422 NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 



likewise for a family of moderate size, but all the world know that the 

 worthy occupier of it is a bachelor. The pleasure-grounds, in front 

 of it, are kept in the highest order, and the numerous roads and walks 

 through them, which are daily raked, are covered with London gravel, 

 brought to Newcastle as ballast. We passed the evening tete-a-tete 

 there being at that time no other visitor— rather an unusual occurrence, 

 I believe. 



Saturday, 23rd.— The fixture this day was within an easy reach, and 

 Mr. Lambton and myself accompanied the hounds, on their way, which 

 was to me, no small gratification. The eye of man loves to dwell on 

 perfection, and when he finds it in objects agreeable to his taste, the 

 pleasure increases from that circumstance. It would be useless, how- 

 ever, to say more on this subject, than merely to state, what I think is 

 very near the truth — namely, that whoever has seen Mr. Osbaldeston's 

 hounds, in their best days, can form a very correct idea of what Mr. 

 Lambton's are, and, without doubt, will continue to be, so long as he is 

 the owner of them. I am inclined, however, to think that, were it pos- 

 sible to compare the two, the multum in -parvo maxim would be found 

 most to prevail in Mr. Lambton's. It is this, which, in highly bred ani- 

 mals, possessing symmetry as well, gives the stamp of perfection, and 

 should be the aim of breeders of hounds as well of larger animals. 



It is amongst the honours paid to fox-hunting, that none who love, and 

 understand it, ever appear to be satiated with it. Thus, that season of 

 the year, when, as Virgil sings, ^^ nunc frondent sylvce nunc formo- 

 sissimus annus,'* and the perpetuity of which, according to the poets, 

 was numbered among the felicities of the golden age, is, to the sportsman, 

 one of melancholy rather than of rejoicing, and I have reason to believe, 



