IVTMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 4] [ 



I must now look to my note book, for my proceedings during my visit 

 to Havvkhead, which I must preface with a few words: — it is a curious 

 fact that, with the exception of Mr. Dalyell's, every pack I hunted with 

 in Scotland, had a good run on ihe^rst day of my going out with them, 

 which occasioned several of my kind friends to say, that 1 brought them 

 good luck. That such was the case with Lord Kelburne, the following 

 account, which appeared in the newspaper, of a run on Thursday the 

 ninth of March, being the day after my arrival, will pretty clearly show. 



" On Thursday last, Lord Kelburne's hounds gave a brilliant treat to their 

 no])le master and a small field of amateurs of this city. Darnly-toll, five miles 

 south of town, was the fixture for the day; but the morning proving unpropitious, 

 the meet was postponed till twelve, by which time some of the wintry appear- 

 ances of the country had disappeared, and at half-past twelve the hounds were 

 thrown into Auchinbeck, a gorse cover near Glandeston. Immediately heart- 

 stirring notes proclaiming a find, and in three minutes reynard left his lodgings 

 and broke away in the finest style towards Waukmill-glen, the fastnesses of 

 which seemed to promise a retreat ; but there he was not permitted to tarry. 

 Accordingly, he sought Hurlet, meditating Hawkhead, but his friends in the rear 

 merely allowed him to skirt this cover. Finding them somewhat troublesome, 

 he boldly took open country, and gallantly charged the Gleniffer-hills, trusting to 

 his own strength and their acclivity for shaking off his pursuers. Determined not 

 to part with him, however, they stuck to it, and tracked their wily leader with 

 unerring precision, vindicating their claim to distinction as one of the best packs 

 in the kingdom; but the field now became select — his lordship and one or two 

 alone gaining the heights at the tail of the hounds. Here the most admirable 

 hunting was witnessed ; for, in despite of snow and a cold wind, the hounds 

 proved themselves good ones, and after an hour and twenty-five minutes, ran into 

 a fine dog-fox in open field near to Neilston. It is impossible to ascertain the 

 distance which had been gone, as reyuard's course was anything but straight- 

 forward; but judging by the time, there could not have been less than fifteen 



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