AND STIRLINGSHIRE HUNT 



parallel between master and servant, it masters me to 

 enter upon it, and I can only conclude, your Grace, by 

 re-iterating what has been a thousand times my standing 

 toast — viz., " The Duke, God bless him." — And I am, may 

 it please your Grace, your most humble servant, 



W. Williamson. 



Williamson did not live many years after his 

 portrait vv^as painted, and dying on the 11th of 

 February 1870, in his eighty-eighth year,^ he was 

 buried in the quiet churchyard of Pencaitland in 

 the district in which he had passed many of his 

 early days. 



Perhaps the subject of Williamson has been 

 lingered over unduly, but it should be borne in 

 mind that, there having been no Linlithgow and 

 Stirlingshire huntsman at this period (1814-1825), 

 Williamson virtually stood in that relation to the 

 country, or at least to the county of Linlithgow, 

 and that therefore some account of him and of 

 his career is far from being out of place in these 

 pages. And it is worthy of mention that when 

 the Lothian Hounds ceased to visit the country, 

 in consequence of the revival of the Linlithgow 

 and Stirlingshire pack in 1825, he received from 

 those who had taken part in the sport he had 

 shown in West Lothian a token of regard in 

 the shape of a silver jug which is still pre- 

 served and cherished by his descendants. The 

 following letter and verses ^ by the late Professor 



1 Memorandum among papers at Dalkeith House. 



2 In the possession of Miss Williamson, Galashiels. 



81 F 



