56 A NOTE FROM NORTH BRITAIN 



Will Long you'll surely make it out to me, viz. to procure 

 me a good Stallion Hound, not one whose powder is all 

 gone, but one vot w^ hunt well up to next Xmas and 

 be ready for his work after it. I have such a distance 

 to send to any good dog. For instance, this is the 2^ 

 time this Bitch Valarous, I allude to, has been sent to 

 ye Duke of Bucleugh's Kennel, nearer 600 miles the 

 two journies than 500, and she has miss'd this year. 

 You'l, therefore, immediately be Awake to ye very great 

 disadvantage I labour under in this respect, and will 

 for a fellow truly fond of ye fun, do yr best for me. You 

 know that 



Ye large strong bony dog, 



One when on scent, who firmly speaks, I seek ; 

 Whose poweiful frame leaves far behind 

 Ye small pygmean squeaking kind. 



" Rim I admire ; but from ye nature of ye country 

 I hunt, and the impervious gorse coverts they have to 

 draw, my experience tells me that in medio tutissimus ; 

 and for that very reason, viz. : The coverts, he meuses 

 better, and is nearer to his fox. 



" But always breed from a larger sort than that which 

 you mean to keep. If you won't think me very conceited, 

 and very intolerable, I'll send you, old Codrington, and 

 Will Long, a list of my ' cry-o-dogs,' as they say in York- 

 shire. Bucleugh has got a capital pack of hounds, ye 

 first out of all sight this side of Tweed, and well they 

 now may be, having been a pack for nearly forty years, 

 although not in his possession, I suppose, above six. 

 The Fifeshire, capital for their numbers, in their work, 

 but quite a different animal. Joe Grant, no bad judge, 

 who was twelve years under Nicholls, will tell you that 

 ye Duke of Buckle-my-Shoes are now as sightly, and as 



