NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 99 



the best foor rnarfs servant in the world," says another. But 

 Williamson's reason for still adhering to that strict economy, 

 vulgarly called " close shaving," now he is a rich man's servant, 

 does him no discredit, if not pushed too far. " I found the duke 

 rich," said he to me, "and it is my wish that he should remain 

 rich." Would that this maxim were more generally acted upon 

 than it is ; there would be fewer old inheritances in the market ; 

 fewer mortgaged estates; fewer poor gentlemen. The subject 

 that led to this conversation was the building of the kennel and 

 stables at St. BoswelPs, which was entirely under the direction of 

 this most valuable servant, who confirmed what I had heard 

 namely, that the expense of erecting and completing the entire 

 range of the premises, sufficient for the two establishments, did 

 not exceed the sum of fifteen hundred pounds ! A humorous 

 anecdote or two 'resulted from this portion of our conversation. 

 "I was paying a bill to a farmer, for hay," said Williamson, 

 "a short time ago, of nearly fifty pounds, and he insisted upon 

 the odd fourpence halfpenny. I gave it him," said he, "with 

 pleasure, because it showed I had bought the hay worth the 

 money" This rigid economy throughout the various depart- 

 ments of so large an establishment as the duke's, must be very 

 profitable to the duke but by no means so to his huntsman, 

 who, by his own account, receives but few invitations to good 

 dinners, or other little compliments too often shoved into the 

 bills ; " But," says the latter, " I sleep all the better for that. 

 In the first place, my stomach is not clogged with too many of 

 the good things of this world ; and in the second, my conscience 

 is quite at ease." 



But in some things, the duke has been obliged to insist upon 

 a partial relaxation of this, now somewhat uncalled for, frugality 

 and especially in the purchase of horses, the value of which 

 in Williamson's opinion is scarcely one half of what it is gene- 

 rally booked at in that of others. Since his Grace has let loose 

 the purse-strings which his trusty servant had previously held 

 so tightly, I was given to understand a considerable improve- 

 ment had been effected in the kennel stud ; and certainly that 

 which I saw could not even with his Williamson's judicious 

 catering, have been procured at his price, which was but a leetle 

 over forty pounds. On this subject, as may be supposed, some 

 good stories are afloat ; and amongst others, the recapitulation 

 of a scene that took place between a celebrated London dealer 

 and Williamson, on the only appearance of the latter in the 

 grand metropolis of the world. Scene the dealer's yard. 



Dealer. " I should be proud of the honour of selling a horse 



72 



