42 NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 



and honourable reserve that never should, and by me never shall, for a 

 moment be lost sight of or forgotten. 



With which then of these Caledonian sportsmen shall I open the ball ? 

 With Lord Elcho of course, as a master of hounds and a huntsman, for 

 of his private character I need say no more. In the first-named station, 

 also, as master of hounds, it is scarcely necessary to add, that Lord Elcho 

 is popular to the extreme of popularity itself, inasmuch as his chief 

 objects are, to oblige his field and to show sport. Then his free, unas- 

 suming, and conciliating manners, happily blended with the carriage and 

 deportment of the well-bred gentleman, would complete the picture were 

 there not one more feature in it which I cannot allow to remain in the 

 back ground. I allude to his total abandonment of— to say the least of it — 

 the unmannerly, and, as far as my experience has led me, nearly useless, 

 practice of *' blowing up" (as the term is) his field, for any little indiscre- 

 tion they may be guilty of. I appeal to all my brother sportsmen who 

 have occasionally put themselves in such a situation, whether a gentle 

 and private reproof has not double the force of a loud and public rebuke, 

 although I admit the necessity of exerting authority in a manner void of 

 offence. Those words of caution, " Pray, sir, hold hard," should check 

 anv man who wishes to see a run, and all those who do not had much 

 better remain at home. 



But there are other qualifications than gentlemanlike deportment and 

 command of temper, essential to excellence in what are termed gentlemen 

 huntsmen, and it is in that capacity that I am now about to speak of Lord 

 Elcho. There is a temperament and a constitution peculiarly adapted to 

 it, and without which excellence is rarely obtained. The one should be 

 ardent, and the other should be strong ; and both are combined in him. 



