328 Life and Times of " The Druid." 



mile, it is a grand, independent way of travel- 

 ling. It was positively exhilarating to put 

 the mare's head straight across Scotland, 

 from St. Boswell's to Ayr, and to cut down 

 the hundred miles at four-and-forty a-day ; 

 or to rattle from Athelstaneford to Kelso 

 over the Lammermuirs with two shirts and 

 three pairs of stockings on, and the cold cut- 

 ting your cheeks to the bone. There were, 

 however, sundry disadvantages connected 

 with this primitive mode of locomotion. It 

 is a weary thing sitting three-quarters of an 

 hour on a corn bin at nisdit to be sure that 

 the ostler does your nag justice. Every 

 ferry - boat in the Highlands was fraught 

 with a fresh difficulty ; every railway train 

 produced a fresh run off, and I was lucky 

 if I could put my horse's head in the right 

 direction, before she started, so as to get a 

 three hundred yard gallop to the good. It 

 was equally objectionable having to blind- 

 fold her and stuff her ears, and twist her five 

 or six times round, so as to make her forget 

 which way you wanted to go, when late at 

 night you found a Lanarkshire or Ayrshire 

 blast furnace roaring like a lion in your 



