AND STIRLINGSHIRE HUNT 



sport of his pack — have been either dehghtful or 

 miserable, according to the direction in which his 

 hounds were travelHng. . . . Nothing could be 

 much stronger than Williamson's attachment to 

 West Lothian for the sake of his hounds. So 

 fond indeed was he of it, that he would never 

 allow the possibility of its being taken away 

 from them, by the re - establishment of the old 

 Linlithgow and Stirlingshire Hunt ; which event, 

 however, in despite of his hopes and predictions 

 took place ... at the beginning of 1825."^ 



These brief sojourns of the Lothian Hounds 

 in the Linlithgow and Stirlingshire country must 

 have been looked forward to with no little pleasure 

 by those of its residents who still cared to hunt 

 and had at their command the means of following 

 the chase. " Angels' visits," they might be termed 

 in consequence of their having been so few and 

 far between, and doubtless as such they were 

 looked upon, and appreciated accordingly. During 

 them it would seem that much brilliant sport was 

 enjoyed, and in particular, in the spring of the 

 year 1821, hounds appear to have had an unbroken 

 succession of most capital runs.^ In the spring 

 of 1823, when again there was brilliant sport, 

 a curious incident occurred during a burst from 

 Kinneil wood. As a member of the field was 

 riding over some ground covered with stunted 

 gorse, he and his horse almost suddenly disap- 

 peared ; the horse sank into the bowels of the 



^ 'Sporting Magazine,' December 1828. " Ibid. 



73 



