46 DAYS OF DEER-STALKING. 



factured into a soft yellow-coloured leather, which is useful 

 for numerous purposes. 



I have heard the excellence of the venison disputed by 

 sportsmen, and others who have tasted it in the north; but 

 I attribute this entirely to the age and condition of the sort 

 of creature it was their lot to taste, or to the time of year 

 in which it was killed. A hart, like most other animals, 

 has little fat when he is growing ; and if sportsmen do not 

 distinguish, or have not the means of selection, the haunches 

 will cut but a sorry figure at the table. But in the estima- 

 tion ot all the numerous guests it has been my good fortune 

 to meet in the hospitable halls of Blair, the red deer has 

 been infinitely preferred to the fallow ; and I could name 

 many such guests, whose judgment would be pronounced 

 paramount in such matters. On the contrary, the haunch 

 of the fallow deer, when brought to table at Blair, although 

 perfect in its kind, was always neglected. There must 

 however be a wide difference between the quality of the 

 red deer, which are fed in English parks, and such as wander 

 freely over the mountains, and browse on the sweet grass 

 and heather. 



I have now lying before me a letter from Sir Walter 

 Scott, to whom I was in the habit of sending Highland 

 venison (and who was no mean judge of the merits of a 

 plat de resistance}, attesting its excellence. Thus I quote 

 from it, word for word : 



" Thanks, dear Sir, for your venison, for finer or fatter 

 Never roam'd in a forest, or smoked in a platter. " 



" Your superb haunch arrived in excellent time to feast 



a new married couple, the Douglasses, of M , and was 



pronounced by far the finest that could by possibility have 

 been seen in Teviotdale since Chevy Chase. I did not 

 venture on the carving, being warned both by your hints, 

 and the example of old Robert Sinclair, who used to say 

 that he had thirty friends during a fortnight's residence at 

 Harrowgate, and lost them all in the carving of one haunch 

 of venison ; so I put Lockhart on the duty, and, as the 

 haunch was too large to require strict economy, he hacked 

 and hewed it well enough." 



