AND STIRLINGSHIEE HUNT 



as good as it had been at first, and hounds ran 

 nicely from Longmuir by North Mains, Wairdlaw, 

 the Witch craig and Cairnpapple to the Knock, 

 and thence over the Batho-ate hills to Ballencrieff, 

 where, in darkness rendered more intense by a 

 thick mist, they marked their fox to ground.^ 



On the 1st of the following month of March 

 (1908) tidings were received of the sad death, 

 at Pan, of the late Lord Linlithgow, who, for 

 some time previously, had been in ill - health. 

 Although out hunting with the pack at Hopetoun 

 on the 16th of November — one of the last days on 

 which he saw hounds at work — his lordship was 

 not able to do more than ride about on a pony, 

 and a week or two later he left home, in the 

 hope that a winter abroad would restore his 

 strength. On the date of his death, the 29th 

 of February, the fixture was Eiccarton, Linlith- 

 gowshire, where, on the same day of the same 

 month, the hounds had met a hundred years 

 before. In consequence of this coincidence the 

 event was looked forward to with more than 

 usual interest, but wintry weather made hunting 

 impossible, and the appointment was not kept. 

 " Li this, however, lay the hand of Providence, 

 for it would have accorded little with the feelings 

 of the members of the Hunt if the cry of hounds 

 had resounded through the country on this Leap 

 Year's Day upon which one of the truest and 

 best of sportsmen, one of the keenest of fox- 



1 ' The Scotsman,' 23rd December 1 907. 



323 



