PLEASANT PLACES 9 



occasion upon which I met the children out with their 

 nurses, and carried two of them on my back over the 

 river. The little rogues instantly started up the brae, 

 and the next thing I saw was the nurse and maid with 

 kilted petticoats wading across the stream in pursuit, 

 doubtless cursing my officious good-nature. Grouse 

 driving was not then recognised in Forfarshire, 

 although I enjoyed one or two days with our neighbour, 

 the old Lord Dalhousie, at Invermark. He made fine 

 practice with a little twenty-four bore gun ; his swollen 

 fingers, crippled with gout, could not stand the recoil 

 of a larger weapon. After about three weeks' shooting, 

 the grouse at Millden used to pack and become almost 

 unapproachable. I am afraid to suggest a probable 

 figure for the bag that might have been secured in the 

 great year 1872 had we adopted the modern method 

 of driving with suitably arranged butts and a party 

 of practised guns. I feel sure that the total would 

 have amounted to at least 5000 brace. 



Better broken dogs were never seen on a moor. 

 Mickie, the keeper, was a genius, and possessed all the 

 patience, skill, and good temper which are necessary 

 to constitute the perfect dog trainer. He never 

 shouted or whistled ; a signal with his uplifted hand 

 was enough to make either or both of the ranging 

 pointers drop and remain still as stones until his 

 signal of release set them free. Lord Cairns was a 

 Sabbatarian, but he did not take such a rigid view of 

 the obligations of the day as those extremists satirised 

 in Hood's " Ode to Eae Wilson " 



" That bid you baulk 

 A Sunday walk 

 And shun God's work as you should shun your own." 



