CHAPTER IX. 



MAJOR WILLIAM JOHN WAUCHOPE OF NIDDRIE. 



MR JAMES RUSSEL OF DUNDAS CASTLE. 



MR JOHN GRAHAM MENZIES. 



1877-1887. 



Mr Hope's resignation having been formally 

 accepted, it was suggested that Captain after- 

 wards Major Wauchope of Niddrie, should under- 

 take the mastership/ This eventually he agreed 

 to do,^ but it would seem that he came forward 

 not so much from his own inclination as through 

 a desire to oblige others, and in order to insure 

 a continuance of the establishment. Of all per- 

 sons he was probably the one who had the best 

 right to the position, because, during the six 

 preceding seasons he had not only hunted regu- 

 larly, but had been recognised as master in the 

 field ^ in Mr Hope's absence.* 



Captain Wauchope was the elder son of Mr 



' Minute-book, vol. i. p. 158. 2 n^jd., p. i62. » Ibid., p. 58. 



* During the six seasons over whicb his mastership extended, Mr 

 Hope was prevented from being in his proper place upon three 

 occasions only. — Letter from Mr Hope to the author, dated 13th 

 Juue 1909. 



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