TINWALD DOWNS TO HALLHEATHS. 335 



However, Fate and the first Mrs. Fobert were against 

 him, and the moment the former heard what her 

 old friend had done, she wrote to say most decisively 

 that it was not to be, and that she and her husband 

 were so determined on that point that they were just 

 sending off another brood mare to him. And so Mr. 

 Wilkin yielded to their decree, and Merrywing by 

 Irish Birdcatcher came down, and in after-years a 

 cheque of 150 gs. was offered by Mr. Blenkiron in 

 vain, for this little remembrance of one of the kindest- 

 hearted women that ever passed to her rest. The ches- 

 nut had bolted as a two-year-old at the Carlisle turn 

 for home, and had been seen no more in public, and 

 there she was last year the dam of Merrythought 

 by Mandricardo, and with an Underhand filly at her 

 foot. 



Mr. Wilkin sells some fifty shearling tups a year, 

 and he is satisfied if he can make £5 all round. 

 He brought down tups thirty years ago from the 

 York, Masham, and Thirsk districts, and still runs 

 upon the Yorkshire sheep as most " calculated to fill 

 a glutton^s eye."'^ He does not go for the blue heads, 

 and makes a great point of good hard hair on their 

 crowns. The open coat is most essential, as they are 

 used almost entirely to cast Cheviot ewes, as, in fact, 

 there are hardly any half-bred .ones in the county. 

 The half-bred lambs come out at Lockerby and Car- 

 lisle in August and September, and at Penrith (or 

 " Peerith'^) as hoggs the next spring. A^ery few com- 

 paratively are turniped in Cumberland, but on the 



