ster Crichie.
George Williamson was a great wit, and many are the anecdotes I have
heard him tell. One of these I recollect. He was passing through Perth
with a large drove of cattle, the bells were ringing a merry peal for
the peace--St John's Wells said it was a sorrowful peal to him, for it
cost him L4000. He told that the Messrs Williamson and Reid came to buy
a lot of cattle at Bethelnie, and they were not like to agree, when
Bethelnie's grieve volunteered the statement--much to the chagrin of
James Williamson, but to the delight of Messrs Williamson and
Reid--that there were turnips to put over to-morrow and no longer.
Messrs Williamson and Reid did not advance their offer under these
circumstances.

James Williamson was a smarter man in some respects than George; he had
great taste as a farmer, but lacked the wit of his brother; while
William of Easter Crichie, St John's Wells' eldest son, and a member of
the great firm, took matters more coolly than either, but was a capital
judge, and a good buyer of drove and store cattle. They have all gone
to their rest, but have left a name behind them which will not soon be
forgotten in Aberdeenshire. As a firm they were the largest
cattle-dealers in Scotland of their day. William Williamson was most
hospitable, and many were the happy evenings I have spent at Easter
Crichie. It was a great treat to hear him when he became eloquent upon
the Haycocks, the great Leicestershire graziers, and the bullock he
bought from Mr Harvey and sold to Mr Haycock that gained the prize
against all comers at Smithfield. The Williamsons were the largest
buyers in spring, not only in Aberdeenshire and the north, but in
Forfar and Fife, shires. At one time they had little opposition in the
spring trade, and old St John's Wells' advice to the members of the
firm, when they went to Forfar and Fife, was to "bid little and lie far
back." The Williamsons generally brought down from Fifeshire on their
spring visits a lot of the best Fife cows, and no doubt their blood are
in many of the Aberdeen cattle to this day. The Williamsons also bought
largely at the Falkirk Trysts. Although they had the spring trade
mostly to themselves, it must not be supposed that the summer trade was
equally in their hands. For a time, however, it was doubtful if they
would not concentrate the whole business in their own firm; as when
they had heavy stocks on hand, and prices showed a downward tendency,
they adopted the