322 FIELD AND FERN. 



the honours of a useful tribe ; Princess of Cam- 

 bridge strains on her sire's side to Bolden's Grand 

 Duke ; and Maid of Athelstane wanders a maid for- 

 lorn. 



A few of the Leicester ewe flock are in the Home 

 field as well, and among them several black ones, 

 selected by Mr. Young out of the forty which were sold 

 by the late Mr. Boswell at his last roup, with his other 

 fancies, the Shetland pony pairs, Semibreve and Oc- 

 tave, Tivy and Tantivy, Gippy and Tippy. About 40 

 Leicester tup lambs are brought into the roup ring on 

 the slope near the main gates each October, and 

 mostly go north of the Forth to cross the black-faced 

 ewes. The last average was 4 3s. all round, 

 and several of them have made 5, 7, and 10. 

 The Leicester blood is a combination of Lord Pol- 

 warth's with Cockburn's, Simson's of Blainslie, 

 and Bosanquet's; and there is also a slight infusion 

 from Brown of Burton, Roy of Nenthorn, and Carter 

 of Richmond. 



Now we peep into the heather- covered platforms, 

 where a century of peacocks roost at night, and 

 take a round among the bullocks, Leicesters, and 

 Clydesdale fillies in the park. The north wind had 

 stripped the leaf from the beech, and was whistling 

 through the tassels of the larch ; and the silver ball 

 reflects nothing but wintry barrenness in that carse, 

 in which Dean Stanley saw such a vivid likeness to 

 the Plain of Sanur, but Keir is still green and fair. 

 You can still ramble among thick laurel hedges with 



