408 NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 



and Daredevil, by Viscount, out of an Orville mare. He likewise rode 

 a o"0od bay thorough-bred gelding, whose name I do not recollect, and a 

 capital hunter, called Jock. The name of the head groom, who has lived 

 many years at Hawkhead, is, Braii, by no means inappropriate. 



When speaking of Lord Kelburne as a huntsman, I must claim the 

 privilege of only four days' experience ; nevertheless, such are the 

 numerous points of view in which the science of hunting hounds is 

 called for and displayed, in even half that time, a less practised eye, 

 perhaps, than mine, would be able to form somewhat of a correct judg- 

 ment of the person who is called upon to display it. There are attributes, 

 however, in the nature and temperament of some men, which, if I may 

 be allowed the expression, half make a huntsman, and many of these 

 Lord Kelburne possesses. For example, his zeal, and love of everything 

 belonging to fox-hunting, appear to have no bounds. He is as regular 

 in his kennel-hours as an old maid at her tea-time, and he is as fond of 

 his hounds as they are of him. Add to all this, he is a person of 

 acknowledged good abilities, which enables him to take advantage of 

 circumstances, a point so much insisted upon by Williamson, and justly 

 so, in a science which, like fox-hunting, is beset and opposed by them at 

 almost every step. Then again, he is a horseman of the first class for 

 nerve and straightforward work in the field, which gives him no slight 

 advantage. That he erred in letting his hounds get the mastery of him, 

 from motives of kindness and good feeling, he is himself ready to 

 acknowledge, and it is much to be lamented that his principle will not 

 succeed. Nothing more is true than that, hounds should be encouraged, 

 not rated, to cry; and that whipping faulty hounds, makes good hounds 

 shy; still, as there are in all packs many hounds that will do what is 

 wrong, and very few that will always do what is right, the use of the 



