NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 319 



The repast being finished — '* Now, Nimrod," said my host, " will we 

 turn round to the fire, and enjoy ourselves ;" and no sooner were we 

 seated in our new position, and the fire well stirred, than in walked 

 David with Timotheus! Now, reader, I'll tell you in a few words what 

 this Timotheus is, and I am quite sure you will agree with me in think- 

 ing that, powerful as may have been the prototype — he of Miletus, or 

 even he of Eceotia, who is said to have mastered the great Alexander 

 himself with his pipe — 



** Persians and Greeks, like turns of nature found, 

 And the world's victor stood subdued by sound — " 



neither of them would have had a chance with this modern conqueror. 

 He appeared in the form of a thundering blue bottle, with his name im- 

 printed on the outside, and the inside containing six bottles of claret, 

 which were intended to find their way down our throats in the course 

 of this evening. In the name of fox-hunting, said I to my friend, what 

 have you got here ? However, to conclude the history of Timotheus 

 the Second, I shall only observe, that, in humble imitation of the Nor- 

 wegian captain, I " supplicated for mercy," and obtained it. The bell 

 was rung, and the ponderous blue bottle was exchanged for the more 

 appropriate claret jug, and a moderate and rational evening's work was 

 the result. 



The real history of this bottle I am not able to give ; I believe it ori- 

 ginated in some joke between Lord Kintore and his much esteemed neigh- 

 bour, Lord Panmure ; but this I do know, — that I read in the Keith- 

 hall hunting-book, at the conclusion of the description of a capital run 

 the following pithy sentence : — " William Hay (of Dunse-castle) and 

 myself dined together in the evening, and finished Timotheus !" The 



