THE ILLICIT WHISKY-STILL. 



Magazine such wide popularity, I find the following remarks ; they appeared in the 

 magazine for March, 1827. Those who have never read the " Noctes " must understand 

 that the speakers are presumed to be Wilson himself, under his nom-de-phcme of 

 Christopher North, and James Hogg, the popular Scotch poet and writer, under the 

 name of the " Shepherd "—at one time his occupation : — 



''Shepherd. .... What think you o' the Death o' the Buck, by that Southron, Edwin 

 Landseer ? Never saw I bloodthirsty fierceness better depicted than in the muzzles o' thae 

 ferocious Jowlers. Lord preserve us! was that the way, think ye, that the Spanish bloodhounds 

 used to rug doun the Maroons in the West Indies ? 



"North. There is a leetle, and but a leetle, something, resembling affectation in the manner 

 of the Huntsmen. 



" Shepherd. Come, sir, nane o' your captious criticism. That black dog, wi' the red legs, 

 and chafts * and eebrees,t is equal to anything that was ever painted in this world ; and that 

 white deevil .... hinging to the Buck's lug,+ with teeth inextricable as arsenic to the 

 coat of the stomach, is a canine leech, that if no chocked aff frae the bite, would soon let out 

 the animal's life, and stretch him with his spreading antlers on the heather. 



"North. Heather, James ?— there is no heather in the picture. The scene is not peculiarly 

 Highland — and therefore I do not feel the bonnet and tartan of the Hunter. 



" Shepherd. I saw naething to fin' fault wi'— you see it's no a red deer— but a fallow deer— 

 frae the spots ; — and the Park, as they ca't, '11 be somewhere perhaps on the borders o' the 

 mountainous pairts o' Perthshire or Argyllshire ;— or wha kens that the scene's no English— 

 and that the painter has gien the hunter something o' the dress o' a Highlander, frae an 

 imaginary feeling but half-understood by his ain mind, as maist imaginative feelings are, but 

 nane the waur on that account either for paintin' or poetry." 



In 1828 Landseer exhibited two paintings; one, "A Portrait of a Terrier," the other 

 " A Scene in the Highlands, with Portraits of the Duchess of Bedford, the Duke of 

 Gordon, and Lord Alexander Russell." It was painted for the late Duke of Gordon, 

 and how it got out of the possession of his grace's family I know not; but it found its 

 way into that of the late Mr. T. Agnew, of Manchester, and after his death was 

 sold by Messrs. Christie, in May, 1871, for the sum of / 1,333, the purchaser being 

 Mr. Ward. Two other pictures, painted in 1825, for the duke, were sold with it, 

 "A Shooting-Pony," and " A Favourite Hack," for^i57 each. His principal picture 

 in 1829 was "An Illicit Whisky-Still in the Highlands," purchased by, or painted 

 for, the late Duke of Wellington, and subsequently engraved by R. Graves. The 

 scene is a Highland hut formed of the mountain-pine, and roofed with shingle and 

 heather. A sportsman is tasting the new-made spirit as he half reclines on the deer 

 he has slain ; dogs of various breeds and sizes lie around him ; and an old woman, 

 painted with marvellous skill and power, is somewhat earnestly waiting his opinion of 

 the whisky. In the background is the swarthy distiller, standing beside the fire, over 

 which is a boiling cauldron, whence the "worm " extends along the floor of the rude 



* Jaws. t Eyebrows. J Ear. 



