'THE SCOTCH MAIL* 97 



in at the gate of the lodge grounds a savoury whiff 

 courts your nostrils from the shining kitchen window, 

 while as you turn the corner to the door the first 

 skirl of the pipes warns you that it is already half- 

 past eight, the ladies are waiting, and you must be 

 quick down to dinner. 



A journey such as I have tried to describe is only 

 one of the many combinations which English brains 

 and love of sport have rendered not only possible but 

 usual. Truly the red grouse is responsible for many 

 things in these days, and, let envious or ignorant 

 persons sneer as they may, will continue to be so for 

 many years to come until, in short, some one cleverer 

 than the rest of the world invents a means of driving 

 a plough through a peat bog, or dragging a harrow 

 across the rocky glens of Scotland and the north of 

 England. 



The grouse has his influence over politics, as 

 we are constantly reminded ; over trade and railway 

 enterprise ; and last, but not least, over the well-being 

 and prosperity of a large proportion of our population. 

 The moors are to an Englishman what ' les eaux ' are 

 to the Frenchman, or the Alps to an Italian. Even 

 the wealthy Frenchman and the Italian arc, with the 

 millionaire American or Austrian prince, to lie found 

 pouring their gold into the pockets of the Highlander, 



