NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 155 



was this man's account of the various incidents of the day he was speak- 

 ing of to that given some twenty years ago by one of his craft in Eng- 

 land, when informing his fellow-servants of an accident that befel the 

 daughter of his noble master in the field. It appeared that the young 

 lady's mare, called Arachne, had stumbled with her in her gallop, 

 and, unable to recover herself, came head over heels with her to the 

 ground. The whipper-in's version of her ladyship's mishap was ver- 

 batim this : " Tum/' said she ; " My lady," says Oi ; " Why, what dun 

 you think, Tum? The Rackne mare put her foot in a hole and come 

 over tip, by G — ." 



Both the whippers-in — the second is young, and so exempt from 

 criticism — are of WilUamson's own making, I do not mean the issue of 

 his loins, but instructed in their calling by himself. And his notions on 

 this subject are certainly worthy of record. " There's no two things," 

 said he one day to Sir David Baird, " so difficult to make perfect as a 

 whipper-in and a terrier, at least I find it so. The greatest perse- 

 verance and patience are necessary to make them kiiow their business.'* 

 " They come to the wrong shop for one of those articles when they 

 come to your's," said the Baronet. But a joke often passes between 

 these two noted sportsmen— allowable, it will be admitted, when it is 

 recollected that the one was the favoured servant of the revered father 

 of the other. 



Surely it is now high time that the Mi-nis-ter's mare and Nimrod 



should be on their road to Kelso ; and, after one of the most unpleasant 



rides I ever had in my life, for the night was as dark as the minister's 



mare was black, and the ice was in places just as smooth as her well- 



x2 



