NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 275 



when drawing, to which I see no objection, provided it answers 

 his end, and it certainly appeared as if his hounds liked it. In 

 fact, I saw him bring them out of one cover and throw them 

 into another across a road by the mere act of the whistle, 

 assisted by a slight movement of his right hand. He is, however, 

 only the second huntsman I have ever met with who had re- 

 course to this simple expedient, and I think it rather belongs to 

 the cock-shooter than to the fox-hunter. 



Abercairney's hounds on the day I was out with them were 

 quite steady from riot ; not only from hares, but from roe, which 

 I saw twice across their line, in view, without the least notice 

 being taken. Not a head, indeed, was turned, even to look at 

 them. I am now speaking of them in chase ; but they were 

 equally steady throughout a long blank draw, which I thought 

 would have ended in a blank day. I also observed them hunting 

 a very cold scent, in the meadows by the side of the Earn, too 

 cold to be persevered in, but they afterwards recovered their 

 fox, and ran him to ground, at the end of a long day, which I 

 was not able to see the finish of. 



I liked Arber less in his kennel than the field. I do not ap- 

 prove of feeding hounds as he fed them merely drawing out a 

 few shy feeders at first ; then drawing the remainder nearly as 

 quickly as he could draw them ; and, finally, throwing back the 

 door and letting out five or six couples, helter-skelter, at once. 

 It is not a workman-like manner of doing business, and does not 

 convey an impression of the presence of the faculty of nice discern- 

 ment, or that high value set on condition of hounds, which should. 

 be, and generally are, the distinguishing characteristics of a good 

 kennel huntsman. I observed also about him a little of that 

 " heady confidence," which Dr. Johnson speaks of, in some of 

 his proceedings, which it would be well for him not to possess. 

 It is a dangerous acquirement in any man, and justifiable in very 

 few ; for where there is no perception of error, there is no hope 

 of improvement. 



Of Abercairney's country I can say little from my own per- 

 sonal knowledge of it. It comprehends the whole of the vale of 

 Strathearn, with the exception of a small portion to the east of 

 the river May, which belongs to the Fife, and it extends to the 

 westward until it joins Mr. Ramsay's country near Dunblane. 

 The part I saw of it was coarse, but still, although interrupted 

 by a strong river, not incapable of showing a day's sport with a 

 fox that would put his head straight for his point, and go on. 

 Abercairney showed me a line of country over which one fox 

 led him, that must have been a choker to hounds, horses, and 

 men partaking of that wildness once considered a principal 



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