NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 219 



ship ; and it may be sufficient to add, that there is every accom- 

 modation about the place for the man of fortune, the sportsman, 

 and the farmer rather a happy combination I wot. The stables 

 are very good indeed ; and the kennel, though small, is par- 

 ticularly well situated and wholesome, as well as very commo- 

 dious for the size of it. It was built by his lordship's father for 

 his harriers ; " but," said he to his son, " I will make it large 

 enough to hold a small pack of fox-hounds, should you ever be 

 inclined to keep them." Over the door is the following motto 

 from Somerville a hint to Joe Grant and his feeder, which, I 

 must say, is most religiously observed by each : 



" First let the kennel be the huntsman's care, 

 And much to health will cleanliness avail."* 



I must not, however, pass over Keith Hall house with this 

 short notice, as there are features in it, secundum arteni^ truly 

 in character with its owner. For example you pass not beyond 

 the entrance-hall before you perceive one of his lordship's pro- 

 pensities, and this is, to the road. There is an excellent picture 

 of George Leach, on the box of the Edinburgh mail, and as 

 many four-horse whips, hung up in a place made for them, as 

 would serve that celebrated coachman for the next twenty years. 

 On the right hand is his lordship's private room, or library, in 

 which I found excellent editions of all the ancient classics, as 

 well as of the Belles Lettres. On the left is a room he calls the 

 " cofifee-room," in which are papers and periodicals to suit the 

 taste of visitors. But before you enter this room you are again 

 reminded of the road. Over the door is an excellent picture of 

 cold meat, laid out for passengers' luncheon ; and in a snug 

 corner to the right is a real representation of the bar of a public- 

 house, in which a drop of" something short"t is always at hand 

 to be had, should any one feel disposed to take it ; and no bad 

 thing now and then, on a cold or wet day, in any country. 



The drawing and dining rooms are handsome, large, and well- 

 proportioned ; but it is of the paintings of the latter that it con- 



* It is but just to observe, that Lord Kintore affords his servants 

 every chance to do well. He gives Joe Grant Beckford's work, with 

 his own comments upon certain parts of it, to read for his improvement, 

 and " Nimrod on the Condition of Hunters," to his groom. His lord- 

 ship's comments upon the latter, written some time hack, I was pleased 

 to find were prefaced by these words : " If I had thirty hunters I would 

 summer them all a la Nimrod ;" and his dissents are not many. 



f " Drop of something short " is a flash term on the road for a g'ass 

 of neat spirits, implying the want of time to mix it. 



