Conclusion. 133 



minstrel of an Highland chieftain was in no danger of 



wearying his audience by a recital of the rights or 



the deeds of his clan, however tedious his lay might 



appear to others. We too are a clan ; and I reckon 



largely on the indulgence of my fellow clansmen in 



this attempt to set forth the origin of the hunt, and 



to reveal the 



Gentis cimabula nostrae. 



If, indeed, these letters were ever to have a wider 

 circulation, I must be content to have my trifling 

 anecdotes of masters and servants, hounds and horses, 

 criticised somewhat in the words of Cowper : — 



Oh fond attempt, to give a deathless lot 

 To names ignoble, born to be forgot. 



If you should ask how I could retain in my 

 memory, for so many years, all these minute par- 

 ticulars about men and animals, I must reply: ist, 

 that during some years of my life, at the period when 

 the memory is most tenacious, I gave a great deal of 

 attention to such matters, and lived in very intimate 

 intercourse with several masters of hounds, so that I 

 drew my information from the best authorities ; and 

 2ndly, that, about thirty years ago, I left off hunting, 

 so that I have no later sporting experiences to disturb 

 my earlier impressions ; and this has probably enabled 

 me to retain those impressions more distinctly, as 

 coins which have been long hoarded would preserve 

 the marks of the mint more sharply than if they had 

 been kept in continual circulation. I can guarantee 

 the truth of all that I have related from my own 

 personal recollections; and I feel confident of the 

 general accuracy of >the facts and dates which I have 



