HISTORICAL 75 



of Monreith, resenting an account pub- 

 lished of the match, in which it was stated 

 that "Mr. Coke of course won easily," 

 wrote a description of the event, which 

 I cannot do better than give here in his 

 own words. 



Here is the account of the match shot by 

 Lord Kennedy in October 1823 : I was present 

 all the time. My father made a bet, with I 

 forget whom, tha^t he would find a man to shoot 

 a hundred brace of partridges in one day on his 

 estate in Wigtownshire. He asked Lord Kennedy 

 to do it for him, who, after pronouncing it im- 

 possible, backed himself to shoot partridges two 

 days in Scotland against Mr. W. Coke in Norfolk, 

 in the month of October, on two days to be 

 fixed ; chance of weather, etc., to be run by both 

 parties. Lord Kennedy had intended to shoot 

 his first day at Newton Don, near Kelso, and was 

 not expected at Monreith for ten days. My 

 father 1 was from home, and I, only a boy of 

 seventeen, here to receive him. He had travelled 

 all night, and arrived at Port William, a neigh- 

 bouring village, about 9 A.M. Hearing of his 

 arrival, I went and found him, Valentine Maher 

 (umpire for Coke), and Farquharson of Blackball, 



1 Sir William Maxwell, 5th Bart,, locally known as 

 ' Wunged Sir Wulliam/ having lost an arm from a round 

 shot when commanding the 26th Regiment at Corunna. 



