138 NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 



The stature of Williamson is below the average height of man, but his 

 person is well turned and very well proportioned ; and the exact 6t of 

 his clothes sets it off to advantage. The sit of his cap, the fall of 

 his shoulders, and the junction of the breeches with the boots — a great 

 point in a horseman, as far as the eye is concerned — are all equally good ; 

 and the general cleanliness of his person, renders the tout ensemble 

 complete. He has a keen, penetrating eye ; carries his country in his 

 face, as well as its full dialect on his tongue; is, as Lord Kintore says of 

 him, '' an astonishing bit of wire — a sort of genus per se — and the king 

 of Scotch servants." No doubt he bears the palm. 



To draw a man's physical and moral portrait on one and the same page 

 is no easy task, nevertheless so signal a character, and one so universally 

 known throughout Scotland and indeed throughout England, as Wil- 

 liamson's, cannot be passed over by me with merely a common notice. It 

 may, however, be said, I shall colour the picture too highly, and subject 

 myself to the charge of flattery. To this I have an answer at com- 

 mand: — If a man deserves praise, we cannot refuse it him without injus- 

 tice ; but he who expects it on any other terms, demands what he has 

 no claim to — at all events he will never receive it at my hands. And I 

 have other reasons for dwelling a little on this individual point. I have 

 ever been an admirer of a vigorous, even if it be an unpolished style, of 

 writing or speaking; and there is a singular perspicuity of expression in 

 the person upon whom I am now commenting, that I know not when I 

 met Avith before. It has been justly remarked of Homer, that what he 

 says he says properly; and without the abatement of a fraction, the 

 compliment may be transferred to WiUiamson. Having said this, it may 



brandy?" by way of the last resource. " You will find some in my side-pocket," whis- 

 pered the dead man, with a sigh. 



