New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-11-11
NOTES ON THE HIGHLANDS
PROPOSING THEMSELVES" - SCOTTISH
HOSPITALITY AND TIE
QUEEN
nxox THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF tt

arc, by courtesy, intelligcnt-was once
heard to express surprise that people should
propose themselves as guests in Scotch country
houses. And he commented with severity on the
want Of delicacy which alone could account, as he
thought, for the singular custom by which guests
and not hosts were allowed TO arrange the hospi-
talitcs Of the latter. But though intelligent, he
mslcd by q phrase, and by the English habit
of making half sentence do the work of the
whole. What really happens is something quite
different from what he supposed The possessors
and tenants of Scotch places are persons who live,
most Of them, great part of the year in England
and during the season in London. Out OF their
long catalogue OF friends and acquaintance they
make up, mentally otherwise, list of those
whom they wish to see in Scotland. And they
say to these as they meet them toward the end
OF the summer " If you come to Scotland this
year, hope you will propose yourself TO u.s.
This is the origin Of the custom which so perplexed
the newcomer.
1t is very general but not universal custom
There are in Scotland, as in England, houses where
guests are rcckoncd up as so many guns or SO
many rods. They are not counted, primarily,
for their social qualities, but for their power OF
killing great number of grouse salmon within
given time; or for their expertness in deer
stalking Skilled performers of this sort are In
demand and are engaged like tenors at the opera,
for many weeks and months in advance, and for
fixed dates. If man has taken moor in Scot
land at big price, he wishes his bag to be a
good one both at the start, when the number OF
brace killed is likely TO get into the papers, and
down to the end Of the driving, when the total
for the whole season is likely to be made known
10 the public. Even in these cases, unless where
the house that goes with the moor is mere shoot
ing box, the number of guests whom the house
hold is h,y.,lxr n he
of guns for which there is room the moor. So
il happens not unfrequently that man who does
not shoot finds himself an item, and very in
significant one, in shooting party. Sport of one
sort another is in fact, important an element
in the country life of Scotland that you cannot
share in the without seeing great deal OF the
other Few men would think of taking place
which did not include a moor or a deer forest or
slice of salmon river. Some places have all
three: many of them two out of the three.
shooting box with good sport may be worth in the
market fifteen or twenty thousand dollars for
two or three months tenancy. palace without
the good sport would hardly fetch many hun
dreds 1t is only now and then that a visitor like
friend Mr. Carnegie wants a handsome house
for the entertainment of friends to whom the great
art and mystery of killing something are ndiiTer-
ent.
NDcN every UHDWdHcc DdS Dccl luuut iOr tutsc
solemaitics, it remains true that the hospitality
OF Scottish country houses is more easy and elias
tic than can be found elsewhere The owners
tenants of them may often be English, but they
do not always carry with them their English
habits of precision and fixed dates and deliberately
organized parties of guests specially invited long
beforehand TO meet each other The invasion of
the English is, indeed more numerous than ever.
j met the other day an English friend whose com
pany is greatly sought for lie said This is
the fifth house in succession have staid at where
my hosts were not the owners" And he named
the other four; which is more than l shall do.
But will go so far rs 10 say that four of his five
hosts had made great fortunes by one form or an
other of commercial enterprise, while the fifth
was foreigner of high rank. The list might be
extended indefinitely The truth is that the High
land landed proprietor. like landed proprictors
elsewhere is hard up Some of the great fami-
lies have still great estates and live on them. or
of them, during part of the year. A
greater number, l think let their shootings by
the year, or sometimes for term of years.
Even Americans are not unknown as tenants.
Perhaps we may be excused from regarding as an
American the too famous Mr.. Wnans who is the
largest tenant of ALL and who has done more than
all other tenants and landlords together to make
deer stalking and the clearing keeping of deer
forests odious. Beaufort Castle, which Mr.. Van
dcrblt at time leased from Lord Lovat, has
passed into the occupancy of Lord Wimborne
brother-in-law TO Lord Randolph Churchill Bal
macaan. one Of the best deer forests in Scotland
belongs for the present to Mr.. Bradley Martin Of
New-Iorll, and there are many others. Nothing
made more stir in the Highlands than the letting
of InvTcauld TO Sir Algcrnon Borthwick Invcr-
oaud the of the late Colonel Farquharson
and of his fathers before him for know not how
hum dc A.
is vast great forest which made part of it was
sold some years ago to the Queen with whose Bal
moral property it marched, but what remains com
rrises more than so square miles stretching from
Balmoral TO Mar. Said one Of his friends: L
don't believe there was any title for which he
would have given up the name which he and his
ancestors bOre-Farquharson Of Invcrcauld" He
is dead and his heir is still minor so that it
seems natural enough that the estate should be
let tlll the boy comes of age but the Highlandcrs
shook their heads over it, Presently they found
that their landlord was disposed TO fall in
with the customs OF the country, and TO treat
ancient prejudices with respect, and everybody
with kindly and liberal good will. So the shalI-
ing Of the old Highland heads seems to have come
pretty much to an end.
The stir which the letting Of this well-known
house occasioned was due to more causes than |
one. IL brings IN, believe, the largest sum now |
received for any single place in the Highlands.
$4,000. The house in its present form dates
from 1874; the moro ancient part Of it is 200 |
years old and in 1884 Mr.. Gladstone was Colonel |
Farquharsons guest; association which pre- |
sumably did little to recommend it 10 Sir Alger- |
non Borthwcls. The scenery which surrounds it |
is among the most beautiful on Deeside or any |
where else in the Highlands Standing at the |
front door of Invorcauld you in the very heart
Of the Highlands; at lome among the mountains
and on the easiest terms with them. They are ali
about you, and Lochnagar himself has an affable |
look, and SO have the giants which frown Oh all
SIDES of you. So they that you can hardly
realize that their SUBMITS rise 4 900 feet slIyward