Charles Hacket of Inveramsay. 113 



between the bars of the " yett," and staying not for 

 an instant to pick it up again. 



One operation in improved husbandry, which was 

 disliked and despised by the natives, was that of en- 

 closing. Of old time cattle had roved hither and 

 thither much at their will, and the idea that they 

 should be restricted in so doing was reckoned very 

 intolerable. Improvers generally had a good deal to 

 do in contending against this feeling which, in some 

 cases, led to fences being wilfully thrown down, and 

 newly planted trees pulled up. And as Racket's tem- 

 per was none of the calmest, he was apt to get greatly 

 irritated at the idea of any thing in the nature of a 

 trespass upon his lands. On one occasion he had ob- 

 served the cattle belonging to the miller on the neigh- 

 bouring estate straying over a fine haugh upon the 

 lands of Inveramsay, and he set off in hot haste to 

 impound them for the damage done. Not so fast, 

 however. The miller's herd had probably been taking 

 a quiet snooze by the dykeside when his charge strayed 

 over the burn, but by the time Laird Hacket had 

 reached the lower end of the haugh, he was wide 

 awake, as the laird speedily found. For he had scarcely 

 begun to move off the beasts, which he was prepared 

 to treat as his lawful captives, when the herd, a stout, 

 half-grown fellow, as herds in those days were, came 

 scouring along with an armful of stones, with which 

 he forthwith commenced a vigorous assault on the 

 enemy, who was glad to make " his feet his freens," as 

 he had done after Culloden ; ingloriously quitting his 

 prey, and returning homeward even more quickly than 

 he had come, while the incensed herd followed him a 

 good way along the brae with a furious fusilade of 

 stones. 



At another time, when passing near the outskirts of 

 his property, Mr. Hacket met Saunders Nicol quietly 

 driving home some half-dozen sheep which had evi- 

 dently been straying on the laird's land, where they 

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