HISTOEY OF THE LINLITHGOW 



huntsman at that time, and probably had been 

 so for a number of years previously. It is not 

 known when he was born, but he married first, 

 on the 20th of March 1780, an Elizabeth Forrester, 

 probably a kinswoman, by whom he had two sons 

 and two daughters ; and second, on the 7th of 

 December 1789, an Ann Smith, by whom he had two 

 sons and three daughters,-^ ' The Sporting Maga- 

 zine,'^ which describes him as being about the year 

 1805 "a pottering, slow, thistle-whipping chap," 

 refers to him as old Dick Forrester, and although 

 it is possible that the adjective may have been 

 used in the friendly or familiar sense, the above 

 particulars concerning him rather point to his 

 having been, if not actually advanced in years, 

 at least past the prime of life. If it be assumed 

 that he was then (1805) fifty - five years of age, 

 and that he was thirty at the time when his 

 miniature as huntsman was painted, — the face in 

 the miniature is that of quite a young man, — it 

 follows that he was huntsman in 1780. But it is 

 not likely that this or indeed any portrait of him 

 would be painted in the first season, or even the 

 first few seasons in which he held the huntsman's 

 place, and it may therefore be assumed that he 

 was in the service of the Hunt some years earlier — 

 possibly from the beginning of Sir William Cunyng- 

 hame's mastership. The miniature, besides being 



^ Notes relative to miniature of Richard Forrestei', in the possession 

 of Lord Torphichen. 



2 'Sjiorting Magazine,' May 1825. 



34 



