LAST VIEW OF THE CATTLE. 181 



being closed) are set on fire, and left to bnrn themselves 

 out. The plan, we were told, was most efficacious ; no 

 blue-bottle ever survived those fumes. 



After a liberal entertainment, having some hours of 

 daylight still before us, we unwillingly left this en- 

 chanting place, and started for the town of Wooler, Mr. 

 Hope, the estate -bailiff, accompanying us as our guide. 

 Our route was for some miles in a westerly direction, 

 across the valley formed by the Wooler Water, a small 

 stream which falls into the Till a little below Wooler. 

 The high hill of Chillingham Park was behind us ; that 

 on which Middleton, our first destination, stands is five 

 miles distant on the opposite side of the valley. All 

 along as we went, at various turns of the road, we saw 

 Chillingham's famous cattle, lying pretty nearly where 

 we had left them, on the far hill-side, in a long, clear, 

 white line, lit up by the bright sunshine. Nor did we 

 lose sight of them altogether until, after leaving Mid- 

 dleton, we were on the turnpike road which leads from 

 Morpeth to Wooler. Thence (so brilliant was the day, 

 and so rarified the fine northern air) we could see them 

 with the naked eye at more than five miles distance as 

 the crow flies, measured upon the Ordnance Map, and 

 regretfully took leave of them. We saw them unex- 

 pectedly again, however, on our return from Wooler, 

 when we called at the hospitable Vicarage of Chatton. 

 The twilight was closing in, and from the pretty garden 

 of the Vicarage, at a distance of about two miles, we saw 

 our old friends rise up after their long siesta, and move 

 off to feed. 



Between Chillingham and Wooler, we drove to 

 Middleton Hall, the residence of Mr. Gr. H. Hughes, 

 which is just on the edge of the moors where the old 



