264 NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 



the greater part of his hfe, is an excellent man with hounds; very fond 

 of fox-hunting ; as neat and as clever a horseman as ever threw a leg 

 over a saddle, and a faithful servant withal. Of his master, Mr. 

 Dalyell, it is not necessary for me to say much at present, his name and 

 character as a sportsman and a rider having been lately made known 

 through the pages of this Magazine. Neither need I trouble myself 

 to describe his person, which Mr. Francis Grant has given '' to 

 the life " in your number for October, 1835 ; but as in the character 

 of huntsman he was then new to me, the first meet with hounds 

 was one of considerable interest. Neither did it end with him- 

 self. The act of meeting a new field at the cover side is one of an 

 unusually exhilirating nature ; and, calling to my recollection an account 

 of a capital run over this part of the country about six years back, as 

 recorded in the pages of the Old Sporting Magazine, in Mr. Chalmers's 

 day, in which Mr. Chalmers himself, the Douglases of Brickton, 

 Captain Peter Hay of Mugdrum, Mr. Hay of Latham, Mr. Stewart 

 of St. Fort House, and Mr. Greenhill had particularly distinguished 

 themselves by their horsemanship, I naturally sought their acquaint- 

 ance. To two of them, indeed, I was already personally known — namely 

 to Mr. Archibald Douglas, by having met him at Melton, when 

 he contended against Captain Ross in a steeple-chase, and to Mr. 

 Stewart of St. Fort, whom I had met with the Fife hounds, and 

 who had kindly mounted me this day. Indeed, Sir Ralph was at the 

 mercy of his brother-in-law for a nag, having considered it scarcely 

 worth while to send one of his own stud so far ; and he was entitled to 

 a mount from him in consideration of the gruelling he gave a thorough- 

 bred one of his own, in our first and second run with the Fife. But 

 these things go for nothing between brothers-in law whose souls are in 

 the sport. 



