286 NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 



of old Scott's opinion, that " it must be a poor concern that can't afford 

 to lose a hound or two*." 



Somerville, in his poem on hunting, says — on the air depends the 

 huntsman's hopes. Lord Kintore would add, '' on the winds," for 

 nothing seems so much to blast his hopes of a good day's sport as to hear 

 " old Boreas," as he calls this restless deity, at his work. That great 

 preceptor of the art of fox-hunting, Mr. Beckford, had, it seems, an 

 equal aversion to high wind, for he tells us that, on very windy days 

 the best place for hounds is their kennel. Like all other masters of 

 hounds, his Lordship is a great admirer of Beckford, which is evident by 

 the notes he has made on his book, of which, indeed, it may be said, as 

 of the poems of Euripides, that every line contains a precept. 



To sum up all — there is no conceit about Lord Kintore as a hunts- 

 man, on the contrary, he never fails to acknowledge the benefit of ex- 

 perience in others, and candidly professes that he lives to learn. Such 

 is the path that leads towards perfection. His personal appearance in 

 that character is good and appropriate. Although he has not, a la 

 Darlington, the straight cut coat, the cap and the belt, yet his single- 

 breasted bit of pink, the striped toilanette waistcoat, with a step collar 

 and gilt buttons, and the double-knotted neckcloth, all look like business. 

 The boots would do for St. James's-street; but there is something parti- 

 cularly '' varmint'' about the breeches, — very dark coloured corderoys, 



* Ecce signum. " I've lost a young bitch by old Governor, out of Bounty, by 

 the distemper, that I would not have taken twenty guineas for. I never shall call 

 you the ' mighty and immortal Nimrod,' until you find out a remedy for this dread- 

 ful malady in the canine race." Extract of a letter from Lord Kintore to Nimrod, 

 Jan. 27, 1835. 



