82 DEER. STALKING 



a deer forest, holding a high social position, to go out 

 stalking himself. The old Lord Lovat, grandfather 

 of the present peer, told me a long time ago what 

 struck me then as so curious that I have never forgot- 

 ten it. He said that when he succeeded to his estate, 

 his guardian, whose name I forget, expressed the hope 

 that he would not so far derogate from his position as 

 to think of going into the forest to shoot deer himself. 

 Such a practice, he said, was neither dignified nor 

 customary. A forester was kept for the purpose, and 

 it was his duty to supply the house with venison. 

 Lord Lovat, of course, paid no attention to the formal 

 though friendly advice of his guardian, and the crack 

 of his rifle was periodically heard in Glen Strathfarrnr 

 for the next fifty years. There were few better shots, 

 and there was no finer sportsman than the old Lord. 

 I asked him whether the suggestion made by his 

 guardian had any real foundation, and if he was sure 

 it did not originate in some ideas peculiar to that 

 worthy gentleman. He said ' no,' he believed the 

 views held by his guardian, though not perhaps 

 universal, were largely shared by others, and were 

 certainly prevalent in his own district. 



It is also probable that the writings of Sir Walter 

 .Scott had something to do with stimulating a desire 

 to visit the scenes described in some of his works, 



