COL. ANSTRUTHER THOMSON 329 



eminence crying 'Coup, go long'. 'He might as 

 well have been singing "Maggie Lauder".' 



" Williamson did not like keepers, and said, ' I 

 canna abide they game-keeping folk ; they are all 

 rogues and liars. But the worst of all is a High- 

 land game-keeper ; you may as soon think to re- 

 concile the deil wi' redemption as a Highlander wi' a 

 fox.' 



"Williamson used to buy spoilt pieces, which he 

 used to give away to farmers' wives and others. He 

 promised a new gown to Mrs. Kerp, whose husband, 

 Bob Kerp, was keeper to Lord Lothian, as he said 

 she never complained of the foxes taking her hens. 

 She said, ' Foxes never take my hens '. The gown 

 arrived, and the next time the hounds were at 

 Mounteviot she thanked him for it. He said, ' You 

 never complain of foxes taking your hens '. She 

 replied, ' I dinna keep hens ! ' So Old Will did not 

 always have the best of it, as he rode away with a 



grunt. 



"Nimrod" on his northern tour tells the follow- 



ing stories : 



" Williamson can blow up a bit now and then. 

 On his hounds coming to a check on the Great 

 North Road, he found a horseman in the middle of 

 the Park. ' What the hell brings you here ? ' roared 

 Williamson, and found he was addressing a com- 

 mercial traveller on his journey from London. 



" Having killed his fox on a turnpike road, he 



