OF FARRIERY. 



863 



deliver a mes-^age of liigh political conse- 

 quence. Next morning early, when his Lord- 

 ship entered the hall, he saw the man sleeping 

 on a bench ; and, conceiving that he had neg- 

 lected his dnty, was about to commit some 

 rash act, when the poor fellow awoke and in- 

 formed Lord Home, that his commission had 

 been executed, and that, having retured before 

 his Lordship was stirring, he had only taken 

 leave to rest himself a little. The Earl, 

 equally astonished and gratified by the ac- 

 tivity of his faithful vassal, rewarded him with 

 a little piece of ground, which, to this day, 

 bears the name of the post rig ; a term equi- 

 valent to the postman's field, and an unques- 

 tionable proof, as all the villagers at Hume 

 devoutly believe, of the truth of the anecdote. 

 The custom of keeping a running footman did 

 not cease amongst noble families in Scotland 

 till the middle of the last century. 



The Earl of March, father to the late Duke 

 of Queensberry, and who lived at Neidpath 

 Castle near Peebles, had one named John 

 Mann, who used to run in front of the car- 

 riage, with a long staff. In the head of the 

 staff there was a recess for a hard-boiled eg'g', 

 such being the only food taken by Mann 

 during a long journey. 



Next to the pedestrian feats of our prede- 

 cessors, were their equestrian performances. 

 The pedestrian was almost independent of 

 roads ; and hence the brilliancy of his feats. 

 The rider was not just so independent ; but 

 still a rough way was of less consequence to 

 him than to a wheeled vehicle. Hence it 

 arises that some journies performed on horse- 

 back in former times are not much less 

 wonderful than the above examples of rapid 

 walking. 



Hori-emen of the present day would thinU 



it no mean feat, we suspect, to perform on 

 horseback one hundred miles a day ; yet this 

 undertaking appears insignificant, compared 

 with the account of the rapid travelling of the 

 messenger who conveyed to Edinburgh the 

 death of Queen Elizabeth. 



Queen Elizabeth died at one o'clock of 

 the morning of Thursday the 24th of March, 

 1603. Between nine and ten, Sir Robed 

 Carey left London (after having been up all 

 night), for the purpose of conveying the in- 

 telligence to her successor James, at Edin- 

 burgh. That night he rode to Doncaster, a 

 hundred and fifty-five miles. Next niglit he 

 reache\i Witherington, near Morpeth. Eariy 

 on Saturday morning he proceeded by Norharn 

 across the Border, and, that evening, at no 

 late hour, kneeled beside the kings bed at 

 Holyrood, and saluted him as King of England, 

 France, and Ireland. He had thus travelled 

 four hundred miles in three days, resting 

 during the two intermediate nights. But it 

 must not be supposed that speed like this was 

 attained on all occasions. 



When we consider the state of the roads at 

 the period at which this performance took 

 place, it must be considered an astonishing 

 feat of hardihood. 



At the commencement of the religious 

 troubles which happened in the reign of 

 Charles I., when matters of the utmost import 

 ance were debated between the King and his 

 northern subjects, it uniformly appears that ;i 

 communication from Edinburgh to London, 

 however pressing might be the occasion, was 

 not answered in less than a fortnight. The 

 crowds of nobles, clergymen, gentlemen, ami 

 burghers, who at that time assembled in 

 Edinburgh to concert measures tor opposinij 

 the designs of the court, always dispersed 



