292 NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 



young- fellow, neatly dressed in his own clothes ; and an active young- 

 man, or rather lad, in an undress livery, bat with an old head on his 

 shoulders, and booked, I should imagine, for Keith-hall, in future. 

 Neither is the pearled and strawberry-leafed coronet allowed to be seen 

 here. The plate, the linen, the china, the glass, are all marked with a 

 fox*s head, encircled with a wreath, on which the words " Floreat scien- 

 tia," are neatly stamped. The moment you enter the house, you will 

 find you are in that of a sportsman, not merely by the hunting* whips 

 that hang up in the vestibule, or the celebrated print of " Lord Darling- 

 ton's hounds at the feeding troughs," which instantly presents itself to 

 your view, but in the tout en semhle of the embellishments of every 

 room you enter. 



We will begin with that which sportsmen like best — the one in which 

 their *' feeding troughs" are laid. Over the fire-place, is the late Sir 

 Tatton Sykes — a first-rate sportsman, I believe — in the act of finding his 

 fox, and a capital picture it is. He is supposed to be roaring out to 

 some would-be professor of his art, who is holloaing away his fox, and 

 getting the heads of his hounds up, instead of letting them hunt him. 

 The whipper-in, behind him, is also capital. He is in the act of taking a 

 good fence, with his eyes turned towards the offender, as much as to 



say — " D— n you, I wish I dared lay into you, you noisy son of a " 



Underneath are the following lines, in a small frame, (in allusion to the 

 feeding troughs at Gask) which partake of the poet's privilege in the two 

 first lines, for as much as they want truth ; for though the butler is 

 stopped out, the cook is not, and, above all things, no lack of good wines 

 at Gask ; — 



*' On Irish stew if you can dine, 

 Wit.l) liiimble port and sherry wine ; 



