NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 141 



on the subject, how much soever I may fail in the bold attempt. I there- 

 fore pass over a day or two in my journal to give the result of William- 

 son's consideration of this material point. The next time I met him in 

 the field he thus addressed me. 



" I awoke at four o'clock, " said he, •* on the morning after you were 

 at St. Boswell's, and the first thing that came across my mind was the 

 question you put to me respecting the difference of scent in different 

 foxes, and I have given it a good deal of consideration since. I can 

 safely speak to one fact which bears strongly upon it, and favours your 

 argument that such is the case. In the course of my life it is natural 

 to suppose that I have had a vast number of dead foxes in my hands, both 

 before and after they have been broken up by hounds. I can safely 

 assert, that on my return home, the smell left upon them by some foxes 

 has been got rid of with only a slight washing, whereas that left by 

 others has continued till the next day." This I consider to be in part 

 confirmatory of my notion that the strength of the effluvia emitted by 

 foxes varies to a considerable extent, but I shall have much more power- 

 ful reasons to offer for it, when I take up my pen on the subject. 



To return to the arm chair — and to the reminiscence of two or three 

 hours as interesting conversation as I ever chanced to be engaged in. 

 "You noticed to me," said Williamson, ''a fine bitch called Heiress." 

 " I did," was my reply, '' for she struck me as being a perfect specimen 

 of the modern fox-hound." " I will tell you a story about her," resumed 

 Williamson. "A young man came to the kennel, one day lately, express- 

 ing a wish to see the hounds, and declaring himself to be a disciple of 

 Messrs. Gall and Spurzheim, and consequently a believer in the new- 

 fashioned doctrine of phrenology." " And pray," inquired I, '' what 



