MARCH 77 



walking them up in line had not been dreamt of; every 

 bird was killed over dogs, and both setters and pointers 

 had been brought to such perfection of breeding and 

 training as very few sportsmen in these days have any 

 experience of. The remarkable influence over dogs which 

 John was found to possess, and the excellence to which he 

 carried their performance on the moors of Greenock and 

 Duchal, soon brought him into notice ; so when my father, 

 who had married a daughter of the house of Ardgowan, 

 applied to Sir Michael about 1836 to recommend him a 

 head gamekeeper, he was told that he could not do better 

 than take John Pace, although he was at that time only 

 three or four and twenty. Never was there a more pro- 

 pitious engagement. It was the beginning of sixty years 

 of such single-minded service as it is not often the fortune 

 of an employer to receive, and of such perfect mutual 

 confidence and affection as only such service can 

 secure. 



John Pace's dogs were a joy to behold. He began with 

 Gordon setters, beautiful glossy creatures with black silken 

 coats faced with rich tan a peculiar coloration arising, 

 some say, from a cross with the bloodhound, according 

 to others betokening a dash of dark collie. The race 

 originated in the Duke of Gordon's kennel towards the 

 close of the eighteenth century. There exists in the 

 United States, where setters and pointers still hold the 

 field against modern methods, a Gordon Setter Club ; but 

 I gather from Mr. Joseph A. Graham's treatise on The 

 Sporting Dog that the strain has forfeited its ancient fame. 



' In looks,' says he, ' this breed is one of the handsomest, and 

 some fanciers are still loyal to its good qualities ; but the 



