xt7mpg1hj26p https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7mpg1hj26p/data/mets.xml Dixon, Henry Hall, 1822-1870. 1870 books b98-33-40282248 English Rogerson & Tuxford, : London : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Livestock Great Britain. Country life England. Saddle and sirloin, or, English farm and sporting worthies / by the Druid [pseud.] ... text Saddle and sirloin, or, English farm and sporting worthies / by the Druid [pseud.] ... 1870 2002 true xt7mpg1hj26p section xt7mpg1hj26p
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D E D IC' AT I P
TO
GEORGE PARKER TUXFORD,
WITHOUT WHOSE KIND ADVICE AND SOLID AID
I SHOULD NEVER HAVE FACED ALL THE WEARINESS AND
ANXIETY OF AN AUTHOR'S LIFE,
ThIS IWORK,
WHICH DEALS WITH THOSE COUNTRY SCENES
THAT WE BOTH LOVE BEST,
IS DEDICATED BY HIS FRIEND,
THE AUTHOR.
This page in the original text is blank.
HE title of this work should pretty well explain
U its nature. " Sirloin" speaks with ponderous
emphasis for itself, and " Saddle" has a triple
bearing on horses, sheep, and pigs. It is, in fact,
simply the record of what I have seen and heard
during the last eleven years in the course of my
summer rambles from Cumberland to Cornwall.
My business among the leading breeders was in
connection with The Herds and Flocks of Great
Britain for The Mark Lane Express, and sundry Prize
Essays in The Royal Agricultural Society's Journal,
the main points of which are briefly re-produced.
A large share of attention has been given to
coursing; but racing and foxhunting have been
passed somewhat lightly over, as I have already
devoted three books to them.
Looking back on the friendships of the last
eighteen years, I remember sadly that hardly three
of the older generation with whom I then began to
take counsel as to "the brave days of old" are left
among the living. To have known them, and to
A 2
PREF ACE.
have in a measure travelled over their minds, is no
slight pleasure now that I can have no more " quiet
evenings," listening to and noting down their
experiences.
In compiling this book I have endeavoured to re-
lieve the general reader by throwing mere matters of
flock and herd detail into the notes. I could do no
more than touch on what appear to be leading points
in a county, and as these matters are appreciated
differently by different minds, I shall no doubt be
found guilty of many dreadful acts of omission. It
is, however, a comfort to think that one enthusiastic
purveyor, who painted " Saddle and Sirloin" over
his sign as soon as the title was announced, and has
amused himself ever since by listening to the com-
ments of the passers-by, is bound to stand by me and
my selection for better for worse; and I trust that
those who have not committed themselves after
this fashion may not find much to condemn. The
second part " South" will (D.V.) see the light in the
course of the present year.
59, Warivick Gardens, Kensington, W.
January 25Mk, 1870.
TABLE DP C fNTENTS.
(ZDllmalpgln J.
Over the Border - Professor Dick - Mr. Hall 3Maxwell - Mr. Ivie
Campbell - Jobn Benzies, the Herdsman - John White, the
Gamekeeper - The Master of the Teviotdale - The Earl of
Glasgow . 1-32
The late Sir James Graham, his farming tastes-Recollections of
Carlisle-Meeting the Judges-Old Posting Times-Loyal Tom
King-Jack Ainslie and his Gretna-green tactics 33-47
The Mail and Coach Days-Shap Fells-Drivers, Regular and
Amateur - Guards - Horses - Carlisle Races; the late Mr.
Daley-The Wrestling Ring-Cumberland Wrestling Champions
48-80
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
C ow.
Whitehall-Killhow Sale of Shorthorns-Scaleby Castle-The
Western Plain of Cumberland-i1r. Watson's and the late Mr.
Brown's Pigs- Mr. Curwen's Agricultural Gathering at the Schooze
Farm-Champion Bulls-The late Captain Spencers Greyhounds
81-96
Mr. Unthank-Old Cherry and Captain Shaftoe-Nunwick Hall-
Among the Herdwicks-Mr. Crozier's Hounds-Wetheral-Farlam
Hall and its Greyhounds-The Brampton Coursing Meeting
97-122
Visit to Mr. John Grey-Recollections of the Booths and Mary of
Buttermere-Sir John Sinclair and his Merino Wool-The Tur-
bulent Bull-Lord Althorp and his Shorthorns-A Downing-
street Interview-Newcastle Races, the Slipping Race-Sir
Charles Monck-Woodhorn-A Felton Festival-From MIorpeth
to Belford-The Wild Cattle of Cbillinghaam-The Border
Leicesters . . 123-141
CHAPTWER wool
Bakewell's Longhorns-The Holderness and Teeswater-Great Short-
horn Breeders-Mr. Bates-Mr. Fawcett's Recollections of him-
Show of Terriers at Yarm-Shoeing Contest-Hound Show at
Redcar-Photographing the Huntsmen-The Neasham. Hall Stud-
Sparkler of the Hturworth-Mr. Wetherell's Herds . 142-175
TABLE OF CONTENTS. iii
Eccentric Sporting Characters-Mr. Bruere'g Herd-IHis Booth
Tree-John Osborne-Mr. Anthony Maynard-Killerby and
Warlaby Recollections-Mr. John Jackson-Lord Feversham'g
Herd-" Old Anna"-Mr. Samuel Wiley-Mr. Borton's Leicesters
176-225
The late Sir Tatton Sykes-Life at Sledmere-Old Bob Ramsden-
Market Weighton Trotters-A Visit to Givendale-The late Mr.
Etty, R.A.-A Morning on Langton Wold-Blair Athol
226-264
A Word on Knavesmire-Sir William Milner-The Hunting Tragedy
on the Ure-Drax Abbey-Warping-Harrogate Yorkshire Stock
and Hound Show at Wetherby-Captain Gunter's Herd-Farnley
Hall . . . . . . . 265-298
(g 11,4F'DT zE U2SJ.
The Pig Show at Keighley-Celebrating a Victory-Mr. Wainman's
Pigs-Pig Scenes Abroad-Mr. Waterton at Home-Mr. Gully,
" The Squire," and M1r. Tom Hodgson-Doncaster Moor-Purity's
Five Heats-" Martingale" . . 299-33(
N10TIEM M.
The Towneley Herd-The Sale-Great Sales of the Century-Old
Favourites-Mr, Eastwood's Herd-Mr. Peel's Herd-The Lonks
:3:7-:365,
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
GHAP A LJOO.
Manchester Race Courses-Heaton Park-Thomas Godwin-Mr.
Atherton's Farm-fMr. Dickinson's Farm-Great Coursing
Grounds-A Visit to Chloe-The late Mr. Nightingale-The
Duke of Devonshire's Herd-Mr. Bolden's-The Duchesses and
Grand Duchesses-Sketches of Great Greyhounds-A Waterloo
Cup Day . . . . 366-413
Cheese-making in Cheshire-The late Captain White and Dr.
Bellyse-Mr. D. R. Davies' Herd-Cattle Plague in Cheshire-
Penrhyn Castle-Sir Watkin Wynn's Hounds-Mr. Naylor's
Herefords . . . . . 414-445
Shropshire Sheep-Lord Berwick's Herefords-Sir Bellingham
Graham-Coursing at Sundorne-Mr. Corbet-Old Bob Luther
446-463
Clayton and Shuttleworth's Works at Lincoln-Lincoln Flocks-
Tom Brooks and John Thompson-Aylesby Manor-Tuxford and
Sons' Works at Boston . . . . 464-486
iv
SADDLE AND SiRLOIN;
ODR, ENCLJS 3 tOUTflY LIVE.
At Doncaster, at York, and Leeds,
And merry Carlisle had he been;
And all along the Lowlands fair,
All through the bonny shire of Ayr;
And far as Aberdeen.
And lie had seen Caernarvon's towers,
And well he knew the spire of Sarum,
And he had been where Lincoln's bell
Flings o'er the fen that ponderous knell-
His far renowned alarum!"
Over the Border-Professor Dick-Mr. Hall Maxwell-Mr. Ivic
Campbell-John Benzies, the Herdsman-John White, the Game-
keeper-The Master of the Teviotdale-The Earl of Glasgow.
"OLLMAN oF GLYNDE loved a day with his lemon-
and-white beagles. If a hare beat him at
nightfall he would mark with a stick the spot where
they last spoke to her, and return there first thing
next morning. How he dealt with " the situation"
in the early dews we know not. This we do know,
that when another summer found us in cannie Cum-
berland, to take up our " field and fern" tale for
England, our first impulse was to cast back over the
Border.
SADDLE AND SIRLOIN.
Some good friends live only in memory. ProfessoL
Dick, " the old white lion," as his pupils called him,
sleeps in Glasnevin cemetery. We always found him as
kind as he was quaint. Ask him what we might about
Clydesdales or anything else, and he never grudged
us oil from his cruise. Write to him, and five or six
words were our portion in reply. He liked to be paid
off in his own coin; hence our joint correspondence
about his photograph comprised some thirteen words
on four square inches of note paper. You saw the
man best when he was trving a roarer on " Dick's
Constitution Hill," or when he admitted you by the
side-door on to the stage of his theatre, and placed
you in shadow during a lecture. He would then
grasp the thigh-bone of a horse, or whatever else he
was about to illustrate, and speak in the same tone,
without check or cadence, for an hour. If he did
pause, it was only to rebuke with a stony British
stare some foolish " interruption and laughter." We
are told that he rather prided himself on quelling
such offenders by the unaided power of his eve.
He was in truth, a fine, rugged, old fellow', ith
"a skin of copper,
Quite professional and proper,"
a rambling, half-corpulent figure, shaggy white
tresses, and thoughts full of marrow. Ile had a
large stock of spare activities, whereon to use them; as
public matters, both political and civic, had always a
great charm for him. A more sturdy Liberal never
drew breath, and in 1852 his friends thought of
putting him up for Edinburgh. He never entered
very heartily into the idea, but it suited his humour
to put out an elaborate and searching analysis of the
great questions, which " must be considered settled,"
and those which belonged to the future. Among .he
latter he gave special prominence to the Irish Church
and a Second Reform Bill. He never married, and
MR. HALL MAXWELL.
a
he left the whole of his money, subject to the life-
interest of Miss Dick, who had been to him a sister
indeed, to endow the Veterinary College, where he
had lived and laboured for two-and-forty years.
Edinburgh seems still stranger to us without Mr
Hall Maxwell, of Dargavel, and those pleasant half-
hour chats at Albyn Place, when he was quite the
moving spirit of the Highland and Agricultural
Society. His object, as he once said to us, was " to
hold Scotland in one great Society's net-work, and
never let a mesh be out of order." In this he was
most ably backed up by his confidential clerk, Mr.
Duncan, and they both seemed to have the power of
layino their finger in au instant on the most minute
spring of the vast system they had reared. None
were kinder and more readv to assist us on every
point within their range. No matter how intricate
the search for it might seem in prospective, Mr.
Maxwell would ring his bell: " Mr. Duncan, would
you please find me, &c. " and in five or six minutes
his fidus Achates would return with all the par-
ticulars tabulated, as if by magic.
In 1846 Mr. Maxwell succeeded Sir Charles
Gordon, who died at his post, and he held office
until the 9th of May, 1866. His first meeting was
at Inverness, in 1846; and there, nineteen years
after, he made his farewell speech, He was pressed
not to resign; but Glasgow, where the business of
the meeting is always unusually heavy, stood next on
the list, and his heart-symptoms had long given him
no uncertain warning that he must seek rest.
But for the ill-health of his successor, Air. Macduff
(who died without taking office), his connection with
the Society would have ceased some months earlier.
He was bred to the law, and practised regularly,
previous to his acceptance of office; and those in the
profession who knew his powers and remembered his
speaking, more especially in a great murder-defence,
p2
SADDLE AND SIRLOIN.
believed that he would have infallibly risen to be a
Lord of Session. With commanding sense and
marvellous shrewdness he combined a perfect
mastery of tongue-fence, and he was as quick as
lightning in his thrust or parry.
No one was more jealous of his own or his So-
ciety's dignity, and his eye would flash and the
colour would mount to his cheek at a word. He
delighted most in marshalling statistics and annex-
ing districts at his desk, but still he was supremely
happy in the show-yard. Everything was done there
with great dignity and order, and the Scottish bench
would sometimes chaff their coadjutors from Eng-
land overnight, and tell them that Hall Maxwell
never admitted a judge into the show yard unless
he presented himself in full court-dress. On the
opening morning he might be found in the pay-
box for a few minutes, helping to gather the crowns,
and exchanging a word or a nod Mwith each member as
he came in; but he soon retired, and for the rest of
the week the saddle was his throne. He would be
galloping here, there, and everywhere, as field-mar-
shal, on his bay cob, setting lords, baronets, and
lairds to work as " attending members" to the dif-
ferent sets of judges; and he was a plainish speaker,
sometimes, if things did not go just to his mind.
In short, both there and at Albyn Place, he was
quite the autocrat of the Scciety; but, although they
somewhat felt the bondage, they were very proud of
him, and quite content to set off the marvels he
had wrought for them against what many thought,
and some termed " dictation." If any of the latter
were unduly captious, he caught them without more
ado and made directors of them, and they soon ceased
from troubling. This mode of bland absorption was
very transparent, but was never known to fail.
Public bvsiness often took him to London, and no
one could take charge of a Parliamentary bill better.
4
AuIR. HALL MAXWELL.
If he appeared in a Committee-room to support
or oppose on behalf of the Society, it was with such
a well-marshalled and serried mass of facts and wit-
nesses that it was always odds on him. At Batter-
sea and Paris he was quite in his element, looking
after Scottish iinterests. When in '6 1 he led the
hundred-and-twenty herdsmen and shepherds to
Battersea-fields, he lodged them in Edgington tents,
and furnished them with beds borrowed expressly
from the Tower. They had regular night-watches
like soldiers; certain detachments of them made
holiday at the Exhibition or the Crystal Palace, and
on Sunday thev were marched to Westminster Abbev.
This was the only time that we ever saw him in com-
plete sympathy with the stock classes. He seemed
to care nothing about the very finest show animals or
their points, and to merely regard them as necessary
links in his system. Neither Belville, nor old Char-
lotte, nor Colly Hill, nor Loudon Tam, " that very
Blair Athole among Clydesdales," had made any im-
pression on him. He only wished to see the classes
worthily filled; the cracks he left to his friend, Mr.
Gourlay Steell, " to be translated."
As a private companion none could exceed him,
and to us his stories were all the more salient, when
thev turned on his recollections of his own Societv.
He loved to recount the Parisian speculations and
observations of " Boghall," who did him such yeo-
man service as cattle manager on that famous in-
ternational trip ; and hle unconsciously gave us a
delightful specimen of his best official manner in his
recital of " Duncan's Arrest at Perth." It seems
that the late Duke of Athole, who was then presi-
dent of the Society, went to Mr. Duncan the night
before the show opened at Perth and demanded a
stock catalogue. With unswerving fidelity to his
chief, who had given express orders to the contrary
Mr. Duncan respectfully declined to hand over, and
SADDLE AND SIRLOIN.
the Duke (whose Highland blood was very easily
roused) ordered him forthwith into a cab, and
taking his seat beside him, drove straight off to
Mr. Maxwell's inn. The latter was summoned from
dinner, and, on going into the lobby, heard the in-
dictment which the Duke delivered with immense
emphasis, holding the accused by the collar. Then
Mr. Maxwell struck in, appealing to the Duke as one
who had been in the army, and knew the value of
rigid discipline, and showing his Grace that " my
orders are only your orders-even a president can-
not break his own rules ;" and so the upshot of it
was that the Duke doffed his bonnet, and made a
most gracious bow-" Mr. Duncan, I humbly beg
your pardon."
Such was Hall Maxwell; and Scotland did not let
one who had served her so well and so long retire
without a substantial reward. On January 17, 1866,
he was presented with 1,000 gs. and a handsome ser-
vice of plate, and was also requested by the directors
of the Society to sit to Mr. Gourlay Steell, for his
portrait. They little thought how soon that portrait
(which is hung, among the few that have attained
such honour, in their council-chamber) would be all
they could look upon. He was still in the very
prime of his mental vigour; and, if health had been
granted to him, he might have reasonably looked for-
ward to another twenty years of usefulness in his
county. It was not to be. He held up just so long
as the connection between him and the Society was
unbroken, and then his friends saw with sorrow that
Edinburgh voulQ soon know him no more. About
the middle of MLay he quitted it, in very feeble
health; his fainting-fits became more frequent as
the summer sped on, and on August 25th he died, at
his own house, Torr Hall, Renfrewsbire, in the 55th
-ear of his age.
A quiet evening with some really good coursers is
6
MIR. IVIE CAMPBELL.
o10 light privilege, especially if the kettle is singing
a pleasant winter tune, and a greyhound that has
" done the state some service" lies stretched in
dreams on the hearth-rug. We have listened with
delight as -Mr. Nightingale recounted the points of
each crack course at the meetings where he wore the
scarlet; and though the cold February wind whistled
loud and shrill round the Avrshire barn-tops, and
away to the moors behind, what cared we as the ser-
vant lassie brought in tea, and fresh logs to the fire,
and the late Mr. Campbell, with Canaradzo at his
feet, dwelt fondly on the race of Scotland Yet. In
his build Mr. Campbell would remind us of the late
Mr. Kirby of York-a man of burly frame, in a
capacious black tail coat from which he had rather
shrunk. He was good-tempered, but always able to
hold his own, with incisive Quaker-like retorts,
against a host, when he was chaffed. He sold all his
greyhounds, save Coodareena, in the spring of '65,
Canaradzo for 100 to Mr. Knowles, and Cala-
baroono for 200, to the late Lord Uffington, with
a view to the Waterloo Cup, for which he came,
after the frost, far too fat to the slips. Few men
began coursing so late, and none have made such
prices; but his dogs were always well placed, and
well trained bv his son and " Jock o' Dalgig."
He was much "exercised" in the manufacture of
greyhound names, and wvas wont to say that it often
relieved him from severe fits of toothache. The pursuit
had its origin as follows. He had a red dog, Crom-
well, winner of the Biggar (Open) Cup of sixty-four
dogs, in 1853; and shortly after another " Crom-
well," to his intense disgust, started up in the Eng-
lish entries. Then he called a brace " Scotland Yet"
and " Highland Home" after favourite Scottish songs,
and when the Ridgway Club entries came out, Mr.
Sharpe had a Scotland Yet as well. After that he
would have " no common names," and followed up a
7
SADDLE AND SIRLOIN.
limited use of Ossian, by making them for himself.
His first-born was "Coomerango," of which Boome-
rang was the key-note. " Crested Lochiel" and
" Cam Ye by Athol," were the only names he would
ever accept from his son. He said that his dogs had
no luck unless thev were named bv himself, and as
the above two died from injuries at a fence, he had
some grounds for his prejudice.
His son reallv began the familv coursing in 1841,
when Mr. McTurk gave him a puppy. After that
"Young Dalgig" always kept one; but his father
took no notice whatever of the sport until ] 847, w-hen
be saw him with Kenmore, the dam of Dido, and
conceived a violent admiration for her. Hle then
learnt to love coursing at private meetings round
home, and his maiden win was a farmer's stake
at Closeburn-five shillings entrance and thirty
runners. Dido won, and followed suit at Closeburn
public meeting the next year.
He first tried Canaradzo in the Dalgig meadows
with Mr. Hlyslop's Forty-Six. If he was anxious
for a trial he would walk from morning till evening
to have one. On one occasion he and his son walked
all Monday and Tuesday on the hills, and did not find
a hare. On Wednesday they began again, and at
two o'clock those plucky pilgrims at last " spied her
sitting." He did not feel it a martyrdom, and no
amount of wet would make him put back. The only
alloy, in his mind, to these private trials was when
"Jock" proclaimed the death of a doe hare. Occa-
sionally, he took an odd fit, and would run a dog
three or four trials in a da+. Much as he loved
Coodareena, he would sometimes try the whole team
with her, and lie was " as deaf as Ailsa Craig" to every
expostulation on the point. She was the stoutest
hearted of all the Scotland Yets-a sort which is
either very game or very soft; and but for these
severe trials she would have won more than she did.
8
MR. IVIE CAMPBELL.
As it wvas, she was left in among the last eight with
Meg in Mr. Campbell's last Waterloo Cup essay;
and she ran well at Kyle last winter, after having
had three litters.
Dalgig was not far from the springs of Nith, and
every Edie Ochiltree and Madge Wildfire who wan-
dered among those moors was sure ot a night's
shelter and plenty of porridge and milk. Mr.
Campbell was a great student of human nature, and
he loved a bit of character wherever lhe could find
it, especially if it indulged in unshackelled Scotch.
He made a point of asking everv tramp their name,
and theye invariably said " Campbell." The outlying
members of the clan seemed to increase in a most
marvellous manner, but still he was content to ask
no more questions. " Campbell" was not the only
kev to his heart. On one occasion he had some
'Words with a vagrant, and denied him bed and board,
but -when the cunning fellow told him that his name
was " Bruce," evervthing was forgiven and forgotten.
They repaid his kindness bv verv seldom stealing
from him. One of the worst of the lot was once
heard to say to his child behind a hedge-" Nab
what you can, laddie, but no at Dalyiy for yer life."
His charity was once rather chilled by learning that
two married couples had enjoyed his hospitality from
Saturday till Monday, and occupied their barn leisure
in negotiating an exchange of wives. The arrange-
ment was carried into effect, and " Old Dalgig" was
so scandalized when lie heard of it, that for a long
time he housed no beggars but aged ones.
He seldom changed his servants, and looked upon
the seniors as quite family s+andards. " Sandy Dun"
was with him and his father for fifty-seven years, and
died at eighty-four, without redeeming the matri-
monial promise which he made annually to his
I For a visit to Dalgig see " Field and Ferri" (SoutL), pp. 2 19-66,
9
SADDLE AND SIRLOIN.
master, under the influence of ale, at Auchinleck
Lamb Fair. Another of them,WillyWilson, delighted
to tell how a rough drover tried to prevent him and
his master from passing a certain point in the fair
with their lambs, and how the latter laid the fellow
prostrate in the mud, and when he had extracted
an apology, assisted him to rise and gave him six-
pence to drink his health. If he scolded his ser-
vants or any one else he seldom got beyond, " You
Saucester.',' (a Scotch word for a kind of pudding);
but when his preface was " My-Good-Sir" he was
felt to be in earnest indeed. Hugh Wyllie, who has
been thirty-five years about Dalgig, was often " had
in" for a chat at night. He was full of all the
country news, and knew many curious stories, two
traits which exactly suited his master. The finest
scenes took place between "Old Dalgig" and his
negro Black Geordie. At one time, Geordie was
a sailor, then he cruised about the country
selling pebbles and curious stones, and when
that game was up, he became a sort of groom
to Mr. Campbell, for five-and-twenty years. He
was very lazy, and nearly as bad tempered as
old Pluto of Gibbet Island, and scenes, rich and
rare, took place between him and his master,
if the gig was not ready in time. Geordie would
think outloud upon these occasions, and it
was upon this aggravating habit that issue was
joined.
Mr. Campbell was very fond of reading, but con-
fined himself principally to religious works, and more
especially to Edward Irving's and Dr. Cumming's.
He kept several terms at Glasgow University, where
he studied Greek and Latin, and attended the Divinity
Hall with no small zest. With a view to going out
to China, he began to learn the language, but he
was prevailed upon, in consequence of his father's
advanced years, to cease from gathering " the
10
MR. IVlE CAMPBELL.
11
blossom of the flying term," and to assist him in
his farm duties. Still amid Ayrshire cows and
arable, he always yearned after his first love-his
college cap and gown. Robert Pollok, the author
of " The Course of Time," was a fellow student in
the Divinity school, and many of their Glasgow
evenings were spent together. Their friendship
As a breeder of Ayrshires, horses, and sheep he had great ex-
perience; few men were in higher request as a judge at shows in
Scotland, and, in 1864, he made his third and last journey to Ireland
on the same errand. Whatever he did, he did with all his might.
For instance, when Lord James Stewart, as principal trustee for the
young Marquis of Bute, offered four silver medals for different classes
of farm stock, he felt sure of being first for the " Dairy Stock," and
anything but sure of the " Single Ayrshire Milch Cow," the " Clydes-
dale Brood Marc," and the " Two-year-old Ayrshire Quey." Defeat
was not to be thought of, and (like the late Duke of Hamilton when
he determined to be foremost among the best at Battersea) hebouglit
one in Dumfriesshire, another in Lanarkshire, and the third in a
distant part of Ayrshire, and kept the medals together. In 1833 he
reclaimed 570 acres of waste hill land by ploughing and liming, and
then sowing it out in first-rate pasture, and for this improvement he
gained the Highland and Agricultural Society's gold medal. Three
years after that, he commenced with his brother-in-law, Mr. Rich-
mond (of Bridgebouse), as his mentor, breeding " Superior Ayrshire
Stock," and they bought between them the celebrated "Tam" from
Mr. Allan, of Dairy. Tam's cows and queys carried almost every-
thing before them from 1843 to 1854; and were first on five different
occasions, when the competition was open to all Ayrshire. His next
purchase, Cardigan, from Mr. Parker, gained twenty-seven first prizes,
and was never beaten while at Dalgig, and it was for this bull that he
refused 100 in 1856. Mr. Parker's stalls also furnished him with
Clarendon, who fined down very much after his arrival, and was first
both at Ayr and Glasgow in '60.
With all this good milk material, do what lie might, lie could
never get to the top of the tree in cheese-making. His dairy could
win at New and Old Cumnock, but they were never even commended
in the county competition at Kilmarnock. He spared no expence to
have his dairy-maids instructed in the Cheddar system, and both Mr.
Harding and Mr. Norton from Somtrsetshire set up their cheese-
presses for a time at Dalgig. Still h( never succeeded in making a
first-class article, and he attributed his failure to the wet soil and the
cold, damp air.
Blackfaced sheep were also his fancy, and he won prizes with them,
but never showed after Mr. Richmond's death in '44. He began
his horse-labours simultaneously with his assault on waste land, and
SADDLE AND SIRLOIN.
knew no change, and the very year that Pollok died,
he had promised to spend part of the summer at
Dalgig.
Curling and draughts were his chief amusements
until he commenced coursing, and he kept up the
former for fully forty years. He would drive seven-
teen miles to Sailquhar to play, and although he
never won the Picture, he held the New Cumnock
Challenge Medal for several seasons. As a director
of the game lie was first rate, but his temper not un-
frequently wvent if any of his own players were care-
less. However, the anger was soon off him, and he
alwavs said he was sorry for " blowing them up."
Into draughts he entered with the same devotion,
and on very special occasions he and a neighbour
would be at it till three in the morning. For two
or three vears he had been very poorly, and six
months before his death he was stricken with palsy.
After that he grew weaker and weaker, but he was
able to ride out in his gig until the October of
'67, when a great change for the worse took place,
and a peaceful end soon followed.
Mr. McCombie's late herdsman, John Benzies,
was another character whom we always liked to meet
bv the side of his heavy blacks, either at Islington
or in the Vale of Alford. Owing to a constitutional
infirmity in his legs, lie was not always able to com-
pass his thousand miles each December, but in 1867,
when he came South with the Black Prince Cup ox
and swept everything he could try for, both at Bir-
Kleber and Lamartine, both Lanarkshire bred Clydesdales, were his.
best sires. Still much as he might like good draught horses, he liked
good saddle horses better, and by the purchase of Revolter (a son of
Grand Turk, " the Cumberland coacher" and Merrylegs, a trotting
mare) which he put to six or seven nearly thorough-bred mares, he
achieved a great success both for himself and those who sent mares
to " the old lame horse." For a man of his weight he was a very
fearless rider, and he never cared what sort of savage he had in a.
gig, as he would soon teach it how to go.
12
JOHN WHITE, THE GAMEKEEPER.
mingham and London, we never saw him more
active. His appearance "by special command" with
his ox before Her Majesty at the Windsor Home
Farm was a grand event, and of course he was
pretty often waylaid as he went smiling down the
Islington avenues, and was requested to stand and
deliver a Court Journal account of himself. Despite
all this notice in high places, John did not lose his
head, and when a celebrated English feeder put a chaf-
fihg question to him as to his ox's dietary, he had his
guard up in an instant, and wouldn't allow that it
ever ate anything but " Heather bloom ! heather
bloom !" He seemed very well, but when he was
met at the station on his return, he told his fellow
servant, as if with a sort of sad prescience, that he
had now won all he could win, and that he didn't
care whether he ever saw the South again. Then
came two quiet days to recruit him after his journey,
and some long, two-handed cracks with his master
about the black he had left behind him, and then to
work once more in his nice, cheerful way among the
prize beasts for '68. Still his treacherous complaint
knew of no lengthened compromise. Another short
week and his labour was done, and this true-
hearted servant was borne up the valley to his
grave.
We have also lost our honest, downright friend of
many years standing, John White, or " Hawthorne."
No more each August shall we hail his forecast of
the grouse on the Grampians, so often prefaced by
the lines which told of the muircock's crow, the
eagle's haunt in