144 REMINISCENCES OF 



congratulating the horse on having come so well, 

 when down he came a crasher, tore all the buttons 

 off the knee of my breeches and gave my funny bone 

 a nasty smash. Curiously enough he did not break 

 his knees, but took a great piece of skin off the point 

 of his shoulder, and was not seriously hurt. 



The following poem is by John Shairp, 

 Principal of the College of St. Andrews, my old 

 schoolfellow at Edinburgh Academy : 



Hark, hallo! brave hearts! 



'Twas the hounds I heard 

 With the sound of their going 



All the land is stirred ; 

 They have made every peasant 



From work stand still, 

 With gazers they've crowned 



Every crag and hill. 



And the ploughman cried loud: 



" By my team I stood 

 And heard them crashing 



Yon old fir-wood ; 

 Down yon ash-tree river-banks, 



Where the sunbeams slant and fall, 

 Flashed the dappled hounds, 



Making the dens musical : 

 For sweeter they be 



Than any chime of bells 

 The melodies that linger 



All the year in yon dells, 

 Till the hounds come by and awake them." 



And the pedlar answered 



From beneath his load : 

 "At noon they went streaming 



Right o'er my road ; 

 From the farmsteads the lasses 



Rushed out to see 

 How they skimmed like swallows 



Over plough and lea ; 



