NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 351 



who breed horses, and who may perchance have one that bids fair to get the 

 better of man. I allude to Provincial, one of the three celebrated 

 hunters I have spoken of as bred by Lord Panmure, and ridden by Lord 

 Kintore. He was on the point of being given up as incurable, when his 

 groom had recourse to the following desperate expedient. He mounted 

 him, bare-backed, in the park, armed with a heavy stick. No sooner 

 was he seated than the horse reared and fell backwards ; but assistance 

 being at hand, he was prevented rising from the ground until he had 

 received a severe thrashing, which cured him. I once possessed a marc, 

 by Castrel, bred by the late Mr. Shakerley, which beat all the colt 

 breakers in Cheshire, which I sold for 150gs. to Mr. Smythe Owen, 

 the present master of the North Shropshire hounds. How she was 

 conquered at last, after being turned out for two years, I never learnt 

 but Mr. Shakerley sold her for ten pounds, supposing her to be incu- 

 rable. Captain Johnson was also of our party at Mr. Stewart's. He 

 was a few seasons at Melton, and once hunted Mr. Ramsay's country ; 

 but I had not the pleasure of meeting him in the field. 



Bidding adieu for the present to sportsmen, I must now get among the 

 togati. I was introduced by Mr. Blackwood to Professor Cheape, whose 

 name was familiar to me, by having been amongst his relations in Fife; 

 and 1 had the pleasure of dining with him twice. He is a professor of 

 Scotch law ; and judging from what I saw and heard of him, I should 

 think that, unlike those of his tribe at Philippi, he professes nothing that 

 he does not perform. By myself, he performed a very kind action. He 

 introduced me to Professor Napier, editor of the Edinburgh Review, 

 whom I met at a second large dinner party at his house, and the intro- 

 duction led to my writing those articles in the Encyclopaedia Britannica 

 — of which he is also editor — and for which I was handsomely remune- 



