1 4 Saddle and Sirloin. 



Pheasants, partridges, roe deer, " fur" in abundance, 

 wild ducks, and a sprinkling of capercailzie composed 

 John's charge. The graves of Bessie Bell and Mary 

 Gray are by the rocky stream of the Almond in 

 those grounds, and drew many picknickers with leave 

 and without. Sometimes these outlaws would let 

 themselves in by a key at the great gate under the 

 cliff, and we often laughed to hear the rout when 

 the " lion of Lynedoch" bore down upon them 

 with dishevelled mane, and exacted ample apologies 

 and submission, when they thought that all was 

 serene. 



He learnt his game-lesson well with his father, who 

 was head keeper at Arniston, near Edinburgh ; and 

 when quite a lad, he was constantly out coursing with 

 Sir Walter Scott. The bard liked his enthusiasm, 

 and had many a chat with him as he led his dogs, 

 and thus indirectly fostered the taste which he always 

 had for a bit of verse and prose on field sports. After 

 this he was fifteen years at Abercairney with Mr. 

 James Moray and his brother, the major. The former 

 kept a pack of hounds in Perthshire, and John was a 

 keen preserver of foxes, and had lots of good mounts 

 for his fealty. As " Brushwood," he used to send Old 

 Maga many a line about them, and when they were 

 given up, he had plenty to tell of " Merry John " 

 Walker, and his great doings in Fife. He was a 

 much lighter weight in those days, and generally 

 there or thereabouts, not unfrequently on Walker's 

 own horses. 



In later days he took to coursing, and he won, and 

 then divided the Cup with his Duncan Gray at the 

 Carse of Gowrie Meeting. He was also a great 

 fisher, and there was scarcely a stream or loch in 

 Scotland where he had not cast his fly, and to good 

 purpose. He landed many a noble salmon on the 

 banks of the Tay, and preferred it before all other 

 sports ; but when he told us (who had never seen him 



