316 WIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 



" First let the kennel be the huntsman's care, 

 And much to health will cleanliness avail*." 



I must not, however, pass over Keith-hall house with this short notice, 

 as there are features in it, secundum ariem, truly in character with its 

 owner. For example — you pass not beyond the entrance-hall before 

 you perceive one of his lordship's propensities, and this is, to the road. 

 There is an excellent picture of George Leach, on the box of the Edin- 

 burgh mail, and as many four-horse whips, hung up in a place made for 

 them, as would serve that celebrated coachman for the next twenty 

 years. On the right hand is his lordship's private room, or library, in 

 which I found excellent editions of all the ancient classics, as well as of 

 the Belles Lettres. On the left is a room he calls the '' coffee-room," 

 in which are papers and periodicals to suit the taste of visitors. But 

 before you enter this room you are again reminded of the road. Over 

 the door is an excellent picture of cold meat, laid out for passengers' 

 luncheon; and in a snug corner to the right is a real representation of 

 the bar of a public-house, in which a drop of '' something shortf" is 

 always at hand to be had, should any one feel disposed to take it; and 

 no bad thing now and then, on a cold or wet day, in any country. 



The drawing and dining rooms are handsome, large, and well-propor- 

 tioned ; but it is of the paintings of the latter that it concerns me to 

 speak. At one end of it is a splendid full-length portrait of a German 



* It is but just to observe, that Lord Kintore affords his servants every chance to 

 do well. He gives Joe Grant Beckford's work, with his own comments upon certain 

 parts of it, to read for his improvement, and "Nimrod on the Condition of Hunters," 

 to his groom. His lordship's comments upon the latter, written some time back, I 

 was pleased to find were prefaced by these words:—" If I had thirty hunters 1' 

 would summer them all h. la Nimrod j" and his dissents are not many. 



t " Drop of something short" is a flash term on the road for a glass of neat spirits, 

 implying the want of time to mix it. 



