AYR TO DUMFRIES. 321 



ever tried for at Dumfries ; and since then the money 

 total has been very considerable, plus two clocks, two 

 salvers, a sugar-bason, goblet, and inkstand, and a 

 medium gold medal for Hannah, This cow came 

 " fra the fell side" in Cumberland, and was bred by 

 James Thompson of Saughtree Gate. She gave 

 twenty quarts a day when she was being ^' caked" 

 for show, and went on nearly at that rate for seven 

 or eight months, after calving. Her first calf, Dinah^ 

 ■was by Wellington (22), and her Semiramis and 

 Hannibal (201) by George Bell of Minsca's Guards- 

 man. 



Semiramis and Lord Southesk's Quadroona were 

 quite the black queens at Kelso, and Poet Close, 

 the laureat to the sable King of Bonny might have 

 been better employed singing their praises than 

 making such delicate disclosures about Bonny^s 

 queen, as that she w^eighs 17st. with her parasol and 

 crinoline, and that she liked the eating so well on 

 board The Athenian as to make it necessar}^ for 

 the ship^s crew to coax her out of the cabin, and then 

 lower her by gentle violence over the ship^s side into 

 the long boat. As his rapture was lacking, we may 

 say in sober prose that she is a long, low cow, with 

 beautiful thighs and twist, and very snug in front, 

 and nicely turned about the bosom ; but still Mr. 

 Graham has always a saving-clause for ^' Hannah at 

 two years old." Cunningham^s Kate beat both her 

 and Harriet at Dumfries, but it was a case of table- 

 turning when she met them separately — Semiramis 



2y 



