xxxiv] LAND NATIONALIZATION 259 



The next day he wrote me again, and as this contains 

 matter of wide public interest, and points to a legal public 

 right which has been, and may still be enforced, I here 

 give it — 



" I omitted in my letter of yesterday to mention a fact, 

 which, if you are unaware of it, may possibly be of interest 

 to you. It is recalled to my mind by the remarks in your 

 book (pages 128, 129) on the closing of large tracts of 

 country, by selfish and tyrannical Highland proprietors, for 

 the purpose of creating solitudes for the cultivation and pre- 

 servation of deer. The practice is clearly illegal, in contra- 

 vention of an old, and unrepealed Scottish law, entitled 

 1 Free Foot in the Wilderness.' Many years ago, when I 

 was editor of the Glasgow Argus, I fought the Duke of Athol 

 in its columns, and appealed to the law, not without success, 

 in the famous Glen Tilt case. I wrote some stinging verses 

 about his grace on the occasion, entitled ' Baron Braemar,' 

 which had a considerable spurt of popularity — which the 

 Queen read, and of which she expressed her approval (and 

 agreement) to her physician, Sir James Clark, an old friend 

 of mine, who told me about it. The Glen was thrown open 

 for a time, but, I believe, has been closed up again with as 

 much rigour as ever." 



In the following year he removed to London for good 

 medical attendance, and wrote me a very flattering letter 

 after reading my " Malay Archipelago." The next year 

 (1886) I was able to call on him when in London for a day, 

 at his apartments in Longridge Road, South Kensington, 

 when we had a long talk, and he afterwards wrote to me as 

 ■ My dear friend and philosopher." On the occasion of this 

 visit he introduced me to his step-daughter, Miss Marie 

 Corelli, a very pleasant young lady, whose future eminence 

 as a writer I did not divine. 



Charles Mackay is, apparently, hardly classed as a poet, 

 since in Chambers's " Biographical Dictionary " he is spoken 

 of as a song-writer; and a modern poet to whom I once 

 mentioned him was ignorant of his existence. Some know 

 him only by his " Emigrant " songs, which were set to music 



