
you to-day, David ?"

David. — " Wall — he was no much to my mind to-day."

Nimrod. — " What was the fault of his sermon ?"

David. — " Wall— he wilded about the Bible a long time, but
he didna seem to come to ony point at all at the last."

Mr. DalyelL — " Yes, yes, David ; I know what you mean ; the
parson was not true to the line to-day — rather given to skirt."

Nimrod. — "Well, David, give my best compliments to the
Captain, and tell him I shall give him a call soon."

David. — "Gee him a caal !— that will nae do for him; ye
maen bede (bide) a nete wi' him."

Nimrod. — " No fear on that score, David ; the Captain and I
have been acquainted more than thirty years — ever since he
first hunted in Oxfordshire."

Amusing as these comments of David's are, they would be
much more so if I could give them in the dialect in which he made
them. I was also much struck with the personal appearance of
this good servant — so different to that of the previous day, when
dressed for a coach box in a hard frost in December. He wore
a full suit of black of the very best texture ; and so -cleanly and
decent did he look that until'lie threw his tongue he might very
well have passed for a parson himself. But who can afford to
sport good broadcloth if David Roup cannot ? He is a single
man ; and I was given to understand, on good authority, worth
£2000 in houses and cash, to say nothing of the long and short
pocket on the Defiance coach, no trifle in the year, we may be
certain ; for, as Jack Peer used to say of the passengers by the
Southampton Telegraph in its best days, those of the Defiance
generally wear good collars to their coats.

I was much pleased with the town of Aberdeen, the principal
street of which (Union Street), at least a mile long, is by far the
finest I ever saw in a town of this description ; and the lively
and cleanly appearance of the granite with which the houses are
built, adds much to the beauty of it. The Provost was kind
enough to show me the Court-house, which, together with the
Reading and Banquet-rooms, are quite superb of their kind.

* " Tipping the double," is a slang phrase on the road for a passenger
slipping away from a coach without paying the coachman.

192 NIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR

I remember hearing an anecdote, some years back, in reference
to this town, which has long been a nursery of science. The
first man who possessed a barometer in Great Britain — and, for
aught I know, he may have been the inventor of it— was one
David Gregory, of Aberdeen, born in 1661. Being able, by the
means of this instrument, to foretell, to a certain extent, the
future state of the weather, he was believed to have held inter-
course with beings of another world.* I, of course, looked into
the College, in which the students wear red gowns (but not red
coats), as I -conclude they did in the days of Burnet and Arbuth-
not, who finished their education within its walls ; and also when
Dr. Johnson found a constellation of talent in its chairs, which
did honour to Scotland, as well as great service to mankind.

At a comfortable hour of the morning of the 22nd, I found
myself on the box of — not the Earl of Fife's coach — but of the
Earl of Fife Banff drag, the driver of which had received the
office from Mr. M'Cray that I was to drive his horses if I liked ;
and surely no man had a greater right to give such an order, the
said horses being his own. This coach was to convey me to a
certain point of the great North road — about twenty-five miles
from Aberdeen — which Lord Kintore would cross that day on
his road from Keith Hall to his hunting-seat at Gask, and
where he had engaged to meet me himself, with a horse for me
to ride, and likewise what he calls his " luggage-cart," for the
purpose of conveying my traps — said luggage cart being also
crossing the country as usual, on that day, from one kennel to
the other, in the hunting season.

According with my general custom — rendered still more es-
sential from the fact of this Magazine now traversing the remotest
parts of the civilized world — I give a short introduction of each
master of fox-hounds on entering their respective countries, as
well of the countries themselves. That of Forfarshire, and the
hounds that I hunted within it, will be concluded after my
second visit to Burnside, when I shall have had a longer expe-
rience of them.

The Earl of Kintore has been a master of fox-hounds in Eng-
land and Scotland nearly twenty years — having commenced as
soon as he left Oxford ; and having a fine estate in the latter
country, is entitled to indulge himself in this his favourite pur-
suit ; and truly fox-hunting may be said to be his predominant
passion. As a judge of hounds his name stands high in the

* This, perhaps, was only an idle tale to amuse those who knew no
better. Dr. Gregory, of Aberdeen, was the inventor of the reflecting
t :lescope.

NIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR. 195

sporting world ; and as his means allow of his drafting largely,
his pack has always been found to please the eye. It will be
remembered that, a few years back, he purchased Mr. NicolPs
hounds for one thousand guineas, at a time when they were in
very high repute, both as to their performance and their fonii ;
and of course the blood is now predominant is his kennel.* But
Lord Kintore is far from being satisfied with the look of hounds.
He is a close drafter in all respects, and appears to me to be a
rigid observer of faults — particularly that of running somewhat
wide in chase. For a quick eye to, and knowledge of, hounds
at first sight, he is perhaps unequalled in the present age, being
a second Cyrus in a kennel, as I have already stated on the au-
thority of Walker and Scott.f His lordship is not fond of tall
hounds ; but insists upon the requisites of substance, with bone;
and I consider his standard to be about that of Mr. Lambton's
kennel, between which and his own there is a very strong resem-
blance, and that, I think, is saying enough. His pack is at pre-
sent reduced in size to suit his countries (for he has two kennels),
which only admit of three days a week, and generally require,
from the nature of them, the season to be shut up early in March.
Moreover, his TurrifT country is particularly favourable to the
working of hounds without danger of laming them, which is no
small advantage.

Before I quit this part of my subject, I wish to notice a cir-
cumstance relating to Lord Kintore's hounds, as the fact in
question cannot be too widely spread for the benefit of all other
masters of packs. They were attacked in the middle of last
season with kennel lameness, and to such an extent as to oblige
their owner to give up working them ; for, to use his own words,
in a letter to myself, " they tailed over a country like a flock of
sheep through a gap." He attributed the cause of this misfor-
tune to an incautious use of badly harvested straw for their beds,
having never before had lameness in his kennels. It gives me
pleasure, however, to state that his kennel is now all right again;
and that with a little assistance from others he is about to take
the field with an efficient pack.

* When speaking of the blood of Mr. Nicoll's kennel, we should
rather call it the Beaufort blood ; it being well known that Mr. Nicoll
had all the late duke's drafts, old and young.

f Allusions to what I read in my youth will sometimes importune me,
and I find it difficult to suppress them. It appears this peculiar talent
always attracted notice. Cyrus is said to have known every soldier ia
his army. Themistocles is said to have been able to call every citizen
of Athens by his name. On the other hand, Scaliger, in his comments
on the Iliad, asks how it happens that Priam, after so many years' siege,
should yet be acquainted with the faces of the Grecian leaders ?

13

194

NIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR.

A LIST OF THE KEITH-HALL FOX-HOUNDS.
1835-

Ages. Names.
Years.

Eight. Wary

Seven. Fallacy

Hymen . .
Six ....Valiant ..

Governor..
Welcome..
Dragon ..
Tomboy ..

Sires.

Dams.

Five.

Rakeish ..

.Factor

Bruiser

Badjazett...
Woodman

Alchymist

Harper

Lounger ..
Lancaster
Reveller ..
Gaiety

TJiree . Bondsman

Falstaff ..
Favourite
Bounty . .
Nervous ..
Vaulter . .
Valorous ..

Actor

Dabster
Destitute ..
Vanguard
Rochester

Ruby

Guzman ..
Gamesome
Two... Damper ..
Druid ..

. Beaufort Wrangler Beaufort Diligent

.Mr. Taylor's Freedom ...Ditto's Matron

.East Lothian Hector Their Skilful

.Mr. Assheton Smith'sDitto Patience

Valiant

.Grafton Governor Beaufort Daffodil

. Rutland Piper Mr. Saville's Welcome

.Bred by Mr. Villebois ...

.Do. Mr. Osbaldeston'sHis Truelove

Rocket

.Beaufort Rutland Badsworth Phrenzy

.Mr. Hodgson's Ferryman. Out of Capable

. Beaufort Boxer Southwold Doubtful

. Fife Rock wood Lord Cleveland's Beauty

.From the Sussex Union

Kennel

.Mr. Nicoll's Abelard Ditto's Virgin

.Beaufort Lancaster Mr. Hay's Heedless

. Beaufort Lancaster Mr. Chalmers' Buxom

.Mr. Foljambe's Random. Mr. Hodgson's Gertrude
.Mr Assheton Smith's Con-Ditto's Gaylass

stant
.Mr. Osbaldeston's Ferry- Mr. Nicoll's Bravery

man

.Do. Falstaff Mr. Nicoll's Sophy

.Ditto Ditto

.Do. Boaster Mr. Nicoll's Wary

.Beaufort Nimrod Out of Rantipole

.By Mr. Warde's Valiant .Out of Gaudy

.Ditto Ditto

.Beaufort Archer Mr. Nicoll's Donative

.Mr. Harlock's Dragon ...Mr. Nicoll's Dauntless

.Beaufort Victor Mr. A. Smith's Blemish

, Beaufort Rutland Out of Whimsey

Ditto Ditto

.Beaufort Workman Mr. Nicoll's Goody

Ditto Ditto

Rubicon Out of Dorcas

Ditto Ditto

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 195

Ages. Names. Sires. Dams

Years.

Two ...Dairymaid .Rubicon Out of Dorcas

Destiny . . . Ditto Ditto

Guilder ...By Lord Harewood'sMr. Nicoll's Goneril

Guilder

Grasper ...Ditto Ditto

Guardsman Ditto Ditto

Barrister ...By Fife Badjazett Mr. NicolPs Wary

Brutus Ditto Ditto

Legacy Lord Yarborough's Darter Fife Loyalty

Cottager ...Sir R. Button's Contract .Mr. Nicoll's Jargon
One . . . Pontiff By Lord Yarborough'sOut of Chauntress

Pontiff

Paragon . . .Ditto Ditto

Prettylass .Ditto Ditto

Priestess ...Ditto Ditto

Bender By Bruiser Out of Welcome

Bangalore .Ditto Ditto

Rioter By Lord Yarborough'sOut of Rosemary

Pontiff

Ranter Ditto Ditto

Curious ...Ditto Out of Captious

Hannibal... By the Lothian Hannibal. Out of Gay lass

Gabriel ...By Rubicon Out of Gaiety

Guilty Ditto Ditto

Nicety

Novelty ...By Mr. Chalmers' OldOut of Nervous

Bustler
Viceroy ...By Mr. Foljambe's Vice- Out of Goneril

roy

Villager ...Ditto Ditto

Villany . . . D itto Ditto

Contract ...By Sir R. Button's Con-Out of Willing

tract

Coaster ...Ditto Out of Ruby

Coroner . . .Ditto Ditto

Crafty Ditto Ditto

Drayman... By Mr. Villebois's DragonOut of Gamesome

Dragsman . Ditto Ditto

Desperate .Ditto Ditto

Rattler By Governor Out of Rakish

Bellman ... By Badjazett Out of Nervous

Chaunter ... By Viceroy Out of Cheerful

Lavish By Lord Lonsdale's Lash-Out of Valorous

wood
Levity Ditto Ditto

13-2

196 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

Ages. Names. Sires. Dams

Years.

One.. . Bonny Bell.By Old Bustler Out of Mr. Foljambe'a

Favourite

Agile By Alchemist Out of Gaiety

Actress ...Ditto Ditto

Old Hounds ........ . .22^ Couples,

Age One ditto 16 Ditto

Total 38J Couples.

I must here observe that the above is beyond the average
strength of Lord Kintore's kennel, by reason of the last nine
couples being hounds of the year, and the draft had not been
made when I left. I cannot, however, suppress my belief, that
the most fastidious judge would be pleased — ay, delighted —
with the appearance and performance of this young lot. The
puppies came in just as I left the country, and I requested his
lordship's permission to christen one of them Nimrod ; and I
was glad to hear he was doing well.

In looking over this list, close observers of the pedigree of fox-
hounds will find much of our very best old blood — especially in
Alchymist, going back to Mr. Warde's Abbot, the sire of Abelard ;
Lord Lonsdale's Lash wood ; the Beaufort Nimrod ; Lord Yar-
borough's Pontiff; the Beaufort Diligent — running back to Mr.
Heron's (the Cheshire) old Nectar sort, the Grafton Governor,
Lord Harewood's Guilder, cum multis aliis, too numerous to
mention.

As a huntsman to fox-hounds I shall dismiss Lord Kintore in
a few words. He has what the Greeks called the TTO.V dwpov, the
every gift for such a calling — zeal, nerve, quickness, and talent.
But quick as he is, when quickness is desirable, no man hurries
hounds less in their work ; and when on a scent he seldom
speaks to them at all. Although he is — as every sportsman
must be — of Mr. Beckford's opinion, that hounds left entirely to
themselves would seldom kill. a fox, his system is, " Ware cast as
long as you possibly can." He says himself (vide his epistle to
Crane) he likes a burst of twenty minutes, but admires a hunt-
ing run of an hour, which I am certain he does, for these lines
of his friend Nicolls are often in his mouth : —

" Can the fox-hound ever tell,
Unless he takes the pains to smell
Where Reynard's gone ?"

But a huntsman's science is not confined to the field, the

NIMROUS NOR THERN TO UR. i g/

•foundation of his success is in the kennel. There Lord Kintore
could scarcely have failed in one principal qualification — viz., the
breeding of hounds of high form, from his known correct eye to
the good points of all domestic animals, which he has shown
practically to the world. From the present limited extent of his
pack, much cannot be expected from it as contributing to the
general diffusion of good fox-hound blood ; yet from what I have
seen of his proceedings, and have gathered from his discourse,
I am inclined to think that if his lordship had been for the last
fifteen years hunting a four or fi ve-days-a-week country, he would
have been a very considerable contributor to this most desirable
•end. Such I know is the opinion of Mr. Dalyell, Williamson,
old Scott, and Walker, and of many other experienced sports-
men in his part of the world, whose authority is better than my
own. A sight of his small pack, indeed, as when I last saw
them, would go very far in confirmation of the opinion I have
ventured to give.

There are peculiarities attending every huntsman's proceedings
in and out of kennel, and Lord Kintore is not without his. In
the kennel, he is a strict disciplinarian, both as regards hounds
and men — the consequence of which* is, no man's kennel I ever
was in is so clean as his, and no old maid over her tea-table is
more particular with Betty that all should be right, than he is
with Joe Grant at feeding time. He feeds in lots of five, which
•makes it nearly an hour's work. The meat for the shy feeders is
unusually thick and good, and they have every encouragement
given them to fill their bellies. It is then gradually reduced in
substance ; and with several of the other sort, he appeared to
count the mouthfuls. I must do him the justice to say, I con-
sider him a perfect master of condition of hounds.

On going to or returning from cover, or going from cover to
cover, Lord Kintore is likewise a rigid disciplinarian ; more so,
indeed, than, until he gave me his reason for it, appeared to me
to be necessary. His hounds are kept very close to his horses'
heels, and scarcely allowed what may be considered a necessary
indulgence. Their making so free with the porridge pots in the
cottages, however, renders this sharp discipline necessary ; and
Lord Kintore is the last man in the world to deprive a poor
family of their dinner.

His Lordship has another peculiarity. He counts his hounds
on his leaving every cover which has not held a fox ; unwilling
to trust to their following him away to horn. This, on unlucky
-days, and those short ones, is rather a consumer of time ; but
we may conclude that he is not of old Scott's opinion, that " it

198 • NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

must be a poor concern that can't afford to lose a hound or
two."*

Somerville, in his poem on hunting, says — on the air depends
the huntsman's hopes. Lord Kintore would add, " on the winds,"
for nothing seems so much to blast his hopes of a good day's
sport as to hear " old Boreas," as he calls this restless deity, at
his work. That great preceptor of the art of fox-hunting, Mr.
Beckford, had, it seems, an equal aversion to high wind, for he
tells us that, on very windy days, the best place for hounds is
their kennel. Like all other masters of hounds, his Lordship is
a great admirer of Beckford, which is evident by the notes he
has made on his book, of which, indeed, it may be said, as of the
poems of Euripides, that every line contains a precept.

To sum up all — there is no conceit about Lord Kintore as a
huntsman ; on the contrary, he never fails to acknowledge the
benefit of experience in others, and candidly professes that he
lives to learn. Such is the path that leads towards perfection.
His personal appearance in that character is good and appro-
priate. Although he has not, k la Darlington, the straight cut
coat, the cap and the belt, yet his single-breasted bit of pink, the
striped toilanette waistcoat, with a step collar and gilt buttons,
and the double-knotted neckcloth, all look like business. The
boots would do for St. James's Street ; but there is something
particularly " varmint" about the breeches, — very dark coloured
corduroys, and cut off the same piece with those of his two
whippers-in, of whom I shall speak hereafter.

To the English reader it may scarcely be necessary to men-
tion, that, independently of his Scotch countries, Lord Kintore
hunted, for three seasons, what is called the Vale of White Horse
country, in Berkshire and Wiltshire. It is only his due to state
— and surely no part of that due should be withheld from a
sportsman who, like himself, brought his hounds five hundred
miles to hunt it — that he gave great satisfaction to his fields. in
the Vale of White Horse, and his retirement was much regretted.
Being, however, always anxious to produce proofs for assertions
of this nature, I have one ready at hand. " Kintore," said a very
old friend of mine, who resides in that country, but who never
hunted a dozen times in his life, " I am sorry to hear you are
about to leave us. Perhaps you do so from prudential motives,

* Ecce signum. " I've lost a young bitch by old Governor, out of
Bounty, by the distemper, that I would not have taken twenty guineas
for. I never shall call you the * mighty and immortal Nimrod,' until
you find out a remedy for this dreadful malady in the canine race.'*
Extract of a letter from Lord Kintore to Nimrod, Jan. 27, 1835.

NIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR. 195

finding the expenses too great If so, I can only say, I shall be
happy to put my name down for ^300 per annum, towards in-
ducing you to remain with us." It was from prudential motives
that his Lordship withdrew from Berkshire ; and, to use his own
words, " the rack and manger work at Wadley House was some-
thing awful," which, indeed, may be imagined from the fact of
the butcher's bill alone being ^90 per month ! I wish, however,
I could say this was the most painful reminiscence of his Lord-
ship's hunting the Vale of White Horse, as the butcher and his
bill would be dismissed with a smile. I am sorry to add that, in
one of the numerous falls he had in his determination to be
"with 'em," over that strongly-fenced country, he received a
wound in his side, from a post that he alighted upon, which is
not healed to this day, and is the cause of occasional severe suf-
fering ; but which his Lordship, with that pluck that is peculiar
to him, will not admit of stopping him in his work — jocosely
calling it only a " running thrush." Like the knight-errants of
old, who would not complain of their wounds, though their very
bones were dropping through them, he suffers not such matters
as this to keep him away from his hounds, as I can here also
bring proof. During my visit to Dunse, I received a letter from
him in which was the following notable passage : — " I had a bad
fall on Tuesday (i ith Nov.) and hurt my chest and ribs, but
forty ounces of blood and a ball (i.e., physic) have reduced the
inflammatory symptoms, and, Deo volente, I hope to be with 'em
again on Monday !" This reminds me of Jack Stevens and his
broken blood-vessel, when he whipped-in to the Quorn ; and
shows how difficult it is to check the predominant passion of
man.

It has been so often said, as to be generally believed, that the
true characters of men may be found in their letters. All those
I have seen from Lord Kintore, not only to myself but to others,
exhibit — independently of general benevolence, or particular
esteem — a zeal and passion for fox-hunting that I cannot think
is equalled by any human being. His description of a good day's
Sp0rt — (I wish I dared transcribe one, in a letter to Mr. Dalyell,
whilst I was at his house, commencing with the words, " Hark,
holloa," or one to myself, describing a run with a second fox, in
which a lot of young hounds had been at the head) — conveys the
justest idea of an overflow of soul that ever came under my ob-
servation, and assures me that the writer, in the reality of what
he is describing, has himself experienced the very elixir of de-
light. But this is the peculiar, the distinguishing, characteristic of
fox-hunting ; other pastimes please, this alone delights — unless
we include music.

200 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

But Lord Kintore inherited this passion for the chase. The
fate Earl, his father, was equally as zealous in the field, and had
the following compliment paid him by, I believe, one of the
Duke of Cleveland's whippers-in, who had seen him oftentimes
in the field, when quartered with his regiment at York. " What
a nation pity it is," said he, " that that mon was born a lord ;
he'd have made a capital huntsman."

I must now return to the Banff coach — a sad falling off from
the renowned Defiance ; but, as the day was cold, and part of
the ground nearly as high — at least so the driver told me — as any
coach runs over in Scotland, I drove it merely to keep me warm,
for such a set of cripples as were put to it, at the first change, it
is long since it has fallen to my lot to manage. But I must hark
back still farther, and preface the meeting between my noble
friend and myself, by a sort of caution, something like " Have a
care, Nimrod; don't overrun the scent," conveyed to me in a
letter I received from him a short time previously to my arrival
in Scotland. It was nearly in these words. "Mind, Nimrod!
neither kennel nor stable is what it was — the former only what
they call in Yorkshire ' a cry o' dogs/ Of myself, also, I may
say, t non sum qualis erairf — nor have I been myself since a
rattler I got over a double post and rail-fence in the vale of Berks.
I worked on two months after I got it, and did not quite give in
until I could not stand, there being a substance inwardly and
outwardly as large as your fist. I went' to Brodie, who probed it,
but said, ' You must not let them either cut you for this, or heal
It.' Now, although I was enabled last year to go through the
roughest day with my hounds, still the discharge has been so
great lately, that I am afraid my condition will not be up to my
work. The wound, however, suppurated three days after my last
Bunting-day, and since that hour, I have not had a moment's
pain."

Now, I am far from being of Cicero's opinion, that, because a
man may not be what he once was (see his desponding letter to
Marcus Marius, after the battle of Pharsalia), he may not be a
very efficient character in the line of life he has chosen, as he
now is, and where is the man, at the age of forty, to whom the
44 non sum qualis" will not very aptly apply ? I am happy to say,
then, that, all things considered — hard services by day and by
night ; namely, stout foxes in the morning, and foxes' heads in
the evening — I found my noble friend and patron as I may here
call him, looking as fresh and as well, as I should think he him-
self could expect. True to his time, as he always is, he was
waiting for me in the road, and our meeting was such as between
Brothers in soul — idolatrous worshippers of the same deity —

NIMRO&S NOR THERN TO UR. coi

may very easily be imagined. For, in the words of ore
poet —

" There are in nature certain sympathies,

By which congenial souls are linked together,
Whose pow'rful influence attracts our minds,
By some enchantment not to be explain'd."

And, in the words of another : —

" Congenial passions souls together bind,
And every calling mingles with its kind ;
Soldier unites with soldier, swain with swain,
The mariner with him that roves the main."

" I hope you have straps to your trousers," said his lordship,
as I descended from the coach-box, " for I told you I should put
. you on the pig-skin as soon as you arrived. Here is a whipper-
in's horse waiting for you, and, as we have an hour or two to
spare, I'll show you some of my country, before you arrive at the
huntsman's stall." He did show me some of his country, and
some beautiful whin covers as well ; but, as I shall describe both
his countries at a future time, I shall content myself with ob-
serving, that, although I had had a good account of this, his
TurrifT country, in a letter from Mr. Pryse Pryse,* who had been
lately on a visit to him, it more than answered my expectation of
it, for the enjoyment of hounds. His lordship also appeared
pleased to show me the first " huntsman's stall" he had in this
country, previously to his establishing himself at Cask, which he
called the " Peat Stack ;" and I verily believe — to the honour of
fox-hunting be it said — no British nobleman ever dwelt in such
a cheerless looking hole before. His present residence at Cask,
however, which I will now endeavour to describe, is quite com-
plete for its size, and well deserving of the very classical appel-
lation of " the huntsman's stall."

The house is situated within three miles of the small town of
Turrifif, to which there is a tolerably good, though not a turnpike,
road. There are about a hundred acres of land with it, which
his lordship has also taken on a lease, and has laid out about
,£1500 on the stables, kennels, and a few out-of-door offices,
which he has built to his own taste, and sufficiently good are

* Mr. Pryse Pryse, of Boscot Park, Berks, is well known in the sporting
world as a master of fox- hounds in South Wales, and an owner of race-
horses in England. He took old Governor home with him from
Lord K.'s kennel as an agreeable companion, ;n a post-chaise—alias,
to breed from.

202 N1MROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

they. The house remains as he found it, save a few additional
comforts, such as double doors, &c., and, for the purpose now re-
quired, wants nothing but to be larger, four spare beds being all
that remain for visitors. But it is not the house, homely enough,
God knows, and, from its outside appearance, such as would be
considered infra dig. by a swell city tradesman's wife ; it is the
truly emblematic character — if I may use such an expression —
of everything to be seen inside of it, that alone deserves notice.
In the first place, neither butler nor footman is there to be found,
the house work being done by two young men, one, the son of a
keeper at Keith Hall — a smart, clean-made young fellow, neatly
dressed in his own clothes ; and an active young man, or rather
lad, in an undress livery, but with an old head on his shoulders,
and booked, I should imagine, for Keith Hall, in future. Neither
is the pearled or strawberry-leafed coronet allowed to be seen
here. The plate, the linen, the china, the glass, are all marked
with a fox's head, encircled with a wreath, on which the words
" Floreat scientia," are neatly stamped. The moment you enter
the house, you will find you are in that of a sportsman, not
merely by the hunting whips that hang up in the vestibule, or the
celebrated print of " Lord Darlington's hounds at the feeding
troughs," which instantly presents itself to your view, but in the
tout ensemble of the embellishments of every room you enter.

We will begin with that which sportsmen like best — the one in
which their " feeding troughs " are laid. Over the fire-place is
the late Sir Tatton Sykes-*-a first-rate sportsman, I believe— in
the act of finding his fox, and a capital picture it is. He is sup-
posed to be roaring out to some would-be professor of his art,
who is holloaing away his fox, and getting the heads of his
hounds up, instead -of letting them hunt him. The whipper-in,
behind him, is also capital. He is in the act of taking a good
fence, with his eyes turned towards the offender, as much as to
say — " D — n you, I wish I dared lay into you, you noisy son of

a ." Underneath are the following lines, in a small frame,

(in allusion to the feeding troughs at Cask) which partake of the
poet's privilege in the two first lines, for as much as they want
truth ; for though the butler is stopped out, the cook is not, and,,
above all things, no lack of good wines at Cask :—

" On Irish stew if you can dine,
With humble port and sherry wine ;
And for a time can ruralize,
The Turriff sport to criticize ;
Discard all riding from your mind,
For here no jealous swells you'll find :

NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 203

Fair science here alone has sway,
Fine horse, fine man, are thrown away.
Come, then, and see, that nose and pace,
Are the twin-sisters of the chase."

Over the side-board is a short-horned heifer, together with a
new Leicester ewe, and Keith Hall in the background, which are
all in character here, his lordship having signalized himself as a
farmer, and more especially as a breeder. In other parts of the
room, are the following pictures and prints : — " Lord Darlington
and his Hounds." " Hounds breaking cover," by Chalon
(capital). " A Mail Coach." (It is scarcely necessary to observe,
Lord Kintore is a coachman.) " The mails leaving the London
Post-office"— both good. " A Plan of a Kennel," in sections.
Excellent print of a man, with a bumper in his hand, about to
drink fox-hunting. " The Exeter Waggon." " Tom Oldaker on
Brush." " Mr. Ralph Lambton on Undertaker." " Philip
Payne* on his old Grey Horse." " Daviesf on Columbine."
" Mr. Parker and the Worcestershire Hounds." " Mr. Charles
Newnham finding his fox." " Tom Crane, and three hounds,"
with these lines —

" Alas ! honest Tom ; he's gone to repose,
And he and the foxes no longer are foes."

" A jolly party," viz. — Farley, Matthews, and Liston ; with the
following under- written, in his lordship's own hand, as if he
longed to have made the fourth : —

"We'll drive all care and pain away,
And pass a jovial night.

Over the door-way are " Going out in the morning," with a
fox's head, and several smaller things ; and a most amusing print
of a " London Cabman," of the very lowest description, under
which is written " A Palpable." His fare tells him to drive
him to the Old Bailey. " The Old Bailey, sir ; vy I dusent
know sich a place." But, aside, to himself — " Now, vat can he
want at the Old Bailey ! !" On the mantel-piece is a silver horn,
the gift of his brother huntsman, Mr. Codrington.

In the drawing-room — as in my own — shines the great John
Warde. "The grand Leicestershire Steeple Chase." "Dick

* Philip Payne, huntsman to the late Duke of Beaufort.

* Davies, at present huntsman to his Majesty.

204 HIM RODS NORTHERN TOUR.

Knight upon Contract ;" and " Going to Cover,'7 from the New
Sporting Magazine. " Two Boxers in attitude ;" several eminent
race-horses : some good coaching pictures, amongst them the
Brighton Age, with the admirable likeness of poor Stevenson.
In his lordship's bedroom is the history of Tom Moody, with
plates, and several other insignia of the ruling passion for the
chase. But to such pictures as these, the sportsman needeth not
the history. As Horace says, " Mutum est pictura poema."

IN my last I merely landed myself at "the huntsman's stall" at
Cask, where, at six o'clock, Lord Kintore and myself sat down to
our dinner, there being at that time no other visitor than myself
in the house. The following day being a hunting day, his lord-
ship confined himself this evening to two or three glasses of sherry
during dinner, and a glass of whiskey toddy afterwards, whilst I
am ashamed to own that besides the two or three glasses of
sherry, I put under my waistcoat a pint of champagne and a
bottle of stout claret, the only excuse for which must be, the sort
of buoyancy of soul one experiences on finding oneself under the
roof of an old and kind friend, and a master of fox-hounds to
boot, which goes no small way with me.

Tuesday, Dec. 23.— It being dusk as well as dinner time when
we approached the house on the preceding evening, it was only
on the morning of this day that I saw the Cask stable-yard,
which I was rather anxious to see, anticipating something good
from knowing under whose direction it had been arranged.
" Whence this ?" said I to his lordship, as I cast my eyes up-
wards to a picture of hounds running into their fox, which was
hung against the wall, over the door-porch. " Why," replied he,
" I saw that picture hung out as a sign over the door of a public-
house in Morpeth, and I got the guard of the mail to purchase
it for me.'7 " Truly characteristic," muttered I to myself, as I
walked forwards to the stables ; and, really, the picture is worth
the place it occupies, being a very fair representation of this ex-
hilarating scene. But the stables — how did I find them occupied ?
Was the " non sum qualis eram" evident at first sight ? Yes, for
there was no Boliver there ; no Provincial ; no White Stockings ;
but there were twelve or fourteen very serviceable hunters, the
greater part of them, particularly those for his lordship's own
riding, the same as had been with the hounds in Berkshire, and
perhaps none the better for the many hot shirts they had had
there. The stables are as good as need be ; the condition of the
horses was excellent, and this can easily be accounted for. Lord
Kintore gives them every chance to be so ; he summers them
well, and they are in the hands of a most valuable servant,

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 205

William Mollison (commonly called Willie), who has been
brought up in his stables, and, from the lessons of that best of
all teachers, experience, is become a perfect master of his busi-
ness. Nor is this all ; he has not only plenty of hands, but
plenty of strength in his stables, for Lord Kiritore adopts a plan
which, though not generally adopted, it is to be wished were
adopted oftener than it is, with those who can conveniently afford
it. He does not dismiss his helpers in the slimmer months j by
which means, having little to do during that period, the men re-
cover their bodily strength against the next season, and each is
then nearly equal to a man and a half — for be it known, reader,
that there are few more debilitating daily tasks allotted to those
who must live by the sweat of their brow, than that of helper in
a hunting stable !

There is one system pursued in these stables during the winter
months, which is, I think, deserving of notice. William Molli-
son only opens those of the horses not at work, twice in the
course of the day, and not three times, as is the usual practice.
His plan is this : — Instead of the horses being exposed in their
exercise to the chilling effect of the first dawn of the morning —
generally the coldest period of the whole twenty-four hours —
they remain in the stables till the men have had their breakfast,
and are consequently not shut up till a little before mid-day.
The curtains being then drawn, and all kept quiet, they have a
long " shut up" as it is called — namely, six good hours, during
which they not only can repose themselves undisturbed, but they
return to their food with increased appetite, by reason of their
having been somewhat the longer without it. I must own that,
although I never tried it, I see sound argument in favour of this
stable management during the three dark and dreary months of
winter, with horses that work hard, from a knowledge of the
restorative powers of undisturbed rest, both with horse and man ;
as also of its sedative effects in allaying excitement, by whatever
cause produced.

Having mentioned Bolivar, Provincial, and White Stockings,
it may not be amiss to repeat, what I believe I once before stated,
namely, that, with the exception of Clinker, The Clipper (by
Julius Cassar, not the original Clipper), and Panza,* these horses
were sold, when Lord Kintore gave up his hounds, for a season,
for more money than any three hunters were ever sold for, all
being out of the same mare, as these were, and bred by Lord Pan-
mure. And this reminds me of an anecdote of one of them,

* These three horses fetched 1900 guineas ; and 1200 were afterwards
refused for one of them (Clinker).

206 NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

which I know to be true, because I had it from authority that I
can rely upon. When White Stockings (so called from having
four white legs up to his knees) was rising five years old, he was
sent, with the rest of Lord Kintore's stud, to Grantham, where
it was his intention to commence a sort of hunting tour. Find-
ing upon his arrival that the Duke of Rutland's hounds were
within reach on the morrow, his groom inquired which of the
horses should be sent to cover. " Send the young one," said
his lordship. "I want to have a taste of him." Now it so
happened, that there was a new saddle and a new bridle in the
saddle-room, with which Willie bedizened the young one, and
which, together with his four white legs, made him so conspicuous
an object that Lord Kintore absolutely felt ashamed of him, and
kept in the background till the hounds found. But the case was
soon reversed. His lordship went off at score with him ; and
such was his pace and courage, that he fairly maintained the lead
in one of the fastest things of the season till very near the finish ;
when, from want of science, or, perhaps, being pumped out by
the pace, the young one got a floorer at a rasper, and of course
lost his place. But the scene ends not here. " He's down at
last, thank God, whoever he may be," exclaims Goosey, the
huntsman, in ignorance of whom he was addressing ; and, con-
sequently, apprehensive that Lord Kintore would press upon his
hounds at the first check that occurred.

On another occasion Lord Kintore turned schoolmaster. He
was riding a four-year colt with Mr. Clarke, then landlord of
Barnby Moor Inn, Yorkshire, having been looking at some
cattle stock in his neighbourhood, when Mr. Foljambe's hounds
were seen coming towards them with their fox. " What's to be
done, Clarke ?" said his lordship. " Why, my lord," said Mr.
Clarke, " if you will find neck I will find horse ! but the colt you
are on never was over a fence in his life." " Then here goes for
the first time," exclaimed my lord ; and getting quickly to the
hounds, lived with them to the end of the run. He was at that
time unknown to Mr. Foljambe ; but as in such moments as
these sportsmen are quickly discovered by each other, his lord-
ship was soon followed by a note, inviting him to the house of
the owner of the hounds, where he remained for another day's
hunting. Of Mr. Clarke it may not be amiss to add, that he
was one of the best innkeepers in England, and is a first-rate
judge of stock of all descriptions.

Agreeable to my usual custom, I give a short account of what
is called the Turriff country, now hunted by Lord Kintore, pre-
viously to my speaking of what I saw in it. It has been hunted
altogether about fourscore years. First, by " the old Duke of

NIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR. 207

Gordon " as he was wont to be called in Scotland, namely, the
father to the late much-lamented duke. Then by a subscription
pack, to which the famous John Craik, of whom I shall have
something to say hereafter, was huntsman. Next by the late
Duke of Gordon, when Marquis of Huntley, to whom Craik was
likewise huntsman. Next by Captain Barclay, of Ury. Next
by the late Lord Kennedy. Next by Mr. Peel, who emigrated
to Swan River, and of whose speculation we have lately heard
such a melancholy account. Next by Lord Kintore, before he
went south ; after which it was vacant for a few years. It was,
however, subsequently occupied by Mr. Taylor, of Kirkton Hill,
near Lonskirk, Forfarshire, and likewise by Mr. Chalmers, of
Auldbar, near Brechen, who also hunted Forfarshire. It was
then taken by Lord Kintore, who has hunted it up to the present
time — in all about eight seasons. Thus it appears to be one of
the oldest, if not the oldest fox-hunting country in Scotland.

Previously to seeing it, as I have already said, I had some in-
formation respecting the Turriff country, in a letter I received
from Mr. Pryse Pryse, a master of fox-hounds in South Wales,
who had been on a visit to Gask. " You will be pleased," said
he, " with his (Kintore's) country, as well as with the pack and
the whole establishment, and you will be surprised to find his
Tnrriff country so good." But the reader shall now have my
opinion of it. The antipodes to Leicestershire, in its charac-
teristic features it resembles it in some things. First, the far
greater part of it is old turf, though much of it is covered with
ling, or short heath. Its surface is generally smooth, and un-
dulating ; and, though not like the soil of Persia, covered with
flowers and fragrance, the "green waving gorse" is to be seen
in its highest perfection in it. Neither are there many woods
of an overwhelming extent, and such as were, are now made
rideable by the kind disposition of the proprietors towards the
present master of the pack. I can answer for there being eight
or ten good holding gorse or whin covers in it, well fenced
in, amongst which are Kintore's Gorse, Ardleigh Gorse, Muresk
Gorse, the Den Gorse, Burnt Ha Gorse, Fortrie Gorse, and
Leslie's Gorse, all not to be excelled anywhere. I was shown
some woodlands at a distance, but in a fine open country capable
of affording sport — particularly Forglen, Dalgaty, and Frendrit
woods, and likewise the five covers of Rossieburn, the Log Hill,
Rothie's Gorse, Halton Lodge, which I saw drawn, all good
meets and pretty certain finds. Nevertheless, it would be the
better for a few more judiciously placed gorse covers, as here
and there they lie wide.
To sum up all— I consider the TurrifT country to be one in

2o8 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

which more enjoyment of hounds may be had than in any other
that I saw in Scotland ; for, from the nature of it, it holds a
good scent ; and, barring now and then a brook, a large fence
is a rara avis in it. In every respect it is favourable to hounds ;
and were I master of a pack, I should much prefer hunting
it to either the New Forest, or indeed any other part of Hamp-
shire, or the far-famed Craven country, in Berkshire, which Mr.
Warde used to say, he was " condemned to hunt, for his sins."
It is, however, a narrow country ; being bounded by hills on one
side, and the Atlantic Ocean on the other ; and without assist-
ance from the Keith Hall and Buchan countries, would not
stand three days a week on the average of seasons. As it is,
however, Lord Kintore generally kills his twenty brace of foxes
in the season, which, considering he is under the necessity of
making short ones, and must frequently be interrupted by
weather in that high latitude — parallel, I believe, with Peters-
burgh — is what I call giving a very good account of them. Be
it recollected, that thirty-six brace was the average number of
noses on the door, in the best of Mr. Meynell's days in the
Ouorn country — viz., from the commencement of the season of
1791 to the conclusion of that of 1796.

It is hardly necessary to repeat, that Lord Kintore hunts his
own hounds, assisted by two whippers-in, exclusive of the man
that rides his second horse, who of course is useful to him at
times. His first whip is my old acquaintance, Joe Grant, and a
capital sportsman he is. He came to his lordship, with the
hounds he purchased of Mr. Nicoll, by whom Joe was educated,
and it may be recollected that I have already had him in print.*
As a sportsman, however, I cannot say too much of him, for he
is an out-an-outer in his line, and very much improved since he
has been in Scotland, which shows that he benefits by experi-
ence, which cannot be said of all men. He is not a neat horse-
man, but that he cannot help. Fine horsemanship is as much
an endowment of nature, as Professor Wilson's brains are, and
she has unkindly denied it to Joe, but he still gets well to his
hounds. The second whip, at this time Jack Wilson, is a
Lindow in the saddle, with one of the best bridle-hands I ever
saw ; but as the man said of his son, whom he had apprenticed

* It may not be amiss to repeat the anecdote I am alluding to.
During my visit to Mr. Nicoll, and at the end of the last year of his
keeping hounds, I said one day to Joe, that I could not think what was
come to his master, for he scarcely now ever went into the kennel. Joe
was silent, but on my pressing him for a reason for it, he replied with a
sigh (we were with the hounds at the moment), "Well, sir; I suppose
he is a-iveaning himself from 'em."

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 209

to an undertaker, " he takes no delight in his business," and he
bolted at the end of the season. He was succeeded, pro tern-
pore, by a well-known hand— a still finer horseman, a still better
whipper-in, whose Christian name is Philip,

" Poor Phil no matter who — for when I blame,

I pity, and must therefore sink the name,"

and this is all I shall at present say of him, except that being
sorely addicted to the merry sin of drunkenness, he could never
remain long in any sportsman's service, although he has been
in that of some of the best of them, which in part accounts for
his talent. Lord Kintore gave him every chance, but though he
promised fair at first, the reality dropped short, and he was of
-course discharged. This man — for he is forty years of age —
would be invaluable either with hounds, or as a second-horse
rider, could he resist his propensity to drink, which has brought
him to the very abyss of wretchedness. Feeling a respect for
his accomplishments, I read him a long lecture, but doubtless I
might have saved my breath.

The character of these hounds and their owner may perhaps
be best appreciated by the insertion of the following paragraph,
from the Aberdeen Journal of October 2nd, 1835.

DINNER AND PRESENTATION OF A PIECE OF PLATE TO
THE EARL OF KINTORE.

" On Wednesday last a dinner was given to the Earl of Kintore,
-at Cooper's Inn at Turriff, by the Proprietors of Fox Covers in
that neighbourhood, and other gentlemen who are in the habit
of hunting with his lordship's hounds. Amongst those present,
we noticed Mr. Duff, of Hatton, Mr. Leslie, of Dunlugas, Mr.
Forbes, of Blackford, Mr. Urquhart, of Craigston, Mr. Leslie, of
Rothie, Mr. James Ramsay, Major Dunbar, of Mountcoffer, Mr.
Morison, younger, of Auchintoul, Mr. Nesbit, £c. Sir Michael
Bruce, Mr. Grant, of Tillyfour, Colonel Gordon, of Park, Mr.
Bisset, of Lessendrum, and Mr. Buchan, of Auchmacoy, were
prevented by unavoidable circumstances from attending. Mr.
Morison was in the chair, and Mr. Leslie, of Dunlugas, acted as
Croupier. After the cloth was removed, and the health of the
King, the Queen, and the other branches of the Royal family
f had been drunk with all the honours, a very handsome Piece of
' Plate, which it had been intended to present to the noble earl
.at the conclusion of the last hunting season, but which had ar-
rived too late, was placed on the table before the Chairman,
o, in proposing the health of his lordship with all the honours

210 NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

expressed the great gratification he felt in being deputed by the
gentlemen of the neighbourhood in which his lordship had now
hunted for several seasons, to convey to him the sense of obli-
gation that those gentlemen entertained for the kindness and
urbanity which had ever distinguished his lordship since he came
amongst them ; and, at the same time, to beg his lordship's ac-
ceptance of the Piece of Plate now before them, as a mark of
respect from those gentlemen, whose representative on" this
occasion he (the Chairman) had the honour to be. Lord Kintore
returned thanks in the following terms : GENTLKMEN — I hardly
know how to thank you for this totally uncalled for and most
unmerited mark of your friendship towards me. If, during the
dull winter months, the fox-hounds have shown you any sport,
it has been owing to your own individual exertions in having
preserved the foxes, in having cut rides, &c., in your covers, with,
I trust and hope I may add, the good-will of the tenantry to boot,
that has enabled me to promote your sport. To you both, do I
return my hearty thanks. But to you, gentlemen, here present,
in particular, I cannot sufficiently express how much I appreciate
this kindness, and can only now beg you to accept the humble
but grateful thanks of an individual whose soul, from his cradle,
has been riveted in the chase, and who will ever hold fast, until
the main earth receives him, this distinguished token of your
good-will. Gentlemen, I have the honour to drink your good
healths, sincerely wishing from my heart that unanimity, good
fellowship, and fox-hunting, may long flourish in this northern,,
but most hospitable 'Land of Cakes.1 "

Tuesday, 23rd. — Our first draw this day was a fine gorse, which
we supposed we had drawn blank. On the hounds being hoi--
loaed away, however, and nearly all arrived at their huntsman's
horse's heels, a field's length from the cover, rather a singular
circumstance occurred. One hound, called Druid, stood by
himself, with his head turned towards the cover, and his ears
erect, as if listening to some sound. " What can that hound be
listening to ?" said Lord Kintore to me ; but before I could an-
swer the question away he went to cry. The fact was, a couple
of hounds were running hard in the wood, having found the fox
after the body had left it, and we were very near being indebted
to Druid, whom we afterwards christened " The Listener," .for a
fine run. We went well away with our fox ; but no sooner had
the hounds settled. to him, and were carrying a right good head,
than we came to a large morass, and our huntsman ordered
them to be stopped. On my mentioning this unlucky event to
Williamson, he said, " I differ with his lordship on this point ; I
would not have stopped my hounds, and for this reason : foxes

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 211

seldom run far on a morass ; they don't like it, for they soon
find hounds have an advantage over them, on that kind of
ground." We found a second fox ; had a very sharp quarter of
an hour to ground ; bolted and killed him. I rode a grey horse
called Skim, out of his lordship's own stable, and ridden by him
in the south — reckoned, I believe, the quickest in the whole stud,
and apparently thorough-bred.

In the first of these short bursts, I rode over a kind of ground
that I had never ridden over before. It was planted with fir-
trees, far enough apart not to interrupt speed, but abounding
with large hillocks, as high as a horse's knees, which might be
said to

" Peep like moss grown rocks, half seen,
Half hidden, with the copse so green ;"

but still of that yielding nature, from the vegetable stuff of which
they were composed, and not like those in Tiiton field, in Lord
Lonsdale's country, which are nearly as hard as rock — that there
is little danger to be apprehended from a horse striking them.
At least so it appeared ; for Joe Grant went at full speed through
the cover, and I was bound to follow him, not knowing the ex-
tent of it. No sooner were we out of it, and well landed with
the hounds, than the morass appeared in view, and " Stop 'em,
Joe," was the word of command. Barring the bog, an excelleilt
and roomy country was before us.

I must here mention another curious anecdote of a hound in
this pack, which will be interesting to masters of packs. It is
of a five-year hunter, called Hymen, who not being able to run
up, but a favourite, was given away to a person in TurrirT, having
his liberty to go where he liked. Hearing his old companions
running very hard one day, near to his quarters, he contrived to
nick in upon them, and was observed to get to the head. More-
over, he came home to kennel with them that evening, and, re-
turning to regular work, was again able to run up, which I was
myself a witness to. We may conclude that, to a month's rest,
with unrestrained liberty of action, was this hound indebted for
a renovation of his bodily powers. I have heard it stated, but
my experience fails me here, that what are called trencher
hounds, i.e., hounds which are never kennelled, very rarely be-
come lame from the mere consequences of work, accidents ex-
cepted. But why should not hounds, as well as human beings,
be occasionally subject to temporary bodily infirmities, which
yield to a change of habits of liie and diet, such as this hound
was subjected to ? It is my opinion that many a debilitated con-

14—2

n2 NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

stitution in men might be renovated by four or five years of tem-
perate living, early hours, and rest.

We had an addition to our dinner party this day of Colonel
Gordon, of Park, an intimate friend of his lordship, and I conclude
the representative of a gentleman of that name and place men-
tioned by Dr. Johnson, as having been on a visit to the Earl of
Errol, at the period of his visiting him. His name was familiar
to me by having a short time previously read in the papers of an
extraordinary leap taken in his grounds, by Lord Kintore's
whipper-in, Jack Wilson, with the very mare that his lordship
mounted me upon on my descent from the Banff coach box.
But in reference to his name I have another observation to make.
He had been introduced to me as Colonel Gordon, and yet I
heard my host perpetually calling him " Park." " How can this
be ?" said I to myself ; '* I must have miscomprehended my
friend.;; I found out, however, upon inquiry, that it is usual, in
Scotland, to call gentlemen by the names of their places, as well
as by their proper names. A moment's consideration suggests
the propriety of this distinction — as without it the Campbells and
the M'Gregors would be very difficult to particularize; and if
the" Joneses and Williamses of Wales, as well as the Smiths of
England, were thus registered amongst their acquaintance, it
would save a multitude of questions. " Pray what Mr. Jones
may you want?" said the porter of Jesus College, Oxford, to the
Mr. Jones who inquired for his cousin. " Mr. John Jones," said
the inquirer. " There are eleven Mr. John Joneses in college,"
replied the porter.

About nine o'clock it was announced to us, as we sat over our
wine, that " the lamps were lighted ;" and now quite a new scene
presented itself. This was the sight of a pack of fox-hounds on
their beds, by the reflection of patent lamps, with very bright re-
flectors ; and I must say I never witnessed a more interesting
sight of a like description than this was. The dog-hounds took
but little notice of us on our entrance ; most of them, indeed,
appeared to regard us as intruders on their repose, and never
raised their heads from the comfortable position in which they
had placed them ;f but, as it were to mark the characteristic

* It is possible some of my readers may never have seen a pack of
fox-hounds in this situation— in a state of repose for the night ; and I
wonder it has not attracted the notice of an artist, for it would make a
beautiful and interesting picture. Their bodies appear as it were dove-
failed into each other ; and they seem absolutely to place themselves
with a view to the comfort of their neighbours as well as to that of
themselves, especially in allowing them to make pillows of their carcases
for their heads.

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 213

difference of the sexes, the bitches, with few exceptions, leaped
down from the benches to welcome us, and fondled us with all
their might. I would not have missed this scene for a good
deal. The love of the beautiful is an instinct implanted in us by
nature, and whether in an elegant young lady, or an elegant fox-
hound bitch, it will command our admiration ; and as I saw
Agile and Actress * leaping from their beds, with their sterns
lashing their sides, I considered that I saw the essence of beauty
displayed in the brute race. And indeed if beauty consists of a
proportion of parts which please the eye, and a certain composi-
tion of colour and figure that cause delight in the beholder
(which I believe is no false definition of it), the animals I am
speaking of may certainly lay claim to it. This pleasing picture,
however, was greatly heightened by the sort of ultra-cleanliness
practised in this kennel, each hound being washed from head to
stern after every day's hunting, which caused the variegated
colours of their skins to be displayed with increased lustre, by
the powerful light of the lamps.

From the kennel we proceeded to the stables, where the stud
was likewise to be viewed by the aid of patent lamps. The effect
of them was not lost here ; they not only threw an air of cheer-
fulness and comfort round the stalls and beds, and set off to
advantage the clean condition in which they are kept under the
vigilant eye of Willie, but the bloom on the skins of the horses
shone with a sort of prismatic brightness, almost beyond what
the sun has the power of showing.

Wednesday, 24. — A dies non, in the hunting way. Breakfasted
.at ten; head queer, and copper rather hot. Walked round the
farm ; looked into the stalls, wherein were about a dozen black
stots getting fat upon turnips, and saw the hounds fed. Dined
at Hatton Castle, a very fine place, about five miles from Cask,
with the Hon. Mr. and Mrs. Duff, the former suffering from a
rupture of the tendo Achilles. But my noble friend and myself
were like to have been more than quits with our host, on our
road to his house, in a Turriff post-chaise. It was very dark when
we started, and no lamps to the " yellow." " We shall be upset,"
said I to Lord K., " for this fellow (the post-boy, driving from
the dicky) is nearly blind I am sure." — " Never fear him," said
his lordship, " he knows the road." However, after various
tossings from one side of the carriage to the other, knocking our
heads together like Punch and his wife, down we went into a
hole, which I subsequently measured — two feet four inches deep.
But, reader, mind the sang froid with which the fellow spoke of
this trifling mistake ! " Where the devil did you get to ?" said
* Two beautiful badger-pied bitches, sisters, by Alchymist, out of Gaiety.

214 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

I to him as I alighted from the carriage at the castle. " Wall,
it was a vany kittle (Scottice queer] place," was all the reply he
made ; and surely Longinus himself could not have given a more
concise one.

Thursday, 25. — " See what it is to have a bit of religion about
one," said, Jack Willan a short time back, when his cad's leg was
broken by the axle-tree of his coach breaking on a Sunday -, when
Jack never " tools 'em." — " See what it is not to be of the kirk of
ocotland," say I ; for Mr. Ramsay's hounds had a splendid run
on this day (Christmas Day), whilst Lord Kintore's were snug in
their kennel. But although we could not hunt on Christmas
Day, we saw something that reminded us of hunting. We
walked to " Kintore's-gorse," which is hard by, and certainly a
finer was never seen, neither was a finer hunting day ever seen
or felt.

(Not a murmur's on the mountain,
And the vale is mute as death ;

And the mirror of the fountain
Is unbroken by a breath, )

and the sky, as sunset approached, presented the grandest aerial
landscape, if I may be allowed so to call it, that I ever remember
to have witnessed, and drew forth our mutual admiration. But.
as Thomson says of the flowers —

" Who can paint

Like nature ? Can imagination boast,
Amid its gay creation, hues like hers ?"

And who can wonder, thought I within myself, that the un-
tutored Indian should believe he sees God in the clouds, and
bears him in the wind ?

We had to-day another trial of the Turriff post-boy ; but
wishing to avoid another " kittle place," he was provided with
lamps to lighten his darkness, " We shall eat our Christmas
dinner," said Lord Kintore to me on the previous evening, " with
that honest-hearted Scotch squire, whom you saw the other day
in the field — Mr. Leslie, of Dunlugas, who has a beautiful place
on the banks of the Deveron river, between this and Banff ;" and
at six o'clock we were at our post. The " honest-hearted Scotch
squire" had asked a few good fellows to meet us ;* and although
the philosophers will have it there are no happy lives, they admit
there are happy days, and this with us was one of them ; and we
made the most of it. Lord Kintore gave us " The Swell Drags-

* Among them were Mr. Morison, who has also a beautiful place
called Mount Blaines, on Deveron's banks ; Mr. Abercromby Duff, Mr.
Nesbitt, brother-in-law to that celebrated sportsman the Hon. Martin
Hawke, &c., £c.

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 215

in air' in his best style, and topping up the evening with a good supper
and a glass of old whiskey toddy, the best I ever tasted, we cared
not a rush on our road home for all the kittle places in Scotland.

Knocked about the world as I have been, there are few nations
of whom I have not seen a specimen, but never until this day
did I have my legs under the same table with a Norwegian —
still less with a distinguished officer of the Norwegian navy.
This was Captain Leslie, of that service, related twofold to out-
host ; first, by kindred blood, and, secondly, by having married
his sister. Fortunately for me, this was one of his triennial visits
to Dunlugas ; and I say fortunately, because I should have
missed the opportunity of seeing what I considered to be a fine
specimen of any nation — a kind hearted, honest sailor, uniting
the characteristic traits of his profession, with the easy deportment
of the gentleman. From his intercourse with Great Britain, he is
sufficiently conversant in our language, and, barring a trifling
peculiarity of accent, might readily be mistaken for a native of
it. But what can he say of us Britons, I marvel, when he returns
to Norway, after having confessed to me, as he did confess, that
he drank more wine and grog during a six months' visit to Scot-
land, than he drank in his own cold country in the period of
three years ? What ! why that the Scotch squires are a devilish
jolly set of fellows, and his own dead slow. The captain, how-
ever, has rare stowage for a big drink, being a good specimen of
his country's race, with very much of a John Bullish appearance.
It will presently be seen, however, that his bodily capaciousness
was put to the test.

Friday, 26. — A good hunting day. Drew two or three covers
blank, and then found in a fine gorse, the hounds slipping away
from the lower end of it, at the devil's own pace, giving Joe a
start by himself. His huntsman, however, was pretty soon in his
place, and we had a very quick thirty-five minutes to the first
check, killing him in Hatton Park. Lord Kintore rode one of
his old Berkshire horses, a thorough-bred roarer, who carried him
brilliantly, and I rode another, The Professor, a great favourite
of his lordship's. The pace was a little too quick for me, the
first quarter of an hour, and just as I had a chance to be with
them by a turn in my favour, I got a floorer at a brook which
put my chance aside. I never saw a more treacherous bit of
ground than the banks of this brook. They appeared as green
as a bowling-green, and smooth as a turnpike road, so that, try-
ing to catch hounds at the moment, I went very fast at it, when
TJie Professor found himself anything but in clover. He sank
above his knees on the rising side ; and as one of my stirrups
was wrenched out of the bars, I conclude I must have been in

2i6 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

trouble. Lord K/s second horseman, however, having caught my
horse, I got up with them in the park, before they had killed their
fox, and had the pleasure of giving a helping hand in killing himr
by having heard a hound or two turn short back, in the cover,
whilst the body were at fault outside. The pace up to this check
had been capital, and pug must have been turned up in view, had
he kept on. The fact was, he was headed ; having gone one
field from the cover, facing a good country.

Saturday, 27.— No sport in the morning, but a sharp burst in
the evening ; in short, we went the pace, and did honour to the
festivity of the season. Our party was the same as at Dunlugas,
being disappointed of Mr. Duff's (of Hatton Park) company, who
pleaded the tenclo Achilles. Drinkers, they say, should have no
memories— at least a Grecian proverb so says. Perhaps not, but
had I been dipped in Lethe, I could not, I think, have forgotten
some of the proceedings of this jovial night. For example — I
could not have forgotten that besides wine at dinner, I carried to
bed, and slept comfortably upon, three bottles of stout claret, for
it was " a clear stage and no favour," much less any heel taps.
I could not have forgotten my having placed upon the table the
picture of Farley, Mathews, and Liston, as a faithful representa-
tion of the then passing scene. But above all things, could I
have left in " the beggarly, black bruck," as poor Jacky Bunce
would have called the Stygian stream, all recollection of the
Norwegian captain supplicating him for mercy, as " the pace
was choking him ?" Oh no ; 'twere impossible to have done so;
it was one of the richest scenes I had ever witnessed over any";
man's mahogany ; and I am quite certain the proverbial good
nature of this son of Neptune will forgive me the recapitulation
of it. " My lord," said he, after a certain, time, as the bottle ap-
proached him (heel taps 0ft), " may I be allowed a tumbler ?"
(Scott ice, for giving a preference to whiskey toddy over wine.)
" Certainly not," replied my lord. " Encore, on a like occasion."
— " My lord, may I be allowed a tumbler ?" — " Certainly not," re-
plied my lord again. At length looking upon a bumper that
stood before him, with the rose floating in the middle of it, and
like yEneas, in his peril — " duplices tendens ad sidera palmas" —
he most emphatically exclaimed, " My lord, I sooplicate for a tum-
bler ; I cannot drink any more claret." He might as well have
asked for the moon ; so giving up the point as a hopeless case,
he set to work manfully, drinking his share to the last drop.

Sunday, 28. — The period for the hounds returning to their
home kennel having arrived, Lord Kintore left Cask this morning
for Keith Hall, and I betook myself to Dunlugas for the purpose
of spending a couple of c-'-ys with "the honest, kind-hearted

NORTHERN TOUR. 217

Scotch squire" to whom it belongs, and with the intention of
proceeding to Keith Hall on the following Tuesday, to be ready
for Wednesday's hunting. To catch this hospitable gentleman
by himself — that is to say, without some friends in his house,
would be a task about as difficult as to catch a weazel asleep ;
but we agreed upon taking a pull, and having a quiet evening —
an agreeable one is a certainty at Dunlugas. On the following
morning the carnage was at the door, about eleven o'clock, to
take us to Duff House, the noble seat of the Earl of Fife, who
had heard of my being in the country, and had done me the
honour to make kind mention of me in a letter to Lord Kintore.
To say his lordship received us, — Mr. Abercromby Duff, Mr.
Leslie, and Captain Leslie were of the party — with his usual
highly refined politeness and address would be saying little ; for,
towards myself, his attentions were all but distressing. He led
me through every room, showed me every picture and every
statue in this magnificent mansion — no slight task I assure you,
for the suites of rooms appeared to me to be interminable ; and
afterwards accompanied us through the grounds, showing us his
various improvements. But the finest feature in these extensive
grounds had been visited by us previously to our arrival at the
house. This was the celebrated bridge of Alva, which crosses
the river Deveron, in a beautifully wooded part of the park, and
is, I believe, generally visited by the tourist. Who the architect
was I was not able to be informed ; but the elegant simplicity
of the structure, and the fine proportions of the arch, are worthy
of an Inigo Jones. But speaking of the architecture, I cannot
omit a notice of the front of Duff House, which, independent of
its sculptural decorations, unites the majesty of the Doric with
the gracefulness of the Ionic order ; and I could have almost
made myself believe I was looking at the theatre of Marcellus.
As for the number of pictures and portraits inside, I should think
the UoiKiXr) of the ancient Greeks could hardly have contained
more.

All who know Lord Fife, know that he is one of the best-
natured, least-assuming, persons of his rank that perhaps the
peerage can produce, at the same time that he is a most finished
gentleman. In the course of our chat we talked over old times,
and some that he appeared to look back upon with increased
pleasure. They were those of his sporting days, although, as
his lordship said, they were but few, having only been one year
at Melton. But we had each hunted with Lord Vernon, and
had heard Sam Lawley's holloa, which we were not likely to
forget ; and we had each witnessed the splendour of Fisherwick

2i3 NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

House.* We talked over The Levett (as Theophilus Levett
was called), on Banker ; Sambrook Anson, on Neptune ; the
Boultbys, the little lawyer, Ned Croxall, the little tanner of
Nuneaton,f and others, who used to go so well to hounds in
those bygone days. Then we had each ridden alongside Lord
Forester, and all his brilliant contemporaries, many of whom,
with himself, are now in their graves. " But is it possible," said
his lordship, " that, as I am told he is, the Tom Cholmondeley
of those times, the Lord Delamere of these, is still showing them
the way in Cheshire ?w I assured him that I had reason to
believe he was still going with the best men there, and that I
hoped he would long continue to do so, as such sportsmen as his
lordship is are becoming scarce. The finish to this conversation
with Lord Fife was a hearty shake by the hand, and an assurance,
that if I visited Scotland again it should not be his fault if we
did not talk over these matters at Duff House over a bottle of
good claret.

Tuesday, 3oth.— Left Dunlugas at rather an early hour in Mr.
Leslie's gig ; breakfasted at Cask, and proceeded to Keith Hall
in another gig left there for the purpose. Found Lord Kintore
on his farm, leaning over hurdles, looking at some sheep eating
turnips. ' But I saw something I did not at all like. I saw the
clouds clearing away to the westward, and the evening-star
twinkling with more than usual brightness. " A stop to hunt-
ing," said I, as I approached him, and I was right ; for the next
morning there was ice half an inch thick.

As far as the two houses are concerned, the exchange of the
" huntsman's stall" at Cask for the mansion at Keith Hall is
unquestionably a move for the better, for a more comfortable
and better-found residence than the latter cannot be desired by
man. It is situated at a mile distance from the small town of
Inverary, one of Lord Kintore's boroughs, in a lawn of some-
where about a hundred acres in extent, on the bank of the river
Urie, and commanding a very pleasing view of the town, with
its old castle, and the picturesque vale beyond it, considered the
most productive soil in this part of the country, from which cir-
cumstance it takes its name. The domain, consisting of about
three hundred and fifty acres, is very highly farmed by his lord-

* Then occupied by Lord Spencer Chicliester.

f The name of this person was Burton ; but he was equally well
known in the sporting world as " The Parachute," from his always ap-
pearing with hounds in a light green coat. He rode a small bay mare
that was very hard to beat ; in fact she carried him quite in the first
flight, in Leicestershire, in Mr. Assheton Smith's time, as he will well
remember.

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 219

ship ; and it may be sufficient to add, that there is every accom-
modation about the place for the man of fortune, the sportsman,
and the farmer — rather a happy combination I wot. The stables
are very good indeed ; and the kennel, though small, is par-
ticularly well situated and wholesome, as well as very commo-
dious for the size of it. It was built by his lordship's father for
his harriers ; " but," said he to his son, " I will make it large
enough to hold a small pack of fox-hounds, should you ever be
inclined to keep them." Over the door is the following motto
from Somerville — a hint to Joe Grant and his feeder, which, I
must say, is most religiously observed by each : —

" First let the kennel be the huntsman's care,
And much to health will cleanliness avail."*

I must not, however, pass over Keith Hall house with this
short notice, as there are features in it, secundum arteni^ truly
in character with its owner. For example — you pass not beyond
the entrance-hall before you perceive one of his lordship's pro-
pensities, and this is, to the road. There is an excellent picture
of George Leach, on the box of the Edinburgh mail, and as
many four-horse whips, hung up in a place made for them, as
would serve that celebrated coachman for the next twenty years.
On the right hand is his lordship's private room, or library, in
which I found excellent editions of all the ancient classics, as
well as of the Belles Lettres. On the left is a room he calls the
" cofifee-room," in which are papers and periodicals to suit the
taste of visitors. But before you enter this room you are again
reminded of the road. Over the door is an excellent picture of
cold meat, laid out for passengers' luncheon ; and in a snug
corner to the right is a real representation of the bar of a public-
house, in which a drop of" something short"t is always at hand
to be had, should any one feel disposed to take it ; and no bad
thing now and then, on a cold or wet day, in any country.

The drawing and dining rooms are handsome, large, and well-
proportioned ; but it is of the paintings of the latter that it con-

* It is but just to observe, that Lord Kintore affords his servants
every chance to do well. He gives Joe Grant Beckford's work, with
his own comments upon certain parts of it, to read for his improvement,
and " Nimrod on the Condition of Hunters," to his groom. His lord-
ship's comments upon the latter, written some time hack, I was pleased
to find were prefaced by these words : — " If I had thirty hunters I would
summer them all a la Nimrod ;" and his dissents are not many.

f " Drop of something short " is a flash term on the road for a g'ass
of neat spirits, implying the want of time to mix it.

220 NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

cerns me to speak. At one end of it is a splendid full-length
portrait of a German gamekeeper, in the service of the late Lord
Kintore, and his grey pony, with the panniers, which struck me
as being the best representation of real life that I had ever before
seen on canvas. It is from the pencil of a celebrated artist whose
name I cannot recollect, and he had a fine subject for it in this
athletic German. Over the fire-place is the meeting of Lord
Kintore's fox-hounds, by Ferneley, of Melton Mowbray, a picture
of great dimensions, in which the likeness of his lordship and
his friends is admirably preserved throughout. Over the side-
board are two pictures of equally large dimensions, representing
the meetings of the Duke of Buccleuch, and the Fife fox-hounds,
in each of which the leading characters of the respective hunts
are painted to the very life, especially Mr. Campbell, of Saddel,
Sir David Baird, and Williamson, the huntsman, in the former.
They are from the pencil of Mr. Francis Grant, and not merely
do they reflect the highest credit upon him as an artist, but
show, as indeed that of Mr. Ferneley shows, how necessary it is
that a painter should be intimately acquainted with the dis-
tinguishing features of the subjects on which he exercises his
art. Everything in these pictures is in proper keeping ; and
how could it be otherwise ? Mr. Ferneley lives in the metropolis
of fox-hunting, and Mr. Grant has hunted with most of the best
packs in Great Britain. The picture he has lately painted for
Lord Chesterfield, of the meeting of the King's stag-hounds,
must be considered the chef d'oenvre of modern days in that
line. The figures are most admirably grouped, and include
about a dozen of the principal noblemen and gentlemen who
attend his Majesty's hunt, with Davies, the huntsman, in the
midst of them, absolutely starting from the canvas.

Knowing that Lord Brougham had been visiting at Keith Hall
in the autumn, I had the curiosity to ask Lord Kintore, whether
his lordship had made any remark on either of these pictures,
which could not but have attracted his notice, by reason of their
vast dimensions — to say nothing of -the striking likeness of his
host, which must have faced him as he sat at dinner ; — he told
me he had not alluded to them in any way, which I must say,
surprised me ; and I was naturally led to moralize upon the fact.
" Parva sunt hsec," muttered I to myself, in the words of one
great man, " sed parva ista non contemaenda ; majores nostri,
maximas has res fecerunt." But how much less than little,
thought I, must such things appear in the eyes of another
perhaps still greater man !

" I suppose," said an intimate friend of Lord Kintore's to me
at Edinburgh, " you are aware of the manner in which you will

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 221

be received on your arrival at Keith Hall, as all brother fox-
hunters are. You will be met by David at the steps, with a silver
fox's head full of claret, by way of a hearty welcome." u With
all my heart," I replied, " I like a hearty welcome ; it makes
everything taste so sweet." " But that is not all," continued my
informant ; " what are the odds against your having Timotheus
in the evening ?" " Timotheus !" said I, " what can Timotheus
have to do with fox-hunters, unless it be in remembrance of his
musical pipe, or his poem in honour of Diana ?" " You will see,"
resumed my monitor.

I shall now show the extent of this prophecy. On the present
occasion, the fox's head on the threshold was dispensed with, but
there were placed at the bar, two glasses of " something short," —
Marischino, I believe — in which his lordship and myself pledged
each other, with a good will ; and at six o'clock, we sat down,
tete-a-tete, to our dinner, — my attention being divided between
the good things on my plate, and the meets of the three crack
packs of Scotch hounds, on the walls. The repast being finished,
— " Now, Nimrod," said my host, " we will turn round to the fire,
and enjoy ourselves ;" and no sooner were we seated in our new
position, and the fire well stirred, than in walked David with
Timotheus ! Now, reader, I'll tell you in a few words what this
Timotheus is, and I am quite sure you will agree with me in
thinking that, powerful as may have been the prototype — he of
Miletus, or even he of Bceotia, who is said to have mastered the
great Alexander himself with his pipe —

" Persians and Greeks, like turns of nature found,
And the world's victor stood subdued by sound — "

neither of them would have had a chance with this modern con-
queror. He appeared in the form of a thundering blue bottle,
with his name imprinted on the outside, and the inside containing
six bottles of claret, which were intended to find their way down
our throats in the course of this evening. In the name of fox-
hunting, said I to my friend, what have you got here ? However,
to conclude the history of Timotheus the Second, I shall only
observe, that, in humble imitation of the Norwegian captain, I
" supplicated for mercy," and obtained it. The bell was rung,
and the ponderous blue bottle was exchanged for the more appro-
priate claret jug, and a moderate and rational evening's work
was the result.

The real history of this bottle I am not able to give ; I believe
it originated in some joke between Lord Kintore and his much
esteemed neighbour, Lord Panmure ; but this I do know,— that

222 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

I read in the Keith Hall hunting-book, at the conclusion of the
description of a capital run the following pithy sentence : —
" William Hay (of Dunse Castle) and myself dined together in
the evening, and finished Timotheus /" The only comment that
I have to make upon this, is, that I am quite sure Timotheus
would have finished me.

My having spoken of " David the butler," in an establishment
such as this is, calls forth a remark. Lord Kintore, in his politics
is a liberal whig, and, like another Publius Valerius, pledged to
the cause of the people ; yet, like another Ouintus Cincinnatus,
he possesses the spirit of an ancient patrician, and wishes to
keep things in their places. Thus, it is not at Keith Hall as at
my late neighbour's in Hampshire ; there are no Mr. Woods the
butler; Mr. Chapman the bailiff ; Mr. Gregson the huntsman ;
Mr. Smallbones the gardener; and old Billy Chute the master /*;
In fact, there are no Misters or Mistresses in the servants' hall
at Keith Hall ; but it is " David" the butler ; " Joe Grant" the
huntsman; "Willie" the groom; "John" the gardener; and
" his lordship," the master.- David has grown grey in the service
of his present master and his father, and is as reputable a looking
servant as ever put a bottle of wine upon a table, or stood in front
of a sideboard.

Wednesday, 31. — A very hard frost, and all chance of my
seeing hounds in the Keith Hall country, during this visit, gone
by. Saw the pack fed ; looked over the farm buildings ; in-
spected the stalls, cart-horses, &c., all first rate, and very much
like business ; walked to Joe Grant's cottage, which stands plea-
santly on a bank, overlooking Keith Hall ; and strolled about
the domain till dusk. But the stables, were they omitted ? Cer-
tainly not ; nor the paddocks, in which were some young things,
one of which is very likely to become first rate as a hunter.

" Perhaps, Nimrod," said Lord Kintore to me during our stroll,
" you may be surprised at my preferring Keith Hall, as a resi-
dence, to my other place (Inglismaldie), near Laurence-kirk,
where the greater part of my property lies, and which is more in
the world than this ; but / was bred here, and that makes me
partial to it." I answered him in the words of the poet —

" Be it a weakness — it deserves some praise ;
We love the play-place of our early days."

But this passion is universal, and carried to a great extreme.

* It may be remembered, that I stated the fact of the late Mr. Chute,
of The Vine, Hampshire, having overheard the above nomenclature
given to his establishment and himself, in a discourse between a party
of his labourers, which I had from his own lips.

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 223

%

There is a secret attraction, in fact, in the place where we have
passed the cheerful innocence of childhood, that holds our heart
to it during the remaining period of life ; and it is in much
wilder countries than Scotland, as well as under circumstances
much less favourable, that man exhibits his fondness for his
native land : —

" Dear is that shed, to which his soul conforms,
And dear that hill, which lifts him to the storms;
And, as a babe, when scaring sounds molest,
Clings close and closer to the mother's breast;
So the loud torrent, and the whirlwind's roar,

But bind him to his native mountains more."

*

New Year's morning! — Frost harder and harder. " Nimrod,"
said my host, " let us put a team to the coach, and take a drive."
" I did not know you had a team at present," was my reply.
" Why," resumed his lordship, " I have only two horses that
•have been in harness, but I think we could contrive to make up
a team." Now, observe, reader ! these were hunters in the
highest possible condition, that were to be metamorphosed into
coach horses ; and I had just had a specimen of one of them,
which brought me from Cask in the dog-cart, for it was ten
minutes before I could start him from the door, and then he
plunged for the first half mile. "Why, my lord," said I, " with
all deference to your excellent coachmanship, I think we had
better not begin the new year in a way which may perhaps de-
prive us of the pleasure of ever seeing the end of it. A hard
frost is the very worst weather in which such an experiment
should be tried ; and having once nearly lost my life by attempt-
ing it, I beg leave to say — ' no go'n — and it was none.

As we had kept up the festivities of Christmas, it was not likely
that those of the New Year would be omitted in the very hos-
pitable mansion of Keith Hall. With the exception of Mr.
Morison, who was prevented by indisposition, and Mr. Nesbett,
who was detained at home by business, the same jovial party
that had met at Dunlugas, were assembled on this occasion, with
the addition of Captain Barclay of Ury, and "a jovial night"
we had of it. Particulars I will not enter into ; but I may be
allowed to speak of myself. I drank four fox's heads of claret,
in the course of the evening, besides the general allowance ;
supped in " The Hall of my Ancestors,"* a little before mid-
night ; topped up with a glass or two of stiff whiskey toddy, and

* A small, snug room, below stairs amongst the offices, which bears
this highly aristocratic name.

2 24 NIMRO&S NOR THERN TO UR.

9

rose next morning very little the worse for it. Now, after this
declaration, what must be thought of my advocating temperance
in Fraser's Magazine ? All I can say is. that it is to the having
indulged in these jollifications but seldom, that I am able to
stand the brunt of them now.

But a melancholy reflection attends the present retrospect.
That most worthy person, the late Provost Blakie of Aberdeen,
was to have been with us this day ; in fact, he did join us on the
following ; and now, poor man, he is in his grave, having been
struck with instant death. He has, however, left behind him a
character which his countrymen, as well as his profession, may
be proud of — that of an honest man. Indeed, he carried about
him the appearance of an honest and a really good man ; the
" placidi reverentia vultus" struck you at first sight.

The bee that gives the honey, also gives the wound. Our
party dropped off by degrees, until at length it was all dispersed,
and with to me, more than commonly unpleasant reflections at-
tendant on similar occasions — namely, that, from the gulf that
is between us, it is probable I may never meet some of them
again. I remained at Keith Hall till the sixth, in the enjoyment
of everything my kind host could provide for me, hunting alone
excepted ; and on the seventh I arrived at Ury, the seat of my
old friend, Captain Barclay, a description of which, as well as my
doings there, shall form a portion of my next contribution.

Tuesday, January 6th, left Keith Hall after an early dinner ;
arrived at Aberdeen at eight o'clock ; and, had it not been that
fate has ordered it otherwise, I should have had something to
have said of the manner in which I passed the time between that
hour and midnight. Suffice it to say, it was at the house of a
worthy man who has since paid the debt we must all pay. Will-
ing to see something more of the town, as well as unwilling to
rise at five, the hour of the Defiance starting, I preferred the mail
at three, which would land me at Ury by dinner time, according
to an arrangement with " the Captain," as the celebrated Captain
Barclay is called, who was to meet me at Stonehaven, to conduct
me thither. My fellow-passenger was the Mr. Ramsay, then re-
siding at Aberdeen, who sold the celebrated Tilbury horse, a few
years back, to Lord Rodney for the previously unheard-of sum of
seven hundred guineas ! and our guard was Fairweather, who, I
was told, scarcely ever puts on a great-coat, let the weather be
what it may. I can only vouch for his having had none on this
day, which was intensely cold, with showers of snow and sleet.

The sight of a cheerful friend is like the sun breaking forth on
a cloudy day ; and the dulness of the inside of a coach, with
persons whom we never saw before, and are never likely to see

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 225

again, is gratefully exchanged for the welcome face of a being of
the above description, whom we have known many years, and
who holds a place in our esteem. My acquaintance with Captain
Barclay is of more than thirty years' standing, having commenced
when he hunted in Oxfordshire ; and the general celebrity of
his character made me proud of the opportunity of renewing it.
I was delighted then, when I saw him standing at the inn door
to receive me, and we walked together to our dinner, at Ury, dis-
tant two miles.

The domain of Ury is by far the finest that I saw in Scotland.
It consists of a thousand acres of excellent arable and old pasture
land — six hundred of the former, and four hundred of the latter —
admirably laid out for agricultural purposes ; and from its being
surrounded by a wild country,* and containing enclosures of
from forty to eighty acres each, in a high state of cultivation, it
may, with a little stretch of the imagination, be compared to
Northamptonshire, in miniature, transported into Scotland. The
house is very unequal to the domain. It is of that peculiarly un-
classical form so frequently seen in Scotland — namely a high
white building, somewhat resembling a large dove-cot ; nor is
there more than one good room in it. It is, however, well
situated for the picturesque, a wild and rapid river running in
front of it, and a fine view of the domain is commanded from
most of the windows.

A well-built stone wall extends round a great portion of the
domain, and as the Captain adds to it every year, the great
undertaking of thus enclosing the whole will no doubt be com-
pleted through time.

The Captain is considered one of the very best farmers and
breeders of cattle in Scotland, and has merited the gratitude of
his countrymen for his introduction of improved stock. When I
was at Ury it consisted of one thousand two hundred sheep of
the pure new Leicester breed, and one hundred head of equally
pure short-horned (Durham) cows, heifers, and bulls, besides a

* The country about Stonehaven is thus described in vol. ii. of the
Picture of Scotland, p. 248 : " There is not, perhaps, in all Scotland,
a track more sterile, and at the same time so thickly inhabited, as that
which the road passes over between Stonehaven and Aberdeen. This
bleak region, celebrated by the author of Waverley under the name of
Drumthwacket, presents only barren eminences, destitute even of heath,
and cold swampy moorlands, which nature seems to have specially set-
aside for the snipe and lapwing. In proof, however, of the industry of
the Scotch people, I may add the singular fact, of cottages and small
farm steadings being thickly scattered over this still melancholy
tract.

15

226 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

quantity of native stock bought in for feeding ; and he works
twenty horses on his farm, having imported a capital Suffolk
Punch stallion for the improvement of the breed. At the meet-
ing of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, of the
year in which I was in the country, he was awarded several
premiums for superiority of stock.

The Captain is equally highly bred as are his cattle— in fact
he claims ancestral relationship to epic times, being clearly
descended from the noble race of Bruce, the hero of Scottish
history. He is likewise lineally descended from the celebrated
Robert Barclay, author of the " Apology for the Quakers," — he,
the said Apologist, was the son of David Barclay of Ury, the son
of David Barclay of Mathers, the representative of an old Scots
family, of Norman origin, traceable, I believe, through fifteen
generations, to Theobald De Berkeley, who settled in Scotland
in the beginning of the twelfth century. The " Apology," an
elaborate work, I believe, written in Latin, and indicating no
small portion of both talent and learning, was dated thus : —
" From Ury, the place of my pilgrimage, in my native country
of Scotland, 2$th of November, 1676."

Thus I think I make it clear, that my friend the Captain is
quite thoroughbred, which to a great degree accounts for the
wonderful feats he has performed, certainly unequalled by any
one man — in modern times at least.

As a conversationist, he exemplifies Congreve's definition of
real native humour to a greater degree than almost any other
person I have hitherto met with in life, and the definition of the
dramatist, if my memory does not fail me, is this : — " a singular,
unavoidable manner of doing or saying anything, peculiar and
natural to one man only, by which his speech and actions are
distinguishable from those of other men." Now I appeal to all
who know him, if such is not the Captain ; and whoever has
heard him as I have heard him, in a strain of colloquial
pleasantry, and observed the quiet, grave, but cheerful, though
guarded humour, that runs through his conversation ; the brevity
of some of his remarks, and the artless sincerity in which they
are uttered, together with his deep and manly voice — very unlike
that of Velutti — must, I think, be of a similar opinion with myself.
"What advantage he took of a good school education, and a
Cambridge matriculation, previously to his entering the army, I
am unable to say. He may, for aught I know to the contrary,
be no theoretical philosopher ; he may have given Homer and
mathematics to the winds, and have exchanged Herodotus
the Historian for Herodicus the Gymnast ; but in useful practical
knowledge, I would back him against most men \ and, were I in

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 227

a scrape on a point of moral conduct, there is no one's opinion I
would sooner be guided by than the Captain's. He is, I believe,
esteemed a good sportsman ; but never having seen him with
his own hounds, I must speak cautiously on this head ; for, when
we were in the habit of meeting in the field, some thirty years
ago, I fear the chief object of each was, who could ride fastest.
I remember, however, a singular circumstance relating to those
bygone days. The Captain, in one very open season, in Oxford-
shire, got eighty-four days7 hunting on four hunters, one of which
— a fine Scotch mare — I afterwards saw in Germany, in the
breeding stud of Baron Biel !

- It may be supposed that many good stories are abroad about
the Captain in his own country, and at which, when alluded to
in his presence, no person laughs more heartily than he himself
does. The Defiance coach furnishes not a few, and amongst
others the following. It is well known that the Captain is en-
titled to a Scotch earldom, and had at one time serious thoughts
of laying claim to it. " But," said he to his intimate friend, the
late Duke of Gordon, " should I, as the Earl of Monteith and
Ayr, be able to drive the Defiance ?" " Why," replied the duke,
" there is not much difference between an earl and a marquis,

and as the Marquis of W drives the Brighton Defiance, I

see no reason why you may not drive the Edinburgh Defiance.
At all events," continued the duke, " if you should think it infra
dig. to be the coachman, you may undoubtedly be the guard."
His neighbour and friend Lord Panmure's answer, by letter, to
the same question, was by no means amiss. It was this : —
" Dear Barclay, — I see no objection to your driving the Defiance
when you are the Earl of Monteith and Ayr, and I will be your
guard." David Roup, the coachman, and the Captain have
been the occasion of some good anecdotes. On one occasion,
the Captain was descending a hill with the Defiance, at the bot-
tom of which was a toll bar, and having a stiff-necked off-wheel
horse, that would not answer to the whip, he went much too
near to the gate-post to be pleasant. " Close shaving that ! "
said the Captain to David, who sat behind him on the roof.
"Close shavirf /" exclaimed David, " and what the deil's the
use o; close shavin' when the gateway's gude twanty feet wide .!"
It cannot be supposed that the Captain has been much of a
gainer by the Defiance, considering trie great length of ground
that he horses it, and the pace it travels at ; but it has afforded
him much amusement, and the establishment of it was a truly
patriotic act. " Does the coach pay you, Barclay ?' said a friend
to him one day, who sat beside him on the bench. " I believe
it does, indeed, replied the Captain, slapping his hand on his

15—2

223 NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

thigh ; " I have been to-day at the settling, and see what a heap
of bank notes is in my pocket !" " Ye'll no believe him," whis-
pered David in the inquirer's ear, "it's a horseboot the Captain
has gotten in his pocket"

It is said no man can be called a coachman unless he has once
floored a coach, forasmuch as until he has done so he knows not
how to get her up again. Up to the time I left Scotland the
Captain had only floored his once, and his description of the
solitary event was capital. " She fell as easy as though she had
fallen on a feather bed ; and, looking out for a soft place, I
alighted comfortably on my feet." Speaking seriously, however,
the Captain is a safe coachman, and to prove his being of opinion
that it is never too late to improve, he now and then goes to
Cambridge and back with Joe Walton on the Star, for the pur-
pose of having a lesson from that very superior artist. Lord
Kintore, indeed, calls the Captain, " Joe Walton secundus !"

I should much have liked to have been on the Defiance at the
time I am now going to allude to. A snob of a passenger took
it into his head to be offended at something the Captain, who
was driving, did or said ; and at length his ire prompted him to
tell him — having mistaken him for one of the coachmen — that
if he was on the ground, instead of on the box, he would give him
a thump on the head ; adding, most emphatically, the following
bravado : "Ay, if you were the great Captain Barclay him-
self !^ The Captain was silent until he alighted at the next
change, when his passenger also alighted. " Now, sir," said the
Captain, " I am the great Captain Barclay himself, ready to
receive your thump on the head." The result may be imagined
— it was " no go"

It cannot be a matter of surprise that the efforts of Captain
Barclay and his coadjutor, Hugh Watson, Esq., of Keillor, in
establishing a coach to perform a distance of ground extending
over one hundred and twenty-nine miles, including a ferry to be
crossed, in twelve hours and thirty-five minutes, should be grate-
fully appreciated by his countrymen and friends, and that they
should feel a desire to offer them some lasting memorial of the
same. The following account, then, extracted from the Aber-
deen Journal, will best show in what way this pleasing task was
performed, the only alloy to which was the absence, through
illness, of some of the Captain's most esteemed friends : —

DINNER AT FORFAR.

On Wednesday, July ist, 1835, a number of gentlemen con-
nected with the counties of Forfar, Perth, Kincardine, and Aber-
deen, met here to present to Captain Barclay, of Ury, and Mr,

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 229

Watson, of Keillor, a piece of plate, as a testimonial of esteem
and mark of approbation for their exertions in the establishment
and continuance of the Defiance coach, running between Edin-
burgh and Aberdeen, through Strathmore. The chair was taken
by Lord Arbuthnot, in the absence of the Earl of Kintore (who
was prevented from attending by ill health), and his lordship
discharged the duties with his usual tact and good taste. Cap-
tain Rait, of Arniston, was croupier ; and among the party
were the Honourable Captain Arbuthnot, Major Swinburn, of
Marcus, Major Wemyss, Captain Cheape, of Wellfield, Captain
Scott, R.N., Mr. Wright, of Lawton, Mr. Ains worth, Mr. Nairn,
Messrs. Proctor, Dalgairns, &c. Lord Panmure, a steady friend
to the coach, was prevented from attending by indisposition ;
^and letters were received from him, and from several gentlemen
in the district, highly approving of the object of the meeting, and
regretting their inability to be present.

After the usual loyal toasts had been given, the Chairman
gave the toast of the day ; and in drinking prosperity to the
coach, remarked upon the great utility of the conveyance to the
district through which it passed, and pointed out the benefit
which was received from it by all classes of the community.
His lordship contrasted the Defiance with the old Fly, which
took three days in going between Edinburgh and Aberdeen — and
•with the more recent conveyance, the Telegraph, between
Perth and Aberdeen, through Strathmore, and the spavined
cattle by which these coaches were drawn ; and, after pointing
out the celerity, comfort, and safety of the present conveyance,
and that what formerly took three days was now done in twelve
hours, he passed a just eulogium on the Defiance — the splendour
of its appointment — the civility of the servants of the establish-
ment— and the manner in which the whole concern had been
conducted, from the time of its starting, now six years ago, to
the present day.

His lordship stated, that he had much pleasure in being the
person through whom the testimonials on the part of the gentle-
men of the district were to be presented. He noticed in appro-
priate terms the trouble and risk which, at the commencement
of the undertaking, Mr. Barclay and Mr. Watson had necessarily
encountered ; and his lordship then presented to these gentlemen
two handsome silver bowls, of the value of ^50 each, as a mark
of esteem and approbation on the part of the gentlemen of the
district.

Mr. Barclay and Mr. Watson made suitable replies, stating
that they had set on foot the coach more with the view of accom-
modation to the public than to individual profit ; and that the

250 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

present meeting, and the expressions of feeling which they had
received from all quarters, compensated any trouble or risk they
had met with at the commencement of the establishment.

The two bowls were executed in the best taste by Messrs.
Garrard, of Panton Street, London, and contained an appropriate
coaching device, beautifully executed in frosted work, with an in-
scription from the pen of Lord Kintore. The whole gave much
credit to the taste of the earl, who kindly took charge of the
ordering of the plate.

On the health of Lord Kintore being drunk, the Chairman
read the following letter from him, which he had that morning
received : —

" Chester Hall, June 30, 1835.

" MR. PRESES AND GENTLEMEN,

" Having but just recovered from a severe illness, I
regret exceedingly that it will not be in my power to preside, and
present to Messrs. Barclay and Watson, on the 1st instant, a
small token of our satisfaction to those gentlemen, who at such
a considerable personal risk, and in such a public-spirited
manner, have come forward, and have established the best
coach of the day now in Scotland. Gentlemen, looking back
hardly to days of ' lang syne/ — I allude to * Ca awa Robins'
days, — and I think I see him yet coming out of Lawrencekirk,
with a * long and short tommy/ at the rate of six miles an hour.
I repeat, looking back to the days of the Old Telegraph, and
contrasting her with the well-horsed, well-appointed, London-
built drag of the present day, with, though last, not least, the
general deportment and demeanour of the servants appointed
by those gentlemen to this coach, — I do say, that not only we,
the subscribers, but that the public in general, are exceedingly
indebted to those gentlemen for such an establishment ; and I,
as one individual, through you, beg to tender them my best
thanks for the same, and to express my hearty wish, in the lan-
guage of ' Bob Snowj that until you go the 'journey long] you'll
continue to ride with The Captain and his partner.

".I have the honour to be, Gentlemen,

" Yours obediently and faithfully,

" KINTORE.

" To the Preses and Gentlemen Subscribers to the Plate."

As notwithstanding the introduction of railroads, coaching to
a certain extent must still go on ; and as it should always be
well done when done at all, I think it worth while for the benefit
of those who may try a similar experiment on other ground, to
state a few of the leading features in the working of this coach.

NIMROHS NORTHERN TOUR. 231

Although Captain Barclay and Mr. Watson are the sole pro-
prietors, and answerable for the entire ground being covered
with stock, still they have the power to sub-let part of it, and it
is in consequence worked by three innkeepers— one at each end,
and the other at the ferry ; also by Captain Shelton of Kinross,
and the three guards over the middle ground.

There had nearly been an obstacle to this coach coming on
the road, in the excessive amount of tolls. For example, from
Perth to Edinburgh they are ^3 per day, and from Perth to
Aberdeen only half toll is exacted — a favour granted to the pro-
prietors. Its earnings have commonly amounted to ^5 per mile
in six weeks (or thirty-six days, taking the Sundays out), which
a London proprietor would call " respectable" but nothing more.

It won't do to be fastidious in matters of this nature ; still, on
that excellent principle of old Johnson, that what is worth
doing at all is worth doing well, and that we should not be
content with mediocrity when excellence can be attained. I
have a word to say to the proprietors of this celebrated drag. It
occasionally leaves Edinburgh with the last journey's dirt upon
it. Now, no unwashed coach should ever leave a metropolis, or
indeed any other place, and for two good reasons : first, it looks
slow, and, next, an unwashed coach is an un-overhauled coach ;
and although it may be said this only goes a short distance — one
stage to the ferry — nevertheless, under such circumstances, it
may go this short distance without having a screw loose for nine
hundred and ninety-nine times and drop short on the thousandth.
About three sets of new harness were wanting when I was in the
country, there being about that number of very antique appear-
ance, with plated furniture, &c. That on the Captain's ground
was all right, having been ordered for him by Sir Henry Peyton;
and I saw one set with Sir Henry's own crest, purchased of him
by the Captain, which reminded me of old times. The build of
the coaches is good. In fact, they are chiefly London built; and
such as are not are from the yard of a good builder at Perth, and
after the London pattern, with patent axles, and well fitted up
inside, with cushions, blinds, &c.

Wednesday, 8th. — The morning of this day was passed in a
way that could not fail being agreeable to one who, like myself,
is partial to agricultural proceedings, in the inspection of first-rate
stock. I estimated my morning's walk with the Captain at
upwards of twelve miles, although we were not off the domain ;
on which I saw some excellent specimens of good practice, es-
pecially in deep ploughing where it was wanting, and that sine
qua non of improvement of land — deep and effectual draining.

I have good reason to believe that if we led more natural lives

232 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

than we do, we should retain the entire exercise of our senses,
as well as the free use of our limbs, to the full age of man. It is
the softness and effeminacy of modern manners and habits which
deprive men of their natural defence against diseases incidental
to our variable climate, and subject them to that debility and
morbid sensibility of the nervous system, which lays the founda-
tion of diseases that spoil, if they do not destroy, life. I could,
however, observe, that the Captain is wide awake to all the ad-
vantages of an active rural life, so very conducive to health, not
only of body but of mind, for there is nothing at Ury likely to
emasculate the one or enervate the other. I do not recollect
seeing even an arm-chair in the house. As for those in the
dining-room, if the seats of them were made of heart of oak itself
they could not be much harder than they are, and the backs of
them are as straight, and nearly as high, as a poplar-tree. I
believe there is a sofa in the drawing-room, but as for ottomans
and footstools, and such like, you might as well look for an ele-
phant at Uiy, as for any such Oriental-looking things. It is,
however, a well-furnished and very comfortable room, and,
amongst other ornaments on its walls, has a full length painting
of the Captain in his hunting costume, and two of Tom Cribb—
one in his clothes, and the other in attitude. "The Chicken"
in attitude presides over the side-board in the dining-room ; and,
as maybe supposed, the Captain, in his thousand mile match, is
not omitted in the collection.

It is almost needless to refer to the past life of a person, marked
with so many instances of public action, as that of Captain Bar-
clay is. In Pierce Egan's sporting anecdotes nineteen of his
wonderful pedestrian feats are recorded ; but finding no mention
made of two extraordinary performances on the coach box I here
give them. The first is, his having driven the mail coach from
London to Aberdeen without any remission of his task except
during the short periods allowed for the refreshment of passen-
gers on the journey. Having a large sum depending on the
event a little relief was afforded him by a selection of light-
mouthed horses ; still so little exhausted was he when he arrived
at Aberdeen that he offered to back himself to drive the return
mail to London in the same manner ; but the late Lord Kennedy,
with whom the original match was made, thought it prudent to
decline his challenge. The other was in pursuance of his pas-
sion for the ring. Being quartered at Wrexham, North Wales,
with the 23rd Regiment, or Welsh Fusileers, he obtained leave
from his commanding officer to walk — as he said — to Liverpool,
to see his brother who was staying there, promising to be back
for the weekly returns. He did " walk," but not to Liverpool ;

HIM ROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 233

for, stopping short at Chester, he mounted the box of the Lon-
don mail, for the purpose of seeing a fight that was to take place
the next day but one, somewhere in the neighbourhood of Lon-
don. He saw the fight, and returning on the box of the Shrews-
bury mail, and walking thence to Wrexham, appeared in the
mess-room of his regiment on the fifth night. But the hardships
he endured on this expedition must prove unendurable by any
other man. For example— to avoid the suspicion of his Colonel
— he did not even take a great-coat with him, much less had he
any change of clothes ; and before he reached Lichfield those on
his back were saturated with rain and sleet. He dried them oti
his back when he got to London, and straightway went to the
fight. On his return to the metropolis he went into a hot bath,
and having had two hours' sleep in a bed, started on the box of
that night's mail for Shrewsbury. It should here be observed,
that in those days the boxes of the mail were not on springs !

When speaking of the Captain, Pierce Egan thus writes : —
" Captain Barclay's mode of living is plain and unaffected. His
table is always abundantly supplied, and he is fond of society.
His hospitality is of that frank and open kind which sets every
man at his ease." Nothing can be more true than this. At Ury
the good old-fashioned roast-and-boiled cookery is the order of
the day ; and a man may as well expect to find the cook's shoes
in reality as any of your " quelques choses" on his table. A pot
of brown stout, or home-brewed ale, is likewise an invariable
accompaniment of the smoking sirloin, or leg of fine new Leices-
ter wether. u Weel, Jock," said a neighbour to a celebrated
Forfarshire yeoman, "what did ye see at the Captain's ?" (He
had gone to his annual sale of stock, when, of course, the Captain
gives a spread.) " Why," replied Jock, " I saw what I ne'er saw
afore. / saw tzua geese on one dish"

The Captain, like myself, keeps early hours. With him, indeed,
they are indispensable, as he makes a point of walking to Stone-
haven, two miles off. every morning by seven o'clock, and the
exercise of the day takes him early to his couch at night. His
usual dinner-hour is three o'clock, to enable him to walk to see
his coach again in the evening ; but this day being what is called
a " company day," six was the hour we dined at. Amongst the
party were the Marquis of Carmarthen — heir apparent to his
Grace the Duke of Leeds — who lives hard by ; and Captains
Musgrave, Delme, and Gage, of the I4th Light Dragoons — the
two latter being on a visit to the former, who had a house in
Captain Barclay's neighbourhood. And here again I made an
engagement which circumstances prevented my performing. It
was to accompany the Captain to Lord Carmarthen's on my

234 NTMROJyS NORTHERN TOUR.

second visit to Ury, for the purpose of seeing hawking, which
I have never yet seen. The delay occasioned by the frost pre-
vented it, for I did not return to Ury till the season for that sport
was gone by.

Thursday, 8th. — At six o'clock in the morning the Captain
and myself were at our breakfast, and by seven we were at the
village of Stonehaven, which all belongs to himself. On our
road through the domain we met so many persons, men, women,
and boys, proceeding towards the house, that I was induced to
ask the Captain how many pair of hands he employed on the
farm, when he answered me — " About four score." There is an
excellent inn at Stonehaven, called the Mill Inn — so good, in-
deed, as to have induced the late Duke of Gordon often to make
it his resting place for the night ; and the old miller of the vil-
lage is well worthy of notice. He is of such a towering height,
and so well proportioned withal, that the Captain himself abso-
lutely looked small by his side ; and although far advanced in
years he was then straight as a dart.

The miller's description to me of the Captain's father was by
no means amiss. " He always wore," said he, " a red coat, white
breeches with gold knee-bands, and a cocked hat ; and / assure
you he commanded respect"

According to agreement the Captain and myself drove the
Defiance alternate stages to Edinburgh, the Captain making the
start. Of the road from Aberdeen to Edinburgh there is not
much to be said, and still it passes over classic ground and some
renowned for modern deeds.

We enjoyed our drive very much indeed ; everything went
well, and I was pleased at the respect paid, by all descriptions of
persons, to the' Captain on the road. I noticed the time occu-
pied in some of the changes. That at Cowden Beath was done
inaminute,and I should think the average did not exceed a minute
and a half, which is quite quick enough to be safe. No doubt a
fatal accident to one of our celebrated coaches in the south, a
few months back, was the consequence of too great haste in
changing horses, by which the hook of the pole chain was not
properly secured in the link. I lost ten minutes over one stage
—from Glenfargue to Kinross — but I can account for it. In the
first place, both bearing straps of the off wheeler's, pad gave way,
by his dragging at his pole chain when I pulled up for a parcel ;
in the next, had I not eased the near leader for the two last miles
she would have cut it. It was a nice, spicy team, but, as I told
the owner of it, Captain Shelton, hardly weighty enough for three
miles, up hill, at starting, and then four miles, as we had that
day, of newly stoned road, with a heavy load to boot. Of course

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 235

the Captain occasionally reminded me afterwards of " losing ten
minutes, with Nimrod at work." But I soon had my pull ; as
before the month expired I heard of the Captain, over the same
ground, entering. Kinross without leaders at all, both of them
having cut it in the " metal," as the newly laid stone is called in
.the north !

Of course I saw neither of the coachmen on the lower ground
— z>., from Perth to Edinburgh — at work this day ; but being
anxious to see the flash man, Arthur Farquhar, perform, he took
hold of them for one stage. And now, then, for my opinion of
him. Of his nerve, wherein, I understand, consists one of his
first excellences, I had no opportunity of judging, for all went
well ; but I understand it is nearly danger proof v a great recom-
mendation to the driver of a fast coach ; and in this respect he
is superior to David Roup, who is said to have a great regard
for himself as well as for all his passengers. He is likewise a
powerful man on his box, but he does not look the coachman by
any means so much as the Highlander does. He has a very
peculiar method of holding his reins — not with the left arm close
to his body, as it generally is held, and gaining support there-
from ; but quite away from it, and with the arm not much bent.
The Highlander's seat on his box is very good indeed, as I before
observed, and I have no hesitation in saying — without any dis-
paragement of Arthur — that he is a much better coachman than
he was represented to me to be, by several of those who had
travelled with him. He has a very good hand on his horses,
which is a most essential point in dividing the work between
them, and keeping stock together.

All things considered — and allowance must be made for the
great inferiority of Scotch horse provender — the stock in the
Defiance coach was quite as good as I expected to find it. The
road is a safe one, though from its being weak it is woolly, as
coachmen say, in winter; and runs heavy. The hills on it are
nothing — in fact, I do not remember ever dragging a wheel ; but
there is one practice adopted on it, whilst under repair, that is
very highly reprehensible, and was the cause of the death of an
excellent coachman named Webb, on the London and Birming-
ham Emerald, a few months back. I allude to that of placing
large stones to force carriages to one particular part or side of
it. Slight wooden straddles, or horses, as they are called in the
south, are the proper instruments to be used for this purpose,
which make no resistance, if run against.

The mention of harness reminds me of one circumstance
relating to that of the Defiance, which may not be unworthy of
notice. At one of the changes — there are sixteen in all — when

236 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

it was my turn to take hold of them I observed a twitch on the
ear of one leader and upright pad-turrets, nearly half a yard high,
on the other. " A bolter and a kicker," said I to myself ; but
dropping my hand to them at starting they went well away.
Now I admit these high and upright turrets have not a good
appearance, but they are still safer than the ring on the reins,
generally used as a preventive of kicking in the south ; and
safety is the first consideration where people's lives are in our
keeping. Such a thing as a leader's rein running through a
wheeler's throat-latch, instead of through his head turret, is,
however, not to be seen with the Defiance. Whether the strap,
with two buckles, is to be found in each coachman's pocket, I
forgot to inquire. If not, I can only say it ought to be.

Having fetched up the ten minutes which I mentioned having
lost on the Kinross ground, we arrived in Edinburgh at the ap-
pointed time, and took up our abode at the Waterloo Hotel,
which the coach patronizes, and where the best rooms in the
house are always in readiness for the Captain when he sends
word by the guard, " that he shall waggon the Defiance on the
morrow." Such we found to be the case ; and a more comfort-
able house than the Waterloo no traveller need require, neither
would he often find it if he looked for it— charges also moderate.

MY last paper landed me at the Waterloo Hotel, Edinburgh,
with " the Captain'7 for my companion and guide ; but inasmuch
as everything one sees in the country is not worthy a place in
the eclogue, still less can an account of everything I saw in the
city be very interesting to the public. Our first step was to a
horse-dealer's, at least to a sort of Tattersalls' — Lain's Repository
— where horses are sold on commission ; and we did not go there
for nothing. Seeing a very bad race-horse, called Master Bisk,\n a
stall, and guessing the figure was not a high one, I ascertained
the fact. " He will make you a good leader," said I to the Cap-
tain, " let us put him in the break and try him ;" and in the space
of one hour he was his property. I was much pleased with these
premises, and with the character given me by the Captain of the
proprietor of them, Mr. Lain. He did not appear too great a
man for his business, or in the words of Chester Billy, " above
his sityvasion," which some of his genus are ; but answered
every question with the greatest civility and attention. I drove
this horse afterwards in the Defiance, and found him as good as
he could be expected to be for the price, but it astonished me to
see how he improved in his trotting after having been in the
coach about a month.
" Now what next?" was my natural appeal to the Captain.

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 237

"Oh," said he, "we have plenty to do, we will go and see my
friend, Piper, the great coach proprietor, and all his swell drags ;
and when we have done with them, we shall have ' swells ; of
another sort to see — those walking Prince's Street, the Bond
Street of this place, amongst whom no doubt you will see some
of your friends. Then we must go to Blackwood's, and hear the
news there, where you will be sure to find the Professor (Wilson)
about an hour before his dinner, and some others of your literary
acquaintance."

Our visit to friend Piper was most satisfactory, and in more
ways than one, for, after seeing his drags, and hearing the de-
tails of his immense coaching establishment — he horses seven
mails, and ten coaches — it ended in our partaking of a most
excellent dinner, for which we did not "pay the piper" — in other
words, he asked us to dine with him, when independently of
" most excellent " fare, and a hearty welcome, we met a very
agreeable party of his friends. And in defiance of the maxim
of the old ones, that the table — the sacred altar of friendship
and hospitality, Qfriuv Stiov (3a)fi6v KCH Ztviuv, as Plutarch calls it
— should be held sacred, and that it is a crime to dishonour it by
improper behaviour when at it, or. by a too minute recapitulation
of some matters relating to it when we have left it, I cannot
persuade myself to forego the recital of one capital anecdote,
given to us over Mr. Piper's mahogany, by Mr. Allan, brother to
the very celebrated historical painter, of that name, a name
which has reflected honour upon Scotland. The story was this,
but it will lose more than half its richness from the absence of
the provincial dialect, as well as the full vein of humour in which
it flowed from his lips, which it is not in the power of the pen to
supply : one of these new-fashioned ranting preachers of the
present day, with whom declamation passes for eloquence, and
(too often, I fear) cant for religion, was so much delighted at find-
ing that for three successive Sundays, he had drawn tears from
an old woman in his congregation, that he solicited an interview
with her, when the following conversation ensued. " Pray, my
good woman," said he, " tell me what part of my three last ser-
mons went so near to your heart, as to draw forth such a plentiful
flow of tears, as I was pleased to perceive you shed." Her
answer was to this effect, for I despair of giving it in the original
" That having been deprived during the last three years of the
valuable services of her husband, who had died, her only means
of support arose from those of a donkey, and he was now dead.
That the poor animal was a great favourite of both of them, and
that they never approached his stable but he manifested his affec-
tion for them by one of his loudest brays ; and, finally, that the

238 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

preaching of his reverence so much resembled his braying, that
it went to the very core of her heart to hear him."

We have high classical authority for saying, that one good
story is generally followed by another, and we had many such
this night. A compliment, however, was paid to one which I
told, that was never experienced by me before — in fact it elicited
three rounds of applause. But the credit is not to me. It was
John Warde's celebrated anecdote of the boy whom the quack
doctor cured of two of the greatest infirmities of our nature —
a lying tongue and a short memory — by one single pill.

Of the conversational powers of the Captain, I have already
spoken in praise. He amused us greatly this evening with some
of his quaint remarks, as also with several anecdotes relating to
some of the noted characters in the ring, in days in which he
gave it his support. Amongst others, of the celebrated Bill
Gibbons. " Did you never see none of Bill Ward's letters, sir?"
said he, one day, to the Captain. On the Captain answering in
the negative, Gibbons replied, " Then I can only say, you would
be surprised at them, for they are all grammer, or thereabouts"
He also gave us a specimen of Gibbons's own poetical talent, in
some lines on the collar of his dog, but they have escaped from
my recollection, which I am sorry for, as they were very charac-
teristic of the man, who will himself never be forgotten by those
who ever beheld him.

Having occasion to leave my card with a friend in Gloucester
Place, whose door was exactly opposite to that of Professor Wil-
son, I thought I could not do less than leave one for him, which
I slipped quietly into his servant's hand, having been previously
informed that all his Saturdays being devoted to his literary pur-
suits, he was invisible to his friends on those days. I was,
however, agreeably surprised by being pursued by his footman,
with a message from his master, that " he should be happy to
see me, if I would walk in." I did walk in, and it is scarcely
necessary to say where I found the Professor. I found him in
his study, which, as far as an object devoid of life can be assi-
milated with a highly-endowed being, was a happy illustration
of the person who occupied it. Each was in the extreme of
deshabille ; and to bring a nearly obsolete epithet to my aid,
there was only one tidy looking thing to be seen in it That was
the MSS. (perhaps for the forthcoming Blacfcwootf) which the
Professor had that morning been composing, as was evident,
from the colour of the ink, and that was without speck or blot,
bearing external evidence to the capacity by which it had been
produced.

It is as impossible to be long in the presence of the Professor

NIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR. 239

without a smile, as it would have been to have read two pages
of his Nodes without a laugh. And herein consists the charm
of his pen. For my own part, at least, I have avoided that sort
of reading which cherishes evil passions, and all your metaphy-
sical controversy, which ends but in disappointment and dissatis-
faction. I likewise despise the dreams of our modern epicureans,
who describe man as a sort of beast by nature, and only superior
to other beasts by being more prone to mischief than they are ;
as well as your misanthropical scribblers, who represent human
nature as a vile composition of selfishness, malignity, and pride.
What, for example, did the satires of Swift do for society ? I
am unable, from my own experience, to answer that question, as
I was not born when they appeared ; but in my humble opinion,
their tendency was to set the two sexes by the ears, if not to
disunite society altogether, and to make every man discontented
with, if not suspicious of, his neighbour. The writings of Pro-
fessor Wilson have been of quite an opposite nature. Their
tendency has been to put mankind in good conceit with them-
selves and with others, by amusing tales, from which instructive
morals are drawn ; and the resources of wit, and the taste of
the scholar, are all turned to good account, when placed in array
before the artless simplicity, and unsophisticated logic of the
various characters he draws. They have likewise other charms
in my eyes. The stimulus of immediate sympathy is present
throughout all of them which I have read, and the personal
character of the man may almost be known by the perusal of his
works. Then again, the Professor is a sportsman. His poem of
" The Angler's Tent" confirms this fact ; and the scene it pre-
sents of the happy party assembled in it, as well as the beau-
tiful descriptions of nature throughout the whole, exhibit in a
strong light the influence of that philanthropic feeling which I
have unhesitatingly ventured to ascribe to him.

But the " smile " — I had nearly forgotten to mention by what
that pleasing sensation was produced, during my visit to the
Professor, in his sanctum. " Many thanks for the handsome
present of game you sent me from Keith Hall," said the Professor
to me. " You must thank Lord Kintore," was my reply, "for to
him are you indebted for it ; for taking me into his game larder,
previously to my departure, he told me to select what pheasants
and hares I might like to send to my friends at Edinburgh —
mentioning yourself as one. But," continued I, " one of my
friends to whom I sent a similar basket to your own, was very
near coining short of it ; for having been taken, by mistake, to
a person of the same name, residing in the same street, one half
of it had found its way to the spit before the error was detected."

240 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

"Oh," replied the Professor, "that's an old Scotch trick. If
there are two Johnny Campbells, for example, in the same street,
in this town, and a basket of game should be taken to the wrong
Johnny Campbell, the right Johnny Campbell would stand a poor
chance of seeing a feather of it — especially if the carriage of it
were paid"

Even Dr. Johnson allowed hospitality to the Scotch, and surely
I found enough of it, for I verily believe I might have remained
there amongst my friends till this time, and all Scot free. Having
received a sort of carte blanche invitation to Preston Hall, the
seat of Mr. Burn Callander, I hired my landlord's 'gig, and drove
there on Sunday, and returned to Edinburgh on the following
Tuesday. I was anxious to see the inside of this fine house — I
had seen the outside of it before, during my visit to Captain
Keith, and I found it all that it had been represented to me to
be — one of the most complete mansions in Scotland. But the
gardens surpassed, in size and in forcing houses, those which I
had before seen attached to the domain of a private gentleman
in any country I have visited. I also witnessed something here,
as well as at Chester Hall, which it is many years since I had
witnessed before, and that was, the good old fashion of family
worship on the Sunday evening, at which the whole household
assembled together. To say the least of it it is an interesting
sight, and the example must speak loudly to all around.

On my way to Chester Hall, I called on Williamson for the
purpose of seeing the Dalkeith kennel and stables, and I was
nearly certain of finding both himself and his hounds at home,
as it was freezing intensely hard, with a slight fall of snow. I
was disappointed in both — I mean kennel and stables, after the
description given to me of them,— considering them greatly
inferior to those at St. BoswelPs. Nevertheless, as they are
healthy, and away from noise, they are equal to the purposes
required of them. And here was a proof of one of the weak-
nesses of human nature. Because they belong to a duke I ex-
pected to see something ducal in the appearance of them,
whereas, it is the utile only which is absolutely required in ken-
nels and stables, and Williamson, who, no doubt, had the plan-
ning of them, is wide awake on that point. All that is wanting
of the dulce^ belongs to the besom, the mop, and the pump.

Monday presented the unpleasant sight of what children call
a " white world," and on Tuesday I returned to Edinburgh.
" Will you look at a chestnut horse for me, at Inglis's," said Mr.
Burn Callander to me, as I left his house, " and tell me whether
you think he can carry me ?" The mention of this fact can only
be reconciled, by its leading to a happy illustration of one of our

NIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR. 24*

commonest proverbs — namely, that " too many cooks spoil the
broth." When I arrived at the stables I found Sir John Hope
there on a similar errand, and Mr. Callander himself was ex-
pected. " Now, Mr. Inglis," said I, " shall we be able amongst
us all to make a deal between the chestnut and the grey ?" (It
was a negotiation for an exchange for a horse of Mr. C.'s not
<equal to his weight.) " Long odds against it, sir," replied Mr.
Inglis; "I never sold half a dozen hunters in my life, when more
than one reputed judge was called on to give an opinion of
him." I do not know that I have hitherto made mention of Sir
John Hope, one of the noted sportsmen of Scotland, and esteemed
a superior judge of a hunter. Of this description of persons,
Sir John is one of the/^ze/ opponents of the system I have re-
commended for summering the hunter, still adhering to the
grazing plan. I liked his stamp of horses much, they being all
well bred ; but as for the condition of them, it was, to my eye,
about as much like what it ought to be, and 'what it is at Melton
Mowbray, as chalk is like Cheshire cheese. But Sir John does
not go the Melton pace, so " n-importe" as they say on this
side of the Channel. Like myself, the worthy baronet is getting
slow, and from the same cause, for he's " nae youth," as a farmer
said of him in my hearing. I had no opportunity of seeing his
stud or his seat, which is about ten miles from Edinburgh, but
that was not his fault ; the death of a relation prevented his
doing me the honour of receiving me as his guest, during my
stay in Edinburgh, as he was kind enough to assure me, in
person.

I was nearly omitting a description of Williamson's crib, in
the town of Dalkeith. In his sitting-room, upstairs, are many
interesting objects, several of which are highly complimentary to
him. Of the following I made a note : — A small painting of
himself and a couple of favourite hounds ; a portrait of his
brother, Major Williamson, of the East India Company's Service,
in his regimentals ; the print of Mr. Ralph Lambton on Under-
taker ; and a painting of the head of Darling, — I conclude a
leading hound, from the couplet written beneath : —

* ' Tis Darling ! have at him ! we're in for a run !
For the hounds fly together, like shot from a gun !"

On his sideboard : a handsomely embossed tankard, from the
members of the East Lothian Hunt, previously to the Duke of
Buccleuch taking to the hounds. Another very handsome tank-
ard, presented to him by Lord Elcho, ornamented with devices
emblematical of every kind of sport, with the following couplet
engraved on it,

16

242 NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

"Then pledge me, ye heroes, whilst everything goes well,
In a full flowing bumper — the Laird of St. Boswell !"

From the gentlemen of the Linlithgow and Stirlingshire hunt, a
piece of plate, " as a mark of respect for his talent as a hunts-
man."

Wednesday, I3th (January), the frost having disappeared, I
met the Duke of Buccleuch's hounds at the kennel, when, strange
to say, after trying all the surrounding covers belonging to his
Grace, — those in his park, which consists of 800 Scotch acres in-
cluded, and those of his neighbour, the Marquis of Lothian, to
boot, — not a tongue was thrown to a fox, during the whole day's
draw. I very much regretted this, as I was mounted on one of
the very cleverest hunters in Scotland ; a brown horse of Mr.
Burn Callander's — whose name at this moment escapes me. But
although I have nothing in the way of sport to remind me of this
day, the recollection of it can never be effaced.

I had this day an opportunity, and the only one during my stay
in the country, of speaking, from personal observation, of the
Duke of Buccleuch, as a landlord, although I have already given
my readers to understand, that those sympathies which unite
landlord and tenant in a bond of reciprocal kindness and good
offices, are in full force with his Grace, as indeed they are with
most other noblemen and gentlemen of large property — masters
of fox-hounds especially — who spend their incomes at home, and
thus add to the comforts and amusements of the people. 1 am
not, however, alluding to the extreme neatness and conveniences
of the several farm-houses or onsteads, as they are called in
Scotland, which I saw on the Dalkeith estate. There appeared
to have been nothing left undone to render the tenant comfort-
able, or to enable him to do justice to the land, which was in the
highest state of cultivation, and of excellent quality in itself.

I have no chronological account of all my proceedings whilst
at Edinburgh, but I occasionally came in contact with nearly all
descriptions of persons, — even the " eruditi togati homines"
(men of the gown), as will presently appear.. I also had a taste
of the military, in an excellent dinner and agreeable evening at
the barracks with the Greys. The pleasure of it, however, was
somewhat damped by the absence of that good sportsman and
old acquaintance, Major Wyndham, who is married, and there-
fore not often to be found at the mess ; but on this day a par-
ticular engagement occupied him. I met a party of my sporting
friends another day at Dirminston House, one of the seats of the
Marquis of Lothian, but rented by Mr. Adarn Hay, where we
dined in a fine old baronial-looking hall, reminding one of olden

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 24-3

times. I likewise dined with Mr. Earle, in Gloucester Place,
where we talked over what we had seen in Fife, and drank a
bumper to " Walker, and the noble science ;" also with Mr.
Henry Stewart, of St. Fort House, near Dundee, where I met
Col. Fotheringham, at whose house Mr. Musters was on a visit,
when he .viewed away the fox, whilst fishing in the Tweed, and
surprised the field by his holloa.

Colonel Fotheringham mentioned a fact worth relating to per-
sons who breed horses, and who may perchance have one that
bids fair to get the better of man. I allude to Provincial, one of
the three celebrated hunters I have spoken of as bred by Lord
Panmure, and ridden by Lord Kintore. He was on the point of
being given up as incurable, when his groom had recourse to the
following desperate expedient. He mounted him, bare-backed,
in the park, armed with a heavy stick. No sooner was he seated
than the horse reared and fell backwards ; but assistance being
at hand, he was prevented rising from the ground until he had
received a severe thrashing, which cured him. I once possessed
a mare, by Castrel, bred by the late Mr. Shakerley, which beat
all the colt breakers in Cheshire, which I sold for isogs. to Mr.
Smythe Owen, the present master of the North Shropshire
hounds. How she was conquered at last, after being turned out
for two years, I never learnt, but Mr. Shakerley sold her for ten
pounds, supposing her to be incurable. Captain Johnson was
also of our party at Mr. Stewart's. He was a few seasons at
Melton, and once hunted Mr. Ramsay's country ; but I had not
the pleasure of meeting him in the field.

Bidding adieu for the present to sportsmen, I must now get
among the togati. I was introduced by Mr. Blackwood to Pro-
fessor Cheape, whose name was familiar to me, by having been
amongst his relations in Fife ; and I had the pleasure of dining
with him twice. He is a professor of Scotch law ; and judging
from what I saw and heard of him, I should think that, unlike
those of his tribe at Philippi, he professes nothing that he does
not perform. By myself, he performed a very kind action. He
introduced me to Professor Napier, editor of the Edinburgh Re-
view, whom I met at a second large dinner party at his house,
and the introduction led to my writing those articles in the
Encyclopaedia Britannica — of which he is also editor — and for
which I was handsomely remunerated. " And did not you at-
tend Professor Cheape's lectures, as well as his excellent din-
ners ?' is a question that some persons may ask. Not I, indeed.
No human being, as I have read, ever loved, for its own sake,
the study of Scotch law, however time may beget a fondness for
it : and I remember what Hume (not Joey) said of Lord Kames'i

16— 2

244 N1MRG&S NORTHERN TOUR.

law tracts : " A man may as well think of making a fine sauce,"
said the historian, " by a mixture of wormwood and aloes, as an
agreeable composition, by joining metaphysics and Scotch law."
But the old proverb, " damnat, quod non intelligit," applies here
to me.

It would be unbecoming of me to pass over the name of
Blackwood, when speaking of the hospitality of Edinburgh. The
recent decease of the father of the two gentlemen who now re-
present him in George Street, prevented them from showing me
those marks of their attention which they assured me it would
otherwise have given them pleasure to have done. I have, how-
ever, one interesting fact to mention with relation to the late Mr.
Blackwood. Previously to my arrival in Scotland, I received
from him nearly the last letter he ever wrote, dated from a sick
Bed ; and on my showing it to Mr. Burn Callander, he requested
permission to preserve it, as a trifling memorial of a person for
whom he had the highest regard.

Even with the wisest of men, nothing is beneath their notice
that tends to utility ; but it is natural to suppose that, attached
as I am to the practice of it, there was a professor of another
science in Edinburgh, whom I did not fail making the acquaint-
ance of. This was Mr. Dick, professor of the Edinburgh
Veterinary School, and one of the editors of that most useful
periodical, the Veterinarian. Although I passed through his
school, I did not hear him lecture, my engagements on that day
Saving prevented me ; but I had some very interesting conver-
sation with him, on matters connected with his art, and he
showed me a cart load of dissections, models, and so forth. He
also told me what, I must say, surprised me. It was the fact of
an old farrier, of the old school, being at that time one of his
pupils, and in constant attendance on his lectures. This is a rare
instance of ignorance and prejudice yielding to a clearer light,
and also a proof that practice itself, how extensive soever it may
be, cannot keep pace with knowledge. Mr. Dick had been lec-
turing on the viscera of a horse, which still lay on the floor of
his school, and he could not have selected many better subjects,
from the curious and complicated structure of the parts, the di-
seases to which they are subject, and the vile treatment which
they formerly met with from ignorance. But the sight of those
intestines, and the association of them with the old farrier,
brought to my recollection that, in days still older than our own,
something worse than ignorance stood in the way of knowledge
of the medical and veterinary art ; the dissection of a beast was
once considered an act of contempt of the works of God ! Demo-
eritus, I believe, was the man who prevailed over this very
absurd superstition of his countrymen, and his answer to Hippo-

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 24;

crates, by whom he was found in the act of dissecting a dead
carcass, is thus recorded to his honour : " Hasc animalia quse
vides propterea seco, non Dei opera perosus, sed fellis bilisque
naturam requirans."

I also had half an hour's conversation with Mr. Gray, an
eminent veterinary surgeon in Edinburgh, whose judgment, as
well as well as that of Mr. Dick, is highly looked up to by sports-
men. I am happy to have it in my power to state, that both
those gentlemen are strong opponents of the old system of sum-
mering hunters abroad ; and Mr. Gray assured me, that not
only cases of roaring and broken wind, but confirmed navicular
disease, was the common result of a summer's run at grass, ac-
counting most satisfactorily for each. I took the liberty of putting
the question to him, whether he had known a case of navicular
disease in the hinder foot ? which he answered in the negative ;
but the why or the wherefore, neither he, nor do I believe any one
else, can say.

I was likewise introduced to Mr. Lowe, agricultural professor
in the College of Edinburgh, and attended one of his lectures,
having been previously conducted by him through the rooms in
which the various models of implements, species of grain and
vegetables, are displayed ; and being of Lord Bacon's opinion,
that the true end of science is to enrich human life with useful
arts and inventions, I considered it a most interesting sight.
But I believe I should have described my visit as one to " The
Agricultural Museum," which these premises are called, and de-
servedly so, for they contain a vast collection of objects, highly
interesting to the naturalist, as well as to the practical agricultu-
rist. Among the implements were a hay-cutter and an angle har-
row— the latter especially attracted my notice ; and there was a
curious selection of wheats, amongst them the Triticum Hiber-
mim, Hunter's, and the Blood-red. Of potatoes, for cattle-feed-
ing, there were such as I never before saw, for example, the
pink-eyed dairymaid, weighing very nearly five pounds each,
with the Irish lumper, and Wellington red, very nearly as big.

The lecture delivered this day by Professor Lowe, happening
to be on the common topics of Scotch agriculture, with which,
from the circumstance of my having had a Lothian bailiff four
years in my service, when residing in Hampshire, I am very well
acquainted, was generally void of interest ; but there was one
point discussed by him, which I listened to with much attention,
and also with much pleasure. It was on the general bad culture
of field-peas — the Professor closing his remarks by saying that
" unless they were differently cultivated to what they, for the
most part, are, even in Scotland, it would be far better not to

246 NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

grow them at all" — an avowal which was received by the audience
with evident marks of satisfaction, as well as with actual ap-
plause. For my own part, with the exception of the immediate
neighbourhood of London, it is my firm conviction, that out of
every thousand acres of field-land under peas, nine hundred have
not derived the slightest benefit from the culture of them, but
have been left fouler than they were previously to being planted
with them — particularly under the broad- cast system, so often
practised in the south.

Although, as I have before said, I kept no chronological
memoranda of my proceedings in this seat of learning, elo-
quence, and philosophy, still the recollection of one day is too
strongly impressed on my mind to make me at a loss to name
it. It was Thursday, the 22nd of January, which I may venture
to mark as a day of honour, having been called upon, at my
hotel, by the following distinguished individuals, viz., Professors
Wilson and Cheape, who came together ; Professor Napier ;
Mr. Black, the great publisher ; and Mr. Stephens, the editor
of the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, who paid me the com-
pliment of telling me, that, if I wrote anything on the agriculture
of Scotland, he should be happy to have it for the Journal.

The mention of this Journal reminds me of another very
eminent character, whose acquaintance I made in Edinburgh.
This was the late Sir John Sinclair, my introduction to whom
was this. Soon after my arrival in France, I published a small
pamphlet, addressed to the agriculturists of Great Britain, show-
ing the effects of what is called " Peel's Bill " on the Agricultural
Interest, and that it could never rise again under its grinding
operation. This pamphlet having been twice reviewed in the
British Farmer's Magazine, attracted the notice of f Sir John,
who wrote me a note from Brown's Hotel, Palace Yard, London,
dated June 9th, 1831, highly expressive oif his approbation of it
But, alas ! the season for seeing this extraordinary character
had passed by. The lamp of life was then glimmering faintly ;
and although there were no indications of disease, there was a
languor in his speech and action that showed his race was
nearly run. But what a race has it been ? From a short me-
moir of him in Eraser's Magazine, February, 1 836, and other
accounts published of him in newspapers, it appears to have
been for nothing less than the prize of immortality, having (to
use his own words), " with the exception of great conquerors and
legislators, made himself more universally celebrated in all quar-
ters of the globe, than any other man of modern times," — perhaps
be might have added of ancient ones.

After breakfasting with him at his house in George Street, I

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 247

spent an hour one morning very agreeably with Sir John Sin-
clair, in his study, at the expiration of which he put into my
hand a bundle of small pamphlets written by himself; also the
portraits of eight persons who had attained extreme age, which
illustrate his work on health and longevity ; and the autographs
of no less than thirty-five great men of all nations — princes, pre-
sidents, nobles, ministers, ambassadors, and agriculturists. All
these now lie before me. The pamphlets, in addition to a
general knowledge of the subjects, show the zeal with which
they were composed— especially the one on the currency question,
prefaced by a prayer. The portraits inform us of one sad truth,
namely — that the older we get, the plainer we get ; and the
autographs, that the higher we are bred the worse we write, for
the only name of the whole lot that we could read, as we run,
is that of John Collett, a Norwegian farmer ! As to those of the
Prince de Castelcicala, and Count Alexis Dorlow Cesmenskoy,
I would give you a week to decipher either of them ; and that
of M. La Harpe, preceptor to the Emperor Alexander, is a happy
illustration of what I have advanced on the graphic art, for such
a scratch was never seen by a pupil, still less by a master.
Luckily, there is a glossary given of them with the list.

I must not omit to mention that, exclusive of the above, Sir
John gave me a small portrait of himself, which I shall have put
into a frame when I return to England. Beneath it are the
following words, of which the right honourable baronet's country-
men must feel proud : " Founder of the Board of Agriculture."
It was in 1793, I believe, that he applied to Parliament for the
small sum of ^3000 wherewith to found this admirable institu-
tion ; and, of one hundred and twenty-seven members, who were
in the House, twenty-six were against the grant ! ! Sir John was
undoubtedly the most zealous friend and promoter of agriculture
that Great Britain has ever yet seen ; and what but agriculture
is the certain source of wealth, strength, and independence?
Commerce flourishes by circumstances (witness the past year),
precarious, contingent, transitory, and as liable to change as the
winds that waft it to our shores. On this consideration then, as
well as on many others, will the name and memory of Sir John
Sinclair be handed down to posterity with honour and applause,
and those but little impaired by his having been charged with
cue of the common infirmities of our nature — the love of fame.
In my eyes, his character bears a strong resemblance to that of
the Consul Pliny ; and I think the public would be satisfied, if
all our men of high rank and large property were modern Plinys.
He had a thirst for applause, which he also merited ; and what
is it, after all, but a strong motive to do that which we think

243 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

may deserve praise ? A man may court esteem by an imitation'
of exalted worth, but I have yet to see the man who has
obtained it.

January 27. — The morning was dark with a drizzling rain,
when I mounted the box of the Defiance coach, so sat by the
side of Lambert, the coachman, for the first two stages, and
then drove it to Forfar, on my return to Burnside. I liked his
workmanship much (he had been an old mailer, in the south it
appeared), and I found he had plenty of nerve, so necessary on
a fast coach. I had, also, an opportunity of seeing his power*
of coachmanship put to the test, for we " boarded a cart/' as the
sailors say, the driver of it being fast asleep, and the horses
having taken the wrong side of the road ; and, but for good
coachmanship, we should have had what is called "a case." I
was, however, pleased, not only with the manner in which he
got his coach out of danger, but with his promptness of action
at the moment, which showed he was not flurried. After hit-
ting his off-wheel horse very hard—2cc\& it was his answering
the whip as he did that saved us— he gave the carter a back-
hander with his double-thong across his face, that I think he
will remember even if he should live to be as old as my next-
door neighbour but one— a woman who saw her hundred and
second birthday last Christmas-day, but who never, as she says,
witnessed so extraordinary a winter as this. When I pulled up
at Forfar, I found my hack awaiting my arrival ; and before I
mounted him, penned these words in my note-book. " Drove
the Defiance from Kinross to Forfar. The pace capital, but the
road bad. Think whin-stone, as it is called, a better material
for road-making than granite"

The weather being open, I commenced hunting with Mr.
Dalyell, the next day ; and on our arrival at the cover, was de-
lighted at meeting a gentleman whom I had never before seen
in the field, but for whose character as a sportsman I had the
highest respect, from the unanimous testimony borne to it by
the best judges in Scotland, touching the essential properties of
a sportsman. It is true, I had previously known and made
mention of this gentleman as a horseman and a steeple-chase
rider, but the degrees of excellence in one and in the other of
these pursuits are not to be named on the same day, neither are
they indeed at all akin to each other. I allude to Mr. Archi-
bald Douglas, so much better known as " Archy Douglas"* —
brother to the late Mr. Douglas, of Brigton, in Forfarshire, also

* Perhaps I should call him " Captain Douglas," for I believe he still
holds that' rank in the army, in which he saw much service, distinguish-
ing himself on several occasions*

NIM ROD'S NOR THERN TO UR. . 249

a sportsman, whose decease took place a short time back — and
who was brought to Melton Mowbray, by the late Lord Kennedy,
to ride Radical against Mr. Horatio Ross, on Clinker, in the
celebrated steeple-chase over Leicestershire, in 1829. Mr. Archi-
bald Douglas not having taken up his hunters this winter, I
only occasionally saw him in the field in Scotland, but I saw
enough of him to convince me that all I heard of him as a
sportsman was true. I put him quite at the top of the tree, be-
lieving that he knows the science of hunting as far as it can be
known.

As a horseman, riding from twelve to thirteen stone, I need
say no more of "Archy Douglas," than to mention a few ex-
traordinary feats performed by him ; for from John o' Groats to
the Land's End, his name is up ; and, as was said of Mr. Robert
Canning, in the Epwell Hunt poem,

" Let him ride what he will, either hunter, or hack,
He is certain to be on good terms with the pack."

This, indeed, is the peculiar feature in his horsemanship over
a country ; it appears to matter little what sort of a horse he
rides, provided he has some "go" in him, for his hand is so
good, his seat so strong, his nerve so well-braced, and his
temper so fine, that he generally keeps them on their legs. But
his feats ! Why I think the two following can scarcely be beaten
by any man. He rode a steeple-chase with three ribs broken,
almost at the start ; and getting a fall into a brook, when in his
usual place in a run, he suffered his horse to drag him eight
yards under water rather than lose his hold of him, by which he
might have lost that place. The motto of the family — very
ancient in Scotland — is appropriate : " Who never backward
looks, but onward goes."

Archy's eldest brother, the laird of Brigton, dropped into his
grave a few months back. I have called him a sportsman,
which he was, but in my opinion, as to fox-hunting, only to a
certain extent. In his love of it I should say he was exceeded
by no one ; but he never appeared to me to be quite satisfied in
his own mind of what hounds were doing, neither had he the
fine ear of " Archy." As a horseman, I was told he was first-
rate ; indeed, when I was in the field with him, past his sixtieth
year, no man need, or did, ride harder — too hard, in fact, some-
times for the hounds, which he was rather given to press. But
let me remember-—" de mortuis." The laird of Brigton was an
enthusiastic lover of fox-hunting, a jovial companion, and game
to the backbone. It was only a short time before I became

250 NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

acquainted with him, that he had been seen riding a steeple-
chase amongst a lot of young fellows, two of them his own
nephews, in which he was second, over a very strongly-fenced
country.

Almost the last conversation I had with the laird of Brigton
affords an anecdote worthy of recital, being creditable to, if not
characteristic of, a wealthy London tradesman. On my re-
marking to him the good fit of a new Whippy saddle on which
he was riding, he related the curious fact of the late Mr. Whippy
having left directions in his will, " that no bill, for goods fur-
nished, should ever be sent to Mr. Douglas of Brigton." During
my visit to Scotland, I rode more than forty hunters, besides
those I hired in Edinburgh, and I am quite sure more than
twenty of them were saddled and bridled by Messrs. Whippys,
as if it were a verification of the adage, that " one good turn
deserves another."

I regret that I have nothing to say of our sport this morning
with Mr. Daly ell, and the want of which I particularly regretted
at the time, as I rode a young grey horse of his, which was quite
an fait at the high walls, with a ditch on one side or the other,
of the country which we drew over ; and I was also anxious to
see the performance of Archy Douglas, who rode a clever
thorough-bred horse of the laird's. We had his company, how-
ever, in the evening, as well as that of Captain Rait, formerly of
the 1 5th Hussars — whose extraordinary match when quartered
at Brighton, with Mr. Kemp of Kemp-town, I went thither to
be umpire to — since, Colonel Rait of the British Legion Cavalry
in Spain ; and, now, the laird of Arniston, near Montrose, where,
if he will take my advice, he will remain, and enjoy the comforts
he has got about him. Of Captain Rait as a sportsman, it is
unnecessary for me to give my opinion, but as a straightforward
hard rider and good horseman, he is quite in the first class, and
to the extent of his stud, I considered him to be the best mounted
man I saw in Scotland. One of his two famous bay horses,
which — horresco referens ! — I hear he took to Spain, to ride as
a charger, would, I have reason to believe, have fetched the
highest figure at Melton, that year ; but on my stating my belief
that such would prove to be fact, his owner told me that " no
money would purchase him."

January 29. — Still out of luck as to getting that sort of run
with Mr. Dalyell which would afford matter for the pen, or, in
the language of the broad sheet, for a " truly graphic descrip-
tion," which, for the master's sake, I would have attempted to
give, although I might not have succeeded. Still the hunting of
this day enables me to mention two circumstances interesting to

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 251

sportsmen, and one of them strongly corroborative of an asser-
tion once made by me, in print, namely, that luck has not more
to do with the game of hazard than with fox-hunting. Our first
draw was a very pretty woodland cover of about ten acres, a
little to the right of the Aberdeen and Edinburgh road, and
always, I understood, a sure find. It proved so to-day, for in
ten minutes after the hounds were thrown into it, I among
others viewed the fox away. As soon as he had got two fields
clear of the cover, we gave Mr. Dalyell the office, and away he
came with the pack at his heels (taking a gate on the road, by-
the-by, with his horn in his mouth, and followed by Skinner),
but they were as silent as if asleep, when they got on the head-
land which he had run along. " What can this be ?" inquired
their huntsman ; " who saw the fox ?" " We all saw him," said
the laird of Brigton. Dalyell tried on, ay, on the very line to
an inch, and not a hound spoke. Tried the field beyond ; still
no scent, and no crowd near them. " What can this be ?" said
Dalyell, jumping into a large fallow field, and trying across it ;
when, as though all their heads were tied together, they turned
short to the left, took up the scent in a furrow, and ran as hard
up to a cover on a hill, about two miles distant, as they ever ran
in their lives — in short, with a breast-high scent !

Now for my comment on this event. Had no one seen this
fox, it is evident he would not have been hunted a yard beyond
the cover, because the hounds had a fair chance given them to
do so, over two fields, and those favourable ones for scent ; the
game was not two minutes ahead, neither were the hounds
hurried nor blown when laid on. The huntsman would naturally
have turned back in despair. But the fact was, as I shall pre-
sently show, there was not an atom of scent that day, down wind,
although the best mounted man, or hardest rider in Scotland,
would not deserve a better than these hounds had when they took
the scent in the furrow, up wind; and had it not been for the
cover, at the end of two miles, no fox could have stood their pace
many minutes longer.

Now then for the proof of this assertion, respecting one
among the many phenomena of scent. It happened that I
again viewed the fox away from the cover into which we had
run him, and again gave Mr. Dalyell the office. To make the
matter still more clear, the fox had gone down a large grass
field, close under the wall ; nevertheless, although the pack
actually trod in his very pad-steps, not a hound spoke until they
had got to the bottom of the enclosure, when they hunted him
slowly, in a small patch of gorse, but were never able to get up
to him, as he continued going down wind. If ever I venture

25 2 NIM ROD'S NOR THERN TO UR.

to write on scent, I shall have something to say on this especial
circumstance, not only because I have at times seen hounds run
so hard down wind, but from some experiments I have made on
the effect of a current of air, in conveying certain odours. Mr.
Dalyell mounted me this day on Jack Orville.

There is one day's hunting with these hounds of which I find
no mention in my note-book ; but it occurs to my recollection
from two or three circumstances connected with it. First, I rode
that capital hunter Tom Thumb, since sold by Mr. Dalyell to
the Duke of Beaufort ; secondly, that we ran one fox over part
of the Grampian hills ; and, lastly, that we had the usual luck
of this part of Scotland, in running two foxes to ground, one of
which, being close to a farm house, was dug to and killed soon
after he was bolted. The scent was wretchedly bad, and a bitch
called Goneril was the only hound in the pack that at one par-
ticular check would own it, on a dry path, in a lane, and on very
light ground. " Oh, Goneril," says Albany, in Lear, " you are
not worth the dust which the rude wind blows in your face." Mr.
Dalyell must have been of a different opinion, when he cheered
his Goneril this day.

A gentleman dined with us in the evening at Burn side, whose
name stands high in Scotland — Mr. Guthrie, of Guthrie ; and
there was another of Mr. Dalyell's guests, during this visit to
him, especially invited to meet me, and who is really worthy a
niche in the gallery of sporting characters. This was the cele-
brated Forfarshire yeoman, of whom I have before spoken, as
having witnessed and given an account of the phenomenon of
the " twa geese on one dish," at Captain Barclay's annual sale
blowout at Ury. His name is Proctor, but generally known as
" Jock Proctor," to distinguish him from his brother — and bro-
ther bachelor too— who resides in the same house with him, and
assists in the management of a large and fine farm which lies
contiguous to the great road from Forfar to Edinburgh. But
Jock has another farm, which he took many years back on a long
lease, from the late Duke of Gordon, and he has so improved
it by good management, that he receives from the under-tenant
the sum of ,£365 per annum over and above what he pays for it ;
or, to use his own words, he gets " a poond by it every time he
puts on his breeks."

But Jock is a fine sample of the real British yeoman, a
character which, when original, and not diluted with the affec-
tation of the gentleman, I very greatly admire ; and I greatly
question whether there is a much more useful one within the
whole pale of society. Of Jock's respectability one proof
will be sufficient. He was in great favour with the late

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 253

Duke of Gordon all his life ; and his Grace never passed his
door on his road to London, or from it, without greeting his old
friend and brother sportsman, Jock Proctor, with a " How do
you do ?"

But I must attempt a sketch of Jock Proctor. His age I
should take to be between fifty and sixty, and his person of that
form which appears intended to defy Time. He has a fine head
of hair, which was only then beginning to turn grey ; and a
countenance betokening a mind at ease, and in perfect good
humour with all mankind. Whether in his youth he did apply
hot and rebellious liquors to his blood, it is not in my power to
say ; but this I can say, he will drink whiskey toddy now with
any man in Scotland ; and he formed a very poor opinion of me,
because I could get no further than the third tumbler, after our
wine, whilst he reached his eighth ! " What the deil are ye
made of, Nimrod ?" he would say, every time he made a fresh
glass, "ye're nae mon for Scotland, at a'." It would then be,
" Come, Nimrod, what are ye aboot, mon ; ye'll hae the cauld
(cold) in your stomach after a' that claret yeVe been drinking."
His start homeward in his gig was one of the richest order.
Luckily for himself, his servant was coachman ; but whether he
was as well shoed-up as his master, or whether the horse bolted,
is not in my power to determine, yet certain it is they were all
but capsized, almost as soon as they left the door, Jock calling
out at the time, "Will this do for ye, Mr. Nimrod?" as though
he were performing some wonderful feat. But such are the men
who do these things with impunity. The early hours they
generally keep, the vivifying effect of the air they breathe, and
the exercise they take in it, neutralize the poison of the evening
cup, and, although " with a hue as florid as vermillioned Jove/'
a healthier-looking man than Jock Proctor is I should think not
easily found at his age. Then I was much amused with his
conversation, as well as forcibly struck with the general propriety
of his remarks, delivered in his own peculiar style. But it is
this "own peculiar style" that gives them peculiar force. I
should say of Jock, that, what his heart thinks his tongue speaks,
and, as our immortal bard says of a sturdy Roman general, " he
would not flatter Neptune for his trident." Still, if all be true
that is told of him, he can whisper soft things in a female ear.

February 2. — Out of luck again with Mr. Dalyell — short
running foxes, foiled ground, and no scent to force them off it.
The finish, too, was a bad one, and I mention it as a caution.
There was a couple of hounds from the Duke of Cleveland's
kennel, out this day, who, never having seen roebuck, got tied to
the scent of one in a large cover, where they could not well be

254 NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

got at, and two or three more of the pack were induced to join
cry with them. Just, however, as Mr. Dalyell had got all but
these few rioters at his horse's heels, outside the cover, and
Skinner was on the point of stopping them, holloas were given
by two of the field who were standing close to my side at the
moment, but at some distance from Mr. Dalyell, the consequence
of which was every hound dashing into the cover again in a
second or t^vo. Those who have hunted with Mr. Dalyell, have
him this moment before their eyes ; those who have not, can
appreciate the effect on his, or on any other master of hounds'
temper, which an incident of this sort would produce. Galloping
up towards the spot where the culprits stood, the first question
he put was, "Who holloaed?" "It was not Nimrod? for the
credit of Nimrod I felt myself bound to say ; and that was all
that was said. The fact is, this was one of the numerous in-
stances I have witnessed, not only of men calling themselves
sportsmen, but of good sportsmen, — which both these offenders
were, and much esteemed friends of Mr. Dalyell's, — so frequently
not paying the smallest attention to what hounds are doing,
except when they are running over the open, at the rate of
twenty miles in the hour. As for myself, I had been for some
time " on thorns," for the vexation my friend was enduring at
this untoward event, the effect, as stated, of accident ; and I
must say, I was astonished at hearing the holloas given, when
the riot approached us nearer. However, on a subsequent
admission of the fact, all was right again. But it occasioned a
good hour's work to Mr. Dalyell and his men, to get the whole
pack out of cover again, after the cheering holloas by which they
had been encouraged to do wrong. I rode Jack Orville again
this day, one of the cleverest of Mr. Dalyell's stud, and often
ridden by his lady. This circumstance, added to the fact of
Walker, the Fife huntsman, being out, increased the mortification
experienced by a bad day's sport.

After hunting, Sir Ralph Anstruther, Mr. Dalyell, Mr. Earle,
and myself, crossed the Tay, and went to Mount Melville to
dinner,-—

"So excellent a lodging nigh,
Who in his senses would pass by ?" —

and met the Fife on the morrow, at a favourite cover called
Scoonie-hill, where our Forfarshire ill-luck followed us. Our
very patience, indeed, was put to the test by the various disap-
pointments we endured. Frst, the morning was most propitious ;
secondly, Walker, on his best horse, appeared bent on mischief,

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 255

declaring he would give twenty pounds for one hour, best pace,
" over yonder country," pointing towards as fine a one for hounds
as any man could desire ; lastly, our fox did face that fine
country, with every hound on the scent of him, arid a fair start
for all. " By heavens," said I to myself, "but we are in for a
cluster !" as I saw Walker putting the extraordinary little chest-
nut at a wall as high as himself, and at nearly full speed too, not
appearing to know or to care what was on the other side, where
there happened to be a yawner, which the impetus given by the
pace enabled him to clear, all but the hind legs, which dropped
short. A more beautiful start, over a more beautiful country,
was never seen anywhere — fine large fields, all grass, and nothing
in our front to hang in, when death fell upon our hopes. The
coward fox would not face it, and turned nearly short back,
when the pace was not quite so good. This, however, gave him
fresh courage, and once more he attempted to gain his point,
which was evidently over the country I have alluded to ; and he
once more faced it with the hounds well on the line. But now
for the luck in fox-hunting. He was met by two little girls, who
headed him short back, and he entered the glen of Genaldy, from
which, however, he was soon viewed away. Our hopes were now
revived ; we all got another good start ; wall after wall was
jumped as if made of india-rubber, instead of the sharp-cutting
whinstone ; in short, rival spirits were at work— Johnny Dalyell
for the honour of Forfarshire (without a fore shoe) ; Peter
Hay on Corney, and Earle on a good one, for Fife ; Whyte
Melville and Walker for the pack ; and the worthy, straight-
forward Sir Ralph Anstruther (who by-the-by nearly jumped
over a wall and me at the same time) for all. And now comes
the climax. In the midst of this exciting scene, the for once
cursed whoo-whoop was heard, and our fox was safe in one
of those thousand open drains, which are the cause of so much
disappointment in Scotch fox-hunting ! I was again mounted by
Captain Peter Hay on Sir Edmund.

The evening of this day made great amends for the disappoint-
ment of the morning. Our party at Mount Melville, which in-
cluded Mr. Earle, were asked to dine at Strathtyrum, the fine
seat of Mrs. Cheape, near the town of St. Andrews — a widow
lady I believe. Like most widow ladies who give dinners, Mrs.
Cheape gave us a sumptuous one, and to no.less than twenty-one
persons which our party consisted of, being on the occasion of
the arrival of a newly married couple, her relations, who were
present. And here I wish to correct a mistake, or, I should
rather say, what might be considered an error in judgment, on a
point I should be sorry to be thought deficient in. I was asked by

256 NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

the lady who sat on my right, if I did not admire the bride. I
answered — supposing myself in France, " Passable? but the fact
is, I was under a mistake as to which of the numerous young
ladies in the room was the handsome bride, for handsome she
really was.

Wednesday, February 4. — Left Mount Melville with Mr.
Dalyell, and met his hounds at Fotheringham Lodge, about eight
miles from Dundee. The following account of the day's sport
appears in my note-book. " First fox, — thirty-two minutes, and
killed. Second fox, — twenty minutes to ground. Tresbienfait.^
So much for living in France. Time was, when I should not
have used such mongrel language as this.

Thursday, 5.— Left Bitrnside with "Archy Douglas," to dine
with Captain Rait, at Arniston, near Montrose, on the great
north road, where I found the gallant captain domiciled among
all the comforts necessary to a sportsman and a bachelor, con-
sisting of a good house, a good cellar of wine, a capital stud of
hunters for the size of it, and one of the most comfortable
smoking-rooms I ever entered in my life. Our party was not
large, consisting only of our host, the honourable Captain
Arbuthnot, the two Douglases, Mr. Hay, of Latham Grange —
his neighbour — and myself. It would be a waste of words to
say we enjoyed ourselves in the dining-room, but it did not end
there. We adjourned to the said smoking-room, in which I per-
ceived the insignia of the soldier were mingled with those of the
sportsman, and the whole thing was in keeping. And I also
witnessed something particularly in keeping with the habits and
feelings of the bold dragoon. Mr. Hay returned home at night,
but, loath to depart, kept his gig at the door nearly long enough
to have been indicted under, the " animal cruelty act," for it was
freezing very hard at the time, " Come, come, Hay," said Rait,
" either have your horse taken back to the stables or else light
your pipe again and be off" Here was the promptness of the
soldier, and the good feeling of .the sportsman, who always loves
a horse ; and Mr. Hay, whose good humour is proverbial, obeyed
the word of command in an instant, although we were very com-
fortable and merry at the time.

Friday, 6.— We were to have hunted with Mr. Dalyell this day,
who met at a good place almost half way between Burn side and
Arniston, but as the frost was so hard, and the ground sprinkled
with snow, all chance of hounds meeting appeared hopeless.
But here is an instance in proof of an assertion often made by
me that, after only one nights frost, and particularly from the
first of February to the end of the season, sportsmen should
always go to a cover ten miles off, if they have nothing particular

NIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR. 257

to induce them to devote the day to any other purpose, inasmuch
as locality has so much to do with the state of the surface of the
ground, as regards frost. At Burnside, fifteen miles distant,
although farther from the sea, there was on this morning very
little sign of frost, neither was there any worth speaking of at
the place of meeting, and Mr. Dalyell had a beautiful twenty-five
minutes to ground.*

The morning of this day was passed, as it usually is in the
house of a sportsman in which sportsmen are assembled — first,
with a lounge in the stables, next a peep into the newspapers,
and after luncheon a walk. The walk, however, I dispensed
with, not being provided with shoes equal to resist snow water,
but I repented having so done, when I found that the object of
it had been to visit the famous promontory on the coast called
" Red Head," mentioned by Sir Walter Scott in the Antiquary.

Saturday, 7. — Accompanied by the Arniston party, I hunted
this day with the celebrated harriers of Mr. Hay, of Latham
Grange (distant four miles), and we surprised the Laird at his
breakfast, at the refined hour of eleven, by which time his grand-
father would have killed his last hare, and been expecting the
dinner bell. Previously to our entering the house, however, I
peeped between the palings at the pack. " Surely," said I, " I
know these hounds; they are Sir John Dashwood's sort." Now
I over-ran the scent here a little ; they are not exactly Sir John
Dashwood's sort, but I am quite certain they are Mr. Yeatman's
sort, who bred from Sir John's blood, as Mr. Hay informed me
he purchased them of a Mr. Vibart, of Amberd House, near
Taunton, which is within easy distance of Stock House kennel.
I must admit that, up to this time I have never seen a pack of
harriers come so near the standard of excellence which Sir
John Dashwood's possessed, as one I saw some years back in
Mr. Yeatman's possession, and having rather the advantage of
Sir John's in power. There were three bitches in Mr. Hay's

* I received a lesson on this subject, which I am not likely to forget.
On the day on which the Warwickshire hounds had the famous run from
Epwell House, immortalized in song, my horse went to cover, but I did
not go myself, because the ground, where I slept the preceding night,
bore the weight of the London waggon in the morning, without receiving
an impression from the wheels, and this in the month of December.
Now mark the sequel, — I slept in the Worcestershire vale, my horse
slept on the Oxfordshire hills ; and the cover where the hounds met, was
the highest ground of all, which, one would naturally suppose, would
have been most acted on by the frost, whereas it proved otherwise, and
the hounds threw off at the usual hour. They lay the night before at
Edge-hill, which every one knows is very high ground.

17

253 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

pack, Restless and Laurel (red and grey pie), and a black tanned
bitch, called Glory, with a grey pied hound, whose name I forget,
which I considered fac-similes of the old sort— descendants, a
Jong way back, from a draft hound of the Duke of Grafton's,
called Tyrant, and others from his Grace's kennel. These
hounds of Mr. Hay have excellent sport, generally killing, I
understood, on an average between fifty and sixty brace of hares,
— the last season before I saw them, they killed seventy-seven
brace— eating them all by permission, except ten brace ! They
had one run when I was in the country, that exceeds in distance
anything I ever heard of before, with harriers, and especially
over an enclosed country. It was estimated as covering an
extent of fifteen miles, in which the hare swam a strong stream,
and went straight through several large covers, before she died!
Now, I always make a little allowance for distance stated in
runs, and especially when stated by the master of the pack, who
never makes the worst of things ; but as the extent of country
travelled over from point to point, was nine miles, and the
extreme points right and left, at least four miles, as shown to me
on the map, the extra credit taken, if any, could not have been
much. We may set it down as a very unusual occurrence in the
sporting world ; and the only parallel one to it that I ever heard
©f, was a run with Sir John Dashwood's hounds, from the Slate-
pits on the Cotswold hills, which was said to have been one
mile more. This, however, was over a much more open country
than Mr. Hay's run, with not a hedge-row in it, being all enclosed
by walls.*

But now to the business of the day. Luck was against us in
the morning. We had only one very sharp thing against a very
sharp wind, and killed ; but we had a very good finish to it over
Mr. Hay's mahogany in the evening, as our friends from Arniston
remained to dine, and I took up my quarters at the Grange for
the two succeeding days. Mr. Hay mounts himself and his
'huntsman right well, and I was pleased at finding his favourite
hunter to be my namesake, Nimrod. His huntsman, whose
name is Lawry, formerly lived with Mr. Murray of Abercairney —
(or "with Abercairney" I should have said, for the word " Mr."

* Sportsmen, who have long hunted a country, are pretty accurate
judges of distance from point to point. It will be recollected, that I
gave an account of an extraordinary run a few years' back, which I saw
with the Vine hounds, stating the point-blank distance to have been
seventeen miles. My information on this head was gathered from some
cf the oldest sportsmen in the hunt, and on the ground being after-
wards measured by the ordnance map, it proved to be seventeen miles
and a half I

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 259

Is not allowable in the mention of a Highland chief) — is a good
man in his line and a capital horseman. Mr. Hay, indeed,
showed me one timber fence that he rode over with his hounds,
the drop to which could not have been less than eight feet.

Sunday, 8. — The Arniston party, the late laird of Brigton, and
Mr. Dalyell, were to have dined at the Grange this evening,
where an excellent dinner, and covers for nine, were prepared,
but such was the dreadful state of the weather, that Mr. Hay
and I had it all to ourselves — my host very much amusing me
with some anecdotes of his neighbour and friend, Lord Panmure,
in his sporting days, which caused me to lament that those days
were over with his lordship.

Monday, 9. — Met Mr. Dalyell at Douglas muir, and had the
honour of riding my namesake — a thorough-bred horse of great
size, of the real Leicestershire stamp, and, thanks to his not
being able to touch the ground with his mouth, owing to the
depth of his body and his short legs, he had not been out of his
stall for the last four years. But oh, what a day of trial was
this ! Not to the hounds and horses, but to the patience of a
large field of sportsmen. It was something even more than this ;
it was in its results, perhaps, unequalled in the annals of fox-
hunting up to that day. We found a leash of foxes, one after
another, and each went to ground, absolutely, in less than Jive
minutes after he had broke cover! A more tantalizing scene, to
a well-mounted sportsman, than that afforded by the last of these
cowardly curs, cannot well be imagined. We viewed him away
out of a beautiful patch of gorse, overhanging a small bank, and
not two acres in extent, and he faced as fine a country as the
most fastidious Meltonian would wish for, and, apparently, the
scent was good. In the second field, however, he, after the
manner of the other two, found his way into one of those large
and long covered drains, open at their mouths, with which Scot-
land so much abounds, and from which the chances of bolting a
fox are all but hopeless. As "may be supposed we all went home
very much disgusted, and in a storm of snow and hail, which,
added to the disappointment of the morning, required the aid of
some very amusing anecdotes of Major Wemyss to make it even
endurable. Things, indeed, were rendered even worse by our
finding another fox on our road home, in a very strong cover,
but being perhaps one of the same soft-hearted litter, he could
not be persuaded to break.

But really these numerous open-mouthed drains are destruc-
tion to fox-hunting in several parts of Scotland ; and were I to
hunt hounds where they so abound, my heart would be in my
mouth in every field I entered. The gentlemen who hunt should

26o NIMROHS NORTHERN TOUR.

subscribe to have them sought for by the earth-stoppers and
staked, which would require being done once in three years, with
occasional inspection and repairing at the commencement of
every season. Iron gratings would be most effectual, but they
are liable to be stolen for the material, especially if made of
wrought iron.

Tuesday, 10. — Left Burnside with Major Wemyss, and drove
the Defiance to Stonehaven, all but one stage, when my com-
panion took the reins, and showed me that what I heard of his
coachmanship from Lord Kintore and others was true to the
letter, for he not only " drives very well of a gemman," as the
old-fashioned coachmen used to say, but he would do for the
Devonport Mail, and could no doubt bring 'em out of the Swan
with Two Necks, Lad Lane, on a trot.* It was David Roup's
turn to be at work our way, and many a joke passed between
.us — not forgetting the captain's hard-pulling grey leader, whose
head, perhaps in compliment to me, was this night " tied back,"
as David calls being driven with a check rein. On' our arrival
at Stonehaven, we found Captain Barclay with his dog Dan, in
readiness to receive us,, and in an hour from that time we were
seated at his dinner table, at Ury, as ready to do justice to his
mutton, after our drive, as our host was after his day's work,,
which consisted " only of a little moderate exercise " — namely,
seventy-six miles, on horseback and on foot, between breakfast
and dinner ! Major Wemyss returned the next morning, per
Defiance, to hunt the following day with Mr. Dalyell, and I and
the Captain were booked by it in the evening, as far as Aber-
deen, on our way to Cask, to pay a second visit to Lord Kintore.

Wednesday, II. — At my last visit to Ury, the Captain had a
Marquis for his guest, and this day a butcher from Aberdeen
had the honour of a seat at his board, having arrived at Ury, in
the morning, on business. But observe, reader ! there are grades
in the class of butchers, as well as in other ranks, and Mr.
Williamson the butcher of Aberdeen — for such is his name and
domicile — is one of the archons of that celebrated city, a man of
large means, of high character, and as intelligent a companion

* This reminds me of an anecdote of a friend of mine, a very good
coachman, but as his colour is black, I shall not name him. He was
coming off Epsom Downs, on a Derby day with a slap-up team belong-
ing to a certain noble lord, when one of his leaders becoming a little
hustled in the crowd at "the corner," a man stepped forward and put
his hand on the near- side horse's coupling rein. "Leave 'em alone,
sir," exclaimed my friend ; "I can bring 'em out of the Swan with Two
Necks on a trot" Many of my readers will know of whom I am
speaking.

NIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR. 261

-as I ever met with in my travels. He is also a capital customer
to the Captain, having that year paid him a thousand pounds for
grass only on the Ury domain, besides having at that time two
hundred sheep eating his turnips. But what a noble farm must
that of Ury be to admit of all this, after the quantity of stock
which the Captain keeps on it of his own ; and at this very time,
besides his hundred neat cattle, he had 400 Leicester ewes, and
•800 sheep of various sorts, eating turnips.

We dined at the good old fashioned hour of two, and as we
were not called upon to go to Stonehaven to take the coach till
six, we had plenty of time for chat. As may be supposed,
business was now and then alluded to, and amongst the many
questions I put to Mr. Williamson, was his opinion of Lord
Kintore's black ox, which was purchased by one of his fraternity
at Aberdeen, for a hundred pounds, or guineas, and whose por-
trait, from a painting by Cooper, was given to me by his lordship
when at Keith Hall. He told me the meat was of the finest
colour and quality, beautifully " marbled" as the term is ; also,
that the roasting parts fetched two shillings per pound and the
•"boiling ones one shilling ; that the fat on the sirloins was six
inches in depth, and on the rumps nine, and the total dead
weight — including offal — was 28771135. ! So much for Aberdeen-
shire, its good farming, and its beef. Then the mention of Lord
Kintore's name started Mr. Williamson on another tack. Speak-
ing of him as keeping his fox-hounds, and spending almost all his
income in the county whence it is derived, he finished his remarks
•with the following striking sentence :— " These are the men,"
said he, " who, if they ask anything of their country, must have
it" The name of another nobleman was introduced — the late
Lord Kennedy, who was a near neighbour of the Captain's, and
with whom I had the honour of a slight acquaintance myself.
To attempt to produce a rival to the Captain in walking matches
would be absurd — no man but himself having, I believe, yet
walked a hundred and ten miles in nineteen hours and a half;
but the following account of a match undertaken and performed
by Lord Kennedy may be relied upon, as I had it from an eye-
•witness : — " A match was made for £5000 a side, at Black Hall,
Aberdeenshire, the seat of Mr. Farquharson, at eight o'clock in
the evening, after dinner, between Lord Kennedy and Colonel,
now Sir Leith, Hay, to go on foot to Inverness. The morning
had been employed in riding to a snipe-bog, sixteen miles
distant, where three guns bagged fifty-two couples of snipes and
-eighteen of wild ducks. They started immediately. Kennedy
went across the hills and reached Inverness in thirty hours.
Hay followed the high road and arrived about four hours later

263 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

than his opponent ; but Kennedy having leaned on a man's arm
in descending a hill, a doubt was raised whether he had not thus
lost the match, and a compromise was accepted by him of .£500.
The distance by the road is one hundred and thirty miles !"
Bravo Aberdeenshire again. These are the sort of men to breed
Britons from ; not merely because they are themselves well bred
and likely to produce sound and healthy stock, but because they
are also likely to sustain the manly character of their country,
which nearly alone makes them beloved by their countrymen.

At six o'clock P.M., the Captain having put on his coaching
toggery, and looking all over the coachman — we walked down to
Stonehaven, and mounted the box of the renowned Defiance,
for Aberdeen, the Captain working over the first stage, and my-
self the second ; both teams excellent. The next morning I
proceeded by the Banff Diligence to Cask, accompanied by a
very pretty female called Harriet — a foxhound bitch, who was
going to the Cask kennel " to see her sweetheart ;" the Captain
returned home (although his horses proceeded to Cask) with
the intention of following me on Friday, which he did.

February I2th. — I arrived this day at Cask on my second
visit to Lord Kintore, and found, among others, a promising
young sportsman under his roof — Mr. Dingwall, of Bruckley, in
Aberdeenshire, who had just left Oxford, whence his horses had
arrived by a steamer, apparently very little the worse for the
voyage. Mr. Whyte Melville was expected, but was obliged to
postpone his visit.

The next day was a hunting day, but it proved one of those
" inauspicious days" on which, Somerville tells us in his " Chase,"
other cares than hunting should employ our precious hours.
However, we went to the place of meeting, and the followinng
mem. appears in my book : — " Met at Graigstone. Found in
Yonderton-gorse, a very Leicestershire-looking cover. After
nearly half an hour he went away, and beat us for want of scent.
Lord Kintore tried hard to catch him, by casting for some main
earths, but finding that fail him he gave up his fox for lost.
Drew another gorse blank ; when as ' the piercing blast of
Boreas blew7 infernally strong, all agreed it would be better to go
home and hunt again the next da\. A strong field out for the
country. Rode the Duchess."

Saturday, I4th. — We had this day an agreeable addition to pur
party in the person of Captain Barclay, who arrived the evening
before —leather breeches and all. But the history of these
breeches ! Why I think it is unequalled in the history of all the
breeches in the world. Five and thirty years ago they were
made for, and worn by, that celebrated character in the boxing

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 263

world, Mr. Jackson ; but having on their first appearance OR
Ascot-heath race course, attracted the notice and admiration of
the Captain, for their apparently enduring qualities, they were
purchased by him on the spot ; and, unlike the galligaskins of
the poet Philips,

-"which long withstood

The winter's fury, and encroaching frosts,

By time subdued, (what will not time subdue !)

An horrid chasm disclose ;" —

are not only still unsubdued by time, but when newly cleaned^
are still fit to appear at any cover in any country. And where is
the cover, or what the country, in which they have not appeared ?
And where the breed of bucks that furnished the skins of which
they were made ? And how were such bucks killed ? — for surely
their hides must have been bullet proof, if they were all as thick
as those which composed the said memorable breeches. These
interesting questions I am unable to answer ; but there are the
breeches any day to be seen, and the Captain assured us he co n
sidered them good for at least ten years to come.

The fixture for this day was Dunlugas : found immediately ia
Mr. Leslie's new cover ; ran very hard down it with a burning
scent ; the fox turned short back on his foil ; could not stand it,
and died. We were here reminded of the run in the Quarterly
Review. "Do you hear a whimper," said I, to Lord Kintore,
" like the voice of a dog in a dream ?" It was just this ; it was
scarcely audible, but in a second or two, the same hound
challenged and the fox was found. How well would it be if man
were to use such caution — not to throw his tongue until he is sure
he is going to speak truth.

We found a second fox in Burchas-wood. After a ring round
the cover he went gallantly away, and up to a moss — say fifteen
minutes — nothing could be finer. Over the moss beautiful to
behold ; but no getting near enough to hear their music. Went
slap through the moss, however, to Pladie-wood, where he hung
a little, and then faced the open again ; but his heart failed ; he
headed short back and died. Twenty-seven minutes in all.
Lord Kintore got an ugly fall at a brook, but being himself
landed, he was up again in a crack, and with 'em before they got
out of the same field.

Taking a peep into his lordship's hunting book, I was pleased
with the following passage in the record of this day. " Nimrod
out, who rode parallel with me, with his keen sharp eye on the
hounds, apparently awake to every turn, and his soul in it?

264 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

Then again : " Barclay ploughing away, and the promising
young one (Dingwall) riding also to the hounds." I confess I
was surprised at the pace the Captain's horse (a grey of very fine
form, and an old favourite) carried him the burst, as it was first-
rate, and many large fallows crossed, which are no jokes with
such a weight as his. He was absolutely at one time fairly run-
ning away with him. But what will not blood and bone and the
grooming of old William Cross achieve ! I again rode the
Duchess. We had a party at dinner in the evening at Cask, and
" passed a jovial night" — the Captain in great force, giving us, in
the very best style, his old friend Tom Marson's song of,

" I ride as good a galloway, as any man in town ;
He'll trot you sixteen miles an hour, I'll bet you half a crown ;
He's sich a one to bend the knee, and tuck his haunches in ;
And to throw the dirt into ycur face, he never deems a sin."

Monday, i6th. — Met at Boynd's Mill. Drew Anchabar cover
Blank. Found in Tullow, and went away beautifully, but he
turned short into Bog Side cover, a very large one, without rides,
but with plenty of deer. Our huntsman finding he was not gone
on, wisely left him, being aware of the allurement of the haunch,
which is as grateful to a fox-hound, as to an alderman. We
found again in Fortrie Gorse, and hereon hangs a tale. Lord
Kintore, wishing the fox to take a certain line, over a very fine
country, ordered Philip to try and head him, but that was no go.
" Forward," he went, where he listed, and made his point for
Logg Hill cover, where, after a prodigiously sharp burst, a
trifling check occurred. We, however, soon saw him break
again, with about five couples of hounds on the scent, and here
I saw our huntsman do, what it would be well for fox-hunting if
ft were oftener done than it is. " Get to their head, Nimrod,
and stop 'em," cried Lord Kintore — blowing his horn back at
the time, whilst he sent Joe to bring on the tail, who were still
in the cover — " lefs have the body of hounds, or none." And
hence the glorious sequel ! We all succeeded in what we at-
tempted ; and a most brilliant half-hour — forty-one minutes in
all — with blood at the end, was the result. The finish was in-
describably fine. The pack, in a body, ran into him on the
banks of the Doveran river, just as he was on the point of
crossing it, and I had the pleasure of being within twenty yards
of him when he died, having been capitally carried by a mare
Lord Kintore calls " Walker's mare" so called because purchased
from the trump of th^kt name, who hunts the Fife hounds. The

NIMROHS NORTHERN TOUR. 265

brush was given to me, and is now in my view, with this label
appended to it : — " Forty-one minutes with Lord Kintore's
hounds, in the Turriff country ; very best pace, from first to
last, with only one trifling check, and no cast."

Good as was the finish of the morning's sport, that of the
evening was not readily to be beat. We all dined with Mr.
Leslie, where we met a party of brother-sportsmen ; and another
peep into the Cask hunting-book affords me an extract which
best illustrates my meaning : — " The finish was to a wish, on
the banks of the river Doveran — well-earned blood in forty
minutes. Dined at Dunlugas, with the honest-hearted Scotch
squire. The pack hunted well and jovially together, and we
passed a real good old-fashioned fox-hunting night." To me,
however, this was a new-fashioned fox-hunting night, for I did
what I never did in my life before— I tumbled down in the
drawing-room. But what of that ? It only proves the truth of
Jock Proctor's remark, that I am "nae mon for Scotland," in one
respect.

Tuesday, 1 7th.— Lord Kintore, the captain, and myself, dined
this day at Dalgety, the seat of General the Hon. Sir A. Duff,
brother to the Earl of Fife, who did us the honour to come from
Duff House to meet us. Moreover his lordship brought with
him something to amuse and interest all the party. This was a
lot of antique articles which had been a few days before dug up
on the hill of Macduff ; amongst which were a pair of bracelets
and a spear head, and also some ear-rings, enclosed in an
earthen jar, composed of what is called terra cotta, and sup-
posed to have been placed where it was found for security, or
perhaps as a votive offering to the manes of some illustrious
person.

Our evening passed most agreeably, as indeed it could not
fail to do in the society of two such lively companions as our
host and his noble brother ; but one circumstance of more than
usual interest occurred, and particularly so to one like myself —
a stranger to the social system of the country ; but one who is
of opinion that the kindly influence of rank and fortune is never
more powerful in its effects, than when extended to persons who
have conducted themselves properly and faithfully in the capa-
city of confidential servants. It happened that on this evening
the principal keeper of the Earl of Fife, and who had been for a
long series of years in the family, arrived at Dalgety for the pur-
pose of seeing the earl, and the general ordered him into the
dining-room, where a chair was placed for him by his side.

Here then was a fine subject for a painter, as well as a pleasing
scene to the philanthropist ! Donald M'Kejizie— such was his

266 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

name — with his long grey locks and ruddy countenance, which
plainly denoted the nature of the occupation he had followed,
placed in the seat of honour, and with a bumper of old port wine
in his hand, pledging to his laird and the company in the full
dialect of his nation, and evidently in the fulness of his heart.
Nor did the agreeable interlude end here. Nothing could induce
Donald to take a second glass of wine, such was the propriety of
his feeling ; and after relating an anecdote or two of his exploits,
and answering some questions which were put to him, he made
his bow and retired, although not until he had been heartily
shaken by the hand, both by Lord Fife, by the general, and by
Lord Kintore as well.

Having spoken of old servants and in the sporting line, I must
not omit the mention of one who is greatly entitled to my notice,
being the oldest huntsman in Scotland. This is John Craick
(commonly pronounced Crack\ who hunted hounds in the Tur-
riff country, almost ever since it was hunted at all ; and for
several seasons for the late Duke of Gordon, when Marquis of
Huntley. Previously to my arrival in Scotland, indeed, I was
told that I must see John Craick ; and Lord Kintore took care
that I should see him, by sending to invite him to Cask.

About an hour after dinner then, on one of the days I passed
at Cask, and in the presence I believe of only Lord Kintore,
Captain Barclay, Mr. Dingwall, and myself, John was ushered
into the room, and seated by my side. His dress was just what
it should have been — a red coat, a striped waistcoat, cord breeches
and gaiters, and a white cravat, tied after the old fashion in a
double knot, and confined to his breast with a shirt-pin, no bow
being allowed in the strictness of this costume. Neither must
the lower button of the waistcoat be in the button-hole, to render
the toilette complete. But now for John Craick himself. I
could soon perceive that ho was not a Scotchman, but from a
bordering county, and I think by the burr on his tongue, he
claims either Cumberland or Yorkshire, his early history having
escaped me. His figure was just what it should have been, to
ride well over a country ; and he had an eye in his head which
looked as if Time could not greatly dim it — although I should
say, that nearly eighty summers had rolled over his head before
I saw him. John Craick's cup had not, I think, been " quaffed
too quickly," neither was there " wormwood in the dregs," for he
looked healthy and happy, although living, I fear, on a very
small pittance in the town of TurrirT, once the scene of his glory.
Lord Kintore, and perhaps a few besides, occasionally send him
a five-pound note to comfort him, but I confess that when I saw
him next day in his lodgings, it made my heart sad to see a good

N1MROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 267

old sportsman not in a better plight. I have often thought that
there ought to be amongst sportsmen, a fund, supported by a
small annual subscription, to provide for the latter days of such
men as huntsmen and whippers-in, as well as earth-stoppers and
keepers, of good character, who certainly run great risk of their
lives and health, in furtherance of their amusement, and not
always able to provide for declining years. The Whip Club had
their benevolent fund ; why should not sportsmen have theirs ?
I shall recur to this subject at another time.

When God gave us the grape, he did it in mercy to our suffer-
ings, and we ought to acknowledge the valuable boon. A few
glasses of wine made John Craick feel young again, and forget-
ting both his poverty and. his years, he made us laugh " without
intervallums," as Falstaff says. And some of our laughs were at
my expense ; for as John never happened to have heard of
Nimrod, he would admit of no association of the word with
hounds and hunting ; and when Lord Kintore told him I was a
sportsman, he seemed very much to doubt it, taking a glance at
me at the time that was irresistibly ludicrous. Then some anec-
dotes of himself were exceedingly good, particularly one about a
thorough-bred horse, for which he gave in those days the very
large sum of one hundred guineas, and at the time when he was
farming the fox-hounds, and mounting himself, and his whip, for
three hundred pounds per annum ! It seems he one day mounted
a young lieutenant in the navy on this horse with the hounds for
the small sum of one guinea ; and on the captain asking him
how he could venture to put a young sailor on a horse of that
value, his answer was capital. " Oh," said he, " I knew what
I was about. You must know this horse pulled like a bull (pro-
nouncing///// and bull as if there had been half a dozen letter
n's in each word), and as soon as the lieutenant was able to stop
him, after we found the fox, he jumped off his back and led him
home." John, it seems, won two fifties with this nag afterwards,
and sold him for the money he gave for him. He also rode and
won a match for .£200 a side, between the Duke of Gordon, when
Marquis of Huntley, and a Captain M'Culloch who rode his own
horse, four miles on a turnpike road. " Towards the last," said
John, " the captain thought I was done, because I kept back as
I used to do when I wanted to let in some tail hounds at the
death ; but I soon told him a different story, and threw the dirt
in his face when I had nursed my horse a little."

Wednesday, 18. — The fixture of this day I have forgotten, but
what happened upon it I shall never forget. At the second
fence, after we found our fox, the Duchess fell with me at a
double fence, owing to the ground being false, and, in getting

268 NIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR.

up, put one hind foot on the crown of my hat, and the other on
my left breast. As may be supposed, this was what is called " a
floorer ;" for the mere weight of a horse's carcass on that of a
man is bad enough, but when added to the effort of rising from
the ground, as was the case here, it is almost more than could
be expected that I am alive to relate the fact. Neither shall I
forget the involuntary roar I gave during the pressure from the
foot, which seemed as if it was about to pass through my body.
However, on getting on my legs, and rinding I did not spit
blood, I mounted and got up to the hounds at check, just in time
to prevent Lord Kintore riding the third time at a high stone-
and-mortar wall, which Skim had wisely refused with him, the
ground being very awkward on both sides of it, and the hounds
not absolutely in chase at the time. But here I was obliged to
pull up, and the captain kindly accompanied me on my road to
Turriff to the doctor, who, by the usual precautions of loss of
blood, &c., prevented serious consequences. But as related to
my future operations in Scotland this was a sad damper, foras-
much as there was little probability of my getting sound enough
to ride to hounds again till it would be time for me to return
home ; neither was this the extent of the evil. The next day but
one, I was to have visited that kind-hearted gentleman and most
zealous sportsman, Captain Peter Hay, of Mugdrum, who had
invited the elite of the Fife hunt to meet me. But what was to
be done ? As I could neither cough, sneeze, nor laugh, without
suffering, it was useless to have attempted making such a visit
as this, at the distance of sixty miles or more, so was obliged to
forego the pleasure I should have experienced in it. The dis-
appointment to me was great ; and from the letter I received
from my intended host, I am authorized in saying, that it was
equally so to him. To make matters worse for all parties, a
deep snow fell the next night, and put an end to the thoughts of
hunting for some days to come.

Being about to say " good-bye " to Cask, I cannot refrain from
speaking of the kindness I received from Lord Kintore, during
the time I was confined to the house, from the consequences of
the fall the Duchess gave me. I can only say, had I been his
brother, he could not have done more. But have I no more

food anecdotes touching this second visit to Cask ? None, unless
describe a laughable scene between Philip the whipper-in, the
captain, and myself, on our road home together one day after
hunting. Far from a wish to bruise the broken reed, but to
restore it to its wonted vigour, the captain was relating the case
of a whipper-in that he knew— a fac-simile of Philip, one of the
cleverest of the clever — who lost an excellent place, under an excel-

NIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR. 269

lent master (tu quoque Philip !) because he would get drunk. " Did
he, indeed, sir?" said Philip ; " dear me, how surprising !" But
this is human nature, so well set forth in the fable of the old man
and his wallet. We had another rich scene with poor Philip, one
evening at Keith Hall, during our visit to the stables, by lamp-
light. "Will you promise to keep sober?" said the captain to
him. " / will, indeed, captain," replied Philip, in a very peni-
tent tone ; " I'll promise never to get too much drink again, if
my lord will please to keep me." " You have heard of O'Connell,
have you not, Philip ?" said I to him. " I can't say but I have,"
replied Philip. " Then do as he did," resumed I, stretching out
my arm upwards, " make a vow to heaven /" when he actually
went through the manoeuvre, with his eyes turned upwards. But
what is a vow when opposed to whiskey ? Philip no doubt thought
with Shakspeare that " the gods are deaf to hot and peevish
vows," and in about a month from that time, he was drafted as
incurable from riot, as we say of a hound. But don't let it be
supposed that I mean to charge Scotch servants in general with
the hideous and ruinous vice of drunkenness, which, as the im-
mortal novelist and historian of their country says, " is the
greatest bar to greatness in any way."

Having been told that Willie, Lord Kintore's groom, was a
great admirer of Burns's lyrics, and that he sang one of his
Bacchanalian odes with great taste, he was one evening, at my
request, introduced into the dinner-room at Cask, and at the
word of command, gave us the beautiful ballad of

" The evening shade around is spread,
The chilling tempest sweeps the sky,"

the chorus to which, —

" Blithe, blithe, and merry are we,
Cauld care is far awa ;
This is but ane night o' our lives,
And wha wad care though it were twa ?"

is peculiarly heart-stirring and enlivening. To the science of
music I am a stranger ; but there certainly is a simplicity and
pathetic expression in Scotch airs, that must be highly enchant-
ing to a musical ear. Nor was Willie the only songster on the oc-
casion. Joe Grant gave us " This day a stag must die," in very
good style, and all agreed that next to holloaing away a fox over
a good country, we had never heard Joe's pipe to so much advan-
tage before.

270 N1MROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

As Jupiter himself was obliged to stoop to fate, even the great
Captain Barclay cannot oppose its power. All chance of his
hunting being at an end, and the snow in some places drifted so
high that no carriage could approach Cask, he and myself, the
fox-hound bitch, Harriet, and our luggage, were all placed in a
cart well littered down with straw, and on Saturday the 2ist,
drawn into the turnpike road, where we got into the Banff coach,
and proceeded that evening to Aberdeen, — Lord Kintore also
taking his departure on his hack, for Keith Hall. Next day, I
dined with Sir Alexander Bannerman, maternal uncle to his
lordship, and renowned for his convivial accomplishments, which
imply the passing an agreeable evening under his roof. I also
underwent a personal examination by an eminent surgeon of this
town,* being by no means satisfied as to the sound state of my
ribs, but the only damage they had received was, it appeared,
a trifling fracture of the cartilage, which I was much rejoiced
to dir.over. The following day I proceeded to Ury for the
night, and to Burnside per Defiance on the morrow, — an inside
passenger, of course, much against my will, but either driving
four horses, or riding after hounds, was each out of the question.f

I found a party of the right sort at Burnside — Sir Ralph
Anstruther, Mr. Whyte Melville, &c.; and Captain Peter Hay,
whom Mr. Dalyell calls cousin, as well as brother sportsman,
was expected, but did not come from soniQ cause which I now
forget. And there was another gentleman there whose acquaint-
ance I had a great desire to make, from the character given to me
of him by Lord Kintore, which was this. " He is a capital
sportsman, a first-rate rider to hounds, and an excellent fellow
to boot, with some good old fox-hunting blood in him." I am
alluding to Mr. John Grant, of Kilraston, Perthshire, elder
brother to Mr. Francis Grant, whom everybody knows by the
established fame of his pencil, and especially in pictures in our
line. Like the celebrated Hamilton of his own country, no
man can touch him for costume, the propriety of which is every-
thing in a sportsman's eye, but which none but a sportsman can
be correct in.

Wednesday, 25th. — An awful morning for hounds, wet and
windy in the extreme. About mid-day, however, it showed signs
of a change, and all the party — ladies included — except myself,
turned out, but came back drenched with rain, having had little
fun for their pains. The pack divided on two scents, running each
fox to ground, the fate of full half the foxes I saw found in For-

* Mr. Williams.

I I am here reminded of a misprint in the last portion of my Northern
Tour but one. For Lord Rodney, Bead Lord Ongley.

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 271

farshire and Fife. The next morning, Mr. Whyte Melville re-
turned to hunt with the Fife ; and on Friday, 27th, I went to
Perth, on my road to Abercairney, the fine seat of the Highland
chief of that name.

There were two circumstances connected with my visits to
Burnside that gave me cause for regret. One, that, in satisfac-
tion as it were of all the kindness I experienced there, I had it
not in my power to chronicle a series of good sport with Mr.
DalyelPs hounds ; the other, that circumstances prevented my
seeing the castle of Glammis, which (to use the language of Sir
Walter Scott*) " previously to the atrocity which under pretence
of improvement, deprived that lordly place of its appropriate
accompaniments,

' ' ' Leaving an ancient dome and towers like these,
Beggar'd and outraged,'

was the noblest specimen of the real feudal castle, entire and
perfect, that had as yet come under his inspection," — to say
nothing of its intimate association with the bloody deeds of its
once royal owner, as recorded by our immortal Shakspeare.
Still, of all the curiosities to be seen there, the one which would
have most interested me, would, I think, have been the cap and
bells of the professed jester which this family, it appears, was
one of the last to keep. This race of beings is extinct, and no
wonder, for few persons are wise enough to play the fool well ;
and I cannot say but I regret that they are extinct. They must
have been an inexhaustible fund of entertainment, independently
of their having been the only medium through which persons of
a certain rank could ever hear the truth. I had a slight ac-
quaintance with the late Lord Glammis, and saw him a short
time before his death, which I fear was accelerated by not set-
ting more value on Lord Forester's maxim, that 'Tis the pace
that kills.

Having arrived at Perth on Friday, February 27th, I found a
gig ready to convey me to Abercairney Abbey— the fine seat of
James Moray, Esq., with whose brother, Major Moray Stirling,
who has also a seat close by, I became acquainted during his
several years' residence in Warwickshire for the purpose of hunt-
ing ; and to whose stud, and their good condition, I have alluded
in my " Letters on Condition of Hunters," in illustration of the
benefits derived from the in-door system in the summer, with
exercise.

The distance from Perth to Abercairney is about ten miles,

* See Lockhart's Life of Scott, for Sir Walter's description of this

notable place.

272 N1MROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

which appeared shortened by the amusing discourse of the
laird's coachman, Jemmy Reid, who drove me, — one of the old-
fashioned sort of servants, who appeared as if he acknowledged
but one God, and one master, in whose service he had lived
since service he had been able to perform. It was delightful
to hear how he considered himself as it were embodied with
everything that appertained to his earthly master, for it was our
hounds, our horses, our property — he took great pains to show
me where " our property " began, but it would have been, I be-
lieve, difficult for him to have shown me where it ended — and so
on to the end of the chapter.

The abbey is situated within two miles of Crieff, the first town
in this direction by which the highlands are approached, in
grounds of great extent and park-like appearance, although not
stocked with deer ; ornamented with good timber and a fine lake,
at the head of which the old house stood ; sheltered on the north
by the Grampian, and on the south by the Ochill mountains, of
nearly Alpine height, and at this time, Soracte-like, made to
appear still higher than they are, by their summits being capped
with snow. But I had nearly forgotten one part of my story ;
— a notice of the fine vale of Strathearn, in which this abbey
stands. It is thirty miles in length, watered by fine rivers, and
filled with seats of noblemen and gentlemen beyond what is often
to be found in any part of Great Britain. In fact, I reckoned a
list of seventeen seats, amongst which are those of Lords Strath-
earn, Kinnaird, Lyndoch, Willoughby D'Eresby, and Rolls ;
Dowager Lady Baird.; Sirs Robert Dundas, Patrick Murray,
John Stewart, &c., £c., of the occupiers of which, or their sons,
twelve take the field with the hounds. The gallant and sporting
Lord Lyndoch has a large property in the vale, on which, as may
be imagined, there is no lack of foxes.

But a word or two more of the abbey, for I can assure you,
reader, it is well worth your notice, should your steps lead you
towards Strathearn. It is a rich specimen of the Gothic,
originally designed by Crichton, assisted by the taste of Mr.
Moray — who, by the works which I saw in his library, has made
architecture his study — and the late additions are from the de-
signs of Mr. Dickson, of Edinburgh, successor, I believe, to
Crichton. It is built of the stone of the country, peculiarly
adapted by its colour, — which is a light grey, — to the chaste
features of the edifice, and doubtless conveying to a chastened
eye that calm and sober pleasure which arises from grand and
simple symmetry. It must elicit applause, however, from all be-
holders, not merely by its effect, which is imposing to a great

NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 273

<legree, but from a consideration of the labour, the cost, and the
artifice employed in its construction.

My limits will not admit of a minute description of the interior
of this fine seat, but I must devote a few lines to it, if it were
only to bear me out in what I have said of its exterior. I will
begin with the entrance-hall, rendered interesting by an abund-
ance of military and sporting insignia, of almost all ages and all
nations, intermixed with escutcheons of the family arms, which
are supported by two eagles, with the appropriate motto, " Tanti
talem genuere parentes." The cloisters are one hundred and
fifteen feet in length, on the stained glass windows of which are
emblazoned the arms of successive Earls of Strathearn and Both-
well, progenitors of the house of Abercairney.

There are two splendid drawing-rooms in the abbey, one fifty
feet in length, the other twenty-two square, furnished in the most
elegant style ; and which, together with a library, and conserva-
tory, form a suite of apartments to an extent seldom witnessed in
any private house ; the dining-room is forty feet by twenty-three,
just the proper size to be warmed, when it is wanted to be warm,
by the aid of one good fire.

The present laird is a well-bred one, being the fifteenth in de-
scent from the first proprietor — the head of a family, in short,
from which the Dukes of Athol, Earls of Dunmore, Mansfield,
and Dysart are descended. He married a daughter of the late
General Sir William Erskine, Bart., of Torrie, in the county of
Fife, but has at present no family.

My arrival at the abbey was far from being devoid of interest.
Whilst talking of Mr. Moray, of Abercairney, my Scotch friends,
I perceived, always called him "Abercairney," but I little
dreamed that no one about his own house called him anything
else. Guess my surprise then, when on the door being opened to
me by a fine young Highlander, in the strict costume of his
country, I received the following answer to the question- •" Is
Mr. Moray at home ?" " Abercairney is walking in the park, sir,
but he will be home in half an hour." " Abercairney !" said I to
myself; "what the devil does the fellow mean by calling his
laird by this familiar name \" However, I was soon enlightened
-on the subject by mine host himself, and as I found every one
called him " Abercairney," of course I followed suit. I was dis-
appointed at not finding him in the kilt, when he came down,
-dressed for dinner, which I was told I should ; but he did not
wear it at all during my visit to him, in consequence of his having
just recovered from the effects of a severe cold.

Abercairney having this day returned from a short visit to
.Edinburgh on business, our party at dinner was small. It was

18

274 NIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR.

no sooner ended, however, and we had placed ourselves snugly
around the horse-shoe — to be nearer to the fire, for one reason,
and closer to the claret jug for another, and withal was just get-
ing into discourse about hounds, horses, hunting countries, and
men — than open flew the door, and in marched the same strap-
ping Highlander that had greeted me on my arrival ; and with
— not what Byron calls "the natural music of the mountain
reed," but, to my ears, that "insult to the groans of a dying hog,"
as some one calls them — the bag-pipes in full play. The laird,
nowever, declared he could not digest his dinner without at least
a twenty minutes' burst of pipe-music, and of course I had no-
thing left for it but to listen, and to endeavour to discover some-
thing like a tune in the burring drone, but that was " no go."

Of Abercairney's hounds, at least of the sport I saw with them,
I have next to nothing to say that can either interest or amuse ;
for the weather was so bad that 1 only saw them once in the
field during my visit, and then without a prospect of sport ; and
again, I was unable to travel beyond a trot on a pony, from the
effects of my late fall. On looking into the list, however, which
contains thirty-one couples of hunting hounds, it is apparent
that, if they are not good in the field, the fault does not lie with
their owner, for he has not only a strong pack for a three-days-
a-week country, but it will be seen that he has spared neither
trouble nor expense in going to the best kennels, north and south,
for his blood. His first huntsman came from the Hatfield pack,,
to which he was first whipper-in, and was succeeded by John
Arber, who was with him at the period to which I am alluding,
but who, I have reason to believe, has left him, from the circum-
stance of the name of Hall being given as huntsman, in the list
of packs printed in the New Sporting Magazine of January last.
Hall, who was whipper-in to Mr. Hodgson, in the Holderness
country, was Abercairney's first whip when I was in his country,
and a very sharp lad second to him — twin brother to another
sharp lad who was in the stables.

When speaking of a man in a professional point of view, he
should always be judged according to circumstances, and my ex-
perience of Arber in the field is restricted to two days with Mr.
Wyndham's hounds, when nothing happened to bring him into
anything like difficulties, and one day with Abercairney's, of
which the same may be said. Nevertheless, the little I saw of
him pleased me. He is very neat in his person, looks very well
on his horse, and is quiet and respectful in his deportment. His
hounds— I am now alluding to Abercairney's— were well under
his command, and came, I think, as quickly out of cover as
any I ever hunted with in my life. I should say Arber excels
in this part of his business. He whistles to them a good deal

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 275

when drawing, to which I see no objection, provided it answers
his end, and it certainly appeared as if his hounds liked it. In
fact, I saw him bring them out of one cover and throw them
into another across a road by the mere act of the whistle,
assisted by a slight movement of his right hand. He is, however,
only the second huntsman I have ever met with who had re-
course to this simple expedient, and I think it rather belongs to
the cock-shooter than to the fox-hunter.

Abercairney's hounds on the day I was out with them were
quite steady from riot ; not only from hares, but from roe, which
I saw twice across their line, in view, without the least notice
being taken. Not a head, indeed, was turned, even to look at
them. I am now speaking of them in chase ; but they were
equally steady throughout a long blank draw, which I thought
would have ended in a blank day. I also observed them hunting
a very cold scent, in the meadows by the side of the Earn, too
cold to be persevered in, but they afterwards recovered their
fox, and ran him to ground, at the end of a long day, which I
was not able to see the finish of.

I liked Arber less in his kennel than the field. I do not ap-
prove of feeding hounds as he fed them — merely drawing out a
few shy feeders at first ; then drawing the remainder nearly as
quickly as he could draw them ; and, finally, throwing back the
door and letting out five or six couples, helter-skelter, at once.
It is not a workman-like manner of doing business, and does not
convey an impression of the presence of the faculty of nice discern-
ment, or that high value set on condition of hounds, which should.
be, and generally are, the distinguishing characteristics of a good
kennel huntsman. I observed also about him a little of that
" heady confidence," which Dr. Johnson speaks of, in some of
his proceedings, which it would be well for him not to possess.
It is a dangerous acquirement in any man, and justifiable in very
few ; for where there is no perception of error, there is no hope
of improvement.

Of Abercairney's country I can say little from my own per-
sonal knowledge of it. It comprehends the whole of the vale of
Strathearn, with the exception of a small portion to the east of
the river May, which belongs to the Fife, and it extends to the
westward until it joins Mr. Ramsay's country near Dunblane.
The part I saw of it was coarse, but still, although interrupted
by a strong river, not incapable of showing a day's sport with a
fox that would put his head straight for his point, and go on.
Abercairney showed me a line of country over which one fox
led him, that must have been a choker to hounds, horses, and
men — partaking of that wildness once considered a principal

1 8—2

NORTHERN TOUR.

feature in a sport which has now, in the opinion of some persons,
degenerated into the opposite extreme. It is beyond a doubt,
indeed, that in some countries that I could name, and those
considered crack ones, fox-hunting may be charged with the
chief objection to hare-hunting — namely, the ringing nature of the
e/iase, which induced the facetious Mr. Leche, of Cheshire fox-
hunting fame, to say, that "harriers never run out of the parish
in which they find their game." Still, Arber told me, that, wild
as it appears to be, and in many parts really is, and choking as
may be the hills, it is not so severe for horses as that hunted by
Mr. Wyndham, over some part of which he declared no horse
yet foaled could live forty minutes with hounds after a good fox,
and with a breast-high scent. This is corroborative of an asser-
tion made by myself, several years back, and founded on some
experience of it, that no country that I had ever followed hounds
over puts the physical powers of the horse so much to the test,
at all periods of the year?* as what are called the Brighton
Downs, and those between Brighton and Lewes. Arber is quali-
fied to speak to this point, for it is well known that he rode
nothing which was not thorough-bred with Mr. Wyndham's pack.
He, however, expressed himself very well satisfied with the cattle
Abercairney mounted him upon, and told me he considered one
of his horses the best hunter he had ever crossed.

After Saturday's hunting, our party at dinner was augmented
by the presence of some of the laird's friends and neighbours,
and amongst them Mr. Thompson, factor to the Earl of
Strathearn— a jolly good fellow, who sang us two or three capi-
tal songs, and added much to the conviviality of the evening.
But I was told the next day, that I had thrown a gloom over his
countenance by a remark I chanced to make in his hearing. I
had expressed a fear of quitting Scotland without witnessing a
game peculiar to it, called " curling? adding — in allusion to the
state of the weather, which had hitherto prevented me — that the
preceding Sunday would have done well for it. Now having
Kved six years in France, it is not to be wondered at that I
should have thought at the moment that such games were
played on Sundays in all other countries ; but I was told that
even the gong was not allowed to be sounded for dinner, at one
gentleman's house, in the vale of Strathearn, on this particular
day. Now, Sir Andrew Agnew himself cannot beat this ; but I
could not help asking myself the following simple question,

* I qualify this assertion, "at all periods of the year," by observing
that there are parts of Warwickshire and Worcestershire, that will stop
the best hunters in England in fifteen minutes, after a long frost.

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 277

namely — " Which of the two following charges should I most
fear being laid to my account — the witnessing a curling-match
on a Sunday, or, had I weighed sixteen stone with my saddle,
which the worthy factor does, the having been all the morning
on the back of a horse with fox-hounds, and then putting him
into a gig, to draw me seven or eight miles to a good dinner,
and back again, at night, as the worthy factor did this day ?' I
think I should most funk lest the ghost of the old grey horse
might rise up and accuse me. " Funeris, lieu ! tibi causa fui ?"
was a question once put in the shades below.

But whilst speaking of the gong, which is the summons to
dinner in most of the principal mansions in the north, I am re-
minded of an anecdote that Mr. John Grant, of Kilgraston, told
me of a scene which took place at his house. It happened that
two new female servants arrived on the same morning, and were
together in their chamber when the gong announced dinner.
Never before having heard such an outlandish sound — and there
certainly is something striking, if not awful, in the long and deep
swelling notes of this gong while ascending from the bottom to
the top of a large house, and increasing as they ascend — they
both mistook it for the " last trump/7 and were found in hysterics
on the floor.

Sunday, March T. — This being a dies non in a sportsman's
chronicle, I have very little to say of it. We passed an hour or
two in the kennel and stables ; visited the neat residence of John.
Arber ; and Abercairney comforted me by telling me the piper
never played on Sundays. I expressed no surprise at that after
what had been said of the curling-match ; and, moreover, from
the recollection of the fact that, in the days of the covenanters,
the sacrament was refused to a man who danced with his face
toward a woman, and also to a woman who pulled kail, or scraped
a potato on the sabbath !

Monday, March 2. — Weather horribly bad ; hunting out of
the question. The laird and myself went to dine at Auchterader
House, the seat of Captain Hunter, about eight miles distant,
which had a curious appearance, from the fact of the mansion
having been built, and lately built, on an open and commanding
spot, previously to the formation of plantations, or other orna-
mental features,— there being scarcely a tree about the place
thicker than a man's wrist, or a bush more than three feet high.
The inside of the house, however, was wanting in nothing to
make us comfortable ; and we cared nothing, as far as ourselves
were concerned, for the storm that was raging without.

On our road to and from Auchterader, we crossed two rivers,
about each of which I have a word to say. We passed over that
fine stream, the Earn, rendered celebrated in ancient history for

278 NIMROUS NORTHERN 'TO UR.

having so often been dyed with good Scottish blood, in the wars
of the Britons against Agricola, and their struggle for independ-
ence against the Roman arms ; and, in more modern legends,
for having been the watery grave of a clever whipper-in to the
Fife hounds, who rashly attempted to cross it on his horse, when
much swollen with repeated rains. He had previously whipped-
in to the Worcestershire hounds, in Mr. Parker's time, and was
a most expert swimmer. The other stream was the Po — not the
Po which Pliny speaks of, that king of rivers which bathes the
walls of a hundred cities (" Centum urbes rigat et placidis in-
terluit undis ") but that which Michael Bruce calls

»"the gulphy Po

That through the quaking marsh and waving reeds
Creeps slow and silent on."

Now I had observed on our road to Captain Hunter's, that a
new temporary bridge had been thrown over the stream ; and
that the approach to the chasm made by pulling down the old
one was left in a most insecure state — in fact with nothing but a
low line of loose stones, placed almost close to the breach. "I hope
our postilion will not drive us into the Po, as we return at night,"
said I to the laird, en passant. " No fear," was the reply. How-
ever, it appeared that my fears were not quite groundless ; whe-
ther it were from the effects of the storm that was raging at the
time, and directly in his very teeth, or from an extra glass of
something to fortify himself against it, it is not in my power to
divine ; but headlong should we have gone into the Po, had not
the footman, who was on the box, just seen the danger to stop
him in time. Four yards farther, and Abercairney, the Highland
ehief, and Nimrod, would have both finished their mortal career,
and at rather short notice.

Tuesday, 3. — Nothing to be done in the field ; the snow driving,
and sleet, " deforming the day, delightless." When church and
king time (as an old friend of mine calls dinner time, alluding to
the drop of comfort after it) arrived, we had an addition to our
party of a jolly son of Neptune, a half-pay "captain, R.N., who
sang us some good songs, and gave us some amusing anecdotes
in and out of his profession.

On Wednesday, the 4th, I quitted Abercairney Abbey, and
have only a few more remarks to make respecting my visit to it.
The weather was unpropitious to sport with hounds ; still as I
was suffering from the effects of my accident, I could not have
enjoyed it, had it been within my reach ; but barring these draw-
backs, nothing was wanting to real enjoyment of life. As regards

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 279

the laird, he is a man after my own heart ; overflowing with
high spirits ; without a particle of affectation ; a jolly com-
panion over the bowl; and, — as a Welsh apothecary said of a
brother-in-law of mine, who began the world with ten thousand
a year, and ended it with two — "just the right sort of man for the
country." What Rosaline says of Biron, in Love's Labour's Lost,
I may say of the owner of Abercairney Abbey:

' A merrier man,

Within the limits of becoming mirth,
I never spent an hour's talk with,"

and it will be neither his fault nor mine, if we do not meet again
within the walls of his splendid abbey.

My place having been secured at Perth, in — as I thought — a
coach for Glasgow, on my road to visit Viscount Kelburne, I
quitted the abbey in the same gig that brought me thither, to
meet the said coach at the lodge gates, which open into the high
road; and being ten minutes, or so, "before time," had that
much talk with Jemmy Reid. He very much surprised me, I
confess, by a contrast he exhibited in the habits, manners, and
conduct of the middling and lower classes of the population of
the vale of Strathearn, as well as of the neighbouring Highlands
at that present period, and within his recollection, much in favour
of the latter — the improvement being effected, as he emphati-
cally observed, " by the example set them by their betters ; by
the exertions of local associations, by the aid of turnpike roads,
and by the spread of the gospel in places where it was before
scarcely known, at any rate very little understood." In fact, he
gave me to understand — and I am using his own words — that
the people had been changed from ignorance, strife, and poverty,
to intelligence, peace, and comforts, within the last fifty years, to
an extent scarcely to be credited by those who have not been
amongst them to witness the pleasing change.

Having been an inside passenger by the Perth and Glasgow
drag, I had not a good opportunity of seeing a strange country,
which I admit I chiefly look at with a sportsman's eye ; and I
considered a great part of that which we this day passed through,
to have had a good fox-hunting-like appearance. At the end of
about the fourth stage, guess my surprise when the order of the
day was — " Now, gentlemen and ladies, if you please, you will
leave the coach here, and take the boat to Glasgow." The
change, however, was for the better, — from a rumbling old drag,
badly horsed, and worse driven, to a snug and warm cabin in
the Edinburgh and Glasgow barge, which goes at the rate of

28o NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

nine miles and a half per hour, throughout the whole route, drawn*
by five horses, which now and then were absolutely " sprung"
into a gallop. The increased speed of this conveyance brought
me to Glasgow just at five o'clock, and getting into a post-chaise,
I reached Hawkhead, the seat of Lord Kelburne, eight miles
distant, at the ringing of the first dinner-bell.

Hawkhead, the residence of Viscount Kelburne, is a large
mansion, the property of the Earl of Glasgow — father to the
noble viscount, — situated seven miles from the city of Glasgow,,
and two from Paisley, about a mile distant from the high road
leading from one town to the other. The domain is extremely
well wooded ; the approach to the house runs parallel with a
deep river called the Cart, which, from its slow and silent course,,
reminded me of " gentle Severn's sedgy banks ;" the land is?
good, and the stables and kennels are at a convenient and suit-
able distance.

It is at all times, and under all circumstances, no slight trial
of nerve to find oneself and luggage at the door of a person whom
one has never set eyes on before ; but, from the character given,
me of Lord Kelburne by several of my Scotch friends, and par-
ticularly by two of his noble brethren of the craft — brother hunts-
men— namely, Lords Kintore and Elcho, I was pretty well at my
ease, when his servants ushered me into his presence. A hearty
shake of the hand and a welcome that could not be mistaken,
operated as balm poured into my soul, and by the time the first
bottle of 1815 claret was finished after dinner — his lordship and
myself being tete-a-tete — I felt myself quite at home. But it is
the characteristic of persons of high blood, and accompanying
good feelings, to place their guests at their ease.

Lord Kelburne has two countries — the one, the home country
in Renfrewshire ; the other in Ayrshire, which is, I believe, by
far the best of the two. Of the latter, however, I only speak
from what I heard, not having had an opportunity of seeing it ;
but in a letter I received from a friend the following season-,
describing a run he saw over it, he spoke of it as being nearly
as good as any he ever rode over in his life, and he has seen
many good ones. That it abounds in pasture, I learn from what
I read of it, and few persons have not heard of Barbara Gilmour
and her cheese ;* by the production of which, in the first
instance, one of the Scottish historians says, " she performed a?
more valuable service to the world than Alexander the Great or
Julius Caesar accomplished by all their sanguinary labours."

Lord Kelburne's two countries united make only what would

* Called the " Dunlop Cheese."

NIMROHS NORTHERN TO UR. 28 1

be called in the south one short one, because his seasons are
short, owing to the backwardness of the harvest in that part of
Scotland, which prevents his beginning hunting until the kennel
doors of his brother sportsmen in England exhibit a fair share
of noses. The average of stoppage from frost also is at least
six weeks. Still, in the season in which I visited him, he killed
twenty brace of foxes up to the 5th of April, which must be con-
sidered a fair share of sport, making allowance for circum-
stances, by which the character and performance of all hounds
and their huntsmen should be judged.

Previously to Lord Kelburne, Sir David Baird hunted these
countries ; and after him Mr. Oswald of Shieldhall, to whom it
will be recollected I sent a huntsman named Butler, — commonly
called Shock when in the service of the late Earl of Derby, — who
gave much satisfaction the first year, but I never heard of him
afterwards. The hounds had then three kennels — one at the
mouth of the river Doare, in Ayrshire, where they remained in
the non-hunting months ; one at Cathcart, three miles south of
Glasgow ; and another, given to them by Sir John Maxwell, of
Pollock, ten miles distant from Glasgow to the eastward.

I will now give my opinion of Lord Kelburne's hounds in a
few words, and it shall be an honest one. I thought them, to
the eye, equal to, if not superior to, any other in Scotland. And
why should they not be so ? They are the blood of two of the
most celebrated kennels in England — the Lambton and the
Beaufort, chiefly the former ; but of their steadiness I cannot
say so much. I found from his lordship — the theory is beautiful,
but the practice, unfortunately, is inadmissible ; the attempt,
however, is most creditable — that he had all but abolished the
use of the lash for the two previous seasons, by which means his
pack had got ahead of him, as all fox-hounds will do, and the
higher they are bred the more so. He had, however, altered his
system, and, from letters I received from him the following
season— for the friendship Lord Kelburne honoured me with by
no means ceased with my visit to him— I found he had got a
new and active whipper-in ; in addition to a capital draft of en-
tered as well as unentered hounds, from the Duke of Cleveland,
when his Grace reduced his kennel to thirty-two couples of old
and ten of young hounds ; that his pack was very much im-
proved in their work, all of which was confirmed to me in a
letter from a friend who had been hunting with them during the
Caledonian meeting, held for that season in Ayrshire, and who
thus expressed himself respecting them : " I saw two beautiful
things with Lord Kelburne during the race week. The first,
twenty-five minutes, super excellent ± the second, an hour, over

282 NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR.

the cream of the country, and killed — hounds as steady as
bricks."

It is scarcely necessary to observe that Lord Kelburne acts
the part of huntsman to his own hounds, assisted by two whip-
pers-in. His kennel huntsman — who, by-the-by, was educated
by Tom Oldaker, and, as he informed me, held his horse Brush
whilst the artist took his portrait — has likewise been replaced by
another named George Knight. In fact, I have reason to be-
lieve, his lordship is at present very strongly reinforced in every
department of his hunting establishment, save his stables, and
there was no need of extra force there, for, I think, I counted
twenty-five hunters, besides hacks, almost all of which were
thorough-bred, and many of them " not unknown to fame,"
having been good racers in their time. Amongst them was a
beautiful little grey mare, ridden by the second whip, which won
a stake of six hundred guineas at York ; also May-day, who
won the Fitzwilliam stakes, beating Dr. Syntax ; and she also
beat him in the Cup race, although she did not win. His lord-
ship's own horses were all thorough-bred, except one called
Scott's horse, so named from having been purchased from " old
Scott," as the huntsman to Mr. Ramsay's hounds is called, at the
stiff price of 250 guineas. Lord Kelburne's favourite horses,
however, were Collier, by Comus, out of a Waxy mare, and
Daredevil, by Viscount, out of an Orville mare. He likewise
rode a good bay thorough-bred gelding, whose name I do not
recollect, and a capital hunter, called Jock. The name of the
head groom, who has lived many years at Hawkhead, is Bran,
by no means inappropriate.

When speaking of Lord Kelburne as a huntsman, I must
claim the privilege of only four days7 experience ; nevertheless,
such are the numerous points of view in which the science of
hunting hounds is called for and displayed, in even half that
time a less practised eye, perhaps, than mine, would be able to
form somewhat of a correct judgment of the person who is called
upon to display it. There are attributes, however, in the nature
and temperament of some men, which, if I may be allowed the
expression, half make a huntsman, and many of these Lord Kel-
burne possesses. For example, his zeal and love of everything
belonging to fox-hunting appear to have no bounds. He is as
regular in his kennel-hours as an old maid at her tea-time, and
he is as fond of his hounds as they are of him. Add to all this,
he is a person of acknowledged good abilities, which enables
him to take advantage of circumstances, a point so much in-
sisted upon by Williamson, and justly so, in a science which,
like fox-hunting, is beset and opposed by them at almost every

NT M ROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 283

step. Then again, lie is a horseman of the first class for nerve
and straightforward work in the field, which gives him no slight
advantage. That he erred in letting his hounds get the mastery
of him, from motives of kindness and good feeling, he is himself
ready to acknowledge, and it is much to be lamented that his
principle will not succeed. Nothing is more true than that
hounds should be encouraged, not rated, to cry ; and that whip-
ping faulty hounds makes good hounds shy ; still, as there are
in all packs many hounds that will do what is wrong, and very
few that will always do what is right, the use of the lash and the
rate are inseparable from discipline in the field. There are
points in which Lord Kelburne excels in his system of hunting
hounds. His method of laying them on to a scent is perfect,
and in his casts when at check, he appears to know exactly the
time they ought to be allowed to try and make it good them-
selves ; and this is a point of no small importance, especially in
a country like the one I saw him in, where a fox has so many
advantages over hounds. In drawing his covers, his lordship
appeared to me to be rather too far from his hounds, which ac-
counted for their once or twice slipping away with their fox, un-
observed by him ; but as far as I could judge of him in chase,
and I saw him in some trying situations, he appeared equal to
give them all the assistance require'd. His country, like most
parts of Scotland that I hunted in, however, is calculated to keep
every huntsman in a fidget, as well as to render his hounds both
slack and wild, from the quantity of open drains which invite
foxes to go to ground — a fact that will not, I believe, be disputed
by those who have witnessed the effect of disappointment to
animals so sagacious and yet so impatient as fox-hounds.

To sum up all. I saw Lord Kelburne, as a huntsman, to
disadvantage. His hounds were wild from the cause I have
stated ; the weather was wilder, with the exception of one day ;
his whippers-in were insufficient, which is proved by his having
drafted them ; and I saw him in a very difficult country. I saw
enough, however, to convince me that, the two principal obstacles
being removed, — namely, the want of discipline, and good assis-
tance from whippers-in — he will have his share of sport; at all
events, the want of it will not lie at his door. What his kennel
is now, it is o'nly in my power to imagine, from the additions
made to it, and of course a judicious draft ; but this I will repeat,
that a more highly-bred and business-like pack, to look at, need
not be in any man's kennel than the one I saw, and for any
country under the sun. If they could not have killed a fox in a
good country, and with a good holding scent, I should have

284 NIMRODS NORTHERN TOUR.

doubted it having been done by any others, come from where
they might.

Lord Kelburne has a large racing stud, but I did not see the
cream of it — Jerry being at Newmarket, let for the season ; and
Actseon sold to our late good king, for one thousand guineas.
There was a clever horse called Albany, very likely to get hunters,
several fine mares and colts, and Retriever and Retainer, by
Jerry, both then out of training. And the mention of the last
named horse reminds me of a circumstance much to the credit
of Mr. Fryer, veterinary surgeon, of Northallerton, of whom I
had occasion to speak in my Yorkshire Tour. He was sent for,
by his lordship, to fire Retainer, with the hopes of his coming
again to the post ; but, doubtful of the effect, he declined touch-
ing him. " I must fire him very deeply? said he, to Lord
Kelburne, " if I operate on him at all, and I candidly tell your
lordship, I should be doubtful of his standing training, if I do."
After looking over the stud, then, which he does every year, he
departed without using his irons at all. There is a beautiful
picture of Jerry in the drawing-room at Hawkhead ; also of
Actaeon, with Harry Edwards on his back, beating Memnon,
mounted by Chifney, both by Herring.

As may be supposed, there were several colts and fillies of ail
ages in the paddocks and boxes at Hawkhead, but there was one
which was quite a curiosity on account of his size. He was by
Jerry, out of a small half-bred mare, and only two years old ; but
of such a prodigious height as to have been, in my opinion, well
qualified to be exhibited as a show.

I must now look to my note-book for my proceedings during
my visit to Hawkhead, which I must preface with a few words :
— it is a curious fact that, with the exception of Mr. DalyelPs,
every pack I hunted with in Scotland had a good run on the
first day of my going out with them, which occasioned several
of my kind friends to say, that I brought them good luck. That
such was the case with Lord Kelburne, the following account,
which appeared in the newspaper, of a run on Thursday the ninth
of March, being the day after my arrival, will pretty clearly
show.

" On Thursday last, Lord Kelburne's hounds gave a brilliant
treat to their noble master and a small field of amateurs of this
city. Darnly Toll, five miles south of town, was the fixture for the
day ; but the morning proving unpropitious, the meet was post-
poned till twelve, by which time some of the wintry appearances
of the country had disappeared, and at half-past twelve the
hounds were thrown into Auchinbeck, a gorse cover near
Glandeston. Immediately heart -stirring notes proclaiming a

NORTHERN TOUR. 285

find, and in three minutes Reynard left his lodgings and broke
away in the finest style towards Waukmill Glen, the fastnesses
of which seemed to promise a retreat ; but there he was not
permitted to tarry. Accordingly, he sought Hurlet, meditating
Hawkhead, but his friends in the rear merely allowed him to
skirt this cover. Finding them somewhat troublesome, he boldly
took open country, and gallantly charged the Gleniffer Hills,
trusting to his own strength and their acclivity for shaking off
his pursuers. Determined not to part with him, however, they
stuck to it, and tracked their wily leader with unerring precision,
vindicating their claim to distinction as one of the best packs in
the kingdom ; but the field now became select — his lordship and
one or two alone gaining the heights at the tail of the hounds.
Here the most admirable hunting was witnessed ; for, in despite
of snow and a cold wind, the hounds proved themselves good
ones, and after an hour and twenty-five minutes, ran into a fine
dog-fox in open field near to Neilston. It is impossible to ascer-
tain the distance which had been gone, as Reynard's course was
anything but straightforward ; but judging by the time, there
could not have been less than fifteen miles covered, which con-
sidering the country ridden over, is sufficient for proving the con-
dition of both horses and men, and such as but few of either, at
the pace gone, can be found to stand. Early in the run his lord-
ship was made a Baptist of in a deeply overflown ditch, and for
an instant held rather an awkward situation, nothing being
visible but his head and part of his horse ; but fortunately he got
extricated, and, sportsmanlike, despised the ducking, and held on
to the end without a dry rag on his back. It is to be hoped that
no bad effects will attach to his person, as we are sure this would
be regretted by all true fox-hunters. "

No doubt but this was a splendid run. Having viewed the fox
away, I was tempted to follow the chase, but at the end of the
fourth field was obliged to pull up, and content myself with follow-
ing it with my eye, to which the nature of the ground was favour-
able. The pace was capital, the country very severe, being on
the ascent, and the ground very deep, but from the head the
hounds carried, I was convinced the finish would be good, if the
fox would keep above ground. I should have liked Frank Grant
to have been present when his lordship entered the drawing-room
with the brush of the fox in his hand. His appearance, after his
having been over head in the water, and well bespattered with
mud besides, was quite of the " varmint order/' and would have
made a good study for the artist. With the exception of this
slip, however, he was, I understood, capitally carried by Collier,
and never many yards from their sterns. Harrison, one of the

286 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

whippers-in, rode the biggest thorough-bred horse, this day, that
I ever saw in my life.

Friday 8.— Became alarmed, and, after the manner of the hare,
when she fancies herself near her end, began to think of home.
At all events I wished to go to London for advice, but my noble
host would not hear of my doing so ; and, ringing the bell at the
moment, the family doctor was sent for. By the loss of more
blood and suitable medicine I was very greatly relieved, and all
apprehensions were removed.

Saturday, 9. — The hounds were to have met at one of their
best covers, but were prevented doing so by a heavy fall of
snow.

Sunday, 10. — Inspected the stud, in the stables, the boxes,
and paddocks ; and, in the latter, witnessed a sight such as I
wish I could say was oftener to be witnessed than it is. I saw a
lot of old hunters, turned out for the rest of their lives, and en-
joying themselves at their ease — one of them a fine grey gelding,
which his lordship told me he had ridden fourteen seasons,
"never having turned him out in the summer," he said, " after
reading Nimrod's Letters on Condition of Hunters." This, I
repeat, is a most gratifying sight, and it ought to be more com-
mon than it is, with persons who can afford the expense. It is a
mistake to imagine, that our compassion and care are confined
to the miseries and wants of our own species ; and it is by such
acts as these that the intentions of nature are fulfilled, in miti-
gating the dominion of man over animals which contribute either
to his wants or his pleasures. Lord Kelburne told me, he had
never sold but one hunter. We had a party at dinner this day,
amongst them some officers of the Carabineers, then quartered
at Glasgow ; spent a pleasant and jovial evening, which John-
son's Boswell says, is "as much as can be made of life."

Monday, n. — The snow was partly gone ; but this not being
a hunting day, we rode to Glasgow for the purpose of seeing the
manufactory of Mr. Tennant, who had dined at Hawkhead on
the preceding day, and is a constant attendant on Lord Kel-
burne's hounds. But shall I not be considered to be romancing
when I describe the extent of the premises, as well as the opera-
tions carried on in them, at this manufactory of sulphuric acid
and of soap ? Their magnitude is expressed in a few words :
Buildings, covered with glass, extend over ten acres of ground,
and a hundred tons of coals are consumed every day throughout
the year. We found the exhalations emitted, in some of the
apartments we walked through, extremely irritating to our lungs,
although Mr. Tennant himself did not appear to be affected by
them, and several of the workmen were sitting at dinner in the

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 287

midst of them — proving the truth of the adage, that " use be-
comes second nature." The sulphuric acid is chiefly for expor-
tation, and was to be seen in great quantities, in jars, hermeti-
cally sealed for the purpose ; and, as a single specimen of the
capital expended in the making of it, we were shown one retort,
of French manufacture, and holding only seventy gallons, which
cost ^1400. It was formed of platina, the only metal which will
stand the required heat.

Tuesday, 19. — Met at Houlston Gate, and found in a very fine
whin cover on the side of the hill. It was a beautiful find, and
the hounds showed themselves to advantage by turning very
short back on the scent in the cover, and forcing their fox to fly
the country at once. The pace was very good at first, and also
at other parts of the run, which lasted three hours : and had his
lordship happened to have heard my holloa, as I viewed him,
dead beat, at the last, we should no doubt have killed him. This
was the most difficult run to ride to- that I ever experienced,
owing to the ground being, as it were, checkered, that is,
covered with snow in one place and bare in another. We often
lost sight of the hounds altogether, when they would otherwise
have been plain to be seen ; and in short, at one time, they were
invisible to every man in the field, although there was no lack of
hard riders, and the country good enough for anything. It was
a hard day for horses ; I rode " Scott's horse," who is said never
to have fallen at a fence, and indeed I found him perfect.

There was a gentleman out this day, who rode hard and well,
whom I cannot pass over, inasmuch as he pays a compliment to
fox-hunting, which no other sport would receive — at all events,
be entitled to. His name is Eddington ; and having undergone
amputation of one of his legs, above the knee, has had it replaced
by a cork one, on which he wears as good a boot and spur as
need be seen aj: Melton Mowbray. He is a regular attendant on
the hounds, and rides hard.

Wednesday, 13. — The hounds met this day, and we drew
blank, a good whin cover, called " the Round Cover/7 so called
because it is circular and enclosed by a high wall. The country
about it is good, but high ; and as the day was most tempestu-
ous, his lordship trotted away to Hawkhead, where we found,
but could do nothing with our fox.

Thursday, 14. — Lord Kelburne and myself this day met a large
party at dinner at the house of Mr. Dalglish, a wealthy merchant
of Glasgow, and residing in that city. I had this evening, after
an excellent dinner and as much claret as we liked, a taste
of the punch for which Glasgow is so celebrated, and excellent
tipple it is.

288 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR.

Saturday, 16— Met at the Bridge of Weir, and had a blank
day.

Sunday, 17. — Lord Kelburne and myself dined at the barracks
with the Carabineer officers, several of whom I had not seen
since I dined with them in .1829, at Dorchester, and witnessed
an amusing scene with poor Jack Hayward,* now defunct, who
gave us an excellent imitation of Mr. Musters' finding and killing
his fox. We had something to remind us of this day, on our re-
turn to Hawkhead. The post-boy was so drunk as to suffer the
horses to turn us fairly to the " right about " in the town of Glas-
gow. His lordship, however, took, I believe, the best means to
insure our safety, which was, to "holloa him forward " all the
way, for, said he, " if he goes slow, he will be asleep and tumble
off his horse." I must confess I was not sorry to find myself
safe at Hawkhead, for we went at an awful pace through the
iron gates into the domain, with the river Cart just on our star-
board tack.

The fixture on Monday, 1 8th, was Johnstone Castle, the seat
of Mr. Houstone, who had joined our party at Hawkhead,
and proved no small addition to it. We were unfortunate in
not getting away with a fox, which led us many miles, with a
very stale scent, over a capital country, all grass. We found
again, in the Hawkhead covers, and went quickly away, but be-
ing headed by some persons on the railway, he gave the
pack the slip. I lamed a horse of his lordship's this day, called
Jock, the only one I injured during my tour. Captain Gerard
(brother to Sir John, and who returned with us to Hawkhead)
also got an awkward fall, but escaped unhurt.

Tuesday, 19. — I was booked this day by the mail for Carlisle,
but his lordship said " no go." The fixture was South-bar, but
the morning was so dreadfully wet, that we were very late at
cover, and the field small, several of the gentlemen who had sent
horses not venturing to turn out. After this preface, I have little
to say of the day's sport. We found in a cover called the Big-
wood ; I viewed the fox away, and after a short run we lost him
— at least as was supposed, but he was brought dead to Hawk-
head in the evening, Idlled single-handed, I have reason to be-
lieve, by Brusher, who did not come away with the pack, but
joined it on our road home. We found again at Raskeleigh, but
the fox taking a very bad line, we could do nothing with him, and
the scent was wretchedly bad.

Still I have an incident or two to relate. First about half a dozen

* Veterinary surgeon, and much beloved by the regiment.

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 289

of us came suddenly, as we turned the corner of a cover on
some high spiked rails, placed on very sloping ground. I pulled
up, as did two gentlemen who were with me at the moment ; but
seeing Harrison take them on his big chestnut horse, without a
pause, and perceiving the foot-hold to be good, I followed him,
and the gentleman with the cork leg followed me. I do not
think I ever rode over a fence of this description before, and
should not have ridden at it at all, had not Harrison taken it
before me. Secondly, I have to produce a verification of the old
adage of " Brag is a good dog, but Hold-fast is a better." Mr.
Johnstone, of the Carabineers, on his great Irish mare, and
myself, had been boasting in the morning, that, mounted as we
were, we " would not be stopped by anything." Alas ! in the
second run, we allowed Lord Kelburne to plant us both at a
brook ! And what excuses can be offered ? For Mr. Johnstone
— none, although the banks were queer, and Collier had dropped
short with one hind leg. For myself, on perhaps the best
fencer in his lordship's stud, only this — I was booked by the
#/-mail for the next day, and having been well dosed with
calomel, I thought it probable, that a souse over head and ears,
in this black brook, might have been the means of sending me
father road.

We had, as was generally the case, the addition of two or three
gentlemen to our dinner party this evening, and at about an hour
after midnight they departed to their several homes. " Now,
Nimrod," said his lordship, when we were left by ourselves, in
the drawing-room, " we will drink to our next meeting in one
bottle of champagne," and the bell was rung before I could
have had time to have said " No." But I was not disposed to
say " No ;" on the contrary, although — if I may be allowed to
paraphrase an injunction without intending disrespect to the
author of it — sufficient for the day had been the wine thereof, I
was delighted at this pledge of friendship and good feeling in
my noble host, and newly-acquired friend, and answered, em-
phatically— " With all my heart, my lord." Unluckily, however,
the butler informed us there was no more champagne in ice, and
a bottle of Burgundy was ordered as its substitute ; this being
finished, we retired to our beds, and I know not how I can better
describe our parting at the bottom of the stairs, — his lordship's
road being one way and mine another, — than by another para-

Ehrasc of the following lines in one of Shenstone's pastoral bal-
ids, to which, Dr. Johnson says, " if any mind denies its
sympathy, it has no acquaintance with love or nature :"

" He gaz'd, as I slowly withdrew,
My path I could hardly discern ;

19

290 N1MRODS NORTHERN TOUR.

So kindly he bade me adieu,
I felt that he bade me return."

But to be serious. The frank and hearty reception which
greeted me on my arrival was more than equalled in the kind-
ness shown me on my departure, in wishes expressed for my re-
peating my visits to Hawkhead whenever I was disposed to
do so.

At the early hour of five, the same morning, was I in a post-
chaise, on my road for Glasgow, to be in time for the Carlisle
mail, in which I was once more booked ; and precisely in that
state of feeling in which most respectable gentlemen of my age
and habits would have found themselves after having been
allowed only about three hours for the insensible escape of all
the effects of a good dinner and a jovial night, and a pint of
stout Burgundy by way of a climax. In low life, I believe, the
term used for this not very agreeable state, is that of " seedy/'
and so let it be. Desperately " seedy " was I throughout the
whole d,ay ; nor indeed was I at all myself again, until I had felt
the benefit of Chester Billy's recipe, and had " gone cool through
the sheets," the following night, at Carlisle.

In my road from Hawkhead to Glasgow, I passed the spot on
which, the Glasgow and Paisley steam-coach blew up, a year or
two before, killing some of its passengers, blowing oft limbs from
others, and par-boiling not a few. If my recollection serves me,
the number of killed and wounded amounted to seventeen. With
every acknowledgment of the superiority of mechanical over
animal power, I told the principal proprietor of steam road-car-
riages, many years back, in Mr. TatersalPs yard, that they never
could be made available to the road, nor will they ever be. Then
again, between Glasgow and Carlisle, a circumstance occurred,
quite in character with the place at which it happened. On fresh
horses being put to the mail at Gretna Green — " that happy spot
where the unholy hand of law has not yet plucked up the root of
love" — the off leader bolted, at starting, and, jumping on the
back of her partner, brought her down with her to the ground.
Such confusion of this nature I never before witnessed. One
leader was on its back, and the bridle off the head of the other,
who lay with her head turned toward the coach, and her rein
pulled through the driver's hand. Now all this was the result of
the want of coachmanship, and nothing else. The culprit, a fine
young grey mare, apparently very well bred, wanted to get away
quickly with the coach, but the mutton-fisted fellow would not
let her do so, and by holding her hard, occasioned what I have
described.

NIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR. 291

On Friday, 22nd, I arrived at Merton House, in the county
of Durham, the residence of that " acme of a sportsman and a
gentleman," as Lord Kintore calls him, Mr. Ralph Lambton, to
whom I had signified my intention of visiting him, on my return
towards the South, and I am happy to say, I found him in ex-
cellent health and spirits. Neither was I long in his presence
before he put me on horseback, and we rode to the kennel, which
is situated in the park of his nephew the Earl of Durham.
Fenwick, the feeder, instantly recognized me, as also did Bob
Hunnum the first whip, whom we met in the park, and in a
situation, which, as Mr. Lambton allowed, would have just
suited Frank Grant, as a study for a sketch of a whipper-in, on
a non-hunting day. As for Bob himself, and the puppies he had
in the panniers,* I consider them to have been above all price ;
the heads of the two beautiful little animals, with their coal
black eyes, tanned brown, and velvet-like ears, which were to be
seen peeping out of the panniers and nodding to the step of the
old pony, little conscious of the value their owner set upon them
— what a beautiful sketch, I say, might have been made of them !
All young animals, or nearly all, come under the denomination
of pretty, but there is something in a young fox-hound of this age,
which is worthy a more significant epithet.

The pack had been fed previous to our arrival at the kennel —
be it remembered these hounds eat no flesh the day before they
hunt, — :but we accompanied them in their usual walk afterwards,
and they struck me as being hounds of more power than when
I saw them last, which was on my Yorkshire Tour in 1 827.
Their standard height, however, appeared to be about the same
— namely, dog-hounds about twenty-three, and bitches twenty-
two inches. Nothing need be more perfect than they are ; or
more justly entitled to the high character they bear ; but taking
into consideration the length of time this pack has been under
the direction of the master of it, and that he puts out from sixty
to seventy couples of puppies every year, we cease to wonder at
their being so, or that, in what must be altogether considered
only a second-rate country, and interrupted by railroads, their
average number of foxes killed for many years past, amounts to
fifty brace ! It is also worthy of notice, that the numbers killed
by the dog and bitch packs for some years past, has been very
nearly equal. It was one a-head in favour of the bitches, for
that individual season—up to the time I mean of my last visit to
Mr. Lambton.

On our return to Merton House we looked over the stables,

* He was taking a lot of puppies to their walks.

19-2

292 NtMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR.

in which I counted twenty-five hunters, besides several hacks.
I likewise saw the corn and meal lofts, so well stored indeed as
to induce me to ask Mr. Lambton whether he was not afraid of
having such a weight suspended over his horses7 heads. The
stables had just been set fair, and the servants gone to their
dinners, so that I could not have seen them at a more favour-
able time ; and I must say their neat appearance, coupled with
the excellent condition and sound state of the stud, reflected the
highest credit on John Winter, the huntsman — under whose
superintendence they have for so many years been placed.

Merton House is a most complete residence for a sportsman ;
it has every possible convenience for horses and servants, all
within itself, as likewise for a family of moderate size, but all the
world know that the worthy occupier of it is a bachelor. The
pleasure-grounds, in front of it, are kept in the highest order,
and the numerous roads and walks through them, which are
daily raked, are covered with London gravel, brought to New-
castle as ballast. We passed the evening tete-a-tete, there
being at that time no other visitor — rather an unusual occurrence,
I believe.

Saturday, 23rd. — The fixture this day was within an easy
reach, and Mr. Lambton and myself accompanied the hounds
on their way, which was to me no small gratification. The eye
of man loves to dwell on perfection, and when he finds it in
objects agreeable to his taste, the pleasure increases from that
circumstance. It would be useless, however, to say more on this
subject, than merely to state, what I think is very near the
truth — namely, that whoever has seen Mr. Osbaldeston's hounds,
in their best days, can form a very correct idea of what Mr.
Lambton's are, and, without doubt, will continue to be, so long
as he is the owner of them. I am inclined, however, to think
that, were it possible to compare the two, the multum in parvo
maxim would be found most to prevail in Mr. Lambton's. It is
this, which, in highly-bred animals, possessing symmetry as well,
gives the stamp of perfection, and should be the aim of breeders
of hounds as well of larger animals.

It is amongst the honours paid to fox-hunting, that none who
love, and understand it, ever appear to be satiated with it.
Thus, that season of the year, when, as Virgil sings, "nunc
frondent sytoce nunc formosissimus annus? and the perpetuity
of which, according to the poets, was numbered among the
felicities of the golden age, is, to the sportsman, one of melan-
choly rather than of rejoicing, and I have reason to believe, no
person rejoices less, that "the time of the singing-birds is come
and the voice of the turtle is heard," than the gentleman of whom

NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 293

I am speaking. It is, undoubtedly, no very pleasing reflection
for a master of hounds to indulge in, on his road to cover, that
although everything, on his part, is equal to produce a good
day's sport, and that the rinding his fox is a moral certainty,
still all attempts at sport shall be baffled by a hot sun and a
harsh wind, which were precisely the characteristics of this day.

I find, by my note-book, that we found our first fox in a fine
whin, and killed him in the same. A second went away, and
after hunting him two hours, with a wretched scent, but still
almost " to death " — for he was seen to lie down— we unfor-
tunately changed to a fresh one, which gave him time to recover
himself, and he beat us.

I rode one of Bob's horses called Duncan, of whom John
Winter gave me the following character. " Don't fear him, sir,
he'll not give you a fall, for, if he can't jump over a place, he 'II
wade through it."

Another circumstance occurred, which created a smile : whilst
picking out a cold scent, in the middle of a rough grass field, all
the pack being at work, a brace of hares jumped up in view.
Not a hound noticed them, on which I heard Mr. Lambton say
to one of the field, " I hope the Professor saw that" I did see
it ; and I agree with Lord Kintore in thinking, that any wild
animal jumping up in the view of hounds, in a moment of disap-
pointment and baffle, such as this was, puts their steadiness from
riot to the test, and, if unnoticed, confirms it.

Had the scent served, we should have had some fun this day,
for there was nothing amiss with the country, and some of the
field seemed to look well disposed to go the pace. Just as the
hounds were enabled to keep going, Mr. Lambton's horse turned
sulky with him, at a double fence ; stood stock still on the cop,
or bank; and would neither leap, nor "wade through" the
second ditch ; I conclude it was what we called at Rugby, his
« first fault."

We were joined at dinner this day by Mr. Robert Surtees, of
Hamsterley Hall, who, as his father has done before him, has
long enjoyed the intimate friendship of Mr. Lambton ; I should
have found him at Merton, indeed, had he not been unable to
reach it, on the day previous to my arrival, in consequence of
finding himself far from it, on a tired horse, at the end of a
capital run with his friend's hounds.

On the following morning I set out for London, on my road
horse, not without wishing, as I had before wished, that it had
been in my power to have given the Promethean touch of youth
to the celebrated sportsman who had so kindly received me, a
second time, under his roof. Whether fox-hunting is on the

19—3

294 NIMROUS NOR THERN TO UR.

decline, I am unable to determine ; I can only say, / hope it is
notj but it is such men as Mr. Lambton who give it the best
support—men who stick to it, on system, for many many years,
in the same country, and thus endear themselves to the people
over whose property they hunt, and not such as take to countries
one year and give them up the next, for the sake, perhaps, of
having it said, they were once masters of hounds. Then again,
I wish fox-hunting to flourish on another account — on my
country's account; for, as was said of the Coliseum of Rome,
which neither time nor nature would have been able to destroy,
so long as fox-hunting stands, England will stand, preserved by
the manly spirit engendered by the pursuit. Let it flourish then,
until the moon shall be in its last wane, and the sun shall cease
to shine on the world !

I have now got to the end of my Northern Tour, having nothing
left but to acknowledge — which I do with sincerity and in truth —
the attention and kindness I received in the progress of it. That
an honourable distinction was shown me, it would have been
impossible for me not to have felt, and the recollection of it will
cheer me in the evening of my days. Still, as Swift observes,
w it is the wise choice of the subject that alone adorns and dis-
tinguishes the writer," and, like ^Esop's fly, that sat upon the
axle of the chariot, it is to the popularity of my subjects — fox-
hunting especially — that I am indebted for any " Olympic dust "
that I may have been honoured with. Of one thing', however, I
may be allowed to feel proud. Johnson observes in the con-
cluding passage of his fourteenth Rambler, on the subject of
writers or authors, that " a transition, from an author's book to
his conversation is too often like an entrance into a large
city after a distant prospect. Remotely we see nothing but spires
of temples, and turrets of palaces, and imagine it the residence
of splendour, grandeur, and magnificence ; but when we have
passed the gates, we find it perplexed with narrow passages,
disgraced with despicable cottages, embarrassed with obstructions,
and clouded with smoke." The conduct of my Scotch friends,
however, placed me without the pale of this rather severe literary
jurisdiction, by their pressing invitations to me to return to their
hospitable and jovial hearths. Nevertheless, to insure the
sympathy of his readers is not the easiest of tasks, let the subject
be ever so inviting, or the writer ever so au fait at them. It is
said of Tibullus, for example, that he is the only poet who has
been able to arrive at fame, by singing of his own pleasures ;
what then must be the chance of him who can only relate his ?
All that I can say then, as regards myself in the progress of these
papers, is, that I have devoted my best energies to them in return

NIMRO&S NORTHERN TOUR. 295

for the kindness of my brother sportsmen to which they owe then
birth. In one respect they have appeared to disadvantage. To
record sayings and doings after some distance of time, may be
compared to the pickling and preserving of fruits, which, in that
state, fall far short of their flavour when fresh gathered from the
tree.

One word more, and I have done (and perhaps it is time to
have done ; for, in the somewhat technical words of my favourite
classic —

" Nos immensum spatiis confecimus sequor,

Et jam tempus equum fumantia solvere colla").

Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth is said to speak,
which may also be said of the pen, and I have already given my
opinion, that a writer without spirit is a writer without interest.
Nevertheless, I hope, in my endeavours to amuse, I have not
driven the jest so far as to hurt the feelings of any one. Should
I have done so, I would kiss the rod that might inflict the
merited correction. There is a delicate and honourable reserve
that restrains us from the exposure of our own errors and in-
firmities, which should be more carefully observed when alluding
to those of others ; and my aim has been, when called upon to
condemn, to follow the example of Horace, who is said to have
tickled when he gently probed the wound. But what have I been
called upon to condemn ? Why, nothing but what has emanated
from those excesses of zeal and hospitality for which fox-hunters ever
have been, and I hope ever will be, so conspicuous. By the ancient
law of Scotland, a calumniator was punished with death, and I
should deserve a hundred deaths had I thus returned evil for
good. My object has been an honest desire of imparting pleasure
to my readers, and I cannot convict myself of having stated one
untruth, knowing it to have been an untruth. " Truth," however,
says the proverb, " is not to be spoken at all times," although^ as
Juvenal says, it is only grating to a tyrant's ear. On the other
hand, it is difficult in the reader, and now and then, in the writer,
accurately to distinguish flattery from praise, although in their
realities, there are few things more distinct. The one I disown ;
of the other I may have been lavish, as I shall ever be where I
think it is due, and where I am able to appreciate it. Scotland
and Scotchmen then, for the present adieu ! I am indebted to
you much, and I should like to visit you once again.

INDEX.

Abercairney Abbey, 273

Aberdeen, town of, 192

Advertisement of fixtures in the news-
papers, 140

Alexander the Third, the " king of
hunters/' 23

Allan, Mr., 237

Anecdote of the whipper-in and his lady,
107

Anstruther, Sir Ralph, 156, 177, 255,
270

Arber, John, 274

Arbuthnot, the Hon. Capt., 256

Autographs of distinguished persons, 247

Baillie, Mr., of Mellerstain, 130
Baillie, Mr., Nim North's character of

his hounds, 139

Baillie, Messrs., of Mellerstain, 56, 134 -
Baird, Mr., the late, anecdote of, 27
Baird, Sir David, 40, 107, 134, 139
Baird, General, 64
Balcaskie, house of, 177
Balfour, Captain, 185
Bannerman, Sir Alexander, 270
Bannerman, Mr., 127
Barclay, Captain, 133, 188, 223, 224, 322,

260, 262
Barometer, the first, possessed by David

Gregory of Aberdeen, 192
Barrow, Will, 108

Batson, Mr., and Plenipotentiary, 12
Batters, Tom, first whip to the Fife

hounds, 165, 176

Berwick-upon-Tweed, description of, 23
Berwickshire as a hunting country, 69
Black, Mr., 246
Black Swan Inn at York, 14
Blackwood, Mr., 243
Blakie, Provost, 224
Boag, Mr., 17
Brougham, Lord, 220
Bucckle, General, 179
Buccleuch, Duke of, 109, 242
Buccleuch, Duke of, and the miller, 125
Buccleuch, Duke of, opinions of his pack,

Buccleuch's, Duke of, hounds, 9. list of,

85

Bunce, Jacky, 216
Burn, Hugh, the first whip to the Duke

of Buccleuch's hounds, 80, 106
Burnside, description of, 187

Callander, Mr. Burn, 74, 240

Campbell, Sir Hume, 51

Campbell, Mr., of Saddell, 26, 32, 45, 155

Campbell, Mr. Fletcher, no

Carmarthen, Marquis of, 233

Carnegie's, Mr., Monody on Tom Crane,
164

Chalmers, Mr., 182

Cheape, Professor, 243

Cheape, Mrs., 255

Chester Billy's recipe, 290

Chester Hall, 126

Chomley, Mr., the Rochester coach-
man, 7

Church, speaking out in, 169

Chute, Mr., 222

Clarke, Mr., 206

Clipping horses, remarks on, 80

Coach accidents, 9

Coachmen : Bill Watson, the Eagle,
Dover, 5— Mr. Chomley, the Roches-
ter, I—Old Penny, the Wellington,
10— Arthur Farquhar, the Defiance,
189, 235 — James Lambert, the Defi-
ance, 189, 248 — George Murray, the
Defiance, 189— David Roup, the Defi-
ance, 189, 190, 227, 235, 260

Coaching in Scotland, 21

Collison, Frank, 57, 83, 131

Cosser, the Durise horse-dealer, 51, 104

Craick, John, 266

Crane, Tom, late huntsman to the Fife
hounds, 160

Crane, Tom, Monody on, by Mr. Car-
negie, 164

Cristie, Mr., 158

Cunliffe, Lady, 49

Dalkeith kennel, 127, 240
Dalyell, Mr., 168, 180, 253, 270

INDEX.

297

Dalyell, Mrs., 186

Dashwood, Sir John, 257

" David the butler," 222

Davy's, Sir Humphry, Salmonia, 76

Defiance coach from Edinburgh to Aber-
deen, 1 88, 224, 234, 248, 260, 262

Delglish, Mr. , 287

Delme, Capt., 233

Dialogue between Nimrod and the farm-
er's boy, 47

Dick, Mr., 244

Dickinson, the Kelso horse-dealer, 71

Dingwall, Mr., 262

Dinner at the Cross Keys with the Duke
of Buccleuch and the yeomen of Rox-
burghshire, 124

Dinner and presentation of a piece of
plate to the Earl of Kintore, 209

Dorset, Duke of, anecdote of, 40

Douglas of " Chevy-Chase," the, na

Douglases of Brickton, the, 182

Douglas, Mr., 248, 256

Douglas, Mr, Archibald, 248, 256

Douglas's Hotel, Edinburgh, 144

Dowbiggen, Capt., 149

Dryburgh Abbey, in

Duff, Sir A., 265

Duff, the Hon. Mr., 213

Duff, Mr. Abercromby, 214, 217

Duff House, 217

Duncan, Lord, 167

Dunlugas, 214

Dunse, description of, 24

Dunse Castle, description of, 53

Earle, Mr., 129, 156, 184, 243, 254
Earl of Fife Banff coach, 192
Eddington, Mr., 287
Eglinton, Lord, 28, 35, 45
Elcho, Lord, 25, 28, 59, 120
Elcho, Lord, and the toll-bar keeper, no
Elliot, Captain, 100, 136
Elliot, Hon. John, and the butcher, 139
English and French travelling, 4
Expense of keeping a pack of fox-hounds,
101

Farmer's Folly, the, 22

Farquhar, Arthur, coachman to the De-
fiance, 189, 235

Fences, description of the, in Berwick-
shire, 43

Fen wick, 291

Ferguson, Mr., 190

Fife, Earl of, 217

Fife hounds : origin of, 160 — Expenses
of, 176— Description of the, 171 -A list
of, for 1835, 172

Fife country, the, character of, 179

Fitzclarence, Lord Frederick, 48, 119

Fletchers, Messrs., of Saltoun, 28, 36

Forester, the late Lord, his opinion of
mares, 136

Forester, the late Lord, 187
Forfarshire, character of, as a hunting

country, 180
Fotheringham, Col., 243
Fox-hounds, their appearance at night,

212

Fox-hounds, expense of keeping a pack

of, 1 01

Foxes lost, excuses for, 114
Foxes, Williamson's mode of bolting

them, 132
Frost, some remarks on, 256

Gage, Capt., 233

Gask, the " huntsman's stall" at, 201

Gerard, Capt., 288

Gibbons, Bill, 238

Glasgow and Paisley steam-coach explo-
sion, 290

Gordon, the late Duke of, 227, 253

Gordon, Colonel, 212

Gordon, Duncan, huntsman to Mr.
Baillie's father, 143

Goodricke, Sir Harry, anecdote of, 3

Grant, Captain, 121

Grant, Mr., 179, 270

Grant, Joe, first whip to the Earl of Kin-
tore, 208, 269

Gray, Mr., 245

Greenhill, Mr., 182

Gregory, David, the first possessor of a
barometer, 192

Grieve, Mr. M'Kenzie, 28, 37, 44

Guard, Ben Reader, the sporting, 12

Guthrie, Mr., 252

Gypsies, the, of Yeth-holm, 142

Haggis, description oi a, 141

Harper, the blind, 39

Harriers, Mr. Hume's, 38 — Mr. Hay's,
257

Harrison, whipper-in to Lord Kelburne
285, 289

Hatton Castle, 213

Hay, Sir Leith, 261

Hay, Col. of the Bays, 63

Hay, Capt. Peter, 148, 182, 255

Hay, Mr., of Dunse Castle, 26, 31, 39

Hay, Mr. Adam, 127, 242

Hay, Mr. of Latham, 182, 256

Hill, Lord Marcus, 190

Hirsel, the, 67

Hodgson, Mr., now Mr. Hodgson Hinde,
M.P. for Newcastle, 21

Home, Earl of, 67

Hope, Sir John, 241

Hopetoun, Lord, 147

Horse-dealer, the London, and William-
son, 99

Horses, remarks on clipping, 80

Horsman, Mr., 129

Hounds on a windy day, the kennel the
best place for, 146

298

INDEX.

Hounds; Sir M. W. Ridley's, 16— Lord
Elcho's, 26, 61, 68— The Galewood,
46— The Duke of Buccleuch's, 54, 66,
242— Major St. Paul's, 119— Mr. Ram-
say's, 144, 151 — The Fife, 159, 254 —
Earl of Kintore's, 209, 211, 264— Mr.
Dalyell's, 248, 256, 259— Mr. Moray of
Abercairney's, 274— Lord Kelburne's,
284 — Mr. Lambton's, 292

Houstone, Mr., 288

Hume, Torman, Esq., 61

Hunnum, Bob, 291

Hunter, Capt., 277

" Hunting stall" at Cask, 201

Inglis, the Edinburgh horse-dealer, 150,
346

Jack and the Captain, 169

"James Old," 185

Jeffrey's, Lord, 155

Johnson, Major, 190

Johnson, Capt., 243

Johnstone, Mr., 289

Jones's, the eleven Mr. John, 212

Keith, Hon.' William, 126

Keith Hall, 218

Keith Hall fox-hounds, a list of the, 194

Kelburne, Viscount, 279

Kelburne, Viscount, opinion of his
hounds, 281

Kelso, description of, 75

Kennedy, Lord, 261

Kennels and stables at St. BoswelPs, 78

King, John, anecdote of, 93

King, Mr., the would-be Tilbury of
Edinburgh, 24

Kinlock, Sir David, 49

Kinnaird, Lord, 166

Kintore, the late Earl of, 199

Kintore, Earl of, 2, 192, 209, 264

Kintore, Lord, his description of the
modern hunter, 150

Kintore, Lord, his observations on hunt-
ing, 1 66

Lady Kirk, description of, 41
Lain, the Edinburgh horse-dealer, 236
Lamb, Charley, 35

Lambert, James, coachman to the Defi-
ance, 189, 248
Lambton, Mr. Ralph, 291
Larch-tree, proportionate growth of, 16
Lawry, huntsman to Mr. Hay, 258
Leslie, Mr., 214, 217, 265
Leslie, Capt., 215, 216, 217
Lions of Edinburgh, 155
Linlithgow pack, general character of,

Listen, Mr., 94, 182
Listen, Mrs., 134

List of the Duke of Buccleuch's hounds,
85

List of the Fife hounds, for 1835, 172

List of the Keith Hall fox-hounds, 194

Lowe, Professor, 245

Lumsden, Andrew, Mr. Baillie's hunts-
man and fiddler, 138

M'Dowall Grant, Mr., 26, 37

M'Kenzie, Donald, 265

Mail, the curricle, to Edinburgh, 46

Manufactory for sulphuric acid and soap,
286

Marchmont House, anecdote respecting,
52

Mares not to be depended on, 136

Marley, Mr., the Newcastle tailor, 20

Marshall, Matthew, head groom to the
Duke of Buccleuch, 83

Martingals, the advantage of, 108

Maule, Hon. Fox, 149

Maxwell, Capt., 53

Maxwell, Mr., 61

Mellerstain, 134

Melrose Abbey, 112

Melville, Mr. Whyte, 129, 156, 179, 255,
270

Merton House, 291

Miller, the, of Stonehaven, 234

Minister's mare, the, 78

Mollison, William, groom to the Earl of
Kintore, 205

Monody on Tom Crane, 164

Moray, Mr., 271

Morison, Mr., 214

Mount Melville, description of, 157

Murray, George, coachman to the De-
fiance, 189

Musgrave, Capt., 233

Musters, Mr., 109

Napier, Professor, 246
Nesbitt, Mr., 214
Newcastle, description of, 21
Nicoll, Mr., 208

Nimrod and the Blacksmith, 141
Nimrod and the horse-dealer's man, 151
Nim North's character of Mr. Baillie's
hounds, 139

Ogilvie, Mr., 117

Old Alphabet, 112

Old Corcoran, anecdote of, 95

Old Penny, the Wellington coachman,

10

Opinion of the Duke of Buccleuch's

pack, 88

Oswald, Mr., 281
Oxenford Castle, 128

Pavmure, Lord, 327
Paxton House, 61
Peer, Jack, 191

INDEX.

299

Peter, the head waiter at the Cross Keys,

Kelso, 73
Philip, whipper-in to the Earl of Kintore,

209, 268

Phrenologist, the, 98
Piece of plate presented to Capt. Barclay

and Mr. Watson, 228
Piper, the Edinburgh coach proprietor,

237
Plate, piece of, presented to the Earl of

Kintore, 209

Plenipotentiary and Mr. Batson, 13
Pleydell, Mr., 180
Post-boy, the Turriff, 213, 214
Poverty better than riches, 128
Preston Hall, 129, 240
Pringle, Sir John, Bart., 54
Proctor, Jock, 252
Pryse Pryse, Mr., 201
Puleston, Sir Richard, 161
Pye, Tom, 170

Rait, Capt., 250, 256

Ramsay, Mr., 143, 224

Reader, Ben, the sporting guard, xa

Reid, Jemmy, 272, 279

Ridley's, Sir M. W., hounds, 16

Ridley, Mr., now Sir M. W. Ridley, 18

Rigg, Mr. James Horn, 160

Roffey, Mr. Jolliffe's huntsman, anecdote

of, ii

Ross, Mr. Horatio, 149
Rothes, Earl of, 184
Roup, David, coachman to the Defiance,

189, 190, 227, 235, 260
Royal Caledonian Hunt Club, 155
Run, a fine, from East Gordon, with the

Duke of Buccleuch's hounds, 55
Run, a brilliant, from Learmouth bog,

with Major St. Paul's hounds, 119

Sackville, Lord, anecdote of the cele-
brated, 169

St. Boswell's, visit to, 78
St. Paul, Major, 47, 119
Saltoun, Lord, 27, 30
Scott, Lord John, 74
Scott, Mr. Henry, 113, 136
" Scott, Old," huntsman to Mr. Ramsay,

Scottish boors, 123

Severe burst wkh Lord Elcho's hounds,

42

Seymour, Lord Archibald, 28
Shairp, Major, 149
Shakerley, Mr., 243
Sharpe, Archbishop, 184
Sinclair, the late Sir John, 246
Sitwell, Mr., 121
Skinner, Harry, 182
Skinner, John, 181

Skinner, Tom, 181

Smith, Mr. Assheton, anecdote of, 146

Smythe Owen, Mr., 243

Spottiswoode, Capt., 51

Spottiswoode House, 126

Sprot, Mr., 116

Steam-coach explosion, 290

Stewart, Mr., 182, 185

Stewart, Mr. Henry, 243

Stephens, Mr., 246

Stirling, Major Moray, 273

Surtees, Mr., of Hamsterley Hall, 15

Surtees, Mr. Robert, 15, 293

Tennant, Mr., 286

Thompson's monument, 72

Thompson, Mr. Anstruther, 160

Thompson, Mr., 276

Thompsons, the Misses, 178

Till, the river, dangerous to ford, 121

Timotheus, 221

Todd, Mr., 59

Turriff country, character of the, 20

Ury, 224

Waldie, Mr., in

Walker, John, huntsman to the Fife

hounds, 167, 170, 174, 179, 185, 255
Walton, Joe, 228
Warde, John, anecdote of, 144
Waterloo heroes, 62
Waterloo Hotel, Edinburgh, 236
Watson, Mr. Hugh, 228
Watson, Bill, the Eagle, Dover, coach-

man, 5
Webb, cause of the death of, coachman

to the Birmingham Emerald, 235
Wemyss, Major, 186, 259
Wemyss, Captain, 158, 168
"We have seen a run together," a song,

Whippy, the late Mr., 250

Whitfield, Squire, 180

Wilkie, Mr., 148

Wilan, Jack, 214

Williamson, Mr., 260

Williamson, William, huntsman to the

Duke of Buccleuch, 54, 78, 90, 93, 134,

151

Wilson, Professor, 144, 238
Wilson, Mr. James, 144
Wilson, Jack, second whip to the Earl

of Kintore, 208, 212
Wines, very old, 137
Winter, John, 293
Wyndham, Major, 243
Wynne, Sir William, 63

Yeatman, Mr., 257
Yeoman, the English, 17
Yetholm, village of, 115

BILLING, PRINTER, GUILDFORD, SURREY.

1TB .'5977

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