248 NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 



stand ; whose opinions are not propagated by reason, but caught, like 

 the small-pox, by contagion. 



Friday the 12th being* a non-hunting day, I rode to Cupar to see the 

 kennel and the whole establishment, and to have half an hour's chat with 

 Walker. The kennel is close to the town, and yet not inconvenienced 

 by its vicinity to it, no thoroughfare being near ; and it is equal to the 

 accommodation of the pack, which does not exceed forty couples ; and 

 it also has the advantage of being healthy. The stables likewise are ad- 

 joining ; rather so-so in appearance, and their contents more useful than 

 ornamental. Indeed, I should not say the Fife servants are well mounted ; 

 but the lacerating nature of the stone with which the greater part of the 

 Fife walls are erected — a sort of whin, or slate stone — is a damper to 

 the purchasers of high-priced horses, as a w^alk through these stables 

 would show. There is, however, no lack of strength. The men have four 

 horses a-piece, about the average number, but some of them must always 

 be out of work, from the circumstance to which I have alluded — namely, 

 the cutting nature of the stone. Walker's favourite horse "was a low, 

 but very thick, chestnut, purchased out of a Highland drove, for the 

 sum of thirty pounds — a most extraordinary animal for his size. He is, 

 — or perhaps I should write, was, for he had awfully looking legs, rather 

 rounder than mill-posts, when I last saw him — an admirable fencer, with 

 fully sufficient pace, and as stout as steel ; and although, of course, no- 

 thing can be known of his blood, his skin denotes that he has not many 

 blots in his escutcheon. The switch tail is the order of the day in this 

 stable, which is a great disfigurement in horses not in tip-top condition ; 

 and that of the Fife stud is but of the middling order. I think the cap- 

 tain, who orders these matters, puts too much faith in Dr. Green. 



