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NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. bb 



dation of him as a rider to hounds ; bat it grieves me to say (excuse the 

 wretched pun) he is too severe on his horse to be sure of getting- to the 

 end of a run over such a country as Berwickshire, let his horse be what 

 he may, short of celestial breed. As to himself stopping before his 

 horse stops, I should as soon expect to see the sun stop; and as for 

 falls, he appeared to me sometimes to seek them ; but he will be obliged 

 to concede one point : — No horse, after going a certain time, can leap 

 a large fence, or, at all events, many large fences, if ridden over deep 

 ground at the unmerciful pace Mr. Grieve goes over it, and occasion- 

 ally with too slack a rein. I draw upon my own experience for the 

 truth of this assertion ; but if proof of it were wanting, it would be 

 found in the fact of about five falls, per day, being about the average 

 number this gallant horseman gets with hounds when they have a run ; 

 and were it not that Fortune favours the brave, he must have broken 

 his neck or his limbs before this time. 



I must now get into the field again. Tuesday, November 11th, being 

 a dies non with Lord Elcho's hounds, his Lordship went in pursuit of 

 wild geese, and Lord Saltoun, Mr. M'Dowall Grant and myself break- 

 fasted at the cottage (Lord Eglinton's) on our road to meet Mr. Hume's 

 harriers, which were at that time under the controul of Mr. Hay, by 

 reason of that gentleman's temporary absence from home. As we mus- 

 tered rather a strong field, being joined by the young noblemen of the 

 cottage, Mr. Hay, and Mr. M'Kenzie Grieve, who met us on the 

 ground, we were anxious for a good day's sport, but in this we were 

 disappointed, for the hares were bad, the scent bad, and the country 

 worse than all. The horse I rode (one of Mr. Grant's) was twice on his 

 head in a bog ; in fact it appeared to me to be better adapted to grouse- 

 shooting than to hare-hunting, being chiefly moors, and we saw several 



