NlMllOD'S NOllTHEHN TOUR, 159 



sons, rendered me very desirous of making his acquaintance previously 

 to my quitting Scotland ; and I was flattered into a belief that such 

 would be the case, as his return from the Mediterranean was every day 

 expected. Mr. Musters had visited Kelso, not for the purpose of hunting 

 but of fishing, so had no inducement to remain long after hunting com- 

 menced. Being by the side of the Tweed however, one day, as 

 Williamson was finding his fox, he was fortunate enough to view him 

 away, and of course '' gave the office." " Who is that holloaing away 

 the fox?" inquired the Duke ; " it is a sportsman I am sure.'* It was 

 Musters ; to whom his Grace immediately made an offer of a mount so 

 long as he remained in Scotland, but which that celebrated sportsman 

 declined, having no hunting clothes at command. 



It may readily be imagined that I was not a little in the dumps at this 

 apparent prospect of a serious stop to hunting, and that the sight of 

 fifteen salmon, out of season, or even the Arcadian scenery of the Tweed, 

 was a poor substitute for the Duke of Buccleuch's fox-hounds, and a 

 good day's sport. Moreover, Williamson had brought me the most agree- 

 able intelligence that his Grace had ordered a horse to be at cover for 

 me so long as I remained at Kelso. The day, however, despite of frost 

 and fog, was not, as Thompson says, " delightless," for at this period of 

 it a trifling circumstance occurred that gave me great pleasure, inasmuch 

 as it left its moral. This was the manner in which Lord Elcho addressed 

 the toll-bar keeper and his wife, for old acquaintance sake, and no doubt 

 in recollection of the sport he had had in company with the former, 

 amongst the finny tribe. To make my story short — he shook them both 

 heartily by their hands, and right-well pleased did they show themselves 

 with the compliment paid them. But the moral ! Why simply this; — 

 That no difference in rank and station allows a thoroughly kind-hearted 



