26 NIMROJyS NORTHERN TOUR. 



sportsman, could not continue long in a man like Lord Elcho, 

 who was from his youth a sportsman in every other acceptation 

 of that word ; and here comes the proof. On quitting Leicester- 

 shire, he set up a pack of harriers in Scotland and hunted them 

 himself for three successive seasons. Whether or not at the time 

 of his doing so, his lordship had any intention of keeping fox- 

 hounds in Scotland, and hunting them himself, it is out of my 

 power to determine ; but of this I am certain, that nothing would 

 be more likely to qualify a hard-riding Leicestershire gentleman 

 for that office, than to witness the patience and perseverance of 

 a close-hunting pack of harriers (for, after all, hunting is but 

 hunting), and the ill effects of pressing upon and over-riding 

 them when in their work. If I may be allowed such an expres- 

 sion, they would bring his lordship's head down together with 

 their own ; and instead of looking, as when in Leicestershire, 

 for the weakest place in a bull-finch, or for the soundest bank of 

 a brook, he would be admiring Bonny-bell and Beauty, and the 

 short turn they were making, and also thinking within himself 

 whether they would make it good over the foil. But to cease 

 my conjectures and turn to facts. Lord Elcho, dropping his har- 

 riers and flying at nobler game, got together, in a shorter time 

 than were ever before got together, a hard-working and steady 

 pack of fox-hounds, hunted by himself.* It must be observed, 

 that when I first saw them they had only been at work one 

 season and a half, which must be allowed to be very young 

 days ; but with a person at their head whose heart and soul is in 

 the sport, they will progress rapidly towards perfection. Indeed, 

 Lord Kin tore wrote me word lately of his having been paying a 

 visit to his brother huntsman at Amisfield confirming every 

 word which I have advanced as to the rapid formation of the 

 pack, and adding the important fact of Lord Elcho's having, 

 this year, put forward five couples of young hounds of his own 

 breeding, which, his lordship adds, do him credit. 



The dinner party this day (Sunday, Qth November) at the 

 Black Bull was small, consisting only of Lord Elcho, Mr. Hay 

 of Dunse Castle, Mr. Campbell of Saddell, and myself; but we 

 were gratified during the evening by the appearance of Lord 

 Saltoun and Mr. McDowal Grant, for whose reception a house 

 had been taken in the town, and whose horses had been await- 

 ing their arrival. That kindred feeling which exists amongst 

 sportsmen would have put me at ease in such society as this 

 had I been a stranger to all, but it so happened that to my no 



* His lordship commenced his first season with a huntsman, but he 

 broke his leg in a fall, and died. 



