I have good reason to believe that, if we led more natural lives than we do, we should retain the entire exercise of our senses, as well as the free use of our limbs, to the full age of man. It is the softness and effeminacy of modern manners and habits, which deprive men of their natural defence against diseases incidental to our variable climate, and subject them to that debility and morbid sensibility of the nervous system, which lays the foundation of diseases that spoil, if they do not destroy, life. I could, however, observe, that the Captain is wide awake to all the advantages, of an active rural life, so very conducive to health, not only of body but of mind, for there is nothing at Ury likely to emasculate the one or enervate the other. I do not recollect seeing even an arm chair in the house. As for those in the dining room, if the seats of them were made of heart of oak itself they could not be much harder than they are, and the backs of them are as straight, and nearly as high, as a poplar tree. I believe there is a sofa in the drawing-room, but as for ottomans and footstools, and such like, you might as well look for an elephant at Ury, as for any such oriental-looking things. It is, however, a well furnished and very comfortable room, and, amongst other ornaments on its walls, has a full length painting of the Captain, in his hunting costume, and two of Tom Cribb-one in his clothes, and the other in attitude. "The Chicken" in attitude presides over the sideboard in the dining room; and, as may be supposed, the Captain, in his thousand mile match, is not omitted in the collection.

It is almost needless to refer to the past life of a person, marked with so many instances of public action as that of Captain Barclay is. In Pierce Egan's sporting anecdotes, nineteen of his wonderful pedestrian feats are recorded; but finding no mention made of two extraordinary performances on the coach box, I here give them. The first is, his having driven the mail coach from London to Aberdeen, without any remission of his task except during the short periods allowed for the refreshment of passengers on the journey. Having a large sum depending on the event, a little relief was afforded him by a selection of light-mouthed horses; still so little exhausted was he when he arrived at Aberdeen, that he offered to back himself to drive the return mail to London in the same manner; but the late Lord Kennedy, with whom the original match was made, thought it prudent to decline his challenge. The other was in pursuance of his passion for the ring. Being quartered at Wrexham, North Wales, with the 23d Regiment, or Welch Fuzileers, he obtained leave from his commanding officer to walk-as he said-to Liverpool, to see his brother who was staying there, promising to be back for the weekly returns. He did "walk," but not to Liverpool; for, stopping short at Chester, he mounted the box of the London mail, for the purpose of seeing a fight that was to take place the next day but one, somewhere in the neighbourhood of London. He saw the fight,

and returning on the box of the Shrewsbury mail, and walking thence to Wrexham, appeared in the mess-room of his regiment on the fifth night. But the hardships he endured on this expedition, must prove unendurable by any other man. For example-to avoid the suspicion of his Colonel-he did not even take a great coat with him, much less had be any change of clothes; and before he reached Lichfield, thosc on his back were saturated with rain and sleet. He dried them on his back when he got to London and straightway went to the fight. On his return to the metropolis, he went into a hot bath, and having had two hours' sleep in a bed, started on the box of that night's mail for Shrewsbury. It should here be observed, that in those days the boxes of the mail were not on springs!

When speaking of the Captain, Pierce Egan thus writes-"Captain Barclay's mode of living is plain and unaffected. His table is always abundantly supplied, and he is fond of society. His hospitality is of that frank and open kind which sets every man at his ease." Nothing can be more true than this. At Ury, the good old-fashioned roast-andboiled cookery is the order of the day; and a man may as well expect to find the cook's shoes in reality, as any of your "quelques choses" on his table. A pot of brown stout, or home brewed ale, is likewise an invariable accompaniment of the smoking sirloin, or leg of fine new Leicester wether." Weell Jock," said a neighbour to a celebrated Forfarshire yeoman, "what did ye see at the Captain's?" (He had gone to his annual sale of stock, when of course the Captain gives a spread.) "Why," replied Jock, "I saw what I ne'er saw afore. I saw twa geese on one dish!"

66

The Captain, like myself, keeps early hours. With him, indeed, they are indispensable, as he makes a point to walk to Stonehaven, two miles off, every morning by seven o'clock, and the exercise of the day takes him early to his couch at night. His usual dinner-hour is three o'clock, to enable him to walk to see his coach again in the evening; but this day being, what is called, a company day," six was the hour we dined at. Amongst the party were, tho Marquess of Carmarthen-heir apparent to his grace the Duke of Leeds-who lives hard by; and Captains Musgrave, Delme, and Gage, of the 14th Light Dragoons-the two latter being on a visit to the former, who had a house in Captain Barclay's neighbourhood. And here again I made an engagement which circumstances prevented my performing. It was to accompany the Captain to Lord Carmarthen's on my second visit to Ury, for the purpose of seeing hawking, which I have never yet seen. The delay occasioned by the frost prevented it, for I did not return to Ury till the season for that sport was gone by.

Thursday, 8th,-At six o'clock in the morning, the Captain and

myself were at our breakfast, and by seven we were at the village of Stonehaven, which all belongs to himself. On our road through the domain, we met so many persons, men, women and boys, proceeding towards the house, that I was induced to ask the Captain how many pair of hands he employed on the farm, when he answered me-"about four score." There is an excellent inn at Stonehaven, called the Mill Inn--so good indeed as to have induced the late Duke of Gordon often to make it his resting place for the night; and the old miller of the village is well worthy of notice. He is of such a towering height, and so well proportioned withal, that the Captain himself absolutely looked small by his side; and although far advanced in years, he was then straight as a dart. The miller's description to me of the Captain's father was by no means amiss. "He always wore," said he, "a red coat, white breeches with gold knee-bands, and a cocked hat; and I assure you he commanded respect."

According to agreement, the Captain and myself drove the Defiance alternate stages to Edinburgh, the Captain making the start. Of the road from Aberdeen to Edinburgh there is not much to be said, and still it passes over classic ground, and some renowned for modern deeds.

We enjoyed our drive very much indeed: every thing went well, and I was pleased at the respect paid, by all descriptions of persons, to the Captain on the road. I noticed the time occupied in some of the changes. That at Cowden Beath, was done in a minute, and I should think the average did not exceed a minute and a half, which is quite quick enough to be safe. No doubt a fatal accident to one of our celebrated coaches in the south, a few months back, was the consequence of too great haste in changing horses, by which the hook of the pole chain was not properly secured in the link. I lost ten minutes over one stage—from Glenfargue to Kinross-but I can account for it. In the first place, both bearing straps of the off wheeler's pad gave way, by his dragging at his pole chain when I pulled up for a parcel; in the next, had I not eased the near leader for the two last miles, she would have cut it. It was a nice spicy team, but, as I told the owner of it, Captain Shelton, hardly weighty enough for three miles, up hill, at starting, and then four miles, as we had that day, of newly stoned road, with a heavy load to boot. Of course the Captain occasionally reminded me afterwards of "losing ten minutes, with Nimrod at work." But I soon had my pull; as before the month expired, I heard of the Captain, over the same ground, entering Kinross without leaders at all, both of them having cut it in the "metal," as the newly laid stone is called in the north!

Of course I saw neither of the coachmen on the lower groundi. e. from Perth to Edinburgh—at work this day; but being anxious to see the flash man, Arthur Farquhar, perform, he took hold of them for

one stage. And now then for my opinion of him. Of his nerve, wherein I understand consists one of his first excellences, I had no opportunity of judging, for all went well; but I understand it is nearly danger proof, a great recommendation to the driver of a fast coach; and in this respect he is superior to David Roup, who is said to have a great regard for himself as well as for all his passengers. He is likewise a powerful man on his box, but he does not look the coachman by any means so much as the Highlander does. He has a very peculiar method of holding his reins-not with the left arm close to his body, as it generally is held, and gaining support therefrom; but quite away from it, and with the arm not much bent. The Highlander's seat on his box is very good indeed, as I before observed, and I have no hesitation in saying-without any disparagement of Arthur, that he is a much better coachman than he was represented to me to be, by several of those who had travelled with him. He has a very good hand on his horses, which is a most essential point in dividing the work between them, and keeping stock together.

All things considered-and allowance must be made for the great inferiority of Scotch horse provender-the stock in the Defiance coach was quite as good as I expected to find it. The road is a safe one, though from its being weak, it is woolly, as coachmen say, in winter, and runs heavy. The hills on it are nothing-in fact, I do not remember ever dragging a wheel; but there is one practice adopted on it, whilst under repair, that is very highly reprehensible, and was the cause of the death of an excellent coachman, named Webb, on the London and Birmingham Emerald, a few months back. I allude to that of placing large stones to force carriages to one particular part or side of it. Slight wooden straddles, or horses, as they are called in the South, are the proper instruments to be used for this purpose, which make no resistance, if run against.

The mention of harness reminds me of one circumstance relating to that of the Defiance, which may not be unworthy of notice. At one of the changes-there are sixteen in all-when it was my turn to take hold of them, I observed a twitch on the ear of one leader, and upright pad-turrets, nearly half a yard high on the other. "A bolter and a kicker," said I to myself; but dropping my hand to them, at starting, they went well away. Now I admit these high and upright turrets have not a good appearance, but they are still safer than the ring on the reins, generally used as a preventive of kicking, in the South; and safety is the first consideration where people's lives are in our keeping. Such a thing as a leader's rein running through a wheeler's throat-latch, instead of through his head tnrret, is, however, not to be seen with the Defiance. Whether the strap, with two buckles, is to be found in each

coachman's pocket, I forgot to inquire. If not, 1 can only say it ought to be.

Having fetched up the ten minutes, which I mentioned having lost on the Kinross ground, we arrived in Edinburgh at the appointed time, and took up our abode at the Waterloo-hotel, which the coach patronizes, and where the best rooms in the house are always in readiness for the Captain when he sends word by the guard, "that he shall waggon the Defiance on the morrow." Such we found to be the case; and a more comfortable house than the Waterloo no traveller need require, neither would he often find it, if he looked for it-charges also moderate.

Postscript. I lately boasted of never having been called upon to apologize for an insult, and for the best of all reasons-because I never intentionally offered one. Nevertheless, it is my wish to avoid even the imputation of having said, and left unatoned for, any thing that might be unpleasant to the feelings of persons to whom it might apply, and thus will the following explanation be accounted for :-That "excellent sportsman Mr. Dalyell," the master of the Puckeridge hounds, wrote to tell me, he believed it was not Mr. Kerr, who made so conspicuous a figure, in riding after George Melville;" also enclosing a very gentlemanlike letter from Mr. Kerr to myself, to the same effect. Having ascertained my error, I wrote Mr. Kerr the handsomest letter I could pen, not merely rectifying the miss-statement, but assuring him, that, as he had been the first to offer me the use of his house and stable, previously to my arrival in Fife-which it was not his fault I did not accept, my previous arrangements having prevented my doing so I could not have intended incivility towards him. Lord Kintore also tells me, I "got off the line, when I touched on the Captain's (Wemyss) politics." All I can say to this is, that when I next meet the Captain, I will give him leave to rate me back to it, and no man can do it better than he can. I thought I must in some way or another account for ardour of politics choking a master of a pack off his hounds in the field. But whilst I offer all this, let me remind the reader, first of the maxim of Horace, that,

"Sine amore jocisque,

Nil est jucundum;"

and next, that a writer without spirit, is a writer without interest.

The delay in making this explanation respecting Mr. Kerr, arose from two causes. First, I was in England lately for three weeks, whither my letters did not follow me; and secondly, from the length of time which elapsed between my writing a letter to Scotland, and receiving an answer to it, touching the matter in question.

Calais, December 10th.

NIMROD.