AND STIRLINGSHmE HUNT 



They had met one another in the hunting-field 

 as well as on other occasions, — they were both 

 members of the Caledonian Hunt/ — and were 

 at this time on terms of considerable intimacy, 

 fostered no doubt by a mutual love of the chase. 

 The picture of "The Death of the Fox," ^ painted 

 by Alexander Nasmyth, probably about the year 

 1795, portrays both of them. Mr Ramsay has 

 jumped from his horse and has taken the fox 

 from the hounds, while Lord Elphinstone is 

 pointing backwards, possibly explaining that the 

 huntsman is just coming up, or that another fox 

 has been viewed stealing away. The figures 

 of the men, the landscape, and the trees, are 

 beautifully painted ; the fox and the hounds also 

 are natural, but the horses seem to have been 

 the victims of a fashion, which, although now 

 and for long departed from, was common at one 

 time, — they appear to have been crop-eared. 



Although Lord Elphinstone and Mr Ramsay 

 were associated in the management, it is clear 

 that the latter -indertook the more active part, 

 and early in the summer of 1807 he began to 

 defray much of the current expense of the Hunt, — 

 the huntsman receiving from him the funds which 

 were required to meet his disbursements. Burton 

 had left, and was succeeded by Thomas Granger, 

 previously Mr Ramsay's groom, who was born 



^ Mr Ramsay was admitted a member of the Caledonian Hunt on 

 9th February 1791 ; Lord Elphinstone on 27th October 1792. 

 2 Vide illustration, p. 14. 



45 



