2i6 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 



trouble. Lord K/s second horseman, however, having caught my 

 horse, I got up with them in the park, before they had killed their 

 fox, and had the pleasure of giving a helping hand in killing him r 

 by having heard a hound or two turn short back, in the cover, 

 whilst the body were at fault outside. The pace up to this check 

 had been capital, and pug must have been turned up in view, had 

 he kept on. The fact was, he was headed ; having gone one 

 field from the cover, facing a good country. 



Saturday, 27. No sport in the morning, but a sharp burst in 

 the evening ; in short, we went the pace, and did honour to the 

 festivity of the season. Our party was the same as at Dunlugas, 

 being disappointed of Mr. Duff's (of Hatton Park) company, who 

 pleaded the tenclo Achilles. Drinkers, they say, should have no 

 memories at least a Grecian proverb so says. Perhaps not, but 

 had I been dipped in Lethe, I could not, I think, have forgotten 

 some of the proceedings of this jovial night. For example I 

 could not have forgotten that besides wine at dinner, I carried to 

 bed, and slept comfortably upon, three bottles of stout claret, for 

 it was " a clear stage and no favour," much less any heel taps. 

 I could not have forgotten my having placed upon the table the 

 picture of Farley, Mathews, and Liston, as a faithful representa- 

 tion of the then passing scene. But above all things, could I 

 have left in " the beggarly, black bruck," as poor Jacky Bunce 

 would have called the Stygian stream, all recollection of the 

 Norwegian captain supplicating him for mercy, as " the pace 

 was choking him ?" Oh no ; 'twere impossible to have done so; 

 it was one of the richest scenes I had ever witnessed over any"; 

 man's mahogany ; and I am quite certain the proverbial good 

 nature of this son of Neptune will forgive me the recapitulation 

 of it. " My lord," said he, after a certain, time, as the bottle ap- 

 proached him (heel taps 0ft), " may I be allowed a tumbler ?" 

 (Scott ice, for giving a preference to whiskey toddy over wine.) 

 " Certainly not," replied my lord. " Encore, on a like occasion." 

 " My lord, may I be allowed a tumbler ?" " Certainly not," re- 

 plied my lord again. At length looking upon a bumper that 

 stood before him, with the rose floating in the middle of it, and 

 like yEneas, in his peril " duplices tendens ad sidera palmas" 

 he most emphatically exclaimed, " My lord, I sooplicate for a tum- 

 bler ; I cannot drink any more claret." He might as well have 

 asked for the moon ; so giving up the point as a hopeless case, 

 he set to work manfully, drinking his share to the last drop. 



Sunday, 28. The period for the hounds returning to their 

 home kennel having arrived, Lord Kintore left Cask this morning 

 for Keith Hall, and I betook myself to Dunlugas for the purpose 

 of spending a couple of c-'-ys with "the honest, kind-hearted 



