ATHELSTANEFORD TO COLDSTREAM. 149 



half-a-mile up a slight ascent/^ which General Chasse 

 would have loved, the Kelso meeting was removed 

 from Caverton Edge. Thanks to the Duke of Rox- 

 burghe, and the untiring clerk of the course, Mr, 

 Usher, the meeting has never faltered. The obelisk 

 monument of the poet of " The Seasons^^ faces you. 

 above the turn for home, but it would puzzle the 

 gentle philosopher to define the length of the racing 

 season now. The middle of the course seems to be 

 quite a workshop for the moles ; and wild- ducks and 

 sea-gulls rise from its ditches. Along the back 

 stretch it is very deep going in autumn, and it is no 

 wonder that 9st. lllbs. should have told on Bees- 

 wing, or that Sim Templeman should have found 

 Songstress tire to nothing. As for Benvoirlich or 

 Beef and Greens, half-brother to Blink Bonny on 

 his dam's side, his and Mr. Usher's appearance was 

 always as keenly looked for, in the Hunting Plate, as 

 Bob Johnson's and Dr. Syntax's on a Preston Cup day. 

 He won it three years running ; and if he did not 

 show in '62, he renewed his strength the next autumn 

 with his owner up in the yellow with green hoop and 

 cap, making all the running and hugging the rails at 

 the turn, to the old tune from the farm lads, of " Had 

 awa\ Ben!" On the Turf he did not care to be 

 asked the question too often, but with the Baccleucli 

 hounds he was endless. 



We do not advise a quietly-disposed person to be 

 in Kelso on the last night of December : for what with 

 the wake of the dying year, and the celebration of s: 



