392 NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 



I fear was accelerated by not setting more value on Lord Forester's 

 maxim, that *Tis the pace that kills. 



Having arrived at Perth on Friday, February 27th, I found a g-ig 

 ready to convey me to Abercairney Abbey — the fine seat of James Moray, 

 Esq., with whose brother, Major Moray Stirling, who has also a seat 

 close by, I became acquainted during his several years' residence in 

 Warwickshire for the purpose of hunting ; and to whose stud, and their 

 good condition, I have alluded in my " Letters on Condition of Hunters," 

 in illustration of the benefits derived from the in-door system in the 

 summer, with exercise. 



The distance from Perth to Abercairney is about ten miles, which 

 appeared shortened by the amusing discourse of the laird's coachman, 

 Jemmy Reid, who drove me, — one of the old-fashioned sort of servants, 

 who appeared as if he acknowledged but one God, and one master, in 

 whose service he had lived since service he had been able to perform. 

 It was delightful to hear how he considered himself as it were embodied 

 with every thing that appertained to his earthly master, for it was our 

 hounds, our horses, our property — he took great pains to show me 

 where '' our property'^ began, but it would have been, I believe, diSicult 

 for him to have shown me where it ended — and so on to the end of the 

 chapter. 



The abbey is situated within two miles of Crieff, the first town in this 

 direction by which the Highlands are approached, in grounds of great 

 extent and park-like appearance, although not stocked with deer; orna- 

 mented with good timber and a fine lake, at the head of which the 

 old house stood ; sheltered on the north by the Grampian, and on tlie 



