64 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 



which Scotland may well be proud, and of a name long known 

 in the sporting world as contributing to its honour and its fame. 



In the first place I had heard and read of one distinguished 

 member of this family when I was a boy ; of his deeds of glory 

 in our Indian wars ; of his numerous wounds ; of his captivity 

 and his chains ; I need scarcely observe that I allude to the 

 Right Honourable General Baird, second son of the late Sir John 

 Baird, Bart., of Newbyth, near Haddington, uncle to the present 

 Sir David, and from whom he (Sir David) inherited his title and 

 estates. But more to my purpose is the notice of those who have 

 signalized themselves in the hunting-field, or on the race-course, 

 and I have reason to believe that our good king's dominions 

 never produced a keener sportsman than the late Mr. Baird 

 the father to Sir David who hunted East Lothian and Berwick- 

 shire for so many years of his life, and was so great a supporter 

 of the Scottish turf. And here I cannot do better than quote the 

 words of one <of his friends in a short memoir of his sporting life. 

 " Possessed of an ample fortune," says he, " and with a mind 

 enthusiastically devoted to the sports of the field, Mr. Baird may 

 be truly said to have passed his days in one unceasing round of 

 manly and pleasurable pursuits. His fox-hounds and his race- 

 horses shooting in its wildest and most sportsmanlike forms 

 his hawks and his game cocks to all and each of these in their 

 seasons was he most ardently attached." His friend then speaks 

 of his race-horses, and in allusion to the St. Leger stakes of 1825, 

 and " the unacccountable position" of his favourite horse Cleve- 

 land, in that race the said Cleveland having been pulled up at 

 the distance-post expresses an opinion that the disappointment 

 occasioned by the losses his friend sustained, who had deeply 

 backed his horse, " severely wounded his feelings." No doubt 

 they did, but the " unaccountableness" of such things no longer 

 exists at Doncaster. 



I must add one other tribute to the memory of this celebrated 

 sportsman. He was the first master of the celebrated Williamson, 

 who may be truly said to swear by him, both as a sportsman and 

 a master, to this day ; and be assured, reader, whosoever you 

 may be, there is no better testimony to the good qualities of a 

 gentleman than the good word of his servant. But I was given 

 to understand there was a playfulness of manner in Mr. Baird 

 " Cockburn Law in the throat," for example which won the 

 affections of all men ; and his enthusiasm in the field could not 

 have been lost upon his huntsman. He was a master of fox- 

 hounds for nearly sixty years, and died at an advanced age, most 

 universally regretted in Scotland. 



I feel my blood circulate more freely through my veins when 



