PERTH TO DUNKELD. 269 



found to be hardier, and to do much better without 

 water. 



When we returned to Perth the next month, there 

 was very little need of placards, bidding us to " Be- 

 ware of giddy joys which cheat and wound the 

 heart/' as none were to be found on the Inch during 

 the celebration of the Caledonian Hunt. The horo- 

 scope of the races was very quickly told. "There are 

 about a dozen horses here just the regular lot ; and 

 they've arranged all the races;" and there seemed 

 but too much truth in it. Lord Glasgow, Lord 

 Strathmore, and Mr. Stirling Crawfurd are all mem- 

 bers of the Club ; but they scarcely ever run horses 

 in Scotland ; and as Mr. Sharpe had then retired 

 from the turf, there was no one to knock over the 

 arrangements of "The Confederates/' or, at all 

 events, to make them race for their money. 



Where was Mr. Tom Parr ? Was he too busy among 

 the grouse of Kildonan, or the pheasants of Challow ? 

 Why was Mr. Merry a saunterer among the English 

 flesh-pots, far away from the sward which he used to 

 frequent in his hot youth with Beardershin and 

 Florentia? Not one Dawson, Tom, Mat, Joe, or 

 John, was to be seen. Eobert did not journey to the 

 old spot from Middleham ; and John Osborne was, 

 pen in hand, in that little Ash gill parlour, deep in 

 the stars and Weaiherby's sheet calendar, and calcu- 

 lating the spoils of another Nursery Stakes. 



FAnson was alone found faithful among the 

 trainers. Nothing can wean him off Scotland ; and 



