•278 NIMROD'S HUNTING TOUR 



be remembered that the hounds and horses are only here at certain 

 periods of the season. 



I am unable to say anything respecting Mr. Lambton's home 

 country, not having seen it ; but I was given to understand it is bad. 

 By all accounts, it is a more desirable country to have property in 

 than to ride over, as it abounds with an article called "the black 

 diamond," for the large possession of which this family is conspicuous, 

 and consequently it abounds with coal pits." These things do not in 

 the least contribute to the picturesque ; but when black is made 

 black and ivhite, it forms a pretty feature in the banker's book. 



Had it not been for the long-continued frost, I should have been 

 able to have given a better account of this part of the county of 

 Durham, as I was engaged to have spent some time at Merton, and to 

 have gone thence to Mr. Surtees's hospitable mansion. I was given 

 to understand that I had a double loss here. At the former place 

 I should have seen all the elegances of modern life ; at the latter, 

 the old-fashioned hospitality, now become scarce, of the old English 

 country gentleman. This, to its full extent, is very nearly lost, and 

 all within my recollection. But, as the Poet says, 



" The town has tinged the country, and the stain 

 Appears a spot ui^on a vestal's robe, 

 The worse for what it soils." 



I should not think there are many sportsmen who have not seen 

 t he print of Mr. Ealph Lambton and his hounds, from a painting of 

 Ward. He is represented in the act of getting together his hounds 

 in a covert, and is mounted on a favourite hunter, called Undertaker, 

 which he rode several seasons. Although I expected to find a 

 heavier man — Mr. L.'s weight on horseback not exceeding twelve 

 stone — I was struck with the correctness of the portrait as soon as I 



* In a cold country like England there is certainly a great advantage in a 

 plentiful supply of coals, although the saving to the consumers is not what 

 might be expected, owing to the profuse expenditure of them in the houses. 

 The grates in Durham are of an immense size, and not only are they filled 

 on all occasions in the winter, but there is always a hoard behind them, ready 

 to supply the place of those which are burning. The first evening that I 

 went into my bedroom at Sedgefield, I asked the chambermaid what joint of 

 meat was going to be roasted at the fire ; for there Avere more coals on it 

 than would be seen in a Hampshire kitchen. 



