146 ON TEE GRAMPIAN HILLS. 



A cheery personage was this old lady, for she told me 

 she was as happy as a bird on the modest stipend of 

 four shillings per week, augmented by the donations 

 of visitors, which I should think would not greatly 

 swell the total ; but then there was a cosy little room 

 and a brisk fire burning, and I thought she might 

 have gone farther and fared worse. As I emerged the 

 bells of the venerable church were chiming lustily, 

 and I listened with pleasure to their oft-repeated 

 inquiry of " Oh where and oh where is my Highland 

 laddie gone ? " True it is that I was only a visitor, 

 or I might, if I lived beneath the venerable tower, 

 find this reiteration monotonous, if not wearisome. 



Four o' clock having been fixed by Mr. Hughes, the 

 stud-groom to Mr. Behrens, for an inspection of his 

 stud of over thirty high-class hunters, I was punctual 

 in keeping my appointment, knowing from previous 

 experience that a treat was in store for one who appre- 

 ciated horses of this class ; and, as I saw them stripped 

 one by one, and turned to the light, so that I might 

 note their shape and make, I could but admire the 

 judgment of those who selected them, and the care 

 bestowed upon them by Mr. Hughes, for it would be 

 impossible to find any stud in finer condition or fitter 

 to go the pace. The sires of many of these nags, 

 some winners of steeplechases and hurdle-races, are 

 John Davis and Brocket, both horses of renown. A 

 pleasant feature in this large establishment is the pre- 

 sence of birds and animals that rove at pleasure 

 through the stables. On that high-bred hunter two 

 couples of handsome bantams comfortably roost, and 

 reluctantly shift their quarters so that the clothing 

 may be stripped to enable me to form an opinion of 



