AND STIELINGSHIRE HUNT 



House, close by the great head of earths for 

 which he was making. He was then dug out in 

 an exhausted state and soon killed. The staunch- 

 ness of the hounds, which were lately purchased 

 from that out - and - out sportsman, the Earl of 

 Kintore, and the conduct in the field of George 

 Knight, the new huntsman, were the theme of 

 universal admiration, and a more propitious com- 

 mencement of this young pack could not have been 

 wished for. The time occupied in the run was 

 fully an hour, and the distance from point to point, 

 nine or ten miles. The distance run over must 

 have been much greater. After the whoo-whoop 

 the field of sportsmen separated, much gratified. 

 The Hunt Club assembled in the evening at 

 Whitten's Inn, Linlithgow, where they enter- 

 tained a party of their friends at dinner." ^ 



To none could this day's work have been more 

 gratifying than to Knight who, since his perform- 

 ance in the field had created a favourable impres- 

 sion, probably began to entertain that feeling of 

 confidence in himself without which a huntsman 

 will almost certainly fail to show sport, Mr John- 

 ston and Mr Gillon, also, could not but have been 

 well satisfied with their opening day, for the 

 manner in which the hounds had acquitted them- 

 selves must have proved to them, almost beyond 

 a doubt, that the purchase which they had made 

 was a sound one ; and it may therefore be imag- 

 ined that they joined the dinner-party which took 



1 ' Sporting Magazine,' February 1825. 



93 



