270 NTMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 



I one day at dinner at Burnside, to the former, when discussing the 

 merits of some very fine sea-kale. " / believe there is,'* was the reply ; 

 "but to tell you the truth, I have never been in it. It is too far from 

 the kennel.'' Mark, reader, this " too far" is somewhere about one hun- 

 dred yards ! But neither Millwood nor Margery, Racer nor Roundelay, 

 Gilder nor Gadfly, were to be seen there, and anything appertaining to 

 the cabbag-e genus would have proved a poor substitute for them. The 

 accomplishments of the lady, — "a second Minerva in her studies, 

 another Diana in the field" — are told in a few words. During a visit I 

 paid to this sporting couple last winter, at their new residence in Hert- 

 fordshire, I found she had so distinguished herself in a run, which very 

 few saw the end of, that the fame of her horse reached the ears of the 

 present Duke of Beaufort ; and his Grace having ascertained his price, 

 sent a servant with a cheque for 250 gs. for him on the day previously 

 to my arrival; He is called Tom Thumb ; is upwards of sixteen hands 

 high ; goes in a plain snafile bridle, and as light in hand as a pony. I 

 rode him twice during my visit to Scotland, and therefore can vouch 

 for what I have said. 



By the bye, I must add one word more to the credit of this lady as a 

 horsewoman ; but if I were to relate all her feats, and the number of 

 miles she has ridden to and from hounds, and with hounds, in one day, 

 I should require second wind. Mr, Dalyell told me that towards the 

 end of the capital run I have alluded to, when (as the Duke of Orleans 

 said to me) " the field had become select," he rode over a style at which 

 the ground at the rising side was very rotten and bad. On looking back 

 to see how his lady managed it, he saw Tom Thumb — who slipped, for 

 timber-jumping is not his forte — on his head on the landing side, having 



