NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 59 



ridden from Edinburgh that morning, only forty-two miles, on the same 

 hack ; and having eight miles further to go to the place where the 

 hounds met, would just complete the half hundred. But what cares a 

 man in the prime of life, as Sir David is, for distance from cover, in the 

 morning, if he has but even a prospect of a good run. 



By the way, I have a little anecdote that will not come amiss here on 

 the subject of riding long distances on the road, for which we know some 

 persons have been remarkable, almost indeed beyond belief. Amongst 

 those, few have exceeded the performances of the Duke of Dorset, at 

 one time his present Majesty's Master of the Horse, and also filling the 

 same — to his Grace, no doubt, congenial — office to his late Majesty 

 George the Fourth. Dining one day at the Pavilion at Brighton, 

 when the late Duke of York was also a guest, the following short, but 

 pithy, sentences were exchanged between them. " A strong ride that, 

 which we took this morning, Dorset," said his royal highness, (about 

 twelve miles I) *' It was, sir," replied his Grace; " but 1 had ridden 

 from London before I had the honour of attending your royal highness 

 in your ride." 



But now once more to business. The fixture for this day was Lady 

 Kirk, eight miles from Dunse, a place of such notoriety in the history 

 of Scotland, that even in a Sporting Tour it cannot be entirely passed 

 over. Although its being close in the neighbourhood of the ford, or 

 passage of the Tweed, by which the Scotch and English armies gene- 

 rally invaded each other's country, gives it much notoriety, the cause 

 of its being called Lady Kirk is of higher interest at the present moment 

 inasmuch as it shows how times are altered since Jocky of Scotland, 



prayed for bannocks ready baked, and, I believe, ready buttered as well. 



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