253 NIMROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 



pack, Restless and Laurel (red and grey pie), and a black tanned 

 bitch, called Glory, with a grey pied hound, whose name I forget, 

 which I considered fac-similes of the old sort descendants, a 

 Jong way back, from a draft hound of the Duke of Grafton's, 

 called Tyrant, and others from his Grace's kennel. These 

 hounds of Mr. Hay have excellent sport, generally killing, I 

 understood, on an average between fifty and sixty brace of hares, 

 the last season before I saw them, they killed seventy-seven 

 brace eating them all by permission, except ten brace ! They 

 had one run when I was in the country, that exceeds in distance 

 anything I ever heard of before, with harriers, and especially 

 over an enclosed country. It was estimated as covering an 

 extent of fifteen miles, in which the hare swam a strong stream, 

 and went straight through several large covers, before she died! 

 Now, I always make a little allowance for distance stated in 

 runs, and especially when stated by the master of the pack, who 

 never makes the worst of things ; but as the extent of country 

 travelled over from point to point, was nine miles, and the 

 extreme points right and left, at least four miles, as shown to me 

 on the map, the extra credit taken, if any, could not have been 

 much. We may set it down as a very unusual occurrence in the 

 sporting world ; and the only parallel one to it that I ever heard 

 f, was a run with Sir John Dashwood's hounds, from the Slate- 

 pits on the Cotswold hills, which was said to have been one 

 mile more. This, however, was over a much more open country 

 than Mr. Hay's run, with not a hedge-row in it, being all enclosed 

 by walls.* 



But now to the business of the day. Luck was against us in 

 the morning. We had only one very sharp thing against a very 

 sharp wind, and killed ; but we had a very good finish to it over 

 Mr. Hay's mahogany in the evening, as our friends from Arniston 

 remained to dine, and I took up my quarters at the Grange for 

 the two succeeding days. Mr. Hay mounts himself and his 

 'huntsman right well, and I was pleased at finding his favourite 

 hunter to be my namesake, Nimrod. His huntsman, whose 

 name is Lawry, formerly lived with Mr. Murray of Abercairney 

 (or "with Abercairney" I should have said, for the word " Mr." 



* Sportsmen, who have long hunted a country, are pretty accurate 

 judges of distance from point to point. It will be recollected, that I 

 gave an account of an extraordinary run a few years' back, which I saw 

 with the Vine hounds, stating the point-blank distance to have been 

 seventeen miles. My information on this head was gathered from some 

 cf the oldest sportsmen in the hunt, and on the ground being after- 

 wards measured by the ordnance map, it proved to be seventeen miles 

 and a half I 



