270 N1MROUS NORTHERN TOUR. 



As Jupiter himself was obliged to stoop to fate, even the great 

 Captain Barclay cannot oppose its power. All chance of his 

 hunting being at an end, and the snow in some places drifted so 

 high that no carriage could approach Cask, he and myself, the 

 fox-hound bitch, Harriet, and our luggage, were all placed in a 

 cart well littered down with straw, and on Saturday the 2ist, 

 drawn into the turnpike road, where we got into the Banff coach, 

 and proceeded that evening to Aberdeen, Lord Kintore also 

 taking his departure on his hack, for Keith Hall. Next day, I 

 dined with Sir Alexander Bannerman, maternal uncle to his 

 lordship, and renowned for his convivial accomplishments, which 

 imply the passing an agreeable evening under his roof. I also 

 underwent a personal examination by an eminent surgeon of this 

 town,* being by no means satisfied as to the sound state of my 

 ribs, but the only damage they had received was, it appeared, 

 a trifling fracture of the cartilage, which I was much rejoiced 

 to dir.over. The following day I proceeded to Ury for the 

 night, and to Burnside per Defiance on the morrow, an inside 

 passenger, of course, much against my will, but either driving 

 four horses, or riding after hounds, was each out of the question.f 



I found a party of the right sort at Burnside Sir Ralph 

 Anstruther, Mr. Whyte Melville, &c.; and Captain Peter Hay, 

 whom Mr. Dalyell calls cousin, as well as brother sportsman, 

 was expected, but did not come from soniQ cause which I now 

 forget. And there was another gentleman there whose acquaint- 

 ance I had a great desire to make, from the character given to me 

 of him by Lord Kintore, which was this. " He is a capital 

 sportsman, a first-rate rider to hounds, and an excellent fellow 

 to boot, with some good old fox-hunting blood in him." I am 

 alluding to Mr. John Grant, of Kilraston, Perthshire, elder 

 brother to Mr. Francis Grant, whom everybody knows by the 

 established fame of his pencil, and especially in pictures in our 

 line. Like the celebrated Hamilton of his own country, no 

 man can touch him for costume, the propriety of which is every- 

 thing in a sportsman's eye, but which none but a sportsman can 

 be correct in. 



Wednesday, 25th. An awful morning for hounds, wet and 

 windy in the extreme. About mid-day, however, it showed signs 

 of a change, and all the party ladies included except myself, 

 turned out, but came back drenched with rain, having had little 

 fun for their pains. The pack divided on two scents, running each 

 fox to ground, the fate of full half the foxes I saw found in For- 



* Mr. Williams. 



I I am here reminded of a misprint in the last portion of my Northern 

 Tour but one. For Lord Rodney, Bead Lord Ongley. 



