NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. % 



I can honestly extol the virtues as well as the prowess of a sports- 

 man. Nulli secundus is the son and representative of this gentle- 

 man, the present Sir David Baird. 



Of his character as a country gentleman and a useful member of 

 society, the piece of plate lately presented to him, and purchased 

 by the subscription of seven thousand freeholders of the county 

 of Haddington, is the best testimonial ; as a soldier, his deeds 

 and his wounds are his best panegyric ; and it remains for me 

 only to allude to him as a sportsman and a companion. In the 

 first-named character, he has long held a high station, not only 

 as a rider not to be beaten over a country by any man, but as a. 

 superior judge of what hounds are doing ; and in every country 

 in which he has followed them, has left behind him the reputatioa 

 of combining the best properties of the horseman and the sports- 

 man. In proof of this, he was last year solicited to hunt the 

 Pytchly country (Northamptonshire), but preferred a lease of 

 Melton Lodge, near Melton, for three years, where he took up his 

 residence during the latter part of last season. This is one of the 

 most complete sporting boxes perhaps in England, which may be 

 accounted for by the fact of its having been, for several years, the 

 residence of the late lamented Earl of Plymouth that stanch 

 supporter of the Quorn Hunt. If my recollection does .not fail 

 me, there are stalls and boxes for nearly thirty horses. 



Sir David Baird has been a frequent occasional resident ia 

 Leicestershire, and, as well as upon other occasions, his name 

 appears in print, in Mr. Campbell's song to which I have before 

 alluded descriptive of a fine run in that county, in which he is 

 represented as sailing along " in his pride of place" (as Shake- 

 speare says of the falcon), on his famous horse Jemmy Hope. 

 And there is on record an excellent anecdote of this said Jemmy 

 Hope, and this said Sir David Baird. He sold the horse to a 

 gentleman without selling the seat of the rider a very common 

 case and the following was the result : Sir David, having the 

 lead at the time, was floored on his back in a ditch, and, seeing 

 Jemmy Hope leap over him, with nothing on his back but his 

 saddle, and go straight to the hounds, coolly exclaimed, " There 

 he goes, he would always be with them if they would let him" 



As a companion Sir David has been well drilled ; for, as has 

 been truly said, 



"To give a young man a good education, 

 The army's the very best school in the nation ;" 



and the circle in which he has since moved always ensures the 

 finish. 



5 



