NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 41 



Our party at dinner this day — at the White Swan, for each house had 

 the benefit in its turn — was increased by the presence of the Earl of 

 Eglinton and Lord Archibald Seymour, (one of the sons of the Duke 

 of Somerset,) the two Messi-s. Fletchers, of Saltoun, (descendants of the 

 patriotic Andrew, who made such a noise in the world some hundred 

 and thirty years back,) and Mr. M'Kenzie Grieve, late of the Horse 

 Guards Blue. To this last named gentleman I was not altogether a 

 stranger, for we had met in the field in the south, and the last time of 

 our meeting was impressed upon our memories by the not very comfort- 

 able reflection that his horse died on the evening of the run ; and that 

 mine was obliged to be left under the care of a veterinary surgeon, for 

 three days, before he could get back to his stable. But let this be 

 washed in Lethe and forgotten ; the only sting that fox-hunting can leave 

 in the breast of a man who can feel, is the reflection, that when he himself 

 may have been most gratified in the enjoyment of it, pain and sufferings 

 will occasionally be inflicted by it, on that paragon of animals, the horse. 

 But for this, it would be one of the balsams of life. 



A writer without freedom is a writer without interest ; and I must 

 here claim the privilege which has been before so generously granted to 

 me, in the recapitulation of what I have seen and heard on ray various 

 Tours, and for which I can only offer the following excuse : — Time and 

 place are of themselves but secondary links in the operation of events, 

 actions and persons being the principal sources of interest. It can be 

 but a brief and rapid sketch of each individual whom I may venture to 

 introduce here ; but as I cannot like Caesar make a history of my own 

 exploits, what should I be without such themes for my pen? Like jEsop's 

 fly on the axle of the chariot wheel, vainly imagining that he was 

 kicking up the dust. In all these matterS; however, there is a delicate 



