LIFE OF C. ST. JOHN 



the Quarterly Review. The editor (Lockhart) was delighted 

 with them, especially with the story of " the Muckle Hart of 

 Benmore.'' St. John now began to see how he could utilise 

 the varied information he had gathered, and one winter dili- 

 gently put together the charming pages of The Wild Sports of 

 the Highlands. The Sheriff had the satisfaction of arranging 

 for the sale and publication of this in 1845 > ^n<i '^hen for the 

 first time naturalists and sportsmen obtained accurate informa- 

 tion of the wild life of Northern Scotland ; while the simple 

 charm of St. John's narratives, and the boundless enthusiasm 

 for sport which these chapters evoked, speedily made his name 

 famous, and have given the utmost pleasure ever since to all 

 lovers of rural life. Thenceforth St. John kept more regular 

 journals, and acquired a scientific interest in his sport. The 

 sand-hills of Culbin, the Black Forest stretching away beyond 

 Brodie and Dalvey, the sand-spits on the coast where the seals 

 might be seen basking in the sun, the Findhorn with its ever- 

 varying prospects and the "sea-pyes" haunting its gravel 

 banks, these and other contiguous fields of research furnished 

 him with inexhaustible objects to observe and comment upon. 



In 1848 and 1849 St. John was obliged for the sake of his 

 family to reside much in Edinburgh ; but he loved to make 

 excursions on the one side to Newcastle, where dwelt Mr. 

 Hancock, whose tastes were similar to his own, and on the 

 other to Sutherland. This county had always possessed many 

 attractions for him in its fishing and deer-stalking, and led to 

 his publishing two volumes upon its sport. 



Of all the houses St. John had inhabited, perhaps the 

 College, Elgin, is the most identified with his pursuits and 

 literary work. Here he came in the autumn of 1849. It was 

 in the neighbourhood of many friends, — Sir A. G. Gumming of 

 Altyre, Major Gordon Gumming, and others, — while there were 

 good schools close at hand for his boys. The house itself, 

 with its old trees and rambling garden and the ivy covering 

 the walls, was exactly suited to the studies in natural history 

 of himself and his family. Here he could shoot and fish in 

 much happiness ; and here, owing to his habits of vigour, active 

 exercise, and temperance, he spent several happy years. It is 

 worth while extracting a pleasant picture of his home-life at 

 Elgin from the pages of Mr. Innes : 



