Clydesdale

“ He was still absently fishing for a pencil and bit of paper when his companion jogged his elbow:
"If we fight this business, and if that damn girl sets Clydesdale after us, we'll have to get out. But I don't think it will come to that."
"Can you stop her, Adalbert—and retain the money?"
"By God! I'm beginning to think I can. I believe I'll drop in to see Mrs. Clydesdale about it now. She is a very faithful friend of mine," he added gently. "And sometimes a woman will rush in to help a fellow where angels fear to tread." ”

“ Her best friends could not deny that marriage had altered Lady Clydesdale very much for the worse: her manner in general society was decidedly cold, and there was often weariness in her great eyes, when they were not disdainful or defiant. The first sound of Alan's voice seemed to act like a spell in bringing the Helen Vavasour of old days, with all the charming impulses and petulance of her maidenhood. Ever since his interview with Nina Lenox, Wyverne had been constantly moody and pre-occupied; but the dark cloud was always lifted before he had been five minutes in his cousin's presence ”

“ The Earl was unreasonable and tyrannical, first; but under the circumstances, I do think he "did well to be angry." He was so angry—that he was actually afraid to trust himself longer in the room, and hurried downstairs, growling out some of his choicest anathemas (not directed, it must be owned) ; as has been hinted before, Clydesdale kept at least one Recording angel in full employment. The spectacle of marital wrath did not seem greatly to appal the wilful Countess. ”

“ So many anxious parents will be contending for the possession of Clydesdale, that he will scarcely waste his golden time here beyond a fortnight. Few men are fonder of being persecuted with the attentions of your sex than that very eligible Earl. ”

“ Personally, one would have thought Lord Clydesdale was not attractive; but a great Seigneur rarely has far to go when he seeks "consolations:" there are always victims ready to be sacrificed, no matter how repulsive the Idol may be; for interest and vanity, and a dozen other irritamenta malorum work still as potently as ever. It so chanced that the siren of the hour had chosen South Italy for her winter quarters, so that the Earl's sudden consideration for his wife was easily accounted for. ”

“ He was so perturbed in spirit, as hardly to be able to display a decent amount of solicitude about Wyverne's injuries, or to sympathize, with a good grace, in the triumph of the rest of the party. There was one man, at all events, that he could never look in the face again, without an unpleasant feeling of inferiority and obligation. Poor Alan! He meant well; but he did not make a very good night's work of it, after all. He got one or two hard blows, and changed Clydesdale's previous dislike into a permanent and inveterate hate. Virtue is always its own reward, you know. ”

“ The Scots having supplied themselves with the horses of their slain enemies, were preparing to advance into Clydesdale, near the confines of which Wallace had appointed to meet his trusty associates, Kerle and Stephen, with those friends who had promised to join him, when the formidable array of Graystock came in sight, at full gallop. Wallace now ordered his men to form, and retire with deliberation, taking care to keep their horses in breath, while he remained in the rear to repress any sudden attack that might be made. ”

“ Without direct evidence, we cannot assign a meaning to the patterns.
p. 65XIV—THE POSSIBLE MEANINGS OF THE MARKS AND OBJECTS
My private opinion as to the meaning of the archaic marks and the Clyde objects which bear them, has, in part by my own fault, been misunderstood by Dr. Munro. He bases an argument on the idea that I suppose the disputed “pendants” to have had, in Clydesdale, precisely the same legendary, customary, and magical significance as the stone churinga of the Arunta tribe in Australia. That is not my theory. Dr. ”

“ The party of Clydesdale horse, when they were down the brae of Enterkin, which was a large mile, drew up and fell into rank at the foot of the path, and marched in good order all along Nithsdale, till they came to Cluden-water, which was much swollen by the rain. They rode through directly to Irongray parish, where they took up their quarters, and kept outwatches and sentinels all night. The men on foot came after, and took up their lodgings where they could most conveniently, and as near the horse as possible. ”

“ It is an improvement upon the Shire due to the quality contributed by the Clydesdale, and it surpasses the Clydesdale in strength and substance, as a result of the Shire connexion. To secure success the two Stud-Books will require to be opened to animals eligible to be entered in either record. The blend is being established in U.S.A. as a National breed.
The Suffolk is a horse quite distinct from the Shire and the Clydesdale. Its body looks too heavy for its limbs, which are free from the “feather” so much admired in the two other heavy breeds ”

“ Of course, I don't suppose there is danger of life; but it is quite dreadful to think of that poor delicate Bertie aux prises with some drunken ruffian; and if Lord Clydesdale were to meet even with a slight hurt or disfigurement, I am sure he would detest Dene for ever and ever. Alan, do try what you can do to stop it."
He laughed within himself as he muttered, under his breath, "Enfin, je te vois arriver;" but his manner was quite easy and unsuspicious as he answered her—
"I'm not much afraid for the Cherub; he can take good care of himself anywhere. ”

“ That is no other than Raoul, tenth Earl of Clydesdale, Viscount Artornish, lord of a dozen minor baronies, and Premier Parti of England.
His income varies by tens of thousands, according to the price of divers minerals, but never falls short of the colossal. He owns broad lands and manors in nearly every county north of the Tyne; and, when he came of age four years ago, the border-side blazed with as many bale-fires, as ever were lighted in old days to give warning that the lances of Liddesdale were out on the foray. ”

“ Even this course was not without its dangers; for the lower glen of Tweed was around Dawyck and Barns, and this was the very part of all the land the most perilous to me at the moment. To add to this, I was well at home among the wilder hills; but it was little I knew of Clydesdale below Abington, till you come to the town of Lanark. This may at first seem a trifling misfortune, but in my present case it was a very great one. For unless a man knows every house and the character of its inmates he is like to be in an ill way if close watched and threatened. ”

“ A Clydesdale family, for instance, hardly ever thinks of taking a house (at least for the first year or two) any where but in the Grassmarket, or about Lauriston, or the Canal Basin. People from East Lothian harbour about the [Pg 306] Canongate. Bristo Street and the Causewayside are appropriated indefeasibly to settlers from Selkirkshire and Peeblesshire. Poll the people thereabouts, and you will find a third of them natives of those two counties. In fact, the New Town, or any thing beyond the Cowgate, is a kind of terra borealis incognita to folk from the south of Scotland. ”

“ Some of the prisoners escaped: others were killed in the scuffle or broke their necks over the precipice: only two were brought into Edinburgh: a few of the soldiers were also killed. This audacious affair spurred the Government on to new energies. The garrisons were increased through all the western shires. Claverhouse, with Buchan for his second in command, was put in charge of all the forces in Ayrshire and Clydesdale, and a special civil commission was added to their military powers. ”

“ They brought luncheon to her desk, but she sent away the tray untouched. People came by appointment and departed, only to give place to others, all equally persistent and wholly absorbed in their own affairs; and she listened patiently, forcing her tired mind to sympathise and comprehend. And, in time, everybody went away satisfied or otherwise, but in no doubt concerning the answer she had given, favourable or unfavourable to their desires. For that was her way in t [Pg 357] he business of life.
At last, once more looking over her appointment list, she found that only Clydesdale remained ”

“ The jealousy of a Scottish peer might affect them seriously. It was this he feared more than all the swords of the Covenant [Pg 132] or the subtleties of Argyll. For his enemies he could account. But who would undertake to account for those who should be his friends? The King had issued a commission for Carnwath as Lieutenant of Clydesdale where his lands lay, which was delivered to him by Aboyne as aide-de-camp to the Lord Lieutenant-General of the Northern Expedition. ”

“ The sheriff of the county of Lanark was holding the wappen-schaw of a wild district, called the Upper Ward of Clydesdale, on a haugh or level plain, near to a royal borough, the name of which is no way essential to my story, on the morning of the 5th of May, 1679, when our narrative commences. When the musters had been made, and duly reported, the young men, as was usual, were to mix in various sports, of which the chief was to shoot at the popinjay, an ancient game formerly practised with archery, but at this period with fire-arms. ”

“ A numerous train of waggons, loaded with flour, wine, and all sorts of provisions, with warlike stores in abundance, and two hundred draught-horses, besides128 money and other valuables, fell into the hands of the victors, who, after dividing their booty, and appropriating part of it to the relief of the oppressed inhabitants in the neighbourhood, departed to secure the remainder in their inaccessible retreats among the then extensive forests of Clydesdale.
The result of this affair with Fenwick was not less encouraging to the Scots, than prejudicial to the English. ”

“ A strong division of the103 English army, commanded by the Earl of Warren, advanced also as far as Irvine, and came in contact with the Scottish forces, headed by the Regents. The field was keenly contested for some time; but the Scots were at last compelled to fall back before the repeated charges of their more numerous opponents. Another portion of the English army laid waste Clydesdale; and after destroying Bothwell, advanced to Lesmahago—to the Abbey church of which, a number of the inhabitants had fled for safety. ”

“ Lord Kilsyth was "out in the Fifteen," and died an outlaw at Rome in 1733, after which the title became extinct. Napier (iii., Appendix 2) gives a curious account of the opening of Lady Dundee's coffin more than a hundred years after her burial in the family vault at Kilsyth Church.
[46] "So when we came to Streven (Strathavon) , I left the command to Colonel Buchan, and desired him to return the troops to their quarters; but, in his march, to search the skirts of the hills and moors on the Clydesdale side ”

“ It is doubtless true that the remote ancestors of the Equidæ were small, but it does not necessarily follow that Shetland, Java, and [116] other pigmy breeds owe their diminutive size to arrested development. A human pigmy of West Africa is as well developed as a Hottentot of South Africa, and a toy terrier is as well developed as a mastiff. There is hence no à priori reason for assuming that Shetland ponies are not as well developed—mentally and physically as perfect—as Clydesdales or Arabs. ”

“ That charming isle! the distant sight deceives,
Which floats, like Delos, on the ambient waves:
There Delos' god, deceived, first pours his beams,
The dome so like his ancient temple seems.
Clyde, now a sea, affects a wide command,
And far his mighty arms invade the land;
Far pour his lakes, and pierce the solid ground!
Scarce their wide sway the heathy mountains bound;
Where Campbells, sprung of old O'Dubin's race,
Old as their hills, still rule their native place. ”

“ While circles in their veins their sovereign's blood.
Hence bold Bargenny and Belhaven rose;
Hence, Haddington, thy noble lineage flows;
Hence sprung rich Abercorn, a mighty peer,
And Selkirk, ever to the muses dear.
Yet most the name adorns their native Clyde,
Where frequent shine their domes on every side;
Whence, moving graceful, all the active race 760
Rush with their sprightly chief to urge the chase;
Where slily lurking mid his caverned rocks,
By Clyde's fair banks, slow creeps the crafty fox:
Sagacious hounds his tainted track pursue,
He doubles, winds, and shuns the open view. ”

“ The oldest soldier on active service of all the army in India, so strong was Lord Clyde's constitution that from the day he first took the field until the accident which befell him on the Nepaul frontier a few days before the termination of the final campaign, he had never suffered a day's illness. His vigour and energy had been extraordinary; the heat which prostrated so many of his followers was borne lightly by the tough and seasoned veteran, who despised all luxury, lived in a small tent, was content with the rations of the soldiers, and cheerfully bivouacked with them under the stars. ”

“ Roughly speaking, one-fifth of the total area is under cultivation. Oats are the chief grain and turnips the chief root crop. The hill pastures are better suited to sheep than to cattle, but both flocks and herds are comparatively large. Cheviots and half-breds are preferred for the grass lands, the heathery ranges being stocked with black faced sheep. Crosses of Cheviots, black-faced and half-bred ewes with Leicestershire rams are common. The favourite breed of cattle is a cross between Ayrshires and shorthorns, the cows being Ayrshire. Many of the horses are Clydesdales bred in the county. ”