NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 35 



appears he gave £4. 7s. for a hound bitch and her seven whelps, an enor- 

 mous price in those days. Indeed, if my memory serves me, he is called 

 " the king of hunters" in the romance of Sir Tristrem, in which the 

 science of hunting is dwelt upon with a minuteness that shows how 

 highly it ranked among the accomplishments of a brave and gentle 

 knight. 



Now here finishes this loose reverie, the object of which is merely to 

 show that I entered the country with a favourable impression of what I 

 should find it, although when a man's mind has been humanized, as 

 mine has been, by an intercourse with the world, local prejudices affect 

 it but little. Certainly, the primitive idea one forms of Scotland is, an 

 assemblage of woods, mountains, rivers, and lakes, " montesque, am- 

 nesque, lacusque," as Ovid said of another country; but when I looked 

 out of the window of the yellow post chaise, I saw a country, between 

 Berwick and Dunse, that looked very much like hunting. 



As may be supposed, the first thing I did on my arrival at Dunse was 



to have a peep at the two horses the " would-be Tilbury" had sent me, 



and at the servant that accompanied them, and who was to fill the double 



capacity of groom and valet. The latter turned out what he appeared to 



be, a steady good servant ; but I was greatly disappointed in the horses. 



They were two undersized powerless brutes, not deserving the name or 



character of hunters, but coming under the denomination of Irish gar- 



rons, which they in reality were. " Ah, Mr. King," said I to myself, — 



for that is the owner's name — " if you send your customers such horses 



as these at ten pounds a month each, and all expences to be paid by the 



hirer, your game will soon be played." My next step was to inquire 



where I was to be myself put up, for, although the horses were at the 



f2 



