78 NIMROnS NORTHERN TOUR. 



Mr. D. " Well, sir, p'raps Peter had a wee drap to much." 



Nim. " But what shall I do ? I want to get to St. BoswelPs 

 before the hounds are fed, and it is now ten o'clock, and to- 

 morrow a hunting day." 



Mr. D. " Well here's the Mi-nis-ter's mare. He'll no want her 

 to-day, and she's getting muckle fat. She'll carry you quite to 

 your leeking." 



It is scarcely necessary then to observe, that in little more than 

 an hour from this time, the Minister's mare and Nimrod were at 

 St. BoswelPs, about nine miles from Kelso, the distance being 

 impressed upon my memory by the fact of my having, for the 

 first time in my life, paid exactly a penny a mile tollage. The 

 scenery by the road side, however, is more than worth the 

 money. 



I confess I anticipated, beyond a sight of the duke's establish- 

 ment, a great treat in this visit to St. BoswelPs. In the first 

 place, a clever huntsman has ever been an object of my early 

 admiration ; secondly, knowledge, like honey, being picked up a 

 bit here and a bit there, I was very anxious to have an hour or 

 two's conversation with the very celebrated Williamson, and, as 

 the poet says, 



c From his lips 



Glean Science." 



More than this ; although, strictly speaking, Nimrod should 

 be a reporter of actions rather than a painter of characters, yet 

 those of public men being public property " publica materies," 

 as Horace calls them, and few are more often discussed than a 

 huntsman's I wished to have somewhat of a clearer insight into 

 his, than the mere operations in the field would afford me, being 

 persuaded, from all I had heard, that it was by no means an 

 every-day one. 



I was much pleased with the site* and business-like appear- 

 ance of the St. BoswelPs kennel and stables, all of which, with 

 the houses of the huntsman and the head groom, present one 

 uniform front, but of course divided into two separate court- 

 yards, with large folding gates to each. Nor was I less satisfied 

 with the internal arrangements, which every one who sees them 

 must admit are formed by a master hand, and I have reason to 

 believe the directing hand was that of Williamson himself. But 

 what most surprised me was the moderate charge at which these 

 premises had been erected namely not quite ^1500, which may 



* At the head of a small common, intersected with roads. 



