NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 307 



benches to welcome us, and fondled us with all their might. I would 

 not have missed this scene for a good deal. The love of the beautiful is 

 an instinct implanted in us by nature, and whether in an elegant youno- 

 lady, or an elegant fox-hound bitch, it will command our admiration ; 

 and as I saw Agile and Actressf leaping from their beds, with their sterns 

 lashing their sides, f considered that I saw the essence of beauty displayed 

 in the brute race. And indeed if beauty consists of a proportion of parts 

 which please the eye, and a certain composition of colour and figure that 

 cause delight in the beholder (which I belive is no false definition of it), 

 the animals I am speaking of may certainly lay claim to it. This pleasing 

 picture, however, was greatly heightened by the sort of ultra-cleanliness 

 practised in this kennel, each hound being washed from head to stern 

 after every day's hunting, which caused the variegated colours of their 

 skins to be displayed with increased lustre, by the powerful light of the 

 lamps. 



From the kennel we proceeded to the stables, where the stud was 

 likewise to be viewed by the aid of patent lamps. The eflfect of them 

 was not lost here ; they not only threw an air of cheerfulness and com- 

 fort round the stalls and beds, and set off to advantage the clean condition 

 in which they are kept under the vigilant eye of Willie, but the bloom 

 on the skins of the horses shone with a sort of prismatic brightness, 

 almost boyond what the sun has the power of showing. 



Wednesday, 24. — A dies non, in the hunting way. Breakfasted 

 at ten ; head queer, and copper rather hot. Walked round the farm ; 

 looked into the stalls, wherein were about a dozen black stots getting fat 



t Two beautiful badger-pied bitches, sisters, by Alchymist, out of Gaiety. 



2 2 R 



