Field Meetings. Ill 



so fatally assailed by the infuriate rival. We visited, too, 

 " Fair Helen's Bower " — a comfortable shade and shelter — in 

 the deep dell beyond, and returned by way of the gardens to 

 Springkell, where our host and hostess received us at home, 

 provided a most ample afternoon tea, and exhibited the rare 

 treasures of art and antiquity with which the house is stored 

 with a gush of hospitality not soon to be forgotten by the 

 company. Antiquarians speak of men and things as they find 

 them, and dare not allow the judgment in anything to be biassed 

 by the prejudices of the fleeting hour. 



Mr Johnson-Ferguson has apparently inherited the taste for 

 all that is best in art as well as the treasures of some of his 

 ancestors who were distinguished collectors. The result at 

 Springkell is an exceedingly interesting and valuable collection 

 of works of art, ranging from oil-paintings by some of the older 

 Dutch and Italian masters to a complete gallery of Reynolds 

 engravings, to specimens of Turner and other moderns as well in 

 oil as in water-colour drawings, while the portrait of Mrs 

 Johnson-Ferguson, exhibited by Luke Fildes in the Royal 

 Academy of 1895, occupies on its merits a central place on the 

 line — in itself one of the masterpieces of contemporary portrait- 

 painting. We observed one quaint little picture of local interest, 

 drawn and engraved by W. Matthews, Oxford, entitled Gretna 

 Green, or the Red-hot Marriaye. The blacksmith is there in 

 approved smithy costume, with his hands clasped over an open 

 Bible which lies on the anvil, while a lady and a gentleman in 

 travelling garb, attended by a postilion, are standing between 

 the anvil and the door. Under this sketch these doggerel lines 

 are inscribed : — 



Oh ! Mr Blacksmith, ease our pains, 

 And tie us fast in wedlock's chains. 



The Secretary having conveyed the exuberant thanks of the 

 party to the most generous host and hostess, our drive was 

 resumed, and with the long level back of Burnswark behind us 

 and the Sol way shores beckoning us homewards, we negotiated 

 pleasantly tlie journey back to Annan, more than delighted with 

 .1- day on the Kirtle. 



