Chapter V

SKETCHES OF CAPT. BARCLAY’S FAVOURITE PURSUITS, AND GENERAL MODE OF LIVING.

Robert Barclay Allardice, Esq. of Ury, succeeded his father in the eighteenth year of his age. He was born in the month of August 1779, and at eight years, was sent to England to receive his education. He remained four years at Richmond School, and three years at Brixton Causeway. His academical studies were completed at Cambridge; after which, he embarked on the great theatre of life, under the protection of curators, who managed his affairs, in terms of his father’s settlement, until he arrived at the age of twenty-one.

He is descended from an ancient and honourable family[18], and is known in the sporting world by the title of CAPTAIN BARCLAY. His favourite pursuits have ever been the art of agriculture, as the serious business of his life, and the manly sports, as his amusement or recreation.

The improvement of his extensive estates has occupied much of his attention, and he is well acquainted with every thing relative to modern husbandry. His taste for rural affairs is hereditary, and his knowledge of them is derived from experience. The example of his father, who raised his rental from three hundred pounds a year, to several thousands, was an irresistible stimulus to an ardent mind; and Capt. Barclay, by pursuing the plan adopted by his immediate predecessor, has greatly augmented the value of his property, which is still increasing, and in a few years will produce ten thousand pounds annually.

His love of the athletic exercises may proceed from the strong conformation of his body, and great muscular strength. But his predilection for the manly sports has never interfered with his important business, or in any manner, retarded the improvement of his estate. And what may appear difficult or impossible to a man of ordinary frame, is to him quite easily accomplished. His usual rate of travelling on foot is six miles an hour, and to walk from twenty to thirty miles before breakfast, is a favourite amusement. To a person so constructed by nature and habit, long journies on foot or on horseback--the chase, or gymnastic sports--are nothing more than that moderate degree of exercise which is necessary to the preservation of health.

His style of walking is to bend forward the body, and to throw its weight on the knees. His step is short, and his feet are raised only a few inches from the ground. Any person who will try this plan will find, that his pace will be quickened, at the same time he will walk with more ease to himself, and be better able to endure the fatigue of a long journey, than by walking in a posture perfectly erect, which throws too much of the weight of the body on the ancle-joints. He always uses thick-soled shoes, and lambs-wool stockings, which preserve his feet from injury. It is a good rule to shift the stockings frequently during the performance of a long distance; but it is indispensably requisite to have shoes with thick soles, and so large, that all unnecessary pressure on the feet may be avoided.

Capt. Barclay’s great muscular power has been evinced in his various pedestrian feats, recorded in the previous Chapter; but it remains to be noticed, that, in his arms particularly, he possesses uncommon strength, as exemplified in the following performances.

In April 1806, while in Suffolk with the 23d regiment, although only twenty years of age, he offered a bet of one thousand guineas, which was not accepted, that he would lift from the ground the weight of half a ton. He tried the experiment, however, and having obtained a number of weights which were fastened together by a rope through the rings, he lifted twenty-one half hundred weights. He afterwards, with a straight arm, threw a half hundred weight the distance of eight yards, and over his head the same weight, a distance of five yards. In the mess-room, Capt. Keith, the paymaster of the 23d regiment, who weighed eighteen stones, stood upon Capt. Barclay’s right hand, and, being steadied by his left, he thus took him up and set him on the table.

He has performed many similar feats; and few men are able to match him in those sports which are analagous to the English game of quoits, or what the ancients termed the Discus. But the deltoid muscle of his arm is uncommonly large, and expanded in a manner that indicates very great strength.

His predecessors have always been remarkable for their muscular power. Colonel Barclay, the first of Ury, was upwards of six feet in height; and his sword, which still remains, is too heavy to be wielded “in these degenerate days.” Many popular stories are told of the feats of strength performed by his great-grandfather; and the late Mr. Barclay of Ury, it is well known, was uncommonly powerful. The name BARCLAY is of Celtic origin, and implies great strength[19].

Capt. Barclay’s partiality to the exercise of walking, induces him to prefer it to any other mode of travelling; and, except when hunting, he is seldom on horseback. While he carried on the improvements of his estate, as a practical farmer, by retaining in his own possession, and cultivating considerable tracts of land, he frequently had occasion to go to the Highlands of Scotland, for the purpose of purchasing STOCK; and in these expeditions he always travelled on foot. He was generally accompanied by a Mr. Molyson, who is one of those respectable tenants who occupy his estate. Mr. Molyson is very much skilled in every thing relative to the value of land, and agricultural industry, and was bred to the profession of a farmer by the late Mr. Barclay of Ury. He is a man of large stature, and stands six feet three inches. He is strongly, but proportionally and handsomely made, and is a noted pedestrian[20].

Previously to Capt. Barclay’s undertaking his astonishing performance of one thousand miles in one thousand successive hours, he wished an experiment tried on the same plan; and Mr. Molyson, for a small wager, walked one hundred and ninety-two miles in as many successive hours. Mr. Molyson easily accomplished the undertaking, and it was his opinion that he could go on for six months. But it has been now fully ascertained, by the failure of some of the best pedestrians in England[21], that in attempting the BARCLAY MATCH, little inconveniency is felt for the first fortnight. It is from the fifteenth to the twentieth day that the pedestrian begins to feel the arduousness of the undertaking, which gradually increases as he advances. And although Mr. Molyson was fresh and in high spirits at the close of the eight days, it is yet probable, that if he had continued much longer, he would have experienced the same difficulties that others have done.

The life of a country gentleman, almost every where, but especially in Scotland, presents little variety, and unless he shall occupy himself with rural affairs, or entertain a passion for literary pursuits, he possesses no means of relieving the vacuity of his situation, but such as arise from field sports. Capt. Barclay, at an early period of his life, kept a pack of fox-hounds, with which he hunted in Kincardineshire. But having engaged deeply in the improvement of his estate, he renounced his pack for more serious concerns, to which, for several years, he wholly devoted his attention. Having completed those measures of improvement, however, which he had so laudably undertaken, and his estate being brought to a system of management that required little exertion on his part, he entered into the service of his country, and obtained a commission in the 23d regiment. He went to the continent in the year 1805, his regiment forming part of Lord Cathcart’s army, which was sent for the protection of Hanover. He was afterwards promoted to a company, but was not again employed in actual service until the unfortunate expedition to Walcheren, where he acted in the capacity of aid-de-camp to Lieut.-Gen. the Marquis of Huntly. He embarked for that pestiferous island, a few days after he had finished his pedestrian performance at Newmarket, and, although greatly reduced by the fatigue of that extraordinary exertion, yet he suffered no injury from the climate of Walcheren, and returned home in perfect health.--Since that period, he has not been employed in military transactions, farther than in commanding the local militia of his native county, which, principally through his exertions, was brought to a high state of discipline.

Five years ago, a pack of fox-hounds was established in Kincardineshire by subscription, under the auspices of Capt. Barclay. He regularly attended the pack, wherever it went, and was scarcely a day absent from the chace. In summer, the hounds were kept at Ury, but in the hunting season, they were for weeks stationed at Turriff in Aberdeenshire, and at Beauchamp in the county of Angus. It was during the residence of the establishment at these stations, that Capt. Barclay suffered the greatest personal inconveniency. But his ardour for the chace is such, that he will endure any degree of fatigue in the pursuit of his favourite amusement.

During the season 1810-11, he frequently went from Ury to Turriff, a distance of fifty-one miles, where he arrived to breakfast. He attended the pack to cover, often fifteen miles from the kennel, and followed the hounds through all the windings of the chace for twenty or twenty-five miles farther. He returned with the hounds to the kennel, and, after taking refreshment, proceeded to Ury, where he generally arrived before eleven at night. He performed these long journies generally twice a week, and on the average, the distance was from one hundred and thirty to a hundred and fifty miles, which he accomplished in about twenty-one hours. His reluctance to live in a country tavern, and his anxiety to attend to his affairs at home, were the motives which induced him to undergo these laborious rides. When a house was fitted up at Turriff for his accommodation during last season, he seldom returned home after the chace, but often left Ury in the morning of the day in which he hunted.

During last winter, while the pack was stationed at Beauchamp, he always left Ury in the morning, and returned to dinner, after hunting. The distance is thirty-three miles, which, when doubled, and added to the average distance, to the cover, and length of the chace, was about one hundred miles. He left Ury generally at five, morning, and returned by five, afternoon. He performed these journies three times a week for nine weeks, and considered them only moderate exercise. Although frequently drenched with rain, he seldom shifted his clothes, experiencing no inconveniency from wetness. To one thus inured to fatigue, and to every change of weather, those circumstances which would incommode or even injure most people, are trivial and insignificant. Capt. Barclay neither studies the vicissitudes of the weather, nor the changes of the season, but pursues his plans, either as to business or amusement, with persevering assiduity.

As the owner of an extensive estate, his intercourse with the neighbouring proprietors is frequent and friendly; and those whom either politics or inclination lead him to associate with, are the most respectable characters of the county. His connection with his tenantry is supported by all those ties which naturally bind a proprietor to that useful class of men. They are industrious and thriving. They receive their farms at a fair price; for he knows the value of the land, and that his own interest is combined with their prosperity. Under such circumstances, it is to be expected that much civility will reciprocally take place. His tenantry accordingly participate warmly in every thing connected with his welfare, and, in return, his services are ever ready to promote their comfort and happiness.

Capt. 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. With a condescension extremely agreeable, he directs his attention alike to every person, and, in consistency with the rules of good-breeding, the perfect liberty of speech and action is enjoyed by every one who surrounds him. He is well acquainted with general history, the Greek and Latin classics, and converses fluently on most subjects that are introduced in company as topics of discussion. He has stood a candidate for his native county, which his father so honourably represented in three parliaments; and in his political sentiments he is moderate and independent. As far from violently censuring those whose political conduct he does not approve, as from blindly following the opinions of those with whom he publicly acts or personally esteems--he thinks for himself, and judges of measures by their efficacy, or tries them by the legitimate deductions of rational probability.

In private and in public life, Capt. Barclay has ever evinced inflexible adherence to those strict principles of honor and integrity which characterise a gentleman; and, whether as transacting with mankind, individually, or as a public character, responsible for his opinions and conduct at the shrine of his country, he has always proved his sincere respect for the rights of others, and his unfeigned attachment to the British constitution.