HISTORY OF THE LINLITHGOW 



having been decided in his favour, the case was 

 taken to the Court of Session. There the Sheriff- 

 substitute's decision was adhered to, but Captain 

 Fleeming and Mr Forrester did not allow the 

 matter to rest, and they presented an appeal to 

 the House of Lords, which resulted in the original 

 decision being reversed. When Captain Fleeming 

 heard of the final judgment, he is stated to have 

 said with great glee, " Thank God, there's no appeal 

 from the House of Lords." The reports^ of the 

 case are not devoid of interest, and contain passages 

 tinged, from a hunting point of view, with a certain 

 amount of drollery. " This, the fox-hound, is a 

 description of dog which requires a great deal 

 of training to make it run after foxes alone. In 

 its untrained state no dog of this sort will prefer 

 running after a fox ; its natural tendency is rather 

 to run after a sheep, and that for the very good 

 reason that a sheep is not only easier caught, but 

 is better worth catching." And it is remarkable 

 that a creature so simple, and not infrequently 

 so shy, as a fox-hound puppy should have been 

 the means of raising a question in law requiring 

 for its settlement the intervention of no less than 

 three Courts of Justice, including the highest 

 tribunal in the United Kingdom, "the Lords 

 Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled." 

 At this period the subscription was a small one. 



1 OiT V. Fleeming and Forrester : Court of Session Cases, 5th 

 March 1853, 15 D. 486; House of Lords Cases, 8th March 1855, 

 2 Macqueen 14. 



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