DRUMLANRIG CASTLE 157 



With the decease of his cousin, the ' new ' Duke 

 seems to have actually crossed the Border again, just 

 to see how his late relative's affairs were being con- 

 ducted, as well as to alter certain old-fashioned but 

 kind-hearted ways the good old Duke had devised. 

 Perhaps the most callous alteration be effected was 

 turning out and selling several of his cousin's old 

 equine pensioners, who had been superannuated in the 

 domains of Drumlanrig, where, well housed and fed in 

 winter, and with untethered liberty in summer, this 

 good, kind-hearted Duke let his old horses live their 

 natural lives ; nor on any account would he permit 

 one to be sold or killed. His successor looked on one 

 of man's ' best friends ' with a very different eye. A 

 horse to him seems to have been merely a quadruped, 

 plus its money-earning power. Therefore, seeing a 

 portion of the park at Drumlanrig dotted with his 

 deceased cousin's old coach and other horses, enjoying 

 well-earned repose, he looked upon them as so much 

 capital lying idle. To order his 'factor' to turn 

 these poor brutes into money were words of small 

 moment to his grace, but of incalculable suffering 

 to the poor animals, who, after being dispersed at 

 auction, were seen dragging overladen carts until 

 death put an end to their half-starved and other 

 miseries. 



