NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 123 



who were making their way for Cornhill, where their hacks were 

 awaiting their arrival ; but after having stopped at a blacksmith's 

 shop, at the end of about four miles, my situation was by no 

 means an enviable one. Losing the excitement of good com- 

 pany, my nag began to exhibit awful symptoms of being tired 

 when I got him under weigh again, and one which I had never 

 experienced before. This was, " his forming up," a la dragoon, 

 to every coal-cart horse he overtook on the road, and scraping 

 acquaintance with him, by a neigh. However, by easing him of 

 my weight for the greater part of the distance, and coaxing him 

 along over the remainder, I got him to Cornhill, with the inten- 

 tion of leaving him there for the night ; but as there was not a 

 hack to be procured, a pint of sherry and an hour's rest enabled 

 him to carry me to Kelso. 



The party from Dunse had not left Cornhill when I arrived 

 there on my tired horse, having been detained by two separate 

 causes first, to refresh themselves after the fatigues of the day, 

 for independently of the run, the morning had been rude and 

 tempestuous ; and secondly, they were under alarm for the safety 

 of Mr. Charles Lamb, who by his not having made his appear- 

 ance either at the finish, or at Cornhill, where his hack was " 

 planted, it was feared might have been left in the Till ; the 

 alarm, however, was groundless ; but how he disposed of his 

 time, or where else he crossed the Tweed, I forgot, subsequently, 

 to inquire. 



I was this day invited to a large dinner party, at Dunse, given 

 by Lord Saltoun'and Mr. M'Dowall Grant ; but great as was the 

 temptation, I was unwilling to miss the next day's hunting with 

 the duke, and a mount from his Grace's stud. Mr. Callander 

 and myself then for he was kind enough to wait the restoration 

 of the bodily powers of my horse set forward for Kelso just as 

 the night was setting in. And here I have a word to say. I 

 had formed an opinion that the lower orders of the Scottish 

 people, by the beneficial effects of education, unknown to English 

 boors, were humanized by such means far beyond their neigh- 

 bours. It may be so ; and we should not judge, generally, by 

 individual cases ; but Mr. Callander will back my assertion, that 

 a more ruffianly set of fellows than the drivers of the one horse 

 carts which we met that night on the road, never disgraced any 

 civilized country. In fact, such was their recklessness of limb 

 or life towards those persons they met, or passed, that it was 

 next to miraculous that no accident occurred. As for ourselves, 

 although by the fact of Mr. Callander being mounted on a white 

 horse, our approach was sufficiently visible, it was only by creep- 

 ing into ditches that we twice saved ourselves from being run 



