AND STmLINGSHIRE HUNT 



of these were hunted during Mr Ramsay's master- 

 ship alone, and that in the five seasons immedi- 

 ately preceding the relinquishment of East Lothian 

 in 1848, the country overtaken was infinitely 

 greater in extent than at any other time, either 

 before or since. Although some idea of its 

 dimensions may be gathered from the statement 

 that in these few seasons it embraced, besides 

 the shires of Linlithgow and Stirling, parts of 

 Perthshire, Dumbartonshire, Mid - Lothian, East 

 Lothian, Lanark, and Peebles, it is difficult 

 at once to form an accurate conception of the 

 magnitude of the area hunted over, without 

 reference to a map of these counties. At this 

 time, as in the days of Lord Elphinstone and 

 Mr George Ramsay, the country was triangular 

 in shape, although nearly four times as large, 

 for it now stretched from Dunblane in Perth- 

 shire on the north, almost to Cockburnspath 

 in Berwickshire on the south-east, and to Lead- 

 hills in the most southerly corner of Lanark- 

 shire on the south, and must have consisted 

 of an area of many hundred square miles. 

 This much has been said concerning the extent 

 of the country hunted by Mr Ramsay, with the 

 view of bringing out more clearly than at first 

 sight appears, the labour and responsibilities then 

 connected with the mastership ; for the greater 

 the country, the greater the toil and expendi- 

 ture involved. And while, no doubt, much of 

 the detail of the arrangements connected with 



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