COL. ANSTRUTHER THOMSON 243 



1 8th March. Invited Captain Sandilands to 

 bring over the Lothian Hounds : Jim Stacey was 

 huntsman. Found in Carnock Moor ; ran well for 

 five miles without a check, and killed at Hillside. 



Hunting days, seventy- four ; frost, eighteen days ; 

 blank, one ; killed twenty-two brace ; to ground, 

 eighteen brace. 



Jack Wilson succeeded Stephen Dobson as second 

 whip. He was a capital horseman ; always got a 

 good start, but generally left some hounds behind. 

 This season we left out thirty-one hounds. The 

 previous season, with Stephen Dobson, only left 

 out one. 



Alex. Mackenzie, Delvine, was quartered in Edin- 

 burgh in 7 8th Highlanders. I invited him out hunt- 

 ing, and gave him a mount on " Chuzzlewit". 



1 8th December. A heavy fall of snow ; drifts 

 six feet deep. 



27th. The house at Charleton caught fire. A 

 chimney had been altered the previous year and 

 a flue got full of soot. At seven in the morning a 

 servant came and called me : " Get up, sir ; the house 

 is on fire". I went and put my hand on the wall 

 and it was too hot to touch. My mother was in 

 the room above, and they called and told her. She 

 said, " Take the carpet up and call Mr. Thomson ". 

 I dressed myself, put a hatchet in my pocket and got 

 on to the top of the house ; found the chimney where 

 smoke and sparks were coming out. The roof of the 

 house was covered with snow. Got Jack Lee with 



a spade and shovelled snow down the chimney, which 



16* 



