'THE OLD SQUIRE OF DORSET' 



James John Farquharson. 



When Dr Johnson, who had a most unreasonable dis- 

 like to Scotland and Scotsmen, was asked by an irate 

 Scot, whether he must not in candour admit that the 

 prospect from Edinburgh Castle was a noble one, he 

 replied in his big bow-wow style, ' Sir, the noblest pro- 

 spect that a Scotchman ever sees is the high-road that 

 leads him to England.' Along that road, far back in the 

 last century, came the grandsire of James John 

 Farquharson, who for two-and-fifty years was the most 

 popular Master of Hounds in the South of England. 

 But there was only the name and a certain expression of 

 the features to indicate the grandson's Scottish descent. 

 For, the mild airs of Dorsetshire had softened down all the 

 asperities of the North, and there was no kindlier and 

 gentler soul in England than the beloved and honoured 

 Squire of Langton House. ' The Nestor of the Chase ' 

 he was justly named, and one felt a kind of awe as one 

 looked at the white-haired octogenarian, whom men still 

 young can remember, and called to mind that he had 

 been the friend of Peter Beckford — a link with the 

 past indeed ! 

 James John Farquharson was the son of a wealthy 



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