KLMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR, 105 



On Saturday the 22nd of November I took my leave of Dunse,— most 

 unwillingly I admit ; but it being necessary to change the scene, and 

 progress in my Tour, I found myself about mid-day comfortably seated 

 in a very easy gig, hired for the purpose of conveying me to Kelso, dis- 

 tant about seventeen miles; and from whence the Duke of Buccleuch's 

 hounds were to be reached four times in the course of the following week, 

 and Major St. Paul's once. A ludicrous scene occurred at starting. Uncon- 

 scious of the splendid manner in which I was to be mounted during my 

 visit to Kelso, I made inquiry from the landlord of the Black Bull at 

 Dunse, as to whether there was such a thing as a hunter to be hired in 

 Kelso, in case I should not be able to take the field at all on the Edin- 

 burgh horses, one of which was already lame. '' Oh yes," replied the 

 landlord; "there is a Mr. Dickinson, a Yorkshireman 1 believe, who 

 has the best stables in Kelso, where the gentlemen's hunters all stand ; 

 he is a very good man, and will be sure to find you a horse." '' Just the 

 person I want," continued I; " and a Yorkshireman too I Now have 

 the kindness to sit down and write a note to introduce me to him, — that 

 is, just tell him I am a bit of a sportsman, and that you think I may be 

 trusted with a horse." The request was instantly complied with. Boni- 

 face took pen in hand on the spot, and I am sure, reader, you will smile 

 when you peruse his laconic epistle, about as much to the purpose, you 

 will say, as if he had been recommending me to a dancing master. To a 

 master of hounds, at all events, it would have been a more appropriate 

 passport. 



"Dear Sir, " Dunse, November 22nd, 1834. 



«' Mr. A has been stopping three weeks at my house. You will 



Jind him a very fleasing gentleman. 



" Yours, truly, 



" To Mr. Dickinson, Kelso." 



