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Perthshire
Jester
One of the
last persons in Scotland, whose character and habits approached
that of a professed jester, was Donald Cleirach, a retainer
of the family of Atholl. He used to run to his own great delight
before the Duke of Atholl’s
carriage, astride an oak cudgel, and mimicking the action of
a man on horseback.
In this
manner he would herald his Grace’s approach from Dunkeld
to Blair, a distance of nearly twenty miles; and he has even
been known to ride his oaken steed before his noble master all
the way to London.
Arriving
at his journey’s end, he invariably rubbed down his horse,
and, in imitation of the postillions, led him with great form
into the stable. When old age quickened his breath and stiffened
his joints, poor Donald began to complain of his horse. In dismounting
after a long ride, he
would exclaim, “Well, sirs ! this beast is grown lazy!
I declare to you, a body might as well walk as ride on such
a brute !“
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