156 NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 



worn shoes, I arrived there to a second dinner, at a little after seven. 

 Sufficient for the day, then, is the evil thereof; and, as Milton says, 



" To-morrow to fresh fields and pastures new." 



Monday •24th. From the strength of the ice so early on the preceding 

 ^ening, I had serious misgivings as to the probability of hunting on 

 the morrow, and they were verified to the full extent. The fixture for 

 this day was Kelso-bridge, but that unwelcome visitor in November, a 

 hard, black frost, rendered it of no avail. At Kelso, and still more so, 

 at St. Boswell's, the surface of the ground was as hard as it often is at 

 the end of a third day's frost, yet strange to say, at Dunse it had so 

 much the appearance of a hunting day, — " allowing a little for the morn- 

 ing," as fox-hunters say — that Lords Elcho, Saltoun, and Archibald 

 Seymour, and Mr. M'Dougal Grant, made their appearance in the hunt 

 room, about an hour after I had breakfasted, to the inexpressible satis- 

 faction of Peter, who had given them up in despair. " Now Seymour, 

 where are your fifty pounds for Nimrod 1" I could hear one of them say, 

 as they were coming up stairs ; and hereon hangs a tale perhaps not 

 unworthy of relating. His lordship has a black mare, nearly, if not 

 quite, thorough-bred, very fast, very stout, and also a large fencer, natu- 

 rally. But she has a fault for which she is indebted to nature. She 

 has what is called a joint in her neck; in fact, she is what is termed ewe 

 or stag-necked, as many well-bred ones are, and consequently she is very 

 difficult to handle at her fences, and uncertain at them. " Why don't 

 you put a martingal on that mare, my lord ? " said I to him one day, 

 seeing the failing she had. "Oh," replied his lordship, " a martingal 

 ^o^ssolow." " Never mind the look," resumed I, ^' you will go faster 

 with it, than without it; and you will ride your mare with safety, which 



