32 MMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 



wheel-horses, was tlie order of the dav. On my demanding a reason for 

 it, I was told, *' it was more gain' when the horses gallop." '"' Gallop !" 

 said I; *' why you never gallop do youV " A wee bit now and then," 

 was the reply ; but this was not one of his " now and then" days, for I 

 saw none of it. But this I saw ; I saw the ring of his oflF wheeler's 

 hames nearly worn through, and all I got for directing his attention to it 

 was — '-' Wall, to be sure, 'tis no good ; but it will hawd (hold^ on yet." 

 The prettiest things I saw in this day's journey were, the iron gates into 

 Sir Matthew Ridley's park, at Blagdon, certainly a chef d'oeuvre of the 

 sort; and a sirloin of roast beef at Alnwick, where the coach stopped to 

 dine. I was disappointed in not finding more turnips than I did, between 

 Morpeth and Alnwick, and surprised at seeing a great deal of poor 

 land. I could see nothing of Alnwick-castle. for it was getting dark 

 when we passed it; but I saw a pillar erected by the noble owner's 

 tenants, which is ri^hilv called " The Farmer's Follv." 



They had better have kept their money in their pockets to help them 

 to grow wheat at four shillings the bushel, but I suppose they would 

 have thought vou mad if vou had told them it would ever have come to 

 this. Finding I had nothing to learn from the coachman of the Royal 

 William, and nothing to look at, as night came on, I got inside of the 

 drag the remainder of the road to Berwick, and, like Ulysses in Ithaca, 

 arrived in Scotland asleep. V»'hen I come to recount some of my doings 

 there, it may appear almost miraculous that I came out of it awake. 



