PKEFACE. 



It is perhaps mainly in consequence of a perusal 

 of the hunting diary of Mr George Ramsay of 

 Barnton, which was kindly lent to me by Mr 

 Keith Eamsay Maitland, Edinburgh, in the year 

 1902, that this history came to be written ; for 

 although the putting together of some records of 

 the Linlithgow and Stirlingshire Hunt had been 

 attempted by me several years earlier, the diffi- 

 culty in finding sufficient material for the purpose 

 was so great that the idea had all but been aban- 

 doned. The pleasure derived from reading the 

 little volume lent to me by Mr Maitland, however, 

 induced me to make some further researches, and of 

 these this work is the result. That it may prove 

 of interest to those who now hunt or have hunted 

 with the Linlithgow and Stirlingshire Hounds, I 

 sincerely hope : and since it embraces the period 

 (1814-1825) during which — the Hunt being in 

 abeyance — the country was visited by the original 

 Lothian now the Duke of Buccleuch's Hounds, 

 under Mr Robert Baird of Newbyth, and Will 

 Williamson his huntsman, and the period (1869- 



