NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 291 



countrv, in a letter from Mr. Pryse Pryse*, who had been lately on a 

 visit to him, it more than answered my expectation of it, for the enjoy- 

 ment of hounds. His lordship also appeared pleased to show me the 

 first ** huntsman's stall" he had in this country, previously to his esta- 

 blishing- himself at Gask, which he called the " Peat Stack ;"and I verily 

 believe — to the honour of fox-hunting be it said — no British nobleman 

 ever dwelt in such a cheerless looking hole before. His present resi- 

 dence at Gask, however, which I will now endeavour to describe, is 

 quite complete for its size, and well deserving of the very classical appel- 

 lation of '* the huntsman's stall." 



The house is situated within three miles of the small town of Turriff, 



to which there is a tolerably good, though not a turnpike, road. There 



are about a hundred acres of land with it, which his lordship has also 



taken on a lease, and has laid out about 1,5001. on the stables, kennels, 



and a few out-of-door offices, which he has built to his own taste, and 



sufficiently good are they. The house remains as he found it, save a few 



additional comforts, such as double doors, &c., and, for the purpose now 



required, wants nothing but to be larger, four spare beds being all that 



remain for visitors. But it is not the house, homely enough, God 



knows, and, from its outside appearance, such as would be considered 



infra, dig, by a swell city tradesman's wife ; it is the truly emblematic 



character — if I may use such an expression — of every thing to be seen 



inside of it, that alone deserves notice. In the first place, neither butler 



nor footman is there to be found, the house work being done by two 



young men, one, the son of a keeper at Keith-hall — a smart, clean-made 



» 



Mr. Pryse Pryse, of Buscot-park, Berks, is well known in the sporting world 

 as a master of fox-hounds in South Wales, and an owner of race horses in England. 

 He took old Governor home with him from Lord K.'s kennel, as an agreeable com- 

 panion, in a post chaise — alias, to bceed from. 



2 p 2 



