NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 271 



broken every bar. And where was his lady ? a la Snob in the mud ? 

 Not a bit of it ; she was in her saddle, and rose, a la Musters, with her 

 horse. 



Burnside is a convenient house for a sportsman, suflficiently large for 

 a family of moderate pretensions, and pleasantly situated three miles 

 from Forfar, a good market town. It was the residence of Lord Kintore 

 when he hunted the country, and no doubt has been the arena of many 

 a jovial night. My first evening under its rooF could not fail to be a 

 pleasant one, for, independently of my host and hostess, a more amusing 

 companion than Major Wemyss is very rarely met with. His good 

 nature is proverbial ; there is no subject on which he cannot, at all 

 events on which he will not, discourse ; he has been every where and 

 seen every thing ; and all who have seen him have seen a devilish good 

 looking Scotchman, a fit mate for the finest young woman in the land. 

 Moreover he is very fond of hunting, and is a coachman certainly of 

 the first class ; and as Ascanius in the field was Cupid in disguise, how 

 is it that no female captive, no Venus venatrix, has as yet fallen into the 

 toils of this venator Apollo ? 



The late Lord Forester used to say, that the best music to his ears 

 in the month of December, was the clatter of pattens in the streets of 

 Melton about ten o'clock at night, as he was then sure of a hunting day 

 on the morrow. The morrow of this day told a different tale ; there 

 was every appearance of a shut- up for some time to come ; and as I was, 

 by invitation, engaged to spend my Christmas at Keith-hall, the seat of 

 the Earl of Kintore, and as all brother-huntsmen have a carte-blanche 

 there, Mr. Dalyell agreed to accompany me to Aberdeen, on our road 

 thither. I will give a short account of our start. 



