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THE

Border Magazine

AN ILLUSTRATED MONTHLY.

EDITED BY
WILLIAM SANDERSON,

Author of "Scottish Life and Character*' (A & C. Black), "The Soft Lowland

Tongue o' the Borders," &c.

VOL XII.

JANUARY— DECEMBER, 1907.

JOHN MENZIES & CO.,
EDINBURGH and GLASGOW, and also at ABERDEEN, DUNDEE and CARLISLE.
LONDON : D. R. DUNCAN, 186 Fleet Street.

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Galashiels :

A. WALKER & SON,

Printers.

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INDEX.

Anderson, David Brown, 161

" After the Toil of the Day," 43

Author of Waverley on South Side of Border,
103, 126, 15< 163, 193, 206
♦Autumn, 236.

Ba', The, 183

BaUantyne, Sir Henrv, 1

"Berwick's Walls and Ramparts," 18

Birkhill and Beyond, 116

Bonshaw Tower, 208
*Borderer's Lament, 49
♦Borderland, The, 196

On Tramp in, 47

Border Abolutionist, A, 219

Angler, A Successful, 97

Archueologi', An Afternoon among, 231

Bookcase, >4, 94, 108, 134, 144, 174,

200, 204, 226

Country, In the, 36

— , -. Decorators 34

Keep, The,' 10, 30, 50, 70, 90, 110, 130,

150, 170, 190, 210, 228.
Literary Chronicle 19, 39, 59, 79

Literatinre, Present-day, 59

The Literature of the Scottish, 138

* Maiden, 163

Musician, 46

Notes and Queries, 6, 44, 87, 105, 128,

157, 163, 188, 204, 225

Raids, The Last of, 197

* Singers, Ballad of, 109

* Town, A, 44

VaUey, A, 135

Village and Kirk, 24

Borland, Rev. Robert, 81
Bosell'fi Fair, 76

Boston of Ettrick's Life, 235

Boston U.F. Church, Jedburgh, 214

Brockie's Hole, 140

Burns' Beauteous Rosebud, 107

Carlyle's Village, 57

Castlecraig and Drochil Castle, 75

Christmas Tramp, 15

Cochrane, The late John, 116

Cockbumspath, 233

Cooper, James Fenimore, 185

Croall, The late Mr George, 124

Davidson, Captain Robert, 101 . -f

Dogden Moss, The Kames of, 178

Dookin' in Tweed, 37

Drennan, Rev. Hugh, 61

Dryte Sands, Battle of, 114

Dimdrennan Abbey, 3

Eddington, Mr Alexander, 21
*Elibank, 14

Elliot, S. D., Presentation to, 14
♦Exiled, 184

Poetical Pieces marked thus *,

" Fairshiels,'' 24
*Ferniehirst, Lines to, 169
*Flodden, 219

Four Towns, T;he, 98

Galashiels Centenarian (The late James Bell),.
198
*Gift of God, The, 45

Gouinlock, The late Walter, 200

HaU, The late Ex-Bailie, 17

Haunted House, The Legend of a, 176
♦Hawick, A Legend of, 69
♦Home Again, 33

Hutchinson, A. T., 181 .

Laidlaw, William, 12, 28

Lessudden, Notes on, 217

Lewis, The late Mr George, 53

Liddesdale, Reminiscences of, 112, 132, 152
♦ A Dream of, 223 ^

Livingston, John, of Ancrum, 72, 92
♦Logan Burn, The, 189

Lynn, The late Francis, 121

Macrae, Late Rev. David, 109

M'Gall, The late John, 141

"Maggie EUiot," 58
♦Marches, To a Maid of the, 180

Moffat to Hawick, Walk from, 159

Murray, The late Alex. Davidson, 160

Nelson's Famous Signal, 19

Newcastleton, 54

Newstead Roman Militarv Station, 53

Old Pocket Book, An, 212

Pentlands, Winter Walk on, 35

Proclamation of the Sovereign, 85

Provand's Lordship, 192, 227
♦Queen Bess and the Border Chief, 199

Queen Mary's House, Jedburgh, 201, 230

Rab's Friend, In the Footsteps of, 7

" Rainbow and Witches," 9

Riddings, Battle of, 149
♦Roman Charioteer, The, 220

Rutherford, William Gunion, 216

Sanderson, The late Robert, 41

Sark, The Battle of, 64

Scott and Leyden, 172

and Operatic Composers, 68

Sir Walter, A Criticism, 119

at Hallyards, 32

Scottish Song, To Foster, 6

Smailholm and Sir Walter Scott, 52

" Social Life in Scotland— 18th Century," 37

Threi Days wi' Bluid, 96

Tramp Poet, A, 196

"Tron Kirk, Edinburgh," 26
♦Tweed, By the, 140'

Tweeddale, 65
Vanishing of the Scots " Old Nobility," 236.

Westerkirk, 224
Reviews in Quotation Markg^

uigiiizea oy VjOOQ IC

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Frontispibcb.

Queen Mary's Jedburgh Tapestry.

Portrait Supplbmbnts.

Anderson, David Brown, 161
Ballantyne, Sir Henry, 1
Black, Professor E. Charlton, 221
Borland, Rev. Robert, 81
Davidson, Captain Robert, 101
Drennan, Rev, Hugh, 61
Eddington, Alexander, 21
Hutchinson, A. T., 181
Lynn, The late Francis, 121
Mary Queen of Scots, 201
M'GaU, The late John, 141
Sanderson, The late Robert, 41

BORDBR SOBNBRT, PORTRAITS, &C,

After the Toil of the Day, 43
Anna, Scene on the, 215
Auckland Castle, 207
Aytoun Hill, View from, 142
Ballantyne, Mr George, 46
Baiiiard Castle, 104
Bell, Late Mr James, 198
Berwick Bell Tower, 18
Berwickshire, Old Map of East, 141
Boston, Rev. Thomas, 214
Cochrane, Late Mr John, 116
Cockbumspath Church, 234
Coldingham from the East, 141

Priory, 141

Cooper, J. Fenimore, 185

Cooper's Cave, 187
Dundrennan Abbey, 4
Durham Cathedral, 208
Elliot, Councillor S. D., 14
Ewes Valley, The, 136
Exchange of the Nations, 35
Eyemouth Harbour, 22

in a Storm, 146

Gainford, 155

Glen's Falls, 186

Gilsland, 164

Gouinlock, Late Mr Walter, 200

Hall, Late Ex-Bailie, 17

Hajlydown from the West, 141

Hawkeye, Statue of, 188

Jedburgh Bannockburn Flag, 95

Laidlaw, Tomb of William, 28

Lewis, Late Mr George, 53

Lindisfame Priory, 195

McDougall, Mr James, 227

Mumps Ha', 165

Peebles from the South, 174

Queen Mary's House, Jedburgh, 203

Raby CasUe, 127

Reid, Mr Allan, 6

Rokeby House, 103

Staindrop Church, 126

Tait, George Hope, 34

TumbuU, Robert, 97

Urquhart, Rev. Alexander, 216

Welsh, Matthew, 68

Whitby Abbey, 194

Winston Bridge over Tees, 156

Westerkirk, 224

Yarrow Kirk, 82, 83

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SUPPLEMENT to the " BORDER MAGAZINE," VoU XU., No. !«.

SIR HENRY BALLANTYNE, OF MINDEN, PEEBLES.

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AMiLLUStaATEO nOHTHLY

DEVOTED TO

Border Biography, History, Literature, and
Folklore.

Edited by William Sanderson.

Vol. XII., No. 13

SIR HENRY BALLANTYNE,

OF MINDEN, PEEBLES.

By the Editor.

) HE youuger politicians of the present
day can form little idea of the lively
election tijnes we had when open
voting was the mode of ascertaining
the will of th© people, but the excitement w^as
by no means confined to the polling day. The
day set apart for the nomination of the caii-
. didates for political honours is a very tame
affair nowadays, but long ago it was far other-
wise. A wooden platform was erected in a
prominent part of the principal town of the
constituency, and there the candidates were
nominated in public and addressed the assem-
bled crowds. The proceedings were presided
over by the Sheriff, but even the presence of
that august personage did not prevent the
multitude (most of whom had not the privi-
lege of voting) from making things very lively
for the candidate and his supporters who were
not on the popular aide. We can recall the last
busting at Peebles in 1868, and the scene there
enacted is indelibly printed on our memory.

Our age at that particular time certainly did
not entitle us to a vote, but the hoys and lads

of a burgh town can ;jmke their influence felt
on such occasions, as we did then. Among
our section of the community there was a
bright youth of, thirteen summers, who was
receiving a. superior education at that time at
Bonniugton Park School, Peebles. He was a
born Radical, and doubtless felt the remark-
able scene at the Peebles hustings to be his
political baptism, even then being struck with
the injustice which denied the vote to the
working-man. How few of us dreamt
that the bright lad referred to would some
(lay be the Provost of the Royal Burgh of
Peebles and the President of the Liberal As-
sociation, and that his municipal and political
labours would be acknowledged by a knight-
hood 1 But such has been the case, for the lad
who entered so heartily into the election ex-
citement of 1868 is now Sir Henry Ballantyne,
of Minden, Peebles.

Sir Henry was born in Galashiels at the
time Avhen his grandfather, the late Henry
Ballantyne, and his numerous sons were busy
founding Tweedvale Mills at Walkerburn, near

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THE BORDEK MAGAZINE.

Innerleithen, which well-known tweed factory
wa« the b^inning of that movement which
changed a shepherd's cottage into a thriving
village of ove^r 1500 iiihabitanU. As a length-
ened sketch of Walkerbum and the found-
ing thereof appeared in the Border Maoa-
ziNB of February, 1905, we need not now give
further details.

When about two years old Sir Henry re-
moved with his parents to Walkerburn, where
on the slope of Caberston Hills his father built
a fine house, and gave it the appropriate name
of Sunnybrae. He received his first educa-
tion at Innerleithen in the private establish-
ment of Mrs Morrison, Hillhouse, an estimable
lady who was well qualified to impart know-
ledge to her pupils. From there he went to
Walkerburn Public School, which had recently
been opened. His first master was the late
Mr John Scott, afterwards of Drummelzier,
who died a short time ago in Peebles, hon-
oured a»id revered by all who knew him.
Amongst his other teachers at that school was
Mr Thomas Weir, who recently retired after
many years' service at Innerleithen.

In 1866 Sir Henry went to Bennington Park
School, Peebles, then a private school owne<l
by Mr James Gibson, with, whom the young
pupil stayed' as a weekly boarder foi four
years. From there he went t. the Edin-
burgh Institution ^or a year, boarding with
the heodmojjter, Dr R. M. Fergusson.

In 1871 it was found that the Tweedvale
Mills, Walkerburn, was rather a limited field
for so many energetic business men, ?ind three
of the sons left and started the Waverley
Mills, Innerleithen. The grandfather having
died some yeai-s previously, Sir Henry's
father, David, and his uncle John now carried
on the business under the original same of
Henry Ballantyne tfe Sons. Sir Henry then
left school to learn the business of tweed manu-
facturer, and for the next twelve years he
was actively associated with the business at
Tweedvale Mills.

Both partners had numerous sons, and as
they grew it was once more found that the
old establishment offered too little scope, so
in 1883 the partnership was dissolved, and Mr
John Ballantyne remained as sole proprietor.

Mr David Ballantyne and his sons endea-
voured to secure a suitable site at Innerleithen
for a new mill, but that little town once more
suffered from the difficulties placed in the
way of building by the landed proprietors.
With some reluctance, which was partly out-
weighed by the circumstances that there were

two railways in Peebles, and that a good site
was offered on moderate terms, the new firm
went to Peebles and built the now well-
known March Street Mills, which were
started in 1885 by this new firm of D.
Ballantyne & Co. Sir Henry threw himself
with great energy into what was at first up-
hill work, but the new business proved success-
ful. The finn has always had a good reputa-
tion for turning out honest work, and this al-
ways tells in the long run.

Sir Henry has always held it to be the duty
of every employer of labour to do everything
possible to improve the relations between capi-
tal and labour, and his attention having been
drawn to profit-sharing, he studied the subject
in all its bearings, with the result that the
firm established in 1892 their now well-tried
system of profit-shaiing. At first the profit-
snaring scheme did not apply to the younger
hands, but at the request of those who did parti-
cipate it was soon after extended to embrace
every one who has been in the firm's employ-
ment for the whole of the year during which
the profit has been earned ; and it is interests
ing to know that for the year ending August
last the number of participants was 428. The
scheme has undoubtedly done much good, and
the firm has never regretted the adoption of it.

Caerlee Mills, Innerleithen, one of the old-
est manufactories in the Borderland, founded
in the eighteenth century, had passed into the
hands of the proprietors of the Waverley Mills,
and they — the uncles of Sir Henry — disposed
of Caerlee Mills to his firm, who thus employ
between 600 and 700 people.

We have already indicated Sir Henry's poli-
tical leanings, and we can recall the active
part he took in the election of 1880, when the
late Sir Charles Tennant, Bart., won the seqt
which had so long been held by the Conser-.
vative party, and the late Mr W. E. Glad-
stone visite<^l the district while on his famous
Midlothian campaign. At the time of the
Home Rule split, Sir Henry was elected chair-
man of the Liberal Association of Peebles,
and he has held that position ever since, work-
ing strenuously against difficulties which can
only be estimated by those who thoroughly un-
derstand the constituency. The Master of
Elibank, M.P., owes not a little of his success
at the last flection to the untiring energy of
Sir Henry Ballantyne.

We have long maintained that no man is a
true citizen who does not take a deep interest
in what might be termed local politics, and Sir
Henrv has realised our ideal to the full. He

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THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

early threw himself into the work of the Town
Council of Peebles, and not a -few of the fine
improvements in that model Border town owe
much to his guiding hand. Some years ago
he was honoured by being appointed Provost
of the Royal Burgh, and ever since he has been
most successful in. guiding the deliberations
of the Town Council.

Sir Heniy is a capable musician, and we re-
call that he played the organ accompaniments
at the performance of the " Messiah," given
in the Parish Church of Innerleithen, some
time in the later seventies. This was the sec-
ond time Handel's masterpiece had been per-
formed in the Borderland— Selkirk having the
honour of leading in this ^ matter. He is also
an enthusiastic golfer and curler, and was a
member of the Canadian-Sooto Curling Team
four years ago. He indulges in motoring, but
is noted for his consideration for those who
use the roads by other forms of locomotion.

Sir Henry has in Lady Ballantyne an ex-
cellent helpmate, and we trust that they will
long be spared to enjoy the honour which the
King has bestowed upon them and the Bor-
derland.

Dundrennan Abbey: Its Architectural

Features and Historical

Associations.

By David Pattbrson.

JF the many historic ruins to be found
in the South of Scotland few are
more attractive or worthy of a visit
than Dundrennan Abbey, situated
in a delightfully sequestered valley seven miles
south-east from the ancient town of Kirkcud-
bright. A finer situation for a monastery
would be difficult to find. Here the soil is of
the richest, and the general landscape, with its
wooded dells and gently sloping hillsides, lend
a solemn, yet withal a delightful aspect to
the scene. The projectors of such religious
houses knew well where to plant them down,
and exhibited their usual taste in selecting
this beautiful valley for such a purpose, .and
nlthoiiirh even at the present day well removed
from any centre of commerce, the village which
has grown up under the shadow of its vener-
able walls is extremely well provided with
conveniences and facilities for the benefits of
tourists who hail from all parts of the globe to
view this gem of antiquity. The ruins now
standing are almost covered with pale grey-
ooloured lichens, with wild flowei^ peeping
out between the seams of the walls, which give

a character of peculiar and airy lightness to
the clustered columns and pointed arches.

Dundrennan Abbey belonged to the Cister-
cian Order of Monks, whose habits was to seek
seclusion, hence the position of this magnificent
ruin. Little is recorded of its history pre-
vious to the War of Independence, and from its
ruined stone-work we have to learn much of its
earlier history and splendour. That David I.
of Scotland was the founder there is little
doubt, although several writers have ascribed
it to Fergus Lord of Galloway. At tiiis period
what is kn9wn as the Transitional period in
architecture became conspicuous in the erec-
tion of church buildings, and forms a strong
epoch in the history of ecclesiastical architec-
ture, between the Norman and the Gothic, and
may be further regarded as a step forward,
which finds its root in the same spirit which
undoubtedly created the Noble Gothic in its
earlier period — that of enoblement — for were
not the architects of that period guided by the
exalted desire to elevate, and by the symboli-
cal preach the words sacred of truth in im-
mortal stone, that the eye of the bdiolder
might lead the soul up, up above the vaulted
roof, as did the mighty grove of forest oaks the
soul of the ancient Druid. The ruins of the
Abbey present to-day but a very faint sem-
blance to what it must have done in its en-
tirety, yet enough remains to enable the stud-
ent of architecture to bring before his mind's
eye the general features of the entire edifice.
Like most of the ruined buildings to be met
with of the Transition period, it is somewhat
difficult to arrive at the exact truth respecting
the true architectural character and order of
Dundrennan Abbey, for here we are confronted
by Norman, Gothic, and composite, together
with work added by reason of repair or altera-
tion, where little regard for order seems to
have been observed. Much of this latter work,
however, is of comparatively recent date, and
can therefore be traced out and laid aside,
enough remaining of the original work to en-
able one to reconstruct and lay down a descrip-
tion aod plan which mugt embrace much truth,
if not the whole truth. As is well known,
Norman architecture was introduced into Brit-
ain about A.D. 1166, and remained the order
until about the end of the twelfth century,
when the Early English or first pointed Gothic
order was introduced, when a period of transi-
tion begins, which shews its existence in many
of the buildings erected at that time. The
existence of pointed arches in conjunction with
Norman architecture has by many writers been

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THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

laid down as evidence of the Transitional per-
iod having existed and guided the architecture
of edifices which were erected prior to the
twelfth centijry. This is a mistake, which can
easily be proved by examination of the early
Norman piers in the famous Abbey of Mal-
mesbury, which is, of course, a rare example,
and though found in such cases it may be gen-
erally taken for granted that such an admix-
ture of orders or styles represent the Transi-
tional period. Of such is Dundrennan Abbey.
Norman predominating, most conspicuously in
the transepts, the whole work bearing very
distinct traces of the exercise of individual
peculiarity or eccentricity on the part of the
masons engaged, who, there is little doubt,
were native workmen. There is, however,

The Abbey is entered from the western
front, the original wall on this side still re-
maining to a considerable height, and faced
outwardly with modern work, and thickly
overgrown with ivy. Tlie doorway is formed
externally by an Early English or Gothic
arch, wiUi four sets of plain mouldings, sup-
ported on either side by three attached plain
round shafts with capitals resembling those
of Early English tpye, a small " dog tooth ' *
(not " nail head '* as asserted by some) orna-
ments appearing on the capitals. The arch
internally is supported on each side by triple
clustered shafts.

The southern door is an Arri^re Vous&ure —
its round head on one side and pointed on the
other being designed as a door for opening or

DrXDRKNNAN ABBKV.

some reason to suppose that Italian workmen
were engaged upon certain parts, notably the
windows on the west side of the chapter house.
Critical examination will reveal peculiarities
of handling which indicates Italian workman-
ship, and as has been already hinted, a free
hand has been given to the home workman,
who has left us a variety of styles, which
clearly proves the age to have been one of
movement from the usual beiiten traxik. The
little corbals to be found on the north wall,
and part of the east wall of the Cloister Courts
will shew examples of work which go to prove
much of the above opinion. We will now
proceed to give a brief description of various
characteristics of the architecture, noted dur-
ing a few flying visits to this ancient shrine.

shutting either way. Tliis door seems to have
been the entrance fioni the business depart-
ments to the sacred of this institution, and
shows little ornainents on the outer side and
none whatever on the inside.

On the western door leading from the -Clois-
ter Court to the Chapter House, we have strong
evidence of the work having been executed by
a different class of workmen from those who
were engaged on the already-named doorways.
Here the doorway is Ciuquefoil headed — the
windows also on each side being of the same
chao-acter. On the outside of tlie Cinquefoiled
head of the door the cusps are sculptured in
bass relief, the ornaments being a trefoliated
plant, with stems and leaves of rather stiff
arrangement. The stems are interlaced, but

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THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

the whole work is extremely weatherworn.
Each side of the door has been supported by
six columns, which have, however, disap-
peared ; the capitals remain with arch mould-
ings, which fihow clearly the nature of those
now missing. The inside of the door is simi-
lar in its mouldings, but of a plainer character.
The jambs of the side of the door are cham-
fered in a most peculiar manner, instead of
clustered columns as on the outside. The
work is entirely Early English. In the Chap-
ter House on each side of the above-mentioned
doorway are two windows of ornamental char-
acter. Both are recised. The hood moulding
of the north window rests upon small floral
corbals, and those over the south window on
corbals with a ram's-horn ornamentation;
tooth ornaments intersect the mouldings,
which continue down to the low string course.
The windows are, or have been, divided into
three lancet lights, the round division shafts
have, however, disappeared. Over the lancet
lights the northern window has a cross on a
quatrefoil of four fir cones, pointing outwards,
and divided by fleurs-de-lis, very faintly
carved. On the inside of the window is a
similar cross of lilies pointing outwards. In
the same position over the lights of the south
window is a St Andrew's Cross in a six foil of
lilies, and a similar cross inside with four
lilies pointing inwards.

The roof of the Chapter House was sup-
ported by six octagonal pillars or columns ;
only a small portion of these now remain.
Only small traces of the vaultings of the roof
remain. In the north aisle one rib remains
of triple clustered rounds with plain Boss rest-
ing upon a Norman shaft, and a very similar
half rib on the south aisle. The roofs of the
cellars along the entire west of the cloisters
are nearly complete ; only one of these being
now accessible by a modern door — ^the others,
which have slightly fallen in, are of various
dimensions. These cellars would undoubtedly
be used as store-rooms or offices for the use of
the monks. Over these would in all likelihood
be the dormitories, and the passage which en-
tered at a door now blocked up would connect
these cellars with the upper apartments by a
central staircase. The only staircase now in
the Abbey reaches the Triforium passage,
which passes through the west wall and north
wall of the north and south transepts, but
shows evidence of having reached the top of
the building when complete. The staircase is
lighted by a narrow window in the north and
on the west, and is deeply splayed.

HISTORICAL AS80CUTI0N8.

There are no authentic historical records of
the Abbey, and the chartular}' does not appear
to be extant, but one or two charters, granted
by Abbots, are preserved in the Chapter House
at Westminster. The first Abbot of Dundren-
nan was Sylvanus, who died in the Abbey in
1188, and a subsequent Abbot sat in the great
Parliament at Brigham in 1290, for settling
the succession of the Crown. In the begin-
ning of the fifteenth century, Thomas, who
was Abbot, sat in the two celebrated councils
of Constance and Basil. The last Abbot was
Edward Maxwell, son of Lord Herries. At
his death Bishop Hamilton obtained a grant
of the Abbey, and in 1621 James VI. annexed
It to his Royal Chapel of Stirling. But the
most interesting of all the associations con-
nected with the Abbey is the visit paid to it
by the unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots after
her disastrous defeat at the battle of Langside.
Many writers have tried to deprive Dundren-
nan Abbey of the honour of having been an
asylum to the persecuted Queen, but there is
no reason whatever to doubt the evidence of
historians who have handed down to us much
that goes far to prove that the Queen not only
visited the monastery, but slept within its
walls on the la«t night of her stay in Scotland.
It IS impossible to tread this classic spot with-
out being impressed by the last sad scene en-
acted during the hurried consultation of her
attendants, and sad recollections follow the
resolution of seeking protection from the
Queen of England.

The tourist visiting this romantic vale will
find much food for reflection, amidst the re-
lics of a Queen's flying visit, and the rustic
will willingly point out (with evident pride in
his historical knowledge) the great entrance ^
door where the Abbot is said to have wel-
comed the Queen. Here also on the shore at
Burnfoot is pointed out the boulder from which
the Queen is supposed to have stepped into
the boat that conveyed her to her doom, " the
block of Fotheringay."

''She smiled; but Time, the old Saturnian seer.

?i?Sf<^ ^^ *^e J^i^K as her foot pressed the strand.

With step prelusive to a long array

Of woes and degradations hand in hand.

Weeping captivity, and shuddering fear.

Still by the ensanguined block of Fotheringay/'

"Curse not the rich in your bedchamber,"
saith the son of Sirach ; for a bird of the air
shall carry the clatter, and pint-stoups hae lane
lugs.— "Rob Roy." ^ *- 6

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MK AIJ^VN RKID.

To Foster Scottish Song.

JN important meeting of ladiee and gen-
tlemen interested in the encourage-
ment of Scottish Song was held in
the Bible Society's Rooms, Edin-
burgh, recently. Mr Allan Reid presided, and
stated that there had been some preliminary
meetings held, at which
the rules and constitu-
tion of the proposed
association for the en-
couragement and fos-
tering of Scottish song,
music, literature, and
kindred subjects had
been considered. They
proposed to call the
association the Scot-
tish National Song
Society ; to hold an
annual Sangschaw, at
which prizes would be
awarded for profici-
ency in the render-
ing of Scottish music, vocal and* instrumen-
tal ; and to orj^anise concerts, lectures, and
(leuionstrationsi to further these objects. The
meeting unanimously resolved to form such a
Society, and Mr Allan Reid was apjK>inted
president, and Mr John Wilson, Jamaica Street,
Crhisfrow, secretary- and treasurer. The life-
nienil>erRhip was fixed at £2 2s for gentlemen
and £1 Is for ladies, and the aniuial subscrip-
tion at 5s and 2s 6d respectively. In the
course of an intere«tin«: discussion on the pros-
pects of the Society Mr Adamson, Dundee,
said the Scottish nation had a wealth of mel-
ody that no other nation had, but they had not
embraced their opportunities. All music was
]:»layed upon two niodes — major and minor —
but the peculiarity of Scottish music was that
it was written in foiu" modes ; some people
paid even six modes, hence the great variety
of their songs Their Scottish music had been
modernised until it had lost its Scottish effect.
AVhat they wanted in Scotland was a Scotch
Elgar, who would aris? and harmonise their
national melodies. They had Ik^u taught that
the Ray and La mode could not be hannoaiised,
but for such work he had ffreat faith in such
young" men as Mr David Steven, Dunfermline.
Mr Sneddon pointed out that, in the realisa-
tion of their Society's objects, they must have
regard to modem taste. They wanted the
Scotch miusic to take the place of the music of
the music-hall. This oould l)e done if Scotch
music was modernised avS tlie folk-song of Nor-

way had been handled by Greig. The adulter-
ation of the melody, the speaker thought, was
worse than the adulteration of the haimonies.
There was no antagonismi between the folb-
6ong» and classical music. What they wanted
was to foster the old spirit in the new form.

Border Notes and Queries.

Can any reader inform me where the follow-
ing verses occur : —

"Three wooere came riding out of the west.
Booted and spurred, as ye well may see.

And they lichted at Moesfeeman yett,
A little below the Logan Tvee."

The Rev. W. S. Crockett, in his " Soott
Country," refers to this, and says it is from
the " Bridal of Polmood." Perhaps some of
your readers may be able to throw some light
on the matter, as I have sought for it in
Hogg's •' Bridal of Polmood," but have failed
to find it. M. J. G.

JEDBURGH ABBEY^

Can any oiP the readers of the Border Magazine
throw light upon the date of the picture of Jed-
burgh Abbey presented with the December num-
ber.^ The Bell To"'er on the top of the Abbey was
taken down in 1876, while the bridge in the left
corner of the picture was constructed a century
and a quarter ago. Further, the wall cloBing up
the south transept, which is sho\im entire in the
ilhustration of the Abbey dated 1793 (see Border
Magazine for 1900. p. 164), is almost wholly re-
moved, while the old smithy which stood adjoining
the rampart, and which was demolished about 45
years ago, had not yet— unless the artist has
omitted it or removed it much to the south of its
true position — been erected. The cross over Cath-
erine's Wheel, not in the view of 1793 or those of
earlier date, is visible. Is it to give due display
to the sacred edifice that the artist leaves out the
manse, which figures so prominently in the fore-
ground in the picture of 1793? If the manse was
not standing when the drawing was made the pic-
ture must be exactly a century old, as the old
manse was removed and a new one erected in its
place in the year 1806.

Auntie Queer Ane.

« « «

LANTON.

It was with some disappointment that, on look-
ing into Jefi'rey's ''History of Roxburghshire" to
see what he had to say upon this subject, I found
that he had not thought it worthy of a place in
his work. Perhaps he had overlooked it. This is
all the more wonderful, as Lanton figures in a
modest way in ecclesiastical, in civil, and in liter-
arj" history. In the charter granted by Prince
Henry, in or before 1152, confirming that by which

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his father Bavid I. founded the monastery of Jed-
burgh, reference is made to the "teinds of the
villagoe of the whole parish [of Jedburgh]," which
were bestowed upon the said monastery. Among
these villages "Langton" is cpecified, the name
indicating that the place owed its appellation to
what is the distinctive feature of the "lang toun"
of Kirkcaldy. From the charter granted by Wil-
liam the Lion to the canons of Jedburgh Abbey we
learn that Bichard Anglus [English or Inglis] gave
to them "two oxgangs of land in Langetun." Bob-
ertson, in his "Index of Charters," gives an epi-
tome of David I.'s charter as confirmed by Bobert
Bruce, in which mention is again made of "Lang-
toun ; *' and in the same work he refers to a char-
ter also granted by Robert I., in which *^'four oxen-
gates of land in Langtoun" t»re conferred upon
Jedburgh Abbey.

In November, 1513, during a raid into Scotland
by Lord Thomas Dacre, "Sir Boger Fenwike, with
ceo. men, burnt the town of Langton, and destroy-
ed all the cornes therein; which [town is] in the
hert of the count re. ii. miles bey9nd Jed worth,
upon the watter of Chevyot" [i.e., Teviot]. There
in still in the village a fortalioe, of no mean
strength and eize, called Lanton Tower, which has
probably borne the brunt of some of these Englifi-h
invasions. It is still in excellent condition, fonns
a substantial mansion, and is inhabited by T.
Bobson Scott, Esq. Much information regarding
the changing of hands of lands end tenements in
Lanton may be found in the "Begister of the Great
Seal" and "Abbreviatio Botulorum." In his latter
days the Bev. William Veitch, LL.D., author of
a well-known work on "Greek Irregular Verbs,"
and himself known in consequence as the "Greek
Verb," spent two months of his vacation periods
every year with his sisters at Lanton, where they
had taken up residence in 1823. G. W.

HASSENDEAN.

Hassendean boasts of a considerable antiquity;
but the mention of the "town" or "village" ("vil-
la") on the page of record is as unsatisfactory as
the appearance of Melchizedek in the sacred annals
— having "neither beginning of days, nor end,"
assigned to it. On the occasion of the marriage
of Alexander II. of Scotland to Joanna, sister of
the English king, on 25th June, 1221, the former
bestowed upon his wife certain rents to the amount
of jBIOOO yearJy, to be drawn from Jedburgh, Les-
Huden (St Boswells), Hassendean, and Kinghom.
.Vs the first, second, and fourth of these were oom-
mTpities, probably the third also was then a
village or "toun." [In the middle ages the term
"toun" was frequently applied to what we would
at the present day call a "village."]

The earliest explicit mention I have of the ex-
istence of a community at Hassendean is on 23rd
September, 1334, when Edward III. granted to
Henry Percy certain lands, etc., including the
"touns" of Jedburgh, Bonjedvvard, and Hassen-
dean, and all lands and tenements belonging to
these places. On 28rd February, 1341-42, a war-
rant, in which there is mention of the "vills of
Jeddeworth, Bonjedworthe, and Hassyndene," was
granted by the English king to pay Henry Percy
the Bum of .£200 ("cal. of documents"). In another
mandate by the English king, dated 18th May,
1S56, reference i« made to the "villas de Jedde-

worth, Bond Jeddeworth, et Hassenden" ("Botuli
Sootiffi"). In a document dated 19th August, 1397,
the English king recites the grant of his grand-
father, "King Edward III., to Sir Henry Percy,
grandfather o'f the Earl of Northumberland, and
his heirs, "of the castle of Jedworth, and the
vills of Bond Jedworthe and Hassindene, etc.'^
("cal. of documents")* In the beginning of 1408
King Henry IV. granted to his third son, John, the
castle, etc., of Jedburgh, and also the "towns
(villsB) of Jeddeworth, Bondieddevorth, and Hassin-
den," etc. ("cal. Botulorum Patentium," p. 253—
printed 1802).

I have not tra<^ed the existence of the commun-
ity further. An exhaustive and informative series
of papers on the "Parish and Kirk of Hassen-
dean," from the able pen of Mr J. J. Vernon,
appears in Hawick Archaeological Society s Trans-
actions for 1879. Further information on the
lands, etc., of Hassendean will l)e found in the
"Calendar of Documents," "Begister of the Great
Seal," "Betours," "Close" and "Patent Bolls,"
etc., etc.

While leaving to others to make* reply regarding
the query of "A. G. S." as to the historical basK*
of Scott's "Jock o' Haaeldean," I cannot refrain
from pointing out that Sir Walter, when stating
in a note to his "Lay of the I^ist Minstrel" that
"Hassendean" is a corruption of "Hazeldean,"
is in error, as the reverse is actually the case.

G. W.

In the Footsteps of " Rab's " Friend.

By J. M. H.

[ N a mid-June afternoon we climbed
Minchmoor. The genial author of
"Bab and his Friends" had cast a
glamour over this moorland road
whioh neither of us could resist for another
day. So over the heather on "the high Minch- •
muir" we wended our way from Twe«i to Yai*-
row. TVeed and Quair had many attractions
for us that day. We had visited the gates of
the old mansion before, but another peep would
take nothing from our interest and perhaps add
pleasure to the day's proceedings. Tradition
says that the gates have not been opened since
the "Forty-five." The grass-grown avenue of
forest monarchs tell not what has passed under
their umbragJeous arms since then: silence
reigns in the greenwood, and is only broken by
the lowing of cattle and the songs of birds.
The huge Bradwardine sentinels grin but in-
effectively upon the quiet scene. We were
tempted to say "Ichabod" as we turned our
back to this remnant of feudal glory, but the
rouse had visited my friend and we wandered
on to "The Bush abune Traquair" with the
thougiit unuttered. The 'auld scrunts of birk
i' the hillside lirk" looked melancholy enough ;
and but for the song ajid the poem associated
with them might have escaped attention alto'

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gether. A feeling of dreaminess, which finds
so sweet an accompaxiimejnt in the sound of
running water, in-fused the sense ae Quair
wimpled on its way to Tweed. Yonder lay the
green kirkyaird— quiet and shaded; the kirk
in the centre reminding that alone are left the
living to praise. R. L. Stevenson's immortal
pictures of the country kirk in "The Lowden
Sabbath mom" nished to memoiy's jxirtals,
and peopled again "the kirkward mile" with
forms and faces dear to many in Old Traquair.
Here was Jock and Jenny in loving dalliance
under the ash tree. In the shadow of the high
wall stood the old cottars, who talked of the
days when therj', too, were young. The laird's
gig rumbled into the loaning — a hat touched
here and there as he passed. Groups- of old
and young of both sexes gathered round "the
prentit stanes ;" and here and there a whisper
of the "craps" and the "lams" is passed from
one to another. The "clinkum clank" of the
bell soon called them to worship. Gradually
the men, "perplexed wi' leisure," filed into
the straight-backed pews with many an amat-
eur attempt at gracefulness. The doors are
"snecked ; " bibles deposited on the book-board
with a thud of no small importance ; the beadle
took iip "The Buik ; " and finally minister and
precentor were seated in their respective places
in the pulpit and "the dask." A moment's
pause, then prayer, fallowed by praise in the
12l8t Psalm^ resounds on "fancy's ear;" and
the spell of that old tune recalled us to our
journey and the stem fact of swiftly passing
time. /

The road is well defined from Traquair to
the gate at the base of the hill. After that
point is left it stretches in vague but never
uncertain tracJks to the famous Cheese Well.
Here we rested aaid feasted our eyes on the
Peeblesshire hills and the valley of the Tweed.
A long quafF of its clean, cold water is niectar
to the thirsty p)ede8trian. It is a veritable
oasis in the desert, with the distinction that
the crisp brown heather is all around instead
of arid sand. Its comforting coolness must be
as welcome; Dr John Brown has imaged the
well in his delightful essay. "Near the top,
on the Tweed side, its waters trotting away
cheerily to the glen at Bold, is the famous
Cheese Well. Here every traveller — Duchess,
shepherd, or houseless mugger — stops, rests,
and is thankful ; doubtless so did Montrose,
poor fellow, and his young nobles and their
jaded steeds, on their scurry from Lesly and
his Dragoons. It is called the Clieese Well
from those who rest thbre dropping in bits of
their provisions to the fairies whose especial

haunt this mountain was." As we satisfied our
thirst the fervent wish escaped our lips that the
Cheese Well might sooner lose its romance
than the cool clarity of its waters.

A stiff climb brought us to the sunmiit. As
when "Rab" viewed it, "the great ro-und-back-
ed, kindly, solemn hills of Tweed, Yarrow
and Ettrick lay all about like sleeping mastiffs
— ^too plain to be grand, too ample and beouti- •
ful to be oommon-plaoe." All the familiar
peaks and landmarks of the storied Borderland
lay before us. The genial essayist names them
all with pictui-esque exactness from mention
of the "Maiden-Paps" in Liddesdale to Soutra
in the distaiit Lsimmermoors. Williamhope
Ridge, where Scott and Park parted for the
last time, lies due east from the summit. Mid-
way, in the cyrection of Williamhope^ Wallace's
Trench is defined on the hill-side ; and under
the lee of Foulshiels rests the remains of the
unfortunate, con science- struck woman who
hanged herself at the tliought of having stolen
a penny ! On a simple unhewn stoaie may be
read the initials and the date, "I. T., 1790."

The wind whistled eerily in the cairn ; and
as though to accentuate the sense of loneliness
a nest with eggs of the red grouse lay forsaken
and cold. What had disturbed the instincts
of parentage on this lonely height? We left
the question unsolved, the better to get the
full idea of this spacious hill. Miles of heath-
er spread carpet-like over this interminahlo
waste with evidences of cultivation at rai-e
intervals on its fringe. The desire to ramble
i.s as strong as the attraction of large spaces can
maike it. Sydney Smith has said that "there
is moral as well as bodily wholesomeness in a
mountain walk, if the walker has the under-
standing heart and eschews picnics. . . .
It is well to be in places where man is little and
Cod is great. ... It aba.ted and rectifies
a man if he is worth the process." . Minchmoor
in this respect must surely be an eloquent ser-
mon.

But time tugs at the chain of reverie ; we
must descend our Pisgah to the valley. The
sun has gone down, and the shadows drawn out
by the receding orb have settled into the grey
of evening. Our track was through the heath-
er until we struck the road for Yarrow. We
rambled along until we reached Birkendale
Brae — peak after peek subsiding in rapid suc-
cession behind one another. The blythe young
shepherd and his faithful "Jed" had long pass-
ed before us, down those grassy slopes, sweet
scented with broom and shaded with "birk'*
and hazel. My friend was in a "day. dream,"
but not so oblivious to our suiTOundings that

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his keen eye could miss the prime liedgehog
which lay in our path. At our approach this
armed raider prepared for possible attack by
bringing his bayonets into position. Being
more curious than inimical, we allowed him
to pursue his predatory errand in peace. There
were voices in the copse, thoiigh many a feath-
ered songster had gone to rest. Night had
fallen gently ; a soft wind stirred in the treee ;
and in its murmur there came the music of
ballad jiotee borne out of long aga The an-
cestral oaks at Hangingshaw shared the secret
of that ballad story of the bold outlaw whose
tower had stood deep in their shadow. Tlie
old "makars" liad kept tryst with the modern
singers. Yarrow still crooned its song of
"diSe;" the last minstrel of the Forest streams
learned well tihe secret of its charm.
"No 80und, no word, from field to ford,

Nor breath of wind to float a feather.
While Yarrow's murmuring waters poured

A lonely music through the heather."

''What stream and valley," asks *'Rab,"
"was ever so be-sung ? You wonder at first w hy
this has been, but the longer you look the less
you wonder. . . . The huge, sunny hills
in which it is embosomed give it a look at
once geiitle and serious. They are great, and
their gentleness make them greater."

It was a fitting close to a glorious afternoon
to find ourselves in the classic valley. A walk
from Tweed to Yarrow over Minchmoor was
a subject for a poet to dream over, — for a baJ-
ladist to construe. My pleasure was great
when, two days after, tliis pretty fragment
reached me. It is happily headed — "The ten-
der grace of a day that is dead," and i? now
published for the first time : —

The lift abun« was fair

When oo climbed the high Minchmuir,
Lookin' doon on grey Traquair

An' its singin' burn—
Frae the hills of heather dun,

Mixed wi' yellow broom and whun,
An' Tweed blinkin' i' the sun

At ilka twist an' turn.
Sweet was the bumie's croon

Through the simmer's efternune.
When the laverock's lonely tune

Was oor lullabie—
Wi' the muircock an' the plover

Wheelin' roond abune the cover.
An' the blue sky like a lover

Bendin' owre the lea.

Them that hevna listened still

To the song that haunts the hill;
Nor felt their heart's strings thrill

At its witcherie —
Have something still to hear.

For its liltin' low an' clear
Can charm the heart an' ear

By its minstrelsy.

For though the day is gane

Whan a'm sittin* a* ma lane,
Minchmuir often oomes again

To ma dreamin' e'e—
An a' see the birk leaves sheen,

Whaur the licht sklents saft atween,
Doon on gress that is as green

As a' e'er will see.

An' a' hear the burnie's croon

Whaur the Quair comes singin' doon
By cot and ferm toon

I' the lirk o' the hill-
Days may come and days may gang;

Years be short or years be lang;
In ma hert the burnie's sang

Will be singin' still."

''Rainbows and Witches."

UCH is the original title of the latest
book of poems by Mr Will H.
Ogilvie, who has favoured the col-
umns of the Border Magazine at
various times with his stirring* verses. When
we read a poem by Mr Ogilvie w^e feel at once
that w^e are face to face w^ith a true poet, who,
w^idely as he is alread\ inown, has yet brighter
laurels in store for him. A sketch and por-
trait of Mr Ogilvie appeared in the Border
Magazine for January, 1906. The present
volume appears in the Vigo Cabinet Series,
published by Elkin Matthews, London, and
costs (only one shil(ling. We heai'tily com-
mend the book to our readers. Its author is
" Leal to the Border " through and through,
as the following poem from the above volume
will show : —

KELSO BRIDGE.

There is one spot where memory grnides

From time to time my retitless heart —
A fair, fair spot, where silver tides

Break on grey piers and drift apart
Round pillars spun with water- weed,

Down channels* where the foam is whirled;
So beats my love of home, oh, Tweed!

Against the barriem of the world!

Sunlit or swept by ■\Wnt€r's blast

The old bridge stands, a link between
The Abbey's hoar and wrinkled past

And the young elm-bud's waking green;
The nesting rooks above it wheel

From elm to elm on eable wings;
Beneath it, racing I'ound the reel.

The line upon the bent rod eings.

Across the world hope's bridges bear

The wanderer's never-resting feet,
But peace and rest are mingled where

Earth's fairest rivere. mingling, meet.
On pillars twined w^ith water-weed

Your silver tide is ceaseless hurled;
So beats niy love of home, oh, Tweed !

Against the barriers of the world!

uigiiizea oy

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10 THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

TO COMJtJeSPONDSNTS. TO ADVERTISERS.

AUcommwwxUiatu relating to LtUraryrnatUrasJufuld AU Busifwt maOers, AdveHiaing Rates, dx,,8hmad

be addressed to the EdUor, Mr William Sakdbbson, he referred to the Publishers, A. Walkbb & 8oK,

81 Oxford Drive, Glasgow. High Street, Oalashiels

THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

JANUARY, 1907.
LIST OF CONTENTS.

81K Heney Bau^antynk, MiNDKN, PiEBLi'^. Portrait Supplement.

DuNDKEMNAN Abbey : It8 AKCiiiTKCrruRAL Fkatcrks asd Histokioal Associations. One Illustration.

By David Patterson. '

To Foster Scottish Song. .... - -

Border Notes and Queries.

In The Footsteps of Rab's Friend. By J. M. H. .... /

Review : Rainbows and Witches.

The Border Keep. By Dominie Sampson. \o

W11J.IAM Laidlaw. Part VII. By (}eor«e Watson. 1I

Presentation to Mr Stuart Douolas Elliot. One Xllustration. •*"■"■*

Poetry: Elibank,

A Chriotmas Tramp. By Eremite. ^

The Late Ex-Bailie Hall, St Andrews. One Illustration. ^'

Berwick's Walls and Ramparts. One Illustration. - - 18

Border CJonntsction with Nelson's Famous Siunal. *^

A Border Literary Chbonici.e.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

As we liegin our twelfth volume we desire t« express our deep indebtedness to our sul^scrilwrs and
contributors for the encouraging support they have given us. It has l^en our earnest wish U) establish a
distinctly Boi-der monthly, and the ftwt that no previous attempt passed the second year of publication, pi-oves
that we have succeeded. Our magazine has always been appreciated by literary people, luid we are at prewnt
suffering from an excess of riches in regard to suitable manuscripts sent in. Many of these are in type, but our
gpace being limited we crave the indulgence of our oontributoi-s.

The Border Keep,

A Guid New Year to au€ and a*! Once more the taken place in Scotland. This i« the era of anni-
Klad sad season of New Year has come round, and versaries, and the two hundredth anniversary of

the panorama of memory begins to unroll. To the t^^^/^^.^^^.^^Tu bt^rj«^%?''»**''^ "?^ P^^

xne panomma ui ux: j Lfnr^ f ham ^h^ afart laid falls to be celebrated. The removal of the

young, with al ^J^^^^^^'^ bef^^^^^^ Scots Greys fwm Scotland, by the War Office, has

of a new year is full of brightness and ^opevf nd ^^^ ^^^ g^^^^j^ ^^^.^^ ^^^ ^^^ afore-mention.

sad thoughts have no place amidst the merriment ^^ celebration may take another form than was

and joy. To the old, however, the season calls up expected. We have been i» accustomed to think-

soenes and faces long since vanished, and an old ^^^^ ^^ ^j^^ Union as a great boon to Scotland that

dominie like myself caniiot refrain from falling yy^ have forgot to ask what the other party got,

into a train of thought which is apt to blot out and how the Treaty has been kept by oui friends

the living present. To some extent we live by across the Border. It is not at all certain that

the past, and happy is he who, drawing lessons Scotland would have been worse off had the Union

from daye of yore, can yet live his life over again, not taken place. Even Wallace had sucl^ a grip

as he looks at the happy facea of the young folks. of commercial intercourse with other nations and

From the retirement of the Border Keep I look kindred matters as would have raised his l>eloved

out upon the busy world and delight to seiKe upon land high among the nations, had England's es-

any movement which is of national importance. cutcheon not been stained with his blood. I give

Being a great believer in the Imperial value of the below an article from a prominent evening paper,

distinctly national customs, etc., of the various and, though the text is unsigned, I have little

nations which make up our great Empire. I re. doubt that it i^ from the pen of an eminent Scot,

joice to see the awakening which has recently tish writer, but I shall preserve hie anonymity.

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II.

"Scotland ha« of late eo fervently celebrated the
anniversaricB of such important national events as
the foundation of the Universitiee and the birth o>f
George Buchanan, that it is surprieing that no
one seems to have spoken as yet of any recognition
of a great national anniversary dne on let May of
this year. I refer to the Union of Parliaments
of Scotland and England, which was consnmmated
exactly two hundred yeara ago from that date.
Will the bi-centenary of the Union pass without
any national recognition ? Whether the Union was
or was not desirable in 1707 when it was brought
about mainly by the shrewdness with which Wil-
liam III. used the Darien scheme to reduce Scot-
land as close as possible on lankruptcy, and so
induce her to throw herself into the arms of our
good neighbour, ie a question no longer of any
importance. Doubt Ices S^ootland gained a great
deal by the Union, but if it had been postponed
till touday it possibly might never, take place. We
had only, for the first time in our history, secured
a really representative, intelligent, and useful
Parliament, when it was abolished. It was a Par-
liament that might have got for Scotland all the
advantages of that free trade which was the chief
gain of our Parliamentary alliance with England.
What we lose by having our national identity
wholly surrendered for the sake of concentration in
London is, to most i>eopl€L on^y slightly obvious
when an English War Office does so unusually
graphic a thing as transfer all the cavalry of the
country South of the Border— though that is a
trifle compared with the perpetual reminders we
have that Scotland is now only a province of Eng-
land. We have seen, in the case of the decision in
the Free Church question, the vital interests of all
Scotland entrusted irrevocably to a tribunal of
six English Lords and one Scottish one, with what
deplorable results! But the final court for all
appealed Scottish law cases is this same House of
Lords, where the majority of the men who com-
pose the tribunal are confessedly without know-
ledge of the Scottish Law as to whose doctrines
they are called upon to decide.

"It was estimated by the late Mai-quees of Bute
that the annual dead loss of money which is now-
adays entailed upon Scotland by the Union of
1707 is about eight or ten millions, since the chief
land-owners of Scotland spend the greater part of
their annual income in London, becoming est rang,
ed from the dwellers on their own estates, alien-
ating their sympathies, and exacerbating class dis-
tinctions. There is also a steady brain.tax by
England upon this country so many able men
being induf«d to leave it by the greater attractions
offered to ambition in England, a movement con-
stantly stimulated by the steady action taken in
the way of cutting down the number of honour-
able and lucrative offices in Scotland itself. Then
there are the scantiness of Government orders for
Scotland, and the absence of Government works,
such as arsenals, or of harbours, which would at
once aid the industries of the country, and at the
same time be a protection to the lives of those
engaged in them. Unfortunately the social con-
sequences of the Union are widely accepted as a
matter of habit. People are accustomed to see
the clever and aspiring go to seek a career in Eng-
land, and that the wealthy land-owners, the repre-

sentatives perhaps of great historical races, and
the proprietors of great tracts of the country,
should either let their castles on long leases to
alien strangers, or visit their properties only for
a few weeks during the shooting season, is accepted
as a matter of course.

"Of course, all these offsets to the advantages
of Union were foreseen by the Scots people two
hundred years ago. Lord Belhaven, the most elo-
quent and brilliant of Scots rhetoricians at the
time made a sfpeeoh which is historical, and when
published was powerful in fomenting popular pass,
ion, as it depicted in lurid terms the awful dis^
asters that awaited his land when the Union was
accomplished— peero of glorious ancestry sinking
into servitude to Englishmen; Scots barons dumb
before their masters; lawyers mute in a strange
land; merchants ^excluded from trade, while Eng-
lish tradesmen imported their goods; artisans
starving from want of custom; gentry living in
abject poverty; while all should be taxed till the
Soots must drink water; the salt burdened with
duty till he oould not cure a herring; and the far.
mer would die cursing the day of his birth, and
dreading the expense of his burial. It is said that
this speech of rhodomontado, which was so influ-
ential with the populace when issued as a pamph-
let, was heard in the Scottish House of Parlia-
ment with indiflference, and members chatted as
his lordship orated. The effect wa« cruelly spoiled
by Tx)rd Marchmont, who got up to reply and ,8aid
he had been much struck by the noble lord s vis-
ion, but that it could be expounded in a few words,
'I awoke, and behold it was a dream.' The 'flying
squadron,' or the 'stalwarts' of the period, voted
en mass for the Union when the debate was ended.
They had been bribed by the Government to do so,
and the result was that 'the end o' an auld
sang* was agreed to against the will of the whole
nation, irrespective of party.

"The Scots members of Parliament, Lords and
Commoners, quickly found that their old power
and dignity in the Scots Parliainent had be^ ex-
changed for obscurity and contempt in England.
Sixteen peers and forty-five commoners were ut-
terly insignificant at St Stephen's. Even when
they took part in matters which affected their
own country they found themselves ignored and
outvoted. Innumerable slights and insults united
the Scotsmen— peer and commoner, Whiy and
Tory, together demanding the rescinding of the
Union six years after it was passed. So high was
the feeling that the very men who had been most
anxious for the Union became foremost in the
efforts to revoke it. In the House of Lords in
1718 the abrogation of the Union was demanded,
and, after a keen debate, on which a momentous
issue hung, the vote was taken. The members pre-
sent were equally divided, but by a majority of
four proxies the motion wae defeated. Had the
balance been slightly turned, the history of the
whole country might have been changed. Are we
not to have a national opportunity <rf going over
the whole story again, and striking profit and loss
account of the Union, this year ?"

DOMINIB BamfBOS

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William Laidlaw

(Author of " Lucy's Flittin' ").

Part VII.

By Gkorgk Watson.

^OM Purdie's death, which occurred on
29th October, 1829, was felt by
Scott most keenly. He wrote from
Abbotfiford on 3I»t October inform-
ing Laidlaw of their friend's decease.
In the course of a letter to an acquaintance,
dated 5th November, Laidlaw states: — "Sir
Walter wrote to me, in great distress, to come
down. I did so on Sunday, and on Tuesday I
went to poor Tom's funeral. Sir Walter had
my pony put in again, and naade me stay all
day. He was in very great distress about
Tom, and will miss him continually, and in
many ways that come nearest to him. Sir
Walter wants us to return to Kaeside at Whit-
sunday. Kindness of heart is positively the -
reigning quality of Sir Walter's heart." To
the return of Laidlaw to Kaeside, mentioned
in this communication, Scott, indeed had al-
ways looked forward. On 4th March, 1829,
Laidlaw had dined with his friend, and then
Sir Walter informed him of the prospect that
in a short time he yould be reinstated in full
power in Abbotsford, at which news Laidlaw
was greatly elated. " I hope," writes Scott
in his "Journal" under this date, "I shall
have him once more at Kaeside to debate, as
we used to do, on religion and politics." Ac-
cordingly Laidlaw was welcomed back to Kae-
side at the May term, 1830. In March pre-
vious to this he had written to Scott, asking
him to speak to the Duke of Buccleuch on
behalf of their friend Hogg, who was then
fighting bravely but unavailingly against ad-
versity. Scott, however, was unable to do
anything to further Hogg's interests.

Laidlaw 's biography would be incomplete
were prominence not given to the fact that he
acted as amanuensis to Scott in writing some
of the "Waverley Novels.' Owing to his
serious illness in April, 1819, Sir Walter was
obliged to obtain the help of others for the
mechanical duty of writing while he dictated.
In this way the " Bride of Lammermoor " was
issued, his amanuenses being William Laidlaw
and John Ballantyne. Of these Scott preferred
the latter, not only on account of the fact that
he was the faster writer, but also because that
he kept more continuously at his task, his eyes
only showing how much he was pleased with
those brilliant passages at which the more
ardent Laidlaw would exclaim with surprise

mingled with delight : " Gude keep us a' ! —
the like o' that! — eh sirs! — eh sirs!" or
again : " Did ye ever ? Whatever put that in
your head ? Ye maun gie me a minute to hae
a bit laugh!" Sometimes, however, Laidlaw
became so interested in the story that his pen
went faster than Scott's words, and he ex-
claimed: "Get on, Mr Scott, get on!" to
which Sir Walter with a smile would reply :
" Softly, Willie ; you know I have to make
the story," or some similar remark. Lock-
hart often heard Laidlaw and Ballantyne state
how astonished they were at the grim deter-
mination displayed by Scott when pursuing
this work through their medium. While the
novelist, amidst ostensible suffering, was thus
dictating, Laidlaw would beseech him to take
some rest. "Nay, Willie," was Scott's reply,
" only see that the doors are fast. I would
fain keep all the cry as well as all the wool to
ourselves ; but as to giving over work, that
can only be when I am in woollen."*

By the hands of these two secretaries, but
chiefly of Laidlaw, who was always neai* by, by
far the greater part of " The Bride of Lam-
mermoor," the whole of the " Legend of Mon-
trose," and almost all of " Ivanhoe" was pro-
duced. " He was particularly anxious," Laid-
law records, "reepecting the success of Re-
becca in ' Ivanhoe. ' One morning, as we were
walking in the woods after our forenoon's lab-
our, I expressed my admiration of the char-
acter, and after a short pause he broke out
with : * Well, I think I shall make something
of my Jewess.' "

When Laidlaw in 1830 again took up his
quarters at Kaeside it was arranged that he
should act as Scott's amanuensis. Accordingly
we find him in January, 1831, writing to the
dictation of Scott the work " Count Robert of
Paris." In this month Macdonald the sculp-
tor visited Abbotsford to make a model of the
novelist's head, and Sir Walter foimd it neces-
sary to dictate his story to Laidlaw while the
sculptor was making his cast, Scott sitting on a
stool which was mounted on a packing-box — ^for
the benefit of the artist, while Laidlaw worked
without intermission at his task. From Jan-

•On the evening of Slst October, 1826, when in
Paris, Scott went to eee "Ivanhoe" acted on the
stage. In his "Journal" against that date he
records the following :—" It was strange to hear
anything like the words which I (then in agony
of pain with spasms in ray stc^mach), dictated to
William Laidlaw at Abbotsford, now recited in a
foreign tongue, and for the amusement of a
strange people. I little thought to have survived
the completing of this novel."

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uary to April the amanuensis continued to
write "Count Robert," thus rendering inval-
uable assistance to the novelist. Against the
date 20th January, 1831, we find the follow-
ing interesting note in Scott's " Journal " : —
" Borrow honest Laidlaw's fingers in the even-
ing. I hope his pay will recompense him : it
is better than * grieve-ing ' or playing Triptole-
mus. Should be, if I am working hard, 100
guineas, which, w^ith his house, cow, and free
rent, * would save, I believe, some painful
thoughts to hkn and his aniiable wife and
children. We will see how the matter fudges."
Meanwhile Scott was suffering from the ef-
fects of having overtaxed his mind; it was
obvious that he was becoming the victim of
brain -softening. The great novelist, it seem-
ed, had escaped financial failure only to fall a
victim to failure of mental powder. His rela-
tives saw the inevitable disaster in the near
future ; and what must have been the thoughts
of the faithful amanuensis when he obs^ved
his revered friend slowly but surely becoming
the victim of mental decay? A more delicate
task, writes Scott's biographer, never devolved
upon any man than that which fell to Laidlaw
at this time. He could not watch the novel-
ist hour by hour, and write to his dictation,
without gradually, however reluctantly, being
convinced that that great mind, which he had
honoured and revered for thirty years, had al-
ready lost some of its energy, and was daily
losing more. Laidlaw endeavoured to spur on
his friend to greater exertions. Referring to
the writing of " Count Robert," Scott notes in
his "Journal": — "Laidlaw begins to smite
the rock for not giving forth the water in
quantity sufficient. I remarked to him that
this would not profit much." Upon this point
the following extract from a letter from Laid-
law to his friend Lockhart regarding Sir Wal-
ter's state of health sheds much light : —

"What he dictates of 'Robert of Paris' is,
much of it, as good as anything he ever wrote.
He does not go on so fast; but I do not see that
he is much more apt to make blunders — ^that is,
to let his imagination get ahead of his speech—
than when he wrote 'Ivanhoo.' The worst busi-
ness was that accursed nonsensical petition ipi the
name of the magistrates, justices of the peace, and
freeholders of the extensive, influential, and popu-
lous county of Selkirk ! We were more than three
days at it. At the beginning of the third day he
wadked backwards and forwards, enunciating the
half-sentences with a deep and awful voice, his eye-
brows seemingly more shaggy than ever, and his
eyes more fierce and glaring— altogether, like the
royal beast in his cage! It suddenly came over
me, as politics was always Sir Walter's weak
point, that he was crazy, and that I should have

to come down to Abbotsford, and write on and
away at the. petition until the crack of doom ! I
was seized at the same moment with an inclina-
tion, almost uncontrollable, to burst into laugh-
ter."

The occasion referred to in this let-
ter was* in connection with the Reform
Bill, the discussion of which was then
agitating the country, as it promised
to bring in a new era. In political and re-
ligious views Laidlaw and Scott were of dif-
ferent opinions, but this did not materially
affect their friendship. Laidlaw was a staunch
Whig, and hailed the prospective changes as
the ushering in of a political millenium.
Nevertheless, when Scott, at the instance of
Mr Pringle of Whytbank, drew up, on March
7-10, an address reprobatory of the Bill, Laid-
law acted as his amanuensis. " From the un-
compromising style," Scott writes in his
" Journal," ** it would have attracted atten-
tion. Mr Laidlaw, though he is Mr Other Side
[? on t'other side] on the subject, thinks it is
the best thing I ever wrote ; and I myself am
happy to find it cannot be said to smell of
apoplexy." Possibly Laidlaw did express
his opinion to this effect, but he was too true
a Whig to write the address without due critic-
ism. Scott does not hint that any such inter-
ruptions as the following (as the amanuensis
afterwards told his friends) took place: —
"Hout tout, Sir Walter, that will never do."
" Go on, Willie, go on," was Scott's reply. It
ultimately proved that Laidlaw was right.
Scott's Bill, to his great chagrin, was rejected.

In September this year Scott started from
Abbotsford for his Mediterranean voyage. Be-
fore departing, however, he gave Laidlaw a
mandate empowering him to represent him at
county meetings ; and also directions for keep-
ing his mansion, his books, and his garden in
order. About the same time the Laidlaws
were astonished one morning to see Sir Walter,
with his night-cap on, approach their abode.
After the customary salutations Scott said he
had come to have a last look at Melrose Abbey.
Having proceeded to a sort of eminence whence
he could view the town and abbey, he gazed
long and steadfastly on the scene, and saying
slowly " It is a venerable ruin I" he turned and
retraced his steps to Abbotsford.

While on his Mediterranean cruise Scott con-
tinued to send letters to Laidlaw. The latter,
writing to a friend, says : — " You will see by
the newspapers that Sir Walter is coming home
to die, I fear, or worse. It has come to what
I always feared since he told me that Mr Cadell

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had half the proceeds of the great new edi-
tion."

Scott returned to Abbotsford in July, 1832.
According to his own account, Laidlaw was
standing at the door when the great novelist
arrived. He was accompanied by Mr and Mrs
Lockhart, and Miss Scott, who told- Laidlaw
that her father's mental condition wa« so low
that she did not think Scott would recognise
him. Sir Walter, who had an uncommonly
stupid stare, was carried into the dining-room,
whither Laidlaw followed him. When Scott
had been placed in a low arm-chair, Mrs Lock-
hart made a sign for Laidlaw to come forward,
to see if Sir Walter would know who he was.
" Mr Laidlaw, papa," said she to her father,
who exclaimed, holding out his hand and rais-
ing his eyes a little : " Good God, Mr Laid-
law ! I have thought of you a thousand
times." Having been put to bed, Scott sent
for Laidlaw, and made inquiries of him, though
apparently with a clouded mind, respecting the
welfare of the people on the estate.

During the few remaining days of Scott's
life Laidlaw and Lockhart wheeled Scott, in a
bath chair which had been procured for the
purpose, before the door of the house, or up
and down on the turf, or among the rose-beds.
Sad days indeed these must have been for the
faithful attendants ! On one of these occasions
Laidlaw took his turn after Lockhart, and
during his period of wheeling Scott had a short
sleep. Laidlaw then said to his friend Lock-
hart: "Sir Walter has had a little repose."
"No, Willie," said Scott, awaking at that
instant, " no rest for Sir Walter but in the
grave." When Scott died on 2l8t September,
1832, no one mourned him more deeply than
his faithful friend, companion, and amanuensis
William Laidlaw.

In October after the death of Sir Walter,
his son — Major Walter Scott — sent to Laidlaw,
along with a very gratifying letter, the locket
which Scott had constantly worn about his
neck, and which had been presented to the
novelist by Major Scott and his wife on the day
of their marriage. This memento Laidlaw
ever after held in the greatest regard, and
wore it until his death. By Scott himself
Laidlaw had been presented with the desk in
a drawer of which Sir Walter found the for-
gotten MS. of " Waverley " among his fishing
tackle — a gift which Laidlaw greatly esteemed.
To be OorUinued

Presentation to
Mr Stuart Douglas Elliot.

HE thirty-third annual festival of
Edinburgh Borderers' Union wa«
held in the Masonic Hall there on
7th December. Bailie Douglas occu-
pied the chair, and there was a representative
gathering. Occasion was taken of the meeting
to present Councillor Stuai-t Douglas Elliot, the

After all, women are weathercocks, that is
the truth on't.— "Fair Maid of Perth."

COlNCILUm STl'ART l>OrOIiA8 ELLIOT. j^k^a,

lat^ secretary of the Union, with a handsome
case of silver, and Mrs Elliot with a gold
bracelet, on the occasion of his retiral from the
office of secretary, after 25 years' service. The
proceedings were of an enjoyable and enthus-
iastic character. We trust Mr Elliot may have
many more years of usefulness and prosperity.
He is a. typical Borderer, and will always find
an lionoui4d place wherever Borderers fore-
gather.

Elibank.

The moon is rising o'er the wooded hill

Where grimly wtiindH the ruined Keep.
Beneath, the twining river r\int>

A down a valley hushed in sleep.
From out the shaded nooks of long ago

The gray, gaunt ghosts of past arise,
And once again the frowning tower

Is vibrant with their lusty criefi.
The supple steel, long rusted red,

Awakes orice more and flashes fire;
The grim mot?s-troopere, long since dead.

From out forgotten graves again suspire.

But see! Tlie yellow dawn already streaks the
East—
The vision fade«— the past sinks once again to
sleep.
The rifling sun, now i)eeping o'er the smiling hills,
Seee but the ruins of an ancient Keep.

James Eeddie.

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A Christmas Tramp.

JNY railway director who has the honour
of the reader^s acquaintance will be able
to recall the year of the last century,
whose closing week found time-tables of
no use to intending travellers for the
Cbristmas holidays. Perhaps it was the last of
the eighties or the first of tiie nineties, but I was
never good at dates, And my maiden aunt is not
within call. It was the eve of Christmas Eve, when
a few bachelors, including the writer, were gath-
ered in the parlour of the principal howfi of P ,

at the foot of the P Hills, which vil— I beg

pardon — ^town, is not entirely unconnected with
p— ^r-making. Their purpose was to exchange the
compliments of the season on parting for their
various destinations, and the uncertainty of book-
ing passages on the morrow was the topic de re-
sistance. The craze for pedestrianism was not;
and it required all my powers of persuasion to
coax a crony of a Saturday afternoon as far as
Boslin or Habbie's Howe. Once two stout chums
set out for Peebles, and returned with unques-
tionable evidence that they had reached that
paradise of " pleesure ;" but it transpired that the
iron horse had obliged for the middle and length-
iest section of the road. Thus was I often left to
gang my ain gait when early spring would tempt
me to a five-mile matutinal appetizer across the
moor or through the woods. . As for this dead sea-
son, a walk out to the Watering Stone and- back
was deemed sufficient to induce a sound sleep, and
if I proposed to wend further afield, I was dubbed
a road-raker or stravaigin' gangrel.

Here, then, was the occasion and the excuse for
a real walk, for the strike was at its height; and
when the railway man of the company could give
us no reliable information as to transit, I boldly
announced my intention to get home on " shank's
naigie." "Are ye weel shod the noo?** asked
Larry, and the rest eyed me coldly, and no doubt
marvelled that half a bottle of invalid stout should
have so swelled my head and animated my breast
with Dutch courage. Some who were aware of my
raiding propensities kindly hinted that I would
think better of it in the morning; and then the
whole crowd, with engaging inconsistency, began
to swagger of long tramps each had accomplished
in record time on such and such apocryphal occa-
sions. Their drivel bored me, and I retired early,
after telling the landlady to have breakfast at
seven sharp. Scarce had I reached the pillows, as
it seemed, when the rattle of dishes awoke me, and
I realised that I was pledged to a fifty-mile walk
or a face ashamed. Nearly thirty had to be done
the first day, so after a hasty toilet and bolted
breakfast, I don jny Highland cloak, grip my
"Saturday to Monday," and with nibby in hand
take the plunge.

Dark, raw, a suspicion of sleety drizzle, the road
'twixt frost and fresh, slippery. Down the wide,
sleeping street, we note that Larry's window is
still dark, but dare not permit a qualm of envy
of his beauty sleep. Southwards across the bridge,
and we have three miles of collar-work for a start.
It is dismal enough, but we step lively, and warm
to the work, for it is not easy going. Leadburn is
reached in forty-five minutes, and with an air of
bumptious humility we step on the railway plat-
form, and meekly inquire for the next train to
Galashiels. If anything is known, nothing is guar-

anteed; we change our demeanour, snap our fin-
gers, and haughtily absquatulate. Under the
bridge, up the final brae, and we pass from the
Lothian slope to the Tweeddale basin. The Moor-
foots form the bleak horizon, but behind them the
dawn broadens and brightens, the long bare rib-
bon of road is reeled off rapidly, and at every fur-
long of the gradual descent the spiritual ther-
mometer goes up a degree. By the time the nar-
row vale, where road and stream run side by side,
is reached, it is a fine morning, and our tackets
beat a merry accompaniment to the guvgling £d-
dleston. Here the road is dry and hard. The
railway is there too, but it is only a blot on the
landscape. This is glorious, and I think with pity
of the poor creatures behind, mooning about the
booking-office, and vainly badgering discontented
officials about trains. My train of thought is
broken by a rumble in the rear, and in a moment
an empty passenger crashes past. I have barely
time to throw down my bag and wave my hat at
the end of my stick to the crew. I am certain the
guard sees me. Perhaps they are black-legs, per-
haps he thinks my antics are signals of distress,
but, if so, he errs egregiously.

The only fly in the ointment is the wee black
bag, which seems to have gained a considerable
accession of avoirdupois when I stoop to lift it.
Perhaps it weighs three or four pounds at the
most, for a clean collar, pair sox, ditto skates, are
its sole contents. It is positively warm, and were
it not for the bag, I would doff my cloak. Pre-
sently a shaddry-dan, motored by a pony, and
manned by a halflin' wielding an ash plant, turns
out of a loaning, and luffs Peebles-ward. This is
the first human we have encountered on the road,
so in gratuitous lowland fashion I tell him it's a
fine day. He admits " It's no' bad for the time o'
year," and invites me to jump in. I explain that
the state of my health demands walking exercise,
but would he oblige by relieving me of my luggage,
and leaving same at Mrs So-and-So's in the North-
gate till speered for. He readily assents, pulls the
lever, and doucely ambles round the corner and
out of sight. Greatly relieved, I doff the cloak,
make some passes with the left arm to bring the
benumbed wrist to the proper flexibility, and mend
the pace, and overtake the baggage- waggon. More
ash plant, and they are leading by three lengths;
I creep up abreast, talk horse for a bit, and soon
become aware that my breakfast has more stay
than the Galloway's oats, and am compelled to in-
sult the poor beast by cancelling the contract.
Past the clachan of Eddleston other two miles
brings Peebles in view, and at 10.45 exactly we
stump under the arch and across the cobble-paved
yard and crook our hough at the quaint hostelry
which claims to have been the model for Meg
Dodd's public. The thirteen miles have been done
in 3 hours 15 minutes— a good performance, and
deserves a biscuit, which with appropriate mois-
ture is promptly served and deliberately assimi-
lated. We satisfy the decorous curiosity of mine
host as to our whence and whither, regret we
cannot stay for dinner, and after a pipeful of
brown twist we leave the snug tap before our
joints have time to stiffen. With an appreciative
glance along the pretty perspective of the High
Street we turn by way of the Eastgate to follow
for six miles or so the windings of Tweed's siller
stream. The hundred windows of the stately
" Hydro " flash back the level rays of the sun,

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which barely clears the heights over the Drove
Road to the south. Every Edinburgh cyclist
knows the road, but not every one has seen it on
foot and at the winter solstice. In jovial June and
mellow October it is lovely, but even December has
its compensations. Through the open network of
bare branches we get more frequent glimpses of
the river, and of the snug cottages, steadings, and
stackyards on either side. The heights of Glen-
tress Forest shelter us from any Boreal bitterness,
and when we are past Horsburgh Castle the whole
\ alley opens out bathed in the shimmering winter
haae. At the foot of the long straight (which we
were wont to coast with legs over handles on the
old 64 in.) we stop to look into the Dirl Pot op-
posite Cardrona, perhaps so-called as it seems to
serve as a sort of sediment settler for the impuri-
ties gathered from the mills of Peebles. The Pot
is boiling to-day, for it is swarming with salmon,
most of them, alas, twisting and writhing and
piebald with the loathsome fungus. The water
looks black, and the fish would be invisible but for
their feverish antics, and the patches of sickly
white mould that disfigure their yard-long pro-
portions. The sight is saddening, and after rins-
ing our mouth at the horse-trough, we trudge on.
The bank of hazels on the steep hillside is bare of
leaves, and the squirrels know best where the
fruit is stored. Clear of the wood, we get a still
wider prospect, and notice that the southern and
more distant hills are all white with snow. These
we must penetrate before the shades of eve, and we
hurry on to dinner at Innerleithen. Our healthy
appetite is the best sauce, and after our repast we
feel good enough for anything. Lees than nine miles
remain, and we wax communicative. Ostler ad-
visee a trap to Gala, where he is sure " the Pull-
man " is still doing business. Like the rest of his
cult he has no respect for walking jgentlemen,
and as it is hopeless to convince him that I am
tramping for preference, I plead poverty, and he
allows me to leave the yard once more driving
my own pair. At the level-crossing we spurn the
metals and scrape the rime from our boots in con-
temptuous farewell, for now our boats are burned;
we will see no more of the rail till our journey's
end. I can never cross a bridge without gazing
for a minute into the water,— no doubt another-
evidence of my predatory instiucte,— and here I
spy a small boy— a mere infant-— dragging ashore a
salmon which 'must weigh almost as many pounds
as its captor. I sternly hail him, and threaten
him with the Shirra: but he shows no alarm, and
coolly remarks that " It's rotten."

Now we get a better view than ever before of
the steep-roofed chateau of'Traquair, with its ir-
regular rows of little windows piercing its ancient
walls. A buirdly acquaintance, who accosts me
from the wood, shows little surprise to see me
here, but rather resents my having dined at the
inn when so near his hospitable board. However,
he volunteers to set me part of the way, and as
the afternoon is short and already waning, he
presses me only half-a-dozen times to stay for a
cup of tea. I doggedly decline, and we set off up
the glen. He is no more of an antiquary than my-
self, and cannot tell which of the little birks on
the skirts of the high Minchmuir is the "Bush
abune Traquair/' but we have much solid talk of
fish, fur, and feather, as we paddle through the
deepening snow to the foot of the Paddy Slacks.
Here we part with a hearty Merry Christmas, and

I am alone on the mountain. I whistle np-i-dee
till I require all my breath for the arduous climb.
Near th^ summit the snow is two inches deep.
The darkness is gathering, the flakes are now
swirling, and the clear-lit window of Glenlude is
almost blotted out. I have regained my breath
and start to whistle "O'er the lave o't," when a
dark figure in front gives me pause. I had been
vain enough to imagine that no other soul would
be facing the blast on such a night, but lo, the
figure comes on, the upper part resolves itself into
an umbrella, and a little dame, not old, but two
decades uast her priipe, politely enquires
whether I ken if ony trains are rinnin'
to Galashiels. Surely the occasion must be
urgent that brings her out in such weather;
she is five Scotch miles from the station,
and when there, ha^ only a remote chance of get-
ting further. I tell her all I have gathered, which
is little enough, and with old-world courtesy she
thanks me kindly, bids me guid-nicht. and dis-
appears in the murky smother. I whistle no more,
but ponder on the calibre of our grandmothers and
the degeneracy of our " new " women. It is now
too dark to make out much more than the road
and the skyline. A gig. with two hooded figures,
which I hope will sit close and make room for the
Koman Matron, is all I meet till I reach the
Yarrow Bead, and halt at the door of " The Gor-
don." It is locked, and I have to knock more
than once before a buxom maid cautiously opens,
" spiers my wull,'* and my credentials being sat-
isfactory, admits me to the cosy comfort and glow-
ing hearth of the front parlour. She explains that
the raaister and mistress are awa' frae hame, that
the only other guest is oot for a daunder, and that
yin can never tell what sort o* tramps are gaun
aboot the noo. I pardon the locked door, and she
soon makes amends by promptly hurrying up a
touzy tea. Before I have finished this welcome le-
freshment the other man comes in. and proves to
be a kindred spirit, shunning a city's festivities,
and rusticating fo:' a day or two in the wilds.
As the night wears on the landlord returns; we
have a douce crack over a steaming negus, and
making no objection to a " pig" of hot water to
our weary trotters we are soon wrapped oblivious
between the blankets.

The grey morning finds me awake and 'anxiously
scanning the weather. The morning star, just
clear of the opposite hill, shines with unearthly
lustre on the hoary valley. Not a breath of wind,
all cold and hard and still, for this is the vale of
silence. It must have been blowing overnight,
however, for when we have crossed the Yarrow, we
find the road swept almost clear of snow, just suf-
ficient left to form a pile for our iron-shod boots
to grip. At every step little needles of ice tinkle
along the road. In the first four miles we climb
as many hundred feet, but the gradient is perfect.
No doubt the mercury is away down under, but
the stillness and the exercise make us insensible
to the cold, and the air seems charged with some
pungent essence more exhilarating than all the
spiced perfumes of Araby. On the right is Altrieve
Lake, which is no lake now, if ever it deserved the
name. Which of the few habitations in sight was
" The Shepherd's " hold we know not, nor do we
much care. The immortal part of him remains,
and can be carried about in our pocket. At the

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watershed the road from the head of St Mary's
joins, and here, as if to a tryst, comes the vener-
able carrier and his weekly commissariat. Well
met, honest Tam, you have ample room for my
baggage under your tarpaulin, and you know
where to dump it, perhaps the day after to-mor-
row. If your yaud is deliberate, he mak's siccar.
I promise to wait at the brig-end to clinch the
bargain, and am well out of hail before I realise
that the surface of the road has changed, probably
with yesterday's sunshine, to glassy ice, and that I
might have slid into Ettrick on my skates without
an effort. Keeping to the rough sheugh, or the dead
turf at the side, I make rattling progress, and have
half-an-hour'g smoke at Tushielaw before Tam's
cart stops at the door.

The sky is again overcast, and I remark to the
landlady that I don't think I will take the short
cut to-day. " Never think o* siccan thing !" she
retorts, with emphasis, and Tam, who is "' Wush-
in' me a safe journey" in something hot in the
passage, adds the weight of his counsel as we see
through the open door that the snow-flakes are
already descending. I promise obedience (with a
mental reservation), and swither as usual for the
first mile up the Eankle which way to take. I
know the termini of the short cut, but nothing
more. My voyage so far has been of the penny
plain description, with no colour of adventure,
and, moved by what my friends describe as my
perverse cussedness, I turn from the wheel road
and clamber up the March Syke. It is real climbing
now; there is little or no track, but so long ae the
Syke is there we have no difficulty. The Syke dis-
appears in frozen well-heads, there is no track;
and the snow comee on in earnest. The tussocks of
bent make the walking a succession of stumbles,
the air is thick and grey with snow, but the v-md
is steady, and if I keep the snow on my right
cheek I am sure of my direction. Only a few
steps in front can be seen, but in that space, and
at this pace, we will be able to apply the brake
and stop before plunging in the mere. It is just
exciting enough, and I can easily understand how
even shepherds, who know every bunch of rushes
on their hills, may be dumbfounded and lost in a
blizzard. This is no blizzard, however; the snow
stops in a moment and di^loeee a blue rift of
sky reflected in the blue mirror of Clearburn Loch.
Compared with Highland lochs this little sheet
might be called a pool or pond, but nevertheless
Mr Andrew Lang has confessed that he must keep
outside of a radius of twenty miles of it if he
wishes to overcome its attraction. As a faithful
disciple of St Izaak my veracity will not be im-
pugned when I say that since then my record creel
from Clearburn is seven fair-sized trout. But I
have seen — I have heard — others have done much
better. There are no March Browns, Blae Wings,
or Bloody Doctors to tempt them to disturb with a
single ripple the steely surface to-day ; we flounder
on through the bog and soon regain the road. It
has been a short cut, but I have never taken it
since. By doing so we miss the clench where the
buck was slain, and which tradition avers gives its
name to the noble proprietor of most of the coun-
try round.

But now the road is all plain sailing, as, indeed,
it has been all the way, and as we saunter
leisurely along the head reaches of the Ale and
dip down the Borthwick to bonnie Teviotdale, we
wonder, as wiser and wittier have wondered, what

is the glamour irresistible that perennially brings
us back to the dales and the hopes and the burns
of this bare Borderland. We have driven and hiked
the roads in every season of the year, we may
even in time be induced to do them in a ''Daim-
ler," but we never expect to enjoy the route quite
so much as on that personally-conducted and inde-
pendent Christmas tramp.

" Ebbmitb."

The Late Ex-Baillie Hall,
St Andrews.

HE death occurred on the 6th Decem-
ber, after a short illness, of ex-
Bailie Jesse Hall, St Andrews, a
Borderer whose career has been one

of more than usual interest and usefulness.

For a long period Mr Hall had been closely

THK LATE EX-BAIIJ.IE HALL.

identified with the public life of the Fifeshire
city, and as he was going about a few days
before his death the sad event came as a
painful surprise to the citizens.

Mr Hairs parents, Thomas Hall and Agnes
Stirling, were natives of Roxburghshire, he
being the youngest of a family of nine sons
and two daughters. Jesse was born at East-
field, near Bowden, Roxburghshire, on the
10th January, 1820. In 1826 the family re-
moved to Galashiels, and in 1835 he was ap-

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prenticed to his brother, Robert, to learn the
mason trade. He afterwards took charge of
workmen and work for his brother, who was
a large contractor in the counties of Roxburgh,
Selkirk, Peebles, and Berwick shires.

While taking charge of work in Berwick-
shire, for which Mr Nixon, superintendent of
the Gk)vernment Works in Scotland, wjis ar-
chitect, that gentleman asked Mr Hall if he
would come to Edinburgh, and take ch&rge of
the construction of a large sewer to drain the
base of Salisbury Crags, and thus prepare for
and commence the now famous drive towards
Arthur Seat in the King's Park near Holy-
rood. Mr Hall went to Edinburgh, and suc-
ceeded in gaining Mr Nixon's confidence, so
that in 1845 he was promoted and transferred
to St Andrews to take charge of an extensive
addition which was then made to the United
College, and at which Sheriff Campbell Smith,
Dundee, worked as a mason.

It was, however, as manager of St Andrews
Gas Company that Mr Hall was best known.
He was appointed to that position in 1850,
and was thus the oldest gas manager in Scot-
land. This position he faithfully held to the
end, with the utmost credit to himself and to
the Comjyany, though latterly his son, Mr
Robert Hall, has been associated with him in
the management.

Mr Hall was predeceased by his wife some
veal's ago, but is survived by a family of three
sons and four daughters. His funeral to St
Andrews Cathedral Burying-ground was a pub-
lic one, and was largely attend e<l.

Berwick's Walls and Ramparts.

jUCH attention has recently been
turned to the priceless national
treasures which are to be found
in Ber\vick -upon -Tweed, owing to
the proposed destruction of portions of the
walls, &c., by the^Town Council. Indigna-
tion was expressed by all ranks and conditions
of men, from the King downwards, but it was
with the greatest difficulty that the work of
demolition was stopped. The Rev. James
King, M.A., B.D., Vicar of St Mary's, Ber-
wiok-on-Tweed, has worked and written in
season and out of season to preserve to the
United Kingdom these most valuable monu-
ments, and it to be hoped that his untiring
efforts will be crowned with success. He has
just published at 1/1 post free an excellent
treatise entitled "The Edwardian Walls and

Elizabethan Ramparts of Berwick-upon-
Tweed," and we counsel all who are interested
in the history of Scotland and England to pro-
cure the book from the author. By doing so
they will gain much valuable and intensely
interesting information, while at the same
time helping the sacred cause of charity, as
the book is published " on behalf of the poor."
The author, who is an antiquarian of a high
order, says : —

BERWICK BELL TOWER.

In summer I usually write a little book on some
homely topic, on behalf of humble lade and the
aged poor^ thus raising funds to warm and feed
them during the storms of winter. I have this
year chosen "The Walls of Berwick/* because
great national interest has recently been shown on
this subject, and large numbers from many lands
have lately visited our town to gaze upon her fam-
ous ramparts. The nation is fast realising that
the stirring history of the sister kingdoms of Eng-
land and Scotland is largely written in Berwick's
decaying walls, and that her ancient monuments
make our town to be one of the most interesting
in the I'nited Kingdom.

There is as much promise atween the twa
boards of the Testament as wad save the warst
o' us, could we but think sae. — "The Anti-
quary."

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Border Connection with Nelson's
Famous Signal.

^HUS writes an esteemed correspondent:
— "The enclosed cutting from the
"Kilsyth Journal" (which I am
sending you with the lady writer's
permission) will, I feel sure, be of great in-
terest to many of your readers as describing
a Border gentleman's intimate tx)nnection
with Nelson's last and greatest victory. Of
greater value, however, is the light it throws
on the hoisting of the famous signal. It has
been stated that the officer who hoisted it
expressed it in other words than Nelson had
ordered, but this story shows how the message
grew during the discussion with Hardy, and
that it was the latter who suggested the alter-
ation in the wording. Nelson generously and
enthusiastically adopted the word " England "
in place of the personal expression intended.
Thus the world -famed message took form."

My father, who went to live in BoxburghBhire
in 1830, became intimately acquainted with Cap-
tain Sibbald, R.N., who resided at Benrig. Born
in 1800, my father well remembered the historical
events of the early part of the century. One even-
ing, when at Benrig, Mrs Sibbald said she had
been displeased with both of them for sitting so
late the last time her husband had been at my
father's, and that she had all the lights put out
before his return, so that ho had to find his way
in the dark. My father said this was very hard
hearted of her, and she replied, " Oh, he thinks
nothing of it— he was used to that sort of thing
on board, when in active service." My father said,
"Were you ever in action. Captain Sibbald?"
"Yes." "Where?" "Copenhagen" (1801). "You
must have been very young*— what was your
• rank?" "Midshipman. I had just joined; would
you like to see my commission ?" It was read with
deep interest, signed by Nelson. Collingwood,
Hardy, Ac. Asked if he had been in any other en-
gagement, he said. " I was at Trafalgar." What
was the name of your ship?" "The Victory."
" What was your rank there?" "Signal Midship-
man." "Was it you who hoisted the famous sig-
nal?** "I received orders to do so, and would
have done it, had not another officer taken my
place, to let me have breakfast— it had been going
on while I was waiting orders, and was now over.
I had been told that a message to the Fleet was
imder consideration, and that I was to remain on
deck. Nelson and Hardy were walking up and
down, conversing, and as they repeatedly passed
me, I heard the discussion. I listened eagerly—
I was very hungry — anxious to know the message,
and prepare quicUy the hoisting. Few flags were
to be used— the message was to be short and ex-
pressive, and to be easily interpreted by the Fleet.
They altered it now and again. At last Nelson
said, * Let it be ' The Admiral expects every man
will do his duty.' Hardy replied, ' Would it not
be better, England, instead of Admiral .?' 'Eight,
Hardy, you are right; that is better.' The order
was given to hoist that message. Hardy was

studying the arrangement of flags, in suggesting
the word, but Nelson was delighted with the
amendment, as revealing the depth of his mean-
ing, and the greatness of the issue at stake. His
pleasure in the message, as now developed to his
satisfaction, could be best understood by one who
was listening to the discussion, and aware of the
intensity of Nelson's feelings, on the approach of
the crisis, and his desire that all should share in
'them; yet also feeling hampered by the limited
instruments at hie disposal for conveying in few
words the thought which he wished should ani-
mate every man. Si'jbald was in the act of climb-
ing the mast, when a Lieutenant came upstairs,
and called to him, asking if he had had breakfast
—told him to go down and get it, and he would
take his place, adding, if he did not go at once,
he would never get it, as they were going into ac-
tion immediately. Sibbald was glad to be relieved,
and the officer undertook to do the work.

When Nelson was carried downstairs, there was
great disorder surrounding him. Search was made
for a pillow, but one could not be found. Sibbald
was present— thought of his bag of dirty clothes;
brought it, and it was under Nelsbn's head when
he lay dying.

"I remember Captain Sibbald," the lady said
to our representative. " He was a very gentle,
quiet-looking man. It was always with some re-
luctance he recalled his experience, and spoke of
it. Any information about engagements had to be
drawn out of him — his remembrance of the terrible
contests was vivid, and it gave him pain to refer
to them.

A Border Literary Chronicle, with
Brief Biographical Notes.

PART VI 1.

IiEB, RoBEBT, D.D. (b. at Tweedmouth, Nov. 11,
1804— d. March U, 1868), minister of Old Grey-
friars, Edinburgh, 1843; professor of Biblical
Criticism, 1847-60; introduced certain "inno-
vations" in the Scottish Church; wrote "The
Reform of the Church in Worship, Govern-
ment and -Doctrine," 1864, and other works
on theology. Life by Dr R. H. Story (Prin-
cipal of Glasgow University).

Lbyden, De John (b. at Denholm, Sept. 8, 1775— d.
at Batavia in Java, Aug. 28, 1811), great Orien-
tal scholar and poet; entered Edinburgh Uni-
versity in 1790; studied for the Church, and
licensed in 17i^, but devoted himself to litera-
ture; assisted Sir Walter Scott in the com-
pilation of the Border Minstrelsy, to which he
contributed "Lord Soulis" and the "Cout of
Keeldar;" edited "The Complaynt of Scot-
land," 1802; best known as the author of
" Scenes of Infancy " (a large portion of which
was written at Lasswade Cottage, while on a
visit to SccH), poems descriptive of his native
vale of Teviot ; went to India in 1803, and rose
to rank and office through the influence of his
patron. Lord Minto. His "Poetical Remains,
with Memoir," by Rev. James Morton, pub-
lished in 1819. His "Tour in the Highlands
and Western Islands" was published by Mr
James Rinton in 1903, after lying in MS. for
over a century. (B.M. i. 133, 149; viii. 186).

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LzviNOSTOini, Bbt. John (b. 1603-1672), educated at
Glasgow University; licensed to preach, 1625;
minister at Stranraer, 1638-48, and at Ancrnm
from 1648-62; banished at the Restoration, and
died at Rotterdam. His " Life " first published
in 1754,

LocKiB, WiLLUM (b. Dec. 9, 1788— d. Aug. 30, 1853),
educated at Wilton School, Hawick; school-
master at Stouslea for thirty-seven years;
wrote several songs and poems.

LuNN, John (b. 1812— d. 1871), a native of the par-
ish of Lilliesleaf; wrote occasional pieces for
the local press. (B.M. iii. 175).

Lttb, Rev. Henbt Fbancib (h. at Ednam West
Mains, near Kelso, June 1, 1793— d. at Nice,
Nov. 20, 1847), son of au officer in the army;
studied at Trinity College, Dublin, took orders
in the English Church, and became Rector of
Brizham, on the shores of Torbay; author of
"Abide with me,'' "Pleasant are Thy courts
above," and other well-known hymns; pub-
lished in 1833 a vol. of " Poems Chiefly Relig-
ious." His "Remains," with Memoir ap-
peared in 1850.

McCrie, Thomas, D.D. (b. at Duns, 172a-d. 18d5),
professor of divinity, Edinburgh, 1816-18; bio-
grapher of John Knox, 1812, and Andrew Mel-
ville, 1819 ; wrote also histories of the Reforma-
tion in Italy, 1827; and in Spain, 1829; also a
vindication of the Covenanters, in which he
combated the views of tiir Walter Scott in
"Old Mortality."

MiHCKNioHT, Jambs, D.D. (b. 1721— d. July 13, 1800),
educated at Glasgow and Leyden Universities;
ordained minister of Jedburgh 1769 ; translated
to Edinburgh 1772 ; author of a " Harmony of
the Gbspels," 1759; and a "Translation of all
the Apostolical Epistles," 1795.

Maitland, Sib Richard, op Lbthington (b. 1496— d.
1586), educated at St Andrews and Paris; an-
cestor of the Dukes of Lauderdale and father
of the famous Secretary Maitland, was the
most popular poet of his time, and also a col-
lector and preserver of old Scottish poetry.
His collection of poems consists of ^o vols.,
folio and a quarto. He also wrote a "^Historic
of the Hous of Seytoun."

Maxwell, Capt. George (b. at Canonbie, 1762—
d. 1812), author of "First Survey of the River
Congo,*' mentioned by Carlyle in hie essay on
Mungo Park, and in Park's "Journal and
Life" (1815). Maxwell, who had vifiited the
Congo, had come to the conclusion that it was
but a continuation of the Niger, an idea adopt-
ed by Park aleo, but afterwards found to be
erroneous. Maxwell, in 1795, married a ai«i<^r
of I^njaniin Bell, the celebrated surgeon, and
was instrunienttU in raising the ** Kskdale
and Liddosdale Volunteers." to which he was
commissioned in October, 1803.

MAXWZLI^ George (b. at Canonbie, 1797— d. there
1879). Eldest son of the preceding; educated
at the "Nest Academy," Jedburgh; studied
law at Edinburgh University and became a
W.S. ; published in 1826 a treatise on the cui>
rency, in which the principle of uniformity was
advocated, and in 1845 issued a series of "Let-
ters to the People of Canonbie," in which he
upheld the Established Church. He was a
J.P. for the county of Dumfries, and devoted
much time to the studies of astronomy and
Biblical exegesis.

Maxwbll, Willla^v Gbaham, M.D. (b. 180&~-d. in
India, 1869), brother of the preceding, and also
educated at the "Nest," Jedburgh; studied
medicine at Edinburgh and graduated as
L.R.C.S and M.D. ; was nominated for the
Indian Civil Service, 1825, and app<Mnted to
the 8th Light Cavalry ; rose to oe Super-
intending Surgeon of the Madran Presi-
dency; retired in 1858. He wrote a treatise on
measles ("De Rubiola"), and "A Practical
Treatise on Epidemic Cholera, Ague, and Dy-
sentery" (1888). He also contributed articles
to the 'Times" on medical and military sub-
jects, and war sketches to the "Illustrated
London News."

Mbbceb, Andrew (b. at Selkirk, 1775— d. at Dun-
fermline, June 11, 1842), poet, painter, and
topographer ; gave up the study of theology and
took to miniature painting; wrote for the
magazines in Edinburgh; friend of Leyden,
Campbell, and Park; settled at Dunfermline,
1810, where he taught drawing; wrote "Dun-
fermline Abbey : a Poem, with historical notes
and illustrations," 1819 ; " The History of Dun-
fermline," 1828 ; " Summer Months among the
Mountains " (a vol. of poems), 1838.

MiCKLE, WttLiAM Julius (b. Sep. 29, 1734— d. Oct.
28, 1788), son of the minister of Langholm;
educated at the Edinburgh High School ; wrote
"Pollio," an elegy, 1765, and "The Concubine,"
1767, a moral poem after the manner of Spen-
ser; best known as the translator of "The
Lusiad," 1776, and writer of the ballad of
"Cumnor Hall," said to have suggested to
Scott the idea of " Kenilworth." He was also
most probably the author of the well-known
song "There's nae luck aboot the house. *
The last piece he wrote was " Eskdale Braes."
(B.M. iv. 237).

Milne, Rev. Adam (b. 1680 P—d. June 8, 1747). minis-
ter of Melrose from 1711-47 ; wrote a " Descrip-
tion of the Parish of Melrose," 1743, of which
a new edition appeared in 1782. Mr Milne was
married to a daughter of the Rev. William
Hunter of Lilliesleaf.

NicoL, Rev. James (b. at Innerleithen, Sept. 30, 1769
— d. Nov. 5, 1819), minister of Traquair, 1802-
19; published "Poems chiefly in the Scottish
Dialect," 2 vols., 1815. His half-humorous
"Halucket Meg." and his fine lyric, "Where
Quair runs sweet among the flowers " (ad-
dressed to the lady who afterwards became
his wife), are well known. He also contributed
to the "Edinburgh Encyclopeedia." One of his
sons, James Nicol, was professor of Natural
Science in Aberdeen University, 1853-78.

Noble, John (b. near Jedburgh— d. at Gateshead,
1816), wrote several pieces of poetry, including
an Ode on Thomsqji. He is the author of the
lines on the Wallace Monument near Dry-
burgh, beginning "The peerless knight of El-
lerslie, who waved on Ayr's romantic shore
the beaming torch of liberty," &c. (B.M. vii.
230).

To he Continued,

Erratum.— In the December part of the "Chron-
icle" the name "Thomas" Kennedy should
have been given a« "Robert" Kennedy, as a
correspondent has kindly pointed out.

Printed and Published by A- Walker ft Son, Galashiels.

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SUPPLEMENT to the ' BORDER MAGAZINE," Vol. XII., No. 134.

MR ALEXANDER EDDINGTON, F.J. I., EDINBURGH.

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Mr ALEXANDER EDDINdTON, F.J.I., Edinburgh,

JOURNALIST, LITTERATEUR, AND CRITIC.

* N the now fairly long roll of fame of
the lioHDKR Maijazink there have
appeared from time to time slvetcheu
of men who in different spheres of
life have made their mark on the country or
the connuunity by i)ublic service or by faith-
ful work in more Inuuble places. The ser-
vices which some have given have been in the
fierce light which iK)wadays beats on those who
week t6 derve their cimntiy in public life, while
others have dont& their duty and given effective
service under less searching scrutiny. But
whether in the senate, the council board, the
pulpit, or the Frees, the representation in the
BoRDBR Magazine's galaxy is one of which the
district, geographically known as the Borders,
may well be proud. And the subject of the
present sketch is, we think, well entitled to
his place in this honourable mil.

Mr Alexander Eddington, F.J. I., belongs to
what is popularly known as the " fourth
estate,'' and is a true son of the Borderland.
He iB a native of Eyemouth, Berwickshire, a
county of probably more varied and striking
scenery than any of the others which are com-
prehended under the designation of the '' Bor-

ders." It has in one part or another all the
features of natural scenery, sea, river, wood,
hill, valley, and moorland. In no part of Scot-
land are more fertile and well -tilled fields to
be seen than in the'Merse, and in this county
the Twee<l, the classic Border river, comes to
its full maturity, and fiows with stately sweep
to lose itself in the Geniian Oceon. On
the historic side, too, Berwickshire has many
points of interest. Adjoining the English
county of Northumberland with the important
towni of Berwick, almost in its territory, in-
deed for many years counted so to be, the men
of the Merse had to bear the brunt of many an
English attack.

Mr Eddington was originally intended for
the Church, but the state of his health forbade
this, and for some years wa« iu business with
his father in his native town. But the town of
Eyemouth was not sufficient to occupy his en-
ergies. He had the literary instinct, and the
aphorism " that a poet is born, not made,"
applies with equal truth to the journalist. It
is interesting to note that he tried his " 'pren-
tice hand " in acting as a correspondent to a
local newspaper, and the opportunities thib

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afforded gave him the impetus aud all the pre-
liminary training he ever received before set-
ting out on his career on a metropolitan paper.
He joined the staff of the " Edinburgh Even-
ing News " in 1876 — thi^ee years after the
paper had been launched. With the exception
of a short interval of about eighteen months
on the now defunct " Edinburgh Courant," the
old organ of Scottish Toryism, he has been
con necte<l with the " News." He is at present,
and has for many years been the chief of the
rept)rting staff witli the control of the home
district news. During his connection with the

tioned the Midlothian campaigns when the
'' Gmnd Old Man " set the heather on fire. He
was in the thick of the fight in 1879, and had-
to do more or less with then; all vnih. the ex-
ception of the one in 1892. He was also pre-
sent at the famous trial of Chantrelle, the
Frenchman, whose case in interest and com-
plexity almost rivalled tliat of Madelii^ Smith, '
and was present when the Frenchman
paid the last penalty. The City of Glasgow
liank direct(>i*8'' was aaiother trial whicji was
"done" by him for his pa])er. Many* Other
incidents in the national, civic, and ecclasiaB-

KVEMOITH n.XRBOl R.

jnipcr he has witnessed great developments in
journalism in the adaptation of means to ends.
And to the prestige which the "Evening News"
enjoys as on© of the simirtest and most ujv
to-date evening newspapers in the country, he,
in his department, has contributed no small
part by the care, accuracy, and foresight he
has shown, combined with his admirable pow-
ers of organisation.

Mr Eddington recalls many incidents and
scenes in which he took j>art in his reporting
days. Among the more famous may be men-

tical life of the oountr}^ came under his pro-
fessional purview ; of the last may be men-
tioned the Hev. David Macrae heresy case,
and the Professor Robertson Smith case, both
"causes celebres " in the ecclesiastical world
at the time.

In connection with the Institute of Journal-
ists, Mr Eddington has done excellent work.
He was a member of the National Association
of Journalists, out of which the present Insti-
tute sprang, and when the Edinburgh and East
of Scotland branch was formed he was chosen

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5^3

secretary, a post he filled for three years,' and
laboured hard to make t^e branch a force in,
and representative of, the journalism of the
district. It was during his term as secretary
that the first conference of the Institute was
held in Scotland, at the annual dinner in con-
nection with which Lord Rosebery proposed the
toast of "The Institute." A great deal of
labour, clerical and otherwise, fell to his lot.
But he carried it all through, and the success
which attended the conference was in great
part due to the business qualities he displayed,
and the large personal labour which was so
freely given. In recognition of his work the
branch made him a handsome presentation,
and shortly after he was elected chairman of
the district, a post, it may be remarked, which
he has twice. filled. Some years ago the Insti-
tute elected him a Fellow, which is the highest
dignity in the journalistic hierarchy.

Mr Eddington is, however, a many-sided,
cultured gentleman, and has most catholic in-
terests and tastes, and a large part of his pro-
fessional duties has been of the critical and
creative character. He is the art critic of the
" News," and in this capacity has visited the
principal English and Scottish exhibitions, and,
in addition, has, written on art subjects in art
journals. But his interest in and love of art
has not been confined merely to writing on the
subject, as he has endeavoured, with no small
measure of success, to give expression to his
artistic feelings both in water-colour and in
oils. He is a great admirer of the work of the
late Mr G. F. Watts, R.A., of the lessons
which that great painter endeavours to convey,
and the moral and spiritual truths which he
.seeks to enforce in all his great picture*. The
didafctio and ethical idea« underlying Watt's
work Mr Eddington has admirably expressed
in a lecture entitled "Motive in Art."

Akin to his appreciation in art matters, is
the interest which he has for a long time taken
in photography. He is a first-rate amateur
photographer, and there are few spots of note,
and also of those not so well known to the
seeker after places of beauty, in the Border-
land, but he has visited and photographed.
He has for several years been a member of
council of the Edinburgh Photographic Society,
and for two years he occupied the post of pre-
sident. During his term of office the Society
attained its highest membership, and became
the second largest organisation of its kind in
the kingdom. He originated a pictorial sur-
vey of Edinburgh and district with a view of
qoilecting a record of the Edinburgh of the

past and preserving an authentic oflScial mem-
orial 'of the city as it now is, with pictures in
a permanent photographic process of the
streets and public buildings, as well as illus-
trating social customs and historic events.
This survey has now attained considerable
dimensions, and promisee to be a valuable ad-
dition to the munerous literary records of
Edinburgh.

Some people have had the glamour of the
Borders over them all their lives ; others have
realised this in maturer years. With the later
class the subject of our sketch may be classed.
Not that he had not the feeling which every
true Border-bred Scotchman has for the dis-
trict hallowed! by romance and deeds of der-
ring-do ; but the Borderland, its scenery and
aesaciations, legendaoy, historical, and ro-
mantic was not what Wordsworth calls the
"appetite" and the "passion" which they
have since become. He had long, and still has
for that matter, a great admiration for High-
land scenery, and in his earlier years his tastes
and inclinations led him more to the wild and
picturesque scenery which abounds in the
Highlands, especially those places made fam-
ous by the genius of Sir Walter Scott. I do
not know what switched him off the Highlands
to the Bordert^ but he now knows the Border-
land, its history, its legends, its associations
as few people do. With his camera as an in-
dispensable, he has driven, cycled, or walked
throughout the greater part of it, exploring the
valleys of the Tweed, the Teviot, the Jed, the
Ettrick and Yarrow, Eskdale, Liddesdale, and
Annandale, while, of course, he is thoroughly
at home in the highways and byways of his
native county. Some of the results of his per-
ambulations he has given in admirable illus-
trated lectures, under such titles as " The
Tweed from its Source to the Sea," " The Bor-
derland in Song and Story," Arc. TTieee lec-
tures have been delivered to appreciative aud-
iences in Edinburgh and other places. For it
is a particular trait of his character that he is
ever ready to help op any good caiuse or do
anything to contribute to the sum of human
happiness or enjoyment. His public lectures
have not, however, been confined to the Bor-
derland, but his "repertoire" extends over a
great variety of subjects.

In addition to having written several local
guides, Mr Eddington has contributed the vol-
ume on Edinburgh and the Lothians to a
county series. He has also devoted a
good deal of study to the ethical and
structural development of the novel. He

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is one of the hon. vice-presidents of the Edin-
burgh branch of the Dickens Fellowship, and
is a member both of the FAlinburgh Borderers'
Union and the Border Counties Association.
At the dinner in Edinburgh to celebrate the
centenary of the " False Alarm,'* Mr Edding-
ton pix)posed the toast of " Border Literature ' '
in an excellent speech, which was felt to be
quite one of the features of the evening.

Ecclesiastically, the subject of our sketch
belongs to the United Presbyterian branch of
the Unitefl Free Church, and is an elder in
North Morningside (^hurch — the Rev. Dr For-
rest's. In church matters he takes a consid-
erable interest, and is a member of several of
the committees of the Church.

Another fact may be mention^. One of his
bye-studies is geology, and he has made him-
self familiar with the field geology of the Lnth-
ians and the Fife coast.

It only remains to be said that Mr Edding-
ton is a gentleman of liigh-toned character,
ready at all times to advance any good object
or cause, and is held in the highest efltecm by
his colleagues in the profession.

Fairshiels.

(HE above pleafiont sounding name is the
title of a book just published by th«
well kno^vu firm of Oliphant, Anderson
& Ferrier, not a few of whose publica-
tions have been reviewed in these col-
umns. The firm have a good name for printing
and binding, and the present volume, which is
pnblishe<l at 2/fi, will in no way detract from
their reputation. The sub-title of the volume is
" Memories of a Lammermoor Parish," which
gives a slight indication of the contents. Not a
few of us look upon the life of a coimtry minister,
who has literary and floricultural tastes, as an
ideal existence, and a perusal of the present vol-
ume will certainly strengthen us in that opinion.
The author, T. Ratcliffe Barnett, has an observant
eye, a sympathetic heart, and a ready pen — a
combination which is certain to produce a read-
able book. But " Fairshiels " is more than read-
able, and much of it is poetic prose of a high
order. Were our space not so limited we would
quote freely, but we must content ourselves with
urging our readers to procure this delightful pen-
picture of the simple, sweet, cleanly life of a
little hamlet on the northern fringe of the Bor-
derland, where the turmoil of the city has not
penetrated, and the simple life — so much talked
of in the present day—can be seen in all its fresh
originality. In addition to the pen-pictures, the
volume is enhanced by a dozen reproductions of
photographs of the quiet village and its people.
To read this book is like having a holiday in the
country, and our estimate of its worth in this dir-
ection may be seen in the fact that we have sent it
as part of the outfit of a clerical friend who is
off to the East to escape for a few weeks from the
strain of a city charge.

A Border Village and Its Auld Kirk.

}HK village of Ikjwden, in Roxburghshire,
is situated on the left bank of Bowdeu
Bum, some throe miles south of Mel-
rose, and on the southern slope of the
triple Kildons--*'our Eildoos, one yet
three." It is a place of great antiquity, and is
found mentioned in old documents and charters
ari Bothendenam, Botheldene, Bonldene, Boidene,
Boudoun, of which the modern name is a cor-
ruption, just as Lilliesleaf is from Lylliscliff,
.\ncrum from Alncromb, and Ednam from Eden-
ham. The village consiiits of a number of houses,
extending about a quarter of a mile in length,
most of them being comparatively modem, with a
few neat villas with gardens in front. At the east
end of the village ia the United Free Church,
wliich Avas erected at the time of the Disruption
in 1843. There are also in the village a public
tjchool, a post-office, a handsome modem fountain,
and a public hall, as well as an ancient market-
cross, or, rather, the remains of one, consisting of
the base and capital only, for the shaft has long
8inco disappeajed. It is supposed to be as old as
the time of Alexander— "third monarch of that
war-like name"— or even older. As is the case, un-
fortunately, with most of our Border villages, the
population of Bowden has, of late years, been
gradually diminishing, owing to the general influx
from the country into the larger towns and the
want of employment for the people.
< Bowden has the honour of being the bii*th-place
of Thomas Aird, poet and journalist, the son of
an anti-burgher "portioner," whose family for
generations was connected with the village. The
house where he was born— .'\ugU'it 28, 1802— is now
the village ])ost-ofiice, and a tablet has been affixed
to the wall«, commemorating that event, by the
Edinburgh Border Counties Association (1902).
Aird acted as editor of the "Dumfries Herald" for
Home twenty-eight years, and died at Dumfries,
April 25, 1876, where he lies buried in St Michael's
Churchyard, near to the grave of Robert Burns.
He is best known as the author of "The Old Bach-
elor in the Old Scottish Village," and of that
wonderful and weird piece of imagination, "The
Devil's Dream." Another poet-son of Bowden wa«
Andi-ew Scott (1757-1837), who, in early life, served
as a soldier during the American War of Inde-
pendence, and afterwards settled at Bowden, acting
as beadle in the Parish Church. He lies buried
in the village churchyard. He was the author of
61-veral volumes of poetry, chiefly in the Scottish
dialect. "Symon and Janet: a Tale of the False
Alarm," and "The Quid Farmer," are well-
known pieces of his. James Thomson, too, was
a native of the village, though he spent the grreater
part of his life in Hawick. In 1870 he issued a
volume of poetry, 'T)oric T^ays and Lyrics," which
contains several pieces of merit. His "Star o*
Robbie Burns," "The Border Queen." "Up wi' the
Banner," "Oor Jock," "The Auld Smiddy End.''
are all deservedly popular and well-known pieces.
The following lines from his pen, in which he
makes kind inquiries for his "ain folk" at Bow-
den, may, perhaps, be not out of place here: —

"HoAv are a' the folk o' Bowden

Beside the Eildons three?
Are they hearty, hale, and happy.
And as kind's they used to bef

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kre the carles still as canty.

And the Mfies a' as crouse?
Is ilk ane the lairdie

O* a wee bit theekit hoose?

Do donee anld folk the door still lock

When sounds the aught hour's horn?
Are there touslin' in the hay nuik,

And kempin' in the corn?
Do elders 'tween the preachings meet

Besid^ the kirkyaird stile?
Are curly pows still keekin*

Through the stainchels 0* the aisle?

I fain would deem an unchanged scene.

Though changed it well may be.
For weary years and langsome miles

Ha'e pairted hame and me;
And the nearest and the dearest anet*

Will vanish from our ken.
And empty seats and eerie blanks

In ilka but and ben.

Sair wad I miss ilk weel-kenn'd face.

The couthie. kind, and free;
I oouldna brook the stranger's look

Where iinither ane should be.
Oh mournfu' tale, nae friend to hail

The wanderer's return ;
I'll eeek them in you auid kirkyaird

Beside the Bowden Burn."

Sir Thomas Lauder Brunton, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S.,
a distinguished ornament of the medical profess-
ion, and author of many learned works on medi-
cal stibjects, is also a native of the village, where
he was born in 1844.

Bowden, as we have said, is a place of great
antiquity, and is mentioned in a charter of David
I. granted in favour of the monks of Kelso. The
monks had a grange at Bowden, and their lands
there were cultivated by their tenants of various
ranks as serfs or villeins ("nativi"), "cottars," and
"husbandi." (See Sir George Douglas's "History
of Roxburghshire,'* pp. 70-73. and preface to the
"Liber de Calchou"). They had also a mill and
four brewing houses, where they, no doubt, made
"guid ale" for the monks of Kelso, who were pi-o-
bably like their brothers at Melrose, of whom it
is recorded :--

"The monks of Melrose madp guid kail
On Fridays when they fasted;
Nor wanted they guid beef and ale,
As lang's their neighbours' lasted."

The chief 'interest of Bowden, however, centres in
its old Parish Church and churchjard. where "the
rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep."

"The old kirk by the Bowden Burn

Stands hoary, ivy-clad.
Enshrined in a necropolis
Of generations fled."

The church belonged to the monks of Kelso Abbey
down to the Reformation, and is a most interest-
ing old building. The crypt of the chancel, which
18 not used as part of the church, has served, for
centuries, as the burinl-plai^e of the Dnkes of
Roxburghe. Here some 22 Kero of the Roxburghc
line have been laid to rest. On each side of the
pulpit are two beautiful stained glass windows, the
one "in memory of Vice-Admiral Rid dell Carre of
Cavers/' and the other "in memory of Elizabeth

Rid dell Maclachlan wife of Walter Riddell Carre
of Cavers," the author of "Border Memories," the
north transept of the church being the burial-place
of' the Xers of Cavers. Among those who have
served the church was a descendant of John Knox,
and his tombstone, built into the back wall of the
church, bears the following inscription: — "Hear
lyes Master James Knix,* minister of Bowden, who
departed this lyfe upon the 24th of August, 1680."
It will l-e i^membered that the second wife of the
great Reformer, Margaret Stewart, daughter of
the second Lord Ochiltree, inarried, after her
husband's death, the son of Sir Andrew Ker of
Fawdonside, and this connection may have obtain-
ed for Knox'the apix)intment at Bowden. Another
descendant was the second minister of Melrose
after the Reformation, The old churchyard, where
'heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap," is
of t'onsiderable extent, and contains some interest-
ing old tombstones. It is a quiet spot, shaded by
TimbrageoUN trees, where one, as he gaze« on the
tombstones and the ivy-clad, weather-stained walls
of the old church, which, it may be, for the last
800 ypars "hath kept watch o'er man's mortality,"
n^ay profitably .spend an hour m meditation en the
changes and chances "which fleeting time pro-
cureth."

"Hark how the f^acred calm that breathes around

Bids every fierce tumultuous passion cease;
In still, small accents whisp'ring from the ground
A grateful earnest of eternal peace."

.At present there is a movement on foot for the
restoration of this old and interesting church, of
which the Rev. Mr Burr is minister, being the
fourteenth in succession since the Reformation.
Regarding this a correspondent recently wrote in
the "Scotsman" a.s follows: —

"There are few churches in Scotland Avhich have
the honour of having been continuously used for
religious services for close on 800 years, but the
Parish Cliurch of Bowden can claim that distinc-
:ion, and now efforts are being made to i^estore
the building and pres-erve this notable historic
monument for future generations. If only for the
fact that beneath or near the church lie the re-
mains of some of the most notable of old Border
warriors, the church merits the keen interest of
the Borderer or student of history. About 1644
the crypt of the chancel was appropriated by the
Roxburghe family for burial purposes, and in the
vault beneath the church stand the cofiins, some
of them having been placed there over 300 years
ago. An aisle at the back of the church contains
the ashes of the family of Minto. and in the north
transept is the burying-place of the Kers of Cav-

* This .Tames Knox appears to have lieen the
great-great-grandnephew of the Reformer, Avhile
the Melrose minister, .Tohn Knox, was probablv
his grand-nephew. He dietl in 1623, and was suc-
ceeded by Thomas Forrester, who appears to have
been of Episcopalian tendencies and to have been
deposed by the Glasgow Assembly of 1638. He was
somewhat eccentric, and is said to have prayed in
his litany to be delivered " from all the knock-
down race of Knoxes." There Avas also a John
Knox of Bowden (ordained in 1621, died 1659), who
was probably a son of the Melrose minister. Ac-
cording to Prof. Hume Brown, , " as far as has
been ascertained, no lineal descendant of Knox
exists." ("Life of Knox," vol. ii. 289).

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ere. In the gallery, aho, facing the pulpit, 10 a
perfect specimen of the "Laird's Loft/' It dates
from 1661, and belongs to the Carres of Cavers
Carre. The chancel, which is not included in the
present church, is a fifteenth century addition, its
builder having been the Abbot of Kelso, who was
a member of the Cavers Carre house. An interest-
ing reminder of the time when the building was
used for the Raman Catholic form of worehip can
be seen in th« remains of the high altar. Bowden
was erected into a regality in 13^, and the barony
remained in the hands of the monks of Kelso,
who had removed from Selkirk, till the Reforma-
tion, when it passed into the possession of the
family of Ceesford. The monks had at that time
86 cottages in town, with land for each cottage, and
the annual rental ttus 55s 8d, with nine days' work
in harvest and the providing of a man for wash-
ing and shearing sheep. Every house had also to
furnish the Abbot with a hen at Christmas for a
half-penny. There were four brew-houses, and
each of these had to sell the Abbot a lagan and a
half of ale for one penny. As a lagan was equal
to 7 quarts, it can be imagined that the Abbot got
his poultry and his ale p.heaply enough. At the
end of the 13th century there were 70 families in
Bowden, so the population then would probably
be about 400. In 1273 ihe monks of Melx*ose and
Kelso met in the church to settle a dispute about
the tithes of Moil, on the Bowmout, but since 1568
tlie building ha« been in the possession of the
Protestants. At the latter date there was inducted
the first Protestant pastor, and altogether there
have been fourteen ministers in charge, the pre-
sent minister, the Rev. John Burr, having been
inducted in 1899. Another minister of the charge,
whose name figures prominently in the ecclesiasti-
cal history of the Borderland, was the Rev. James
Hume, whose enforced sett.'^nent as parish min-
ister in 1741 caused the secession to Midlem, or
Midholm, and the strengthen in.:; of the Secession
movement in the south of Scutlnnd. The Rev. Mr
Burr, who is a son of the Rev. Dr Burr of Lundie
and Fowlis, is now busy with i»lanii for raising the
necessary funds. The sum required will be large,
and it is expected that a chancel will be added, but
the building is of such historic interest that it is
to be hoped no great difficulty will be ciperienced
in securing the requisite amount."

A Okahau.
[A sketch of Sir Thomas Bruaton, with portrait,
^vas given in the "B. M." for Mnr^h, 1902. A sketch
of Aird, with portrait, and an account of the Cen-
tenary Celebrations, with other articles, appeared
in the "B. M." for August and September. 1902.—
Ed., "B. M/T

The Iron Kirk of Edinburgh. *

fHERE are good grounds for holding
that the present Tron Kirk of Edin-
burgh is the representative of the
original kirk of St Giles, and this
means a lineage more ancient, perhaps, than
the municipality itself. An English chronicler,

• The Tron Kirk of Edinburgh, or Christ's Kirk
at the Tron: A History by the Rev. D. Butler,
M.A., minister of the Tron Parish, Edinburgh.
Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier, Edinburgh and
London. 1906.

Symeon of Durham, includes Edinburgh in a
list of ninth century churches belonging to the
bishopric of Lindeafarne in the district of
Northumbria, and though this has been some-
times regarded as applying to St Cuthbert's
church, Dr David Laing gives reasons for be-
lieving that Symeon referred to the church of
the " castle and town." As for the "town "
of that day it probably embraced only a few
scattered dwellings at the base of Edwines
" burch " or castle, and what developed into
the principal street of a noble city would then
be no more than the beaten track by which the
'* burch " was reached. Giles or Egidius was
a seventh century saint, who migrated from
ancient Athens to a forest in France, where he
founded a monastery, and, from an incident in
his career, he became the patron saint of crip-
ples. Religious houses dedicated to his mem-
ory such as that in the Cripplegate of London,
were placed in leading thoroughfares on the
outskirts of towns with accommodation for the
relief of disabled wayfarers, and there is no-
thing improbable in the supposition that the
church of St Giles in Edinburgh originated in
this way. At a later period, by which time
the Lothians had been incorporated with the
Scottish kingdom, the parish church of St
Giles in Edinburgh is frequently noticed in his-
torical docmnents. Adopted by the city as its
patron, St Giles was depicted on its seal, and
it was a great day in Edinburgh when a neigh-
bouring laird returned from France and pro-
duced " the arine bane of Sant Gele," which he
had secured by diligent labour and at much
expense, **tlie quhilk bane he frely left to oure
mother kirk of Sant Gele of Edinburgh." The
precious relic, encased in silver, was carefully
preserved till the Reformation, when it wa's
sold, and at that time the citizens had nothing
but a series of acts of contumely to inflict upon
their former guardian. A wooden figure of St
Giles, which formed a conspicuous object in an
annual procession, was stolen in 1558,
" drowned in the North Loch," and afterwards
burnt ; a substituted image was destroyed by a
mob ; ajid in 1562 the magistrates ordered his
portrait to be cut out of the town's standard
and " the thrissill " to be put in its place.
But the hind which, according to legend, nur-
tured the forest recluse, is still represented in
one of the* supporters on the city's arms.

The church of St Giles, made collegiate in
1466, had been enlarged from time to time,
and was served by several canons, but only a
small portion of thd extensive building was re-
quired as a place of worship under the re-

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formed system. The space at disposal, after
allowing for churches, was sufficient to provide
a tolbooth, school, and town-clerk's chamber.
Knox was at first the only minister, but a col-
league, John Oaig, was appointed in 1562,
and subsequently the number of ministers wag
increased. In 1598 the city was divided into
four parishes, and to the district correspond-
ing to the future Tron parish was assigned tlie
division of the church of St Giles called the
"Great Kirk" where Knox had preached.
Thirty-five years afterwards Edinburgh was
erected into a bishopric, the space which had
been formerly occupied by two chiuxihee was,
by the costing down of a partition wall, con-
verted into one for the bishop, and the building
of a new church on a site adjoining the "tron"
or weighing- place was begun in 1637 and fin-
ished in 1663. The Tron Kirk thus erected
was built irom designs by a famous architect,
John Mylne, the King^s master mason of Scot-
land. It was reduced in size and somewhat
altered in architectural appearance in conse-
quence of the street changes following on the
formation of the South Bridge in 1785, and a
new spire, to replax^e the fonner one destroyed
by fire, was ei'ected in 1827.

The Tron Parish included the densely-popu-
lated part- of the old High Street and Cowgate.
On this subject Mr Butler remarks : —

" The city inc-reasetl by utilising the passtiges in
wynds and cIos(*h, by building on open warden
grounds or by adding flat to flat until even fifteen
storeys rose erect from the ground. The crowd-
ing of all classes together within such a limited
area sustained simplicity, neighbourliness, and
kindly feeling, not fostered by present conditions,
and an example of the social life of the time
may be taken from the old tenement that towered
upwards from the Cowgate on the site of the
former prebendal manses. The building here of
1665 sheltered the Lord President and most of
the lords of session, with many good and great
families; my Lady Hartfield, Napier of Merchis-
ton, and Lord Mersington. Up the same stair
were the residences of Sir James Mackenzie, Sir
Patrick Aikenhead, Lady Harvieston, and Lady
Colston, with bailies, merchants, and humbler
citisens. We can still review the domestic ar-
rangements of some of the select occupants of
this fashionable rookery. Sir George Campbell of
Cessnock, ancestor of the Earls of Marchmont,
occupied a lodging on the fourth storey above the
close, ' consisting of seven fire-rooms and a closet
with ane fire,' at a yearly rent of 550 merks Scots
(jeSO sterling). Above him was Sir William Bin-
ning of Wallyford, in the fifth storey, with equal
accommodation at a somewhat lower rental. Lord
Mersington's lodging was also on the fifth floor,
and included eight fire-rooms and a cellar, at the
rent of .£200 Scots; and so . . . from the
plebeian renters of garrets and 'laigh houses
beneath the ground,' at an annuLl rate of .£12
Scots {£\. sterling), to my Lord Crossrig, who

pays JBSOO Scots for his flats and share t)f the
common stair."

The "chronicle" of the Kirk from 1637 to 1822,
occupying 120 printed pages, contains the
namee of prominent seat-holders, including
members of the nobility, statesmen, lords of
session, college professors, and other eminent
citizens. George Buchanan lived for a short
time in the parish and died there. There, also,
David Hume was bom. Goldsmith lodged, and
Sir Walter Scott, whose mother and grand-
mother wefie members of the Tron Eirk, passed
his earliest days. In his "Memorials" Lord
Cockbum recalls an incident connected with the
burning of the church spire in 1824. Gowned
and wigged, he and other advocates had rushed
from, the court aiud ascended the tower of St
Giles to witness the conflagration. When it
was all over and they were "about to return,
Soott, who was one of the group, lingered a
moment and said, with a profound heave, ''Eh,
sirs, mony a weary, weary sermon ha'e I heard
beneath that steeple."

Towards the end ol Uie eighteenth century,
when the more prosperous of the inliabitants
migrated to the New Town and a crowded popu-
lation of the poorer sort occupied their place,
the ministers and Kirk Session cheerfully tack-
led the changed circumstances and manifested
their interest in the welfare of the parishioners.
A school for the benefit of poor children was
opened as early as 1778, and continuous efforts,
perhaps with fluctuating degrees of energy,
nave since been put forward for meeting both
the spiritual ajid bodily wants of the needy.
Dr MacGregor, now senior minister of St Cuth-
bert's, gives an interesting account of parochial
supervision and philanthropic exertion during
his incumbency of the Tron, and Mr Butler,
without entering upon particulars, vouches that
"the duties, which ever press for service, arouse
at once the Christian devotion and courage of
the present earnest congregation and the noble
band of workers whom it sustains and in-
spires."

Apart from the ecclesiastical interest attach-
ing to this volume, a haiidsome quarto of about
400 pages, beautifully illustrated with numer-
ous views, portraits, and maps, there is much
information of a more' general nature. The
published records, edited by Sir Jamies Mar-
wick, to whom the book is dedicated, have
yielded valuable selections, and these are sup-
plemented by extracts from the MS. Council
registers and city's accounts, supplied by the
town-clerk and city chamberlain. Evidently
both time and money have been freely expend-
ed upon the production of the work, which is,

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in every respect, ib wwlhy addition to the auth-
or's other litei'ar}' output, and, at the same
time, a substantial contribution to Edinburjrh
liistory. R. R.

William Laidlaw

(Author of •• Lucy's Flittin' ").

Part VIII.

By (iEoRCK Watson.

|MONGST the many changes at Abbots-
ford following the death of Sir
Walter was the removal -for the
secood time — of Jjaidlaw from Kae-
side. We find him next as factor of the
Ross-shire property of Mrs Stewai*t Mackenzie
of Seaforth.* He aftenvards acte<l in the same
capacity for the estate of Sir Charles Lockhart
Ross of Balnagowan, also in Ross-shire. A
letter from Lockhart to Laidlaw, dated Lon-
don, 19th January, 1837, has too much interest
to be passed over. In it Liockhail refers to
the publication of his '* Life of Scott," and
states that he will instruct Cadell the pub-
lisher to forward the volumes to Laidlaw as
they are published. After acknowledging re-
ceipt of some game sent by Laidlaw, liockhart
writes : —

*' The account you give of voiir situation at pre-
sent is, considering how the worUl wags, not un-
satisfactory. Would it were possible to find my-
self placed in something of a similar locality, and
with the means of enjoying the country by day
and my books at night, without the necessity of
dividing most of ray time between the labours of
the desk— mere drudge-labours mostly — and the
harrassing turmoil of worldly society, for which I
never had much, and nowadays have rarely indeetl
any, relish ! . . . Your letters of the closing
period [of Scott's life] I wish you would send to
me; and of these I am sure some use. and some
good use, may be made, as of those addressed to

* When factor of these lands William Laidlaw
lived in the beautifully situated Brnhan Castle,
in the parish of Urray. When T. T. Stoddart was
up in Ross-shire, he ventured one day to fish in
the Kaasay water, but wim warned by a tall ancl
pleasant-looking man with a Border accent that
that part of the river was preserved. The admoni-
tor proved to be James, the brother of William
Laidlaw, and this incident led to an introduc-
tion of the angler to the latter. " Some notes
from Mr Laidlaw." writes Miss Stoddart, *' show
that through his kindly offices my father secured
introductions to such local anglers as were versed
in the fishing lore of the district. He dined and
breakfasted on several occasions at Brahan Castle,
and had much interesting talk with Mr Laidlaw,
whom he always remembered with special re-
gard.'*

myself at the same time, which all, however mel-
ancholy to compare with those of the better day,
have traces of the man. Out of these confused
and painful scraps I think I can contrive to put
together a picture that will be highly touching of
a great mind shattered, but never degraded, and
jdways to the last noble, as his heart continued
pure and warm as long as it could beat.—^Ever
affectionately yours, J. G. Lockhart."

It was early in 1842, apparently, that Laid-
law became slightly paralytical. ^Yriting to
Laidlaw from London on .'iOth April of that
year, Lockhart thanks him for taking care to
warn him in his own handwriting of the attack,
which shows ** that neithei- mind nor the nobler
functions of the body have suffered." . After
bidding Laidlaw be of good cheer, he rociuests
him to jjive his love to " Mrs Laidlaw and the
voune: ladies."

TO.MB OK WILIJAM LAIDLAW.

From another letter written by Tx)ckhai't to
Laidlaw, and datt^d 25th May, 1813, the "Ab-
botsford Notanda" gives an exti*act dealing
with Major Sw>tt in India.

It was about this time, as before said, th^t
F^aidlaw wrote his * Recollections of Sir Walter
Scott." In August, 1844, he was unfortunate-
ly struck down by paralysis, ajid accordingly
retired to the farm-house of his brother James
(who wiu* a sheejrvfanner), at Contin, where he
died nine months afterwards. In the church-
yard of Contin the renuuns of this <lear friend
of the great novelist weie interred, far from
his Border home, but ajuid similar scenery.
The retired churchyard is under tlie shade
of mighty Tor-Achilitv, one of the loftiest and

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grandest of the Koss-Bhire hills. To his iiie<in-
oiy a tomb, with ai marble tablet, wag erected
hj Sir Greorge S. Mackenzie of Coul, Bart., the
lord of the manor. Many years afterwards
Laidlaw's wife was interred in the same place.
Upon th« marble tablet is the fallowing in-
scription: —

" Hbbe lie the remains of Wxlluk Laidlaw» born
at Blackhouse, in Yarrow, November 1780, died at
Contin, May 18, 1845 ; and his wife Janbt Ballantyne,
who died at Contin, 15th July, 1861."

The character of Laidlaw, delightful in all
respects, will have been sufficiently evident in
this sketch of his career. Yet a few further
references thereanent may not be tedious.
Speaking of the time when Laidlaw first made
the acquaintance of Scott, Lockhart says: —

*• He was then a very youug man, but the extent
of his acquirements was already as noticeable as
the vigour and originality of his mind; and their
correspondence where ' Sir ' passes, at a tew
bounds, through 'Dear Sir,' and 'Dear Mr Laid-
law,' to 'Dear Willie,' shews how speedily this
new acquaintance had warmed into a very tender
affection. Laidlaw's zeal about the ballads was
repaid by Scott's anxious endeavours to get him
removed from a sphere for which, he writes, ' it
is no flattery to say that you are much too good.'
It was then, and always continued to be, his
opiAion, that his friend was particularly qualified
for entering with advantage on the study of the
medical profession; but such designs, if Laidlaw
himself ever took them up seriously, were net
ultimately persevered in : and I ((uestion whether
any worldly success coul. I. after all, have over-
halanced the retrospect of an honourable life
spent happily in the open air of nature, amidst
scenes the most captivating to the eye of genius,
and in the intimate confidence of, perhaps, the
greatest of contemporary minds."

Not only was Laidlaw a man of letters, he
was also, says Dr Rogers, "an amateur physic-
ian, a student in botajiy and entomology, and a
considerable ireologist." In stature, according
to the same authority, he "was Momewiiat under
the middle height, but was well formed and
slightly athletic, and his fresh -coloured com-
plexion beamed a generous benignity.'^

It will have been seen, during tlie course of
these articles, tliat Laidlaw was sometimeft the
victim of ill-health. It actually seems, from
what we leani in Hogg's "Domestic Manners,"
that this was a clii*onic complaint with him.
At one time Sir Walter Scott recommended him
as factor to Lord Mansfield : but after consider-
ation Scott had to withdraw Laidlaw' a name,
in consequence of the precarious state of his
health.

It was in the sunshine of such a life as that
of Scott that Laidlnw's shone in all its fulness,

and it doubtless would have shown more brill-
iantly had it not been for his extreme mod-
esty, proof of which has already been adduced.
Even had he never met Scott, however, his name
would have been entitled to a prominent place
among the ballad -writers of our count i-y, if only
for having written the admir.ible gem, "Lucy's
Flittin'." Vigour and originality of mind were
conspicuously his, and so greatly was Laidlaw
naturally endoweil with luetic talent, that he
only required to cultivate it to have won for
himself a much higher place among the poets
of Scotland. It is therefors to be regretted
that he did fiot stir hinisielf to greater exertions.
But a* an acxiuaintance of his sivys, "he was
content to admire the genius of others, rather
than display his own." In addition to the
well-known lyric already mentioned, he wrote
the meritoriouR ballads entitled "Alake
for the Lassie," and "Her Bonnie Black E'e.'*
Laidlaw wrote also the article "Selkirkshire"
for Brewster s "Edinburgh Encyclopaedia^" and
(according to Dr Russell) "Tlie Statistical Ac-
count of the Parish of Innerleithen" came from
his pen. The Rev. Mr l^rhuid ("Yarraw : its
Poets and Poetr}^") states tliat 'lie also wrote
on Scottish Superstitions' to the 'Edinburgh
Magazine,' contributed several articles to the
'EncyclopSBdia,' and was the author of a geo-
logical description of his native county." Laid-
law also sent many valuable contributions to
agricultural and literary journals. He mijrht
have made his name more widely known had
he complied with a request that he should write
a work dealing with the table-talk and the inner
life of his revered master : but he indignantly
repudiated the suggestion, deeming this too
.sacred a theme to be written up and laid before
a curious public. This spe^aks highly for his
sense of honour ; but we believe, notwithstand-
ing that it has been said that Laidlaw had
not the qualifications of a Boswell, that he
would have bequeathed to succeeding genera-
tions much valuable information regarding the
preat novelist.

In the review of such a life as this one feels
a natural pride in ranking him aiiiong Border-
ers of pre-eminence. His muse was pensive,
he sung in the minor key : but tliat is not sur-
prising in one who was brought up in Yarrow,
whose poetry is so characteristically touching
and plaintive — features that are prominent in
Laidlaw's masterpiece " Lucy's Flittin'." And
so long as the name of Sir Walter Scott is
reverenced, so long will honour be given to his
friend, amanuensis, and adviser William
Laidlaw.

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TO CORRESPONDENTS, TO ADVERTISERS.

Allc(mmuni€ationa relating to Literary maUera should All Buwiuu matiers, Advertiiing Rates, <fcc., sfunUd

be addressed to the Editor, Mr William Sakdebson, be referred to the Publishers, A. Walksb & Son,

1 Oxford Dnve, Glasgow. High Street, Galashiels

THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

FEBRUARY, 1907.

LIST OF CONTENTS.

PAGB

Mb Alixan'dkb Eddinoton, J.L, Edinbuiwh. Porti-ait Supplement. Oiie Illustration. By "A Man

OF THE MEBSE." 21

Review: Faibshiels. 24

The Tron Kirk of Edixbuiujh. By R. R. 28

William Laidl.\w. Part VIII. By George Watson. One Illustration. • - ^ - - - 28

The Border Keep. By Dominie Sampson. ' - - - 30

SiB Walter Soott at Hallyard. By D. Brown Anderson. 32

PoETBY : Home Again. By A. E. M. 33

Border Decorators. Two DlustrationH. 34

A Winter Walk on the Pkntlands. Bv R. C. 35

In THE BOBDER COUSTRY. - . ." ^ .... 36

Social Life in Scotland in the Eighteenth Cbntuhy. 37

Dookin' in Tweed. Bv A. L. A. Sudden. 37

A Border Literary CThronicle. Part VIII. 39

EDITORIAL NOTES.

The nunil)er of Border Unions and Assueiations is steadily increasing, and we heartily rejoice at this
welcome sign of healthy Border Brotherhood, l)ut \i^y should there Iw no federation of these separate societies ?^
Union is strength, and we once more offer some of cmr space to the various secretaries who do so 43uich for our
common kinship. Why should the B.M. not become the official organ of these associations ? Boixierers abixiad
liighly appreciate our magazine, and we again urge upon our reatlers to send copies to far awa' freen's. Their
pel usal of our pages will open tlie floodgates of memory and keep them leal to the Border.

The Border Keep,

Every true patriot is proud of his country, and ' nation * we should turn to Scotland. Her nat-

it is one of the outstanding features in the char- ionality is no abstraction, but a tingling reality;

acter of the Borderer that he glories in the past a living organism, and not a mere legend of the

of his beloved Borderland, and cherishes an un- poets. She has all the stern virtues of a nation

dying fondness for its soft vales, purple tinted and all the fantastic punctilios. The love and

hills, and clear flowing streams. But the Borderer fidelity of her children scattered in the four cor-

is not parochial, and his love extends from Scott neis of the world, are proofs which stand fast

Land to the wider Scotland which owes so much against the scorner. Her valour, her arrogance,

to the hero of Abbotsford. In a powerful book on her belief in her own destiny, have not been

American Union, entitled " Alexander Hamilton.'' quenched by the free citiaenship of a wider em-

and published bv Messrs Archibald Constable & Pi'e. Her traditions have suffered no wound or

Co., I find the following pithy paragraph, which is injury in a loyal co-operation. Uith the example

a complete answer to* those^ short-sighted indivi- of Scotland before us it is wise to have confidence,

duals who cannot reconcile the two ideals of Em- The meaning of Empire to a free people is not a

pire and separate nationality, and are ever fearing stunting and overshadowing growth, but a proud

that any encouragement of national feeling will ""d willing subordination. Its aim is the security

lead to Imperial disaster. As a rule, such fearful of a great inheritance, and while it will augment

ones have no objection to the encouragement of ^^^ resources and the power of every member of

•* English " nationalitv. The author of the above the Union, it will also touch each separate State

mentioned volume, Mr Frederick Scott Oliver, and private citizen with a firmer courage and a

says :—" Scotland retains, as England also retains, ^^er dignity."
every characteristic of a proud and self-reliant ♦ » »

nation. The national life of Scotland is the The teaching of Scottish History is being

growth of a thousand years. For more than ten brotight very prominently before the educational

centuries Scots kings have ruled and Scots pride authorities at present, and not a moment too

has remained unbroken. If we were in search of soon. In one of the histories used in some of our

u type to illustrate the meaning of the word schools, in 235 pages there are G58 errors in the

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use of the national names, England and English
b«ing substituted for the legal terms Britain and
British. The Convention of Koyal Burghs did a
noble piece of work when it drew attention to
this mean method of trying to obliterate Scotland
from British history, and it is pleasing to note
in this bi-centenary year of the Union of the two
Parliaments that there is every chance of the
errors being rectified.

• * •

Not to mention the wider issues, fancy, our
schoolboys and girls growing up ignorant, so far
as their school books are ooncerned, of the im-
portant part played by the Borderland (the Buffer
State) in the history of the two nations. To
quote the Convention's manifesto on the subject:
— "Even when a proper title, such- as 'British
History,' is given to a book professing to give the
history of Scotland as well as England, Scotland,
in the case of the books objected to, receives
neither fair nor adequate treatment. It is looked
at from a purely English standpoint; its history
is dealt with in a casual and fragmentary way;
and is referred to mainly where, and mainly be-
cause — as with the War of Independence— it af-
fected the contemporary history of England. Great
events in Scotland's history, such as the Reforma-
tion and the Covenanting struggle— events of
world-wide influence — are, if not ignored, touched
upon in a perfunctory and biassed manner. The
' making of England ' bulks everywhere ; the mak-
ing of Scotland nowhere. The history that at-
tracted the attention and won the admiration of
the world is shorn of its greatness and dignity ; its
honours, by being described as ''English,' are
taken from Scotland to add to the glory of an-
other country to which they do not belong; and
Scotland's history, thus Lelittled, is made to ap-
pear as a mere series of episodes in the history
of England. Thus, ' through many of the books
from which our young people should be learning
the history of their country, they are receiving
defective and inaccurate views of it; and are be-
ing thus deprived of the inspiration and power
that a true history of Scotland is fitted to give,
and that did so much to make the Scottish people
what they are." All this means no ill-feeling to-
wards the sister kingdom, but simply a demand
for fairness and honesty.

» » »

Onoe indispensable to all sections of the com-
munity, the old-fashioned quill pen seems to be
completely ousted from popular favour. The selec-
tion of a suitable quill or its subsequent trans-
formation into a pen called for an amount of leis-
ure incompatible with the age of the type-writer.
Of the change that this implies I was reminded by
a recent visit to Springwood Park, the residence
of Sir George Douglas. Among other curios, the
literary baronet possesses several quill -peiye, that
were once used by Lady John Scott, the authoress
of the popular version of "Annie Laurie." Up to
1900, the year of her death, this venerable lady
continued to write with the instrument that had
been familiar to her during her youthful days.
Lady John's devotion to the past also found ex-
pression in strenuous efforts to resuscitate many
time-honoured usages and customs. It may be
added that a family- ooach reminiscent of the days
of postillions and outriders was among her Lady-
ship's most ti-easui'ed possesions.

A correspondent of "Notes and Queries" points
out a curious ooincidence which (in a fashion)
links Scott and Dickens— "St Bonan's Well" and
"Pickwick." In the former novel Mr Peregrine
S. Touchwood makes play with his initials: — "I
use Sit present P. S. Touchwood. I had an old
acquaintance in the city who loved his jest— he
alwuys called me Postscript Touchwood." This,
of course, reminds one of Mr Peter Magnus, who
addressed Mr Pickwick in similar vein. "Curious
circumstance about those initials, sir." "Curious
observer— P.M.— post meridian. In hasty notes to
intimate acquaintance, I sometimes sign myself
'Afternoon.' It amuses my friends very much, Mr
Pickwick."

« * *

In the "Sootsman" of September ytn, 1906,
appeared the following most interesting para-
giuph : —

This week Mr Cornelius Lundie, on a tour
through the Border district, has paid a visit to his
native burgh, Kelso. Mr Lundie is in his 92nd
year, and is wonderfully hale and hearty, with
all his faculties well preserved. Mr Lundie is a
son of the manse; his grandfather, Cornelius,
was minister of the parish of Kelso for half a
century, and, after a short interval, the son suc-
ceeded, being minister for a quarter of a century.
What Mr Lundie treasures most in his memory
is the fact that he has the unique distinction
amongst the living of having seen and conversed
with Sir Walter Scott. His father was on inti-
mate terms with the Ballantynes, as also with Sir
Walter, who often visited Kelso Manse, and he
remembers on one occasion of accompanying his
father and Mr James Ballantyne to Abbotsford,
where they were cordially welcomed by Sir Wal-
ter, and afterwards served with lunch. He was a
boy of ten or twelve at the time, and his father
drove his horse, " Marmion," in a phaeton. Mr
Lundie, when in Edinburgh the other day, met
Miss Thomson, daughter of a former minister of
Maxton. He happened to relate his Sir Walter
reminiscence, and Miss Thomson followed with a
hitherto unknown anecdote of her father. Sir
Walter was of a party invited to dinner at some
house on the Mertoun side of the Tweed, and Mr
Thomson was also to be of the party. A storm
broke, however, and the river came down in heavy
flood, rendering the fords impassable. Not to dis-
appoint his host, however, Mr Thomson travelled
through St Boswells and across Mertoun Bridge,
arriving very late. Sir Walter gave him a kindly
greeting, and said, jokingly, that he had almost
made up his mind that to him would fall the
duty of writing an obituary notice of the minister
of Maxton, drowned in the Tweed. " Then,"
promptly replied the minister, "I would have
been immortalised." Through his mother Mr
Lundie traces connection with two well-known Bor-
der families— the Greys of Milfield, and the Boyds
of Cherrytrees— and he is the last survivor of his
family. His elder brother "came out" at the
Disruption, and went to Liverpool, where his name
was greatly honoured. His elder sister was well
known in the literary world as Mrs Mary LUndie
Duncan, and the younger one became the wife of
Dr Horatius Bonar. Mr Lundie is now resident
in Cardiff, and he only retired from active duty
about a year ago.

DoMiNiB Sampson,

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Sir Walter Scott at Hallyards.

• hough it is recorded by Lockhart,
and corroborated by Robert Cham-
bers and by George Gilfillan that
Sir Walter, more than a century
ago, visited Manor Water and was the guest of
Professor Adam Fergusson, at Hallyards, yet,
unfortunately, no details of that visit, save the
one very remarkable one of his wonderful in-
terview with David Ritchie, the Woodhouse
recluse (who became the original of the
*• Black Dwarf "), have been given. Now, the
public in general, and more particularly those
familiar with the Vale of Manor, would have
greatly prized any such particulars had they
been forthcoming, and had the biographers of
Scott known of any occurrences beyond the
great novelist's interview with David Ritchie
— which has been so freqiiently narrated as to
be well known — they would doubtless have
given them to us ; in the absence of such re-
coixl, we are left to conjecture the impressions
made on Scott's mind by his vision of Manor
in that memorable montli of July, 1797, mem-
orable to him in particular, for he had just be-
come engaged to be marrieil. In a letter to
his relative, Miss Christian Rutherford, Sir
Walter tells the story : " I am in a very fair
way of being maiTied to a very amiable young
woman with whom I formed an attachment in
the course of my tour. She was bom in
France ; her parents were of English extrac-
tion, the name Carpenter. . She was left an
orphan early iihlife, and educated in England,
and is at present under the care of a Miss
Nicolson, a daughter of the late Dean of
Exeter, who was on a visit to her relations in
C'mnberland. Miss Carpenter is of age, but
as siie lies under great obligations to the Mai-
quis of Downshire, who was her guardian, she
cannot take a step of such importance without
his consent — and I daily expect his final an-
swer upon the subject. Her fortune is de-
))endent, in a great measure, upon an only and
very affectionate brother. He is coiinnercial
resident at Salen in India, and has settle<l upon
her an annuity of £600. Of her personal ac-
complishments T shall only say that she pos-
sesses very good sense, with uncommon good
temper, which I have seen put to most severe
trials."

To be practical, this income of the lady
would bo of no small importance to Scott at
such a juncture of his life, for at that time,
his fifth year at the Bar, he was earning some-
thing short of £150 a year! and hence, given

the lady's amiable qualities and her good
tocher, we may be sure that Scott, when set
free for this joyful summer holiday on the
rising of the Court in July, 1797, was in the
highest spirits. It is probable that he tra-
velled direc't fix>m Edinbui^h, because Lock-
hart says that, accompanied by his brother
John and Adam Fergusson, Scott set out on a
tour to the English lakes. " Their first stage
was Hallyards, in Tweeddale, then inhabited
by his friend's father, the philosopher and
historian ; and they staid there for a day or
two, in the course of which Scott had his first
and only interview with David Ritchie, the
original of the ' Black Dwarf.' "

In the stirring life of Sir Walter, the«e few
days were of comparatively little consequence,
and, moreover, the Vale was so quiet and un-
peopled, that Fergusson woulil have been some-
what at a loss for men to introduce to his dis-
tinguished guest ; consequently he fell back on
this dwarf, a recluse, a misanthrope, but, with-
al, exactly the man for Scott's genius to found
a romance upon I and it is no disparagement
to say that the novel of the " Black Dwarf,*'
taking rank as it does only in the second de-
gree of the Waverley Novels, is still a work
of considerable interest coming from the hands
of the greatest writer of fiction of the eigh-
teenth century. It is generally recognised
that Scott, taking David Ritchie and his cot-
tage — close to the farmhouse of Woodhouse,
and both still existing, thoiigh there have been
material additions made to both since the year
1797 — made this recluse and his small hut the
basis of his novel, but that he afterwards
transferred the scene to another part of Scot-
land, and introduced fresh local characters into
his novel ; and it is abundantly authenticateil
that David Ritciiie's personal appearance and
characteristics, gigantic strength (small man
as he was), together with all the salient points
of the dwarf and his surroundings, as seen by
Sir Walter Avhen at Hallyards, have been hit
off by the novelist with vivid portraiture.
"The tigure they had seen the night before,'*
says the novelist in the "Black Dwarf/'
** seemed slowly and toilsomely labouring to
pile the large stones one upon another, as if
to form a small inclosure. Materials lay round
him in great plenty, but the labour of carrying
on the work was immense, from the size of
most of the stones ; and it seemed astonishing
that he should have succeeded in moving sev-
eral which he had already arranged for the
foundation of his edifice. ... To judge
from the difficulties he had alreadv sur-

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mounted, he must have been of Herculean
powers ; for some of the stones he had suc-
ceeded in raising apparently required two
men's strength to have moved them."

Now, this is exactly the description given
to the present day by local guides at the
"Dwarf's Cottage," Manor, of the man Rit-
chie, of his prodigious strength, which enabled
him unaided to build the substantial wall of
the garden at the back of his hut ; and seeing
that Scott's visit to Hallyards was limited to
three days, the inference seems plain that he
had minutely concentrated his attention on
this remarkable character and his hut' and
garden to the exclusion almost of other ob-
jects in the parish, although it is matter of
reasonable conjecture that the host would take
the guest to view the old tower of Barns, a
mile distant from Hallyards. This conjecture
is strengtheneil by the description Scott him-
self has given in the *' Black Dwarf " of such
an edifice. He calls it the tower of Westburn-
flat, *' one of the few remaining strongholds
formerly so numerous upon the Borders. The
tower was a small square building of the most
gloomy aspect. The walls were of great thick-
ness, and the windows or slits, which served
the purpose of windows, seemetl rather cal-
culated to afford the defenders the means of
employing missile weapons than for admitting
air or light to the apartments within.
A single turret at one angle, defended by a
door studded with huge iron nails, rose above
the battlement, and gave access to the roof
from within, by the spiral staircase which it
enclosed." Tlien is it not highly probable
that from the old tower of Barns, Fergusson
would guide Scott up to Caverhill, comn)and-
ing as that place does a view of the Tweed
sweeping piust Barns to the Neidpath woods,
as well as a view of the lower part of the
Manor? Donl)tless, too, a <lrive would lx»
taken to Posso, where falcons once abounded,
a supposition strengthened by William Cliam-
bers, who records that " in * Tales of my Land-
lord,' Henry, son of Sir William Ash ton of
Ravenswood Castle, gets his hawks from Posso
— an allusion traceable to Sir Walter Scott's
visit to the parish of Manor."

The story of the great Wizard's remarkable
interview and conversation with David Rit-
chie has been so often told by various writers
that I simply refer to it here, and inform
readers ignorant of it that the fidl narrative
is given in Chambers' "Peeblesshire," under
the head, "Manor." With comparatively
trifling, yet with vastly improving changes,

the general appearance of the house and poli-
cies at Hallyards is at the present day nearly
the same as it was when Scott basked in the
sunshine of July at tliis delicious old place a
hundred and ten years ago. Since then a
stone statue of the 'Black Dwarf," grim and
weird, has been placed on the lawn ; some
water-colour portraits of him and relics from
his hut have found their way here, as well as
to the Chambers' Institute at Peebles. Can
it be wondeixnl at that we like to picture the
great man welcomejil here to stroll through
garden and grounds, receiving and writing
love-letters to Miss Carpenter, his joyful face
at Fergusson's table, and finally taking leave
of Hallyards to journey onwards to his des-
tination, the English lakes I Fergusson lihn-
self was no small celebrity, and he has left his
mark on the place by the erection of a garden
sundial: "Soliposuit. A Fergusson. 1803."
Mimgo Park had also been his guest, but to
this day the chief liistorical interest attached
to the place and parish is the visit that was
paid to l)oth by a man whose name and fame
were to Ix* illustrious.

D. BiiowN Anderson.

Home Again.

We're home agniu! We're home again!
We've reached our Border home again,
And many a day will pass away
Before we go and roam again I

I would I had nice powers of speech.
Or, better far, the poet's pen.
To ev'ry listening ear I'd teach
The joys of coming home again.

We've not been gone a year or more.
But only days some nine or ten :
And yet it seemed of weeks a score !
So, doubly sweet is home again.

We've travelled North, we've travelled West*
W^e've gazed on Highland lake and ** Ben;"
But our loved Borderland is best.
Its hills and dales spell "home" again.

Our dog he met us at the door.

O'er joyed to see us home again ;

Our joy was his, and something more^

We shall not lightly roam again.

•

'Tis well to view the world outside.
The thronged and busy haunts of men;
But oh ! it cannot be denied
'Tis best to be at home again.

All round is autumn's mellow glow;
The robin pipes in yonder glen;
But we shall see the roses blow.
Before we leave our home again,

Koberton Manse. A. E. M.

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Border Decorators.

JE people in these northern climes
have been slow to learn the les-
son that a little colour, tastefully
applied to the interior or exter-
ior of pur dwellings, adds materially to the joy
of life, and casts no more than the sombre lack
of ornament we have been too long accustomed
to. A decided change haa set in, However, and
the decorative trades are waking up to the
wants of a public whose taste has been grad-
ually educated up to higher things.

The master painters and decorators of Soot-
land have done much to improve their craft by
competitions among the aj^prenticee, and the
annual exhibitions which they have now estab-
lished are having a decided effect upon the
public mind. We had the pleasure of paying
some visits to the splendid exhibition held in
the Royal Institute of Fine Arts, Glasgow, dur-
ing the Cliristmas and New Year weeks. The
exhibition was a great success, both from the
trade and public points of view, and was a sur-
prise to many who have not been aware how
far we have advanced in the art of house de-
coration.

This is not the place for aaiy lengthened de-
scription of tlie exhibits, but we cannot refrain
from taking notice of the fact that one of the
most notable shows was the stall of Messrs Tait
Brothers, Galashiels and Melroso'. As far as
space was coaicenied the exhibit was not large,
but the contents were so striking that the trade,
the Press, and the public at once saw that here
was something unique which could not be pass-
ed over with a cursory glance.

The display embraced about fifty items, as
different in subject and treatment aa they were
l)eautiful and original in design. These were
carried out in a variety of material — so com-
prehensive and choice in effect and finish that
to examine them closely was a. most profitable
and delightful task. Many of the objects had
a structural importance that went far to en-
hance their smfacea The firm has its archi-
tectural side — Mr Harry M. Tait being a spec-
ialist in decorative construction — and the stall
had many examples of his craftsmanship in
this department.

Messrs Tait Brothers have an en-
thusiasm for their craft, which car-
ries them far beyond the commercial
side of the business, and they have so instilled
their own ideas into their workers that several
of their apprentices have carried off the leading
prizes. On the occasion of this recent exhibi-
tion the apprentice who gainod the gold medal

got his special training from this
firm. The Brothers Tait are natives of Inner-
leithen, and have done much to elevate the
public taste in their native town.

The exhibit above referred to was under the
charge of Mr George Hope Tait, one of the
brothers, who is a recognised authority on de-
corative art, and delivered a lecture on "Decor-
ation" to the National Association of Master
Painters and Decorators of England and Wales,
at Nottingham, at their great meeting on 23rd

MR GEO. HOPE TAIT,

Fellow of the. Imtitute of British DeeorcUors.

September, 19Q3. The lecture was a most elo-
quent production, and it is quite a literary
treat to read it.

Commenting on Mr G. Hope Tait's lecture,
the "Journal of Decorative Art" says: — "The
paper by Mr G. Hope Tait, of Galashiels, was a
plea from a painter to painters for a higher
conception of his calling. Robed in language
of true eloquence, it was almost from the first
line down to its closing sentences sustained on
the highest level of oratory, and showed the
writer to be not only an enthusiastic craftsman,
bvt a man who has a large sense of his work,
and who haa scholarly gifts to express it. We
have had many papers in the past, but nevQX

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one more eloquently phra-sed or most eameetly
expressed. One of the speakers of the Con-
vention later on said we had had some papers
which were 'too high up.' We cannot agree
with him — nay, we would say that you cannot
be too high up in your views of what your
calling is capable of; and for a deoorator to
limit his aspirations at aU is to put a curb on
his faculties which may well cripple and stunt
his own life. We welcome Mr Tait's paper as
one of the most wholesome contributions to the
question of what a decorator should aiim. at
which we have had for many a long year. If
there were more who took his large conception
of his work, we should soon see a great trans-
formation in the trade. The paper reinforced
the plea, made by Mr Foster for a wider out-

tion among British master painters. The
brothers are comparatively young men, and
we trust that they will continue to gain fresh
laurels for themselves and the Borderland.

A Winter Walk on the Pentlands.

I^HE 10.30 a.m. train from the Caledon-
ian on New Yecir's Day
disgorged a goodly number
of passengers at each station
before Balerno was reach. There was a won-
derful number brave enough on New Year's Day
morning to pass through Balerno, by Bedford,
Bavelaw, and by the Pentland Pass that brings
the pedestrian to the Logan Bum, Logan Lee,

'•The Exchange of the Nations," Bv^Geo. Hope Tait, f.i.b.d.

look as to what should constitute the training
of a deoorator, and for the cultivation of a love
of what the old writers called Humanities.
A sympathy for all that elevates and enlarges
the mind, whether it be in literature or the
arts. By every such addition a man is made
more of a man, his s3Tnpathie8 are
enlarged and quickened, his intelligence
awakened, and his storehouse of information
made fuller and more complete, and in every
way the better equipped for the conduct of his
business. By all means let us get the spirit of
Mr Tait's paper as part of our daily food."

We have pleasure in reproducing the design
by which Mr Tait gained the first prize (One
Month in Rottne) in the Intemationa-l competi-

and Glencorse. No Pentland walk is finer than
this, but when there is a residue of snow on the
j>ath," and the hills are bewitching and fairy-
like in a white mantle, only the bravest will
venture. The day was fine, the air exhilarat-
ing, and the snow did little to hinder a winter
tramp. How 'merry this mixed party of young
folks are, and how tingling with life and energy
in every limb, as they negotiate the winding
path above Bavelaw. We might be in the
Highlands : there is Scaldlaw in front, where,
tradition says, was the scene of the gatherings
of the old Norse minstrels, singling the Scalds
of the Vikings and Berserks. James V. hunted
around B«ivelaw, and Queen Mary came over
from Lennox Castle on the Water of Leith to

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hawk here. Covenaiiters, flying wounded from
Rullion Green, fell, and bodies have been found
in the nK)«s here.

The watei-fall at the head of the Logan Burn
is still frozen; its watei"s creep away with a
muffled sound. Four adventurous spirits climb
the steep banfk and examine the strata above
the waterfall, in the bum, a conglomerate,
which is rather a rare outcrop on the Pentlands.
What an exquisite view down towards Logan-
lefe as. we descend from tlie upper reach of the
bum from this high plateau. Looking back, two
black figures are struggling through the snow
along the side of the Hare Hill ; there, on the
slope of Scaldlaw, and near the top, four black
figures have nlmost conquered that eminence.
A welcome halt at the waterman's cottage at
Loganlee affords time for a rest and some re-
fresliment. An array of tea-pots stand on the
dyke outside, for a pai-ty of ten is exi>ected
hungiy from the hills. The empty churn has
diserorged that flaky white butter on the plate,
lUid the half-dozen rosy children who live here,
four mile« from the ne«\re«t school, and six
miles from Penicuik, are enjoying themselves
snow-balling outside. The waterman's wife
walked- six miles on the day previous, when it
was snowiner, to sell her eggs and make pur-
chases. While renting, one of the party reads
from Will. H. Ogilvie's recently-publislied
little booklet of poetry, "Rainbows and Witdi-
ee." "In Pentland Wine,'' cut from the "Scots-
man," is also I'ead, and is so far in harmony
with the scene, except that to-day all is quiet,
and it is not true that

" The west wind, wanton, is chiding

.Qlencorsft with the scourge of his whips.
And the wild duck over it riding
Are tossing like storm-tossed ships."

For the wild-ducks pass above our heads, and
a couple of giouse cross the upi>er end of Glen-
corse with gurgling discoaitent at being dis-
turbed. All appreciate these versea of Ogil-
vie's, which come home in the silence of the
hilljs here with new delight, malking allowance
for the winter season: —

The Kingship of the Hills
*' Born in the purple, the red grouse cry ;
Born in the purple, the whaups reply;
Born in the purple, the clouds are kings
Sailing away on their snow-white wings.
The eagle high on the ruby peak
Has the scorn o' the vale in his curling beak;
And every hour that goes dancing down
Has a purple robe and a silver crown.
The lightnings ffash like a jewelled band;
The thunder rolls like a king's command;
With a palace roof of the windy stars,
Where God looks over His golden bars.

Here, in the pride of all iiigh-bom things.
The red-deer go with the gait of kings;
And only a step from their cottage-doors
The rough hill-shepherds are eniperors."

As we are now, when we step outside, below
the shadow of Camethy, and faee Castlelaw,
which blocks the vallev to the eastward, for we
are now on the road leading deviously round
the south of the Pentlands, by Woodhouselee,
towards Hillend and Lothianbum. It is a
short-cut to skirt Castlelajw, climb along past
Castlelaw Farnii, and by the policies of Wood-
houselee and coroe out on the old Biggar road,
at Easter-Howgate. By the time we are back
to town fourteen miles (including that detour
on the hill behind the waterfall) have been
negotiated since leaving Balenio. But the way
is shortened bv story-telling, and one Avho has
just returned from Spain relates an endless
narrative of his adventures and mis-adventures,
with a visit to the Alhambra thrown in. The
glories of the Alhambra \y\le before a well-earn-
ed evening meal, and there is the calm satis-
fnction ill the bro*»«t- of ea,ch that "something
attempted, something done, has earaed a
night's repose.*' R. C.

*♦ In the Border Couiltpy.''

'.^.\T an advance has taken place
within the last few years in the
matter of printing in colours !
Formerly the difficulties in repro-
ducing were so many and the pro-
cess so costly that colour books of good qualitv
could only fall into the hands of those who had
long purses. Now all this is changed, and really
high-class colour booku are within the reach of
all. Among the latest triumphs in this direction
is the handsome volume hearing the above title,
which has been issued by the well known firm of
Hodder & Stoughton, London. When we mention
that the text, which is largely historical, is by
the Rev. VV. S. Crockett, minister of Tweedsrauir,
we need say little more to recommend that por-
tion of the book (dedicated to the memory of Sir
Walter Scott) as the author is well known to all
the readers of the Boedbe Magazine, and his ex-
tensive knowledge of Border matters gives him an
authority which few possess.

While we nil have our own ideas of what con-
stitutes the true Borders, we are glad to see that
Mr Crockett has no cramped and confined no-
tions on that subject. He says:— "A line drawn
on the map from Coquetmonth to * Merrie Car-
lisle,' thence to the town of Dumfries, and.
again, almost due north, to Tweedsmuir (the
source of the Tweed) in Peeblessshire and to
Peebles itself, and from Peebles eastward by the
Moorfoots and the Jiamraermoors to the German
Ocean at St Abbs."

A writer in an evening paper thus refers to the
subject ;—" Of that country Mr Crockett treats in
a very cQmprehensive and interesting way, grap-

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hically narrating the history of this battle-ground
of racee from the days when the Brigantes check-
ed for a time the northern progress of the Rom-
ans down through the centuries when Scots and
English reived one another's cattle and fought
for the mere love of fechtin'. Under the guid-
ance of one who is so familiar with it all, we
travel pleasantly through the distiicts which he
has classified under the heading :s— * The English
Border : Northumberland, " Merrie Carlisle '* ' ;
* The Tweed and Its Associations.' ' Pleasant Tev-
iotdale/ ' In the Ballad Country,* * The I^eader
Valley,' and * Liddesdale.' Knowing most of the
county, we can vouch for Mr Crockett's accuracy,
and we are sure that others will read his pages
with equal delight to our own. One slip may be
noted, the reference to ' Cadzow, in Renfrew-
shire;' it should, of course, be Lanarkshire. A
specially attractive feature of this handsome vol-
ume, with its clear type, good paper, and broad
margins, is furnished by 25 charming water-col-
our sketches by Mr Or rock, artistically repro-
duced in colour and mounted on brown paper.
These are a pleasing change from the photo-
graphic views with which we are so familiar."

The artist has looked at the scenery through
English eyes, and hence ih each picture we have
th« softness of the Borderland emphasised and
made the outstanding feature. The very novelty
of this treatment of Border scenery will make the
volume, which is published at 7/6, a welcome
addition to the homes of all true Borderers.

'' Social Life in Scotland in tlie
Eighteentli Century."

rTITDENTS of history who love to study
the social habits of the people rather
than the great national events, arp
aware that the eighteenth century in
Scotland is one of the most interesting
epochs in our country's story. Probably the most
important work dealing with this subject is the
volume bearing the above title. It is from the
able pen of Mr Henry Grey Qraham, and is pub-
lished by Messrs A. &, C. Black, London, at the
remarkably low price of 5/. The book is a perfect
mine of information, which is so presented to the
reader that there is not a dull page among the
,•550 which form the volume. The men and wo-
men of those times pass before us with all the
life and vigour of the characters in a novel, and
the student, or even the ordinary reader, rises
from a perusal of Mr Graham's attractive pages
with a feeling that he has been conversing vith
people with ^hom he^is intimately acquainted.
A new edition has recently been issued, and ve
cull a few opinion from the leading papers

" Here is a book we believe to be without a rival
in the same field— a work in which the author
takes us into the inner life of a community —
recalling to us, as from the time of oblivion, the
homes and habits and labours of the Scottish
peasantry; the modes and manners and thou,;nts
of society; showing us what the people oelieve.l
and what they practised, how they farmed and
how they tradetl, how their children were tarjiht,
how their bodies were nourished, and npw their

souls were tended. It is indeed a product of im-
mense industry and reading, and presents a c'cmr
and correct view of that considerable portion of
the national history with which it is cont'erQed.
There is not a page in the volume which does i.ot
contribute some details to make up a singularly
vivid and interesting picture of our country's
past. Mr Graham's picture of the domestic life
and industry, the rural economy, the religious
customs and theological opinions, the superstitu-
tions, the laws, and the educational institutions
of the ^e of our great-grandfathers, is as vivid
in colouring and effective in grouping and com-
position as it is authentic and trustworthy as a
piece of history. The volume is the outcome of
wide and wise reading, this is a book to be highly
commended. ... A thoughtful, humorous, and
vivid exposition of Scottish men and manners in
the eighteenth century."

Doolcin' in Tweed.

^WEEl) was — 1 cannot say what law
holdR now — always spoken of as
"Tweeil." It did not need the
definite article. You might occa-
sionally gang doon to the Tweed, but you
fished and dooked and waded in Tweed.

I suppose it means that for Lessudden folks,
and especially for Lessudden laddies, there was
no river worthy of the name of river but
"Tweed."

There was "the Xewtoon burn,"
"the burn," "the pound'- in the
back green, and "the Back Green Burn," over
the last of which we tried our grow-
ing leaping jiowers, often at the expense of wet
feet and trousers, hut for all that there was
only one stream for us, and it was Tweed.

We had heard rumours of the "Yil water,"
the *Teit," and the Gala water. Occasionally we
knew of men and boys who went to fish in those
streams ; but we regarded such wanderers more
with surprise and sorrow than with anger.
Some madness had seized them.

VVlien the nver was in top flood
we told each otlier how big it
was, and we measured its rise by other
floods. The older folks went to the Braeheads
to see for themselves ; the younger male mem-
bers of the commimity went down to the river
itself and tried to catch the logs of wood and
other things that the river brought do\\Ti. The
hoy who could say that he had seen a sheep or
a pig being rolled down by the flood was a hero,
and his company was much sought after, and
his story was repeated a thousand times.

Tweed in its bigness and littleness was the
only river for us. But it is of dookin' in
Tweed that I mean to write to-day.

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For a goodly number of years there was a
set of very keen bathers. They were at it as
early as possible in the season — ^the chances of
Tweed being warm enough were keenly dis-
cussed — and they kept it up till the fateful
ninth of October came round. On October
ninth or thereabouts the school re-opened after
the summer holidays.

When you were newly breeched, or even be-
fore that, you dooked ^t the " Plainstane. "
That was a set of smooth flag-stones in the
river just above the "Burnfit." There was
there a big boulder — perhaps we would not
think it is big now — and from it we could fall
into the water. We did not, you may be sure,
call it falling into the water : we dived in, we
plunged in o£E the stane.

You did not bathe for long at
the "Plainstane," if in you was
the true spirit of the bather. Tra-
ditionally there was a vague theory that
as your legs grew longer you bathed first at
the first, and then at the second and third and
fourth cairn, but, practically, I don't think that
was ever done. From the " Plainstane ' ' you
went direct to the " Boat-hole," or as near it
as you could.

If you were not able to swim you entered
the water a little lower down, and went in as
deep as you could. If you could swim it was
" infra dig " to enter anywhere but at the
" Boat-hole."

How we envied those who could enter there
and swim right across the river. There was
one who swam, lifting half his body out of the
water at every stroke; what a fine swimmer
we thought he was. But the test of being a
swimmer of the first rank was to enter the
water at the " Boat-hole " and sfwim up against
the current to the "Island."

There was one who was so keen to be in that
front rank that he used to go down time and
again by himself and practise.

By the way, many, if not most of us, were
only supposed to dook once a day. Every time
we dooked we were told that we lost an ounce
of blood : but we risked that. We always re-
ligiously let our home folks know of one bathe
a day. On that occasion we openly and osten-
tatiously took a towel, or even asked for one.
Of the other occasions we said nothing, and we
did not take a tofwel. We dried ourselves with
our shirts, and remained out long enough for
our hair to dry. Wet hair was the incriminat-
ing evidence. Sometimes we were accom-
panied on the recognised occasion for " dook-
in' " by a father or an elder brother, but on

the other occasions we did not seek their com-
pany. Instead, we anxiously scanned the
Braeheads to see if they were hanging any-
where about. If the popular notion were true
about the loss of the ounce of blood, some of us
must have lost more than a quarter of a pound
each warm day. It is to be hoped that it was
an ounce troy, and not an ounce avoirdupois.

But to return to our keen swimmer whom we
left going on the quiet to practise. I have
heard him speak enthusiastically of the thrill
that went through him when, for the first time,
he felt the touch of the gravel at the tail of the
Island on his breast.

To awim and look up at the " Hair-Craig "
from the Avater, or to swim across the river,
lie on the sand and birsle in the sun^ to run
races in the Dryburgh park, to play with the
boats that were at that side of the river, to
splash one another with water, to dive to the
bottom and bring up a stone, to plunge off the
yellow stane : ah ! it was all delightful. Hours
could be, and were, spent in that way. It is
good even to recall those hours to memory.

The " Boat-hole " was not the only bathing-
place. In the summer, when the water was
low, you could go by way of the " Sker-fit " to
the " Haugh." The path ran along the top of
the skers — that is the Scaurs — but that, though
not to be despised as a road, was not to be
compared with the precarious and no-road that
could be traversed at the "Sker-fit." Some-
times vou could almost go dry-shod from the
" Burn-fit " to the " Haugh " by this way. At
other times it only meant a little wading.

That way was for most of us a forbidden
road. Stones might come rolling down the
" Skers." People might fling things down, for
then, as now, the Braeheads were a free coup ;
we might get our feet cut by the broken glass
or other rubbish. But parental prohibitions
notwithstanding, we went. We fished there,
we tried to stick eels with forks, we even
dooked there; but that last very seldom.
Once one of an adventurous company of bathers
there had his foot very badly cut. Handker-
chiefs were a scarce commodity, so we bound
his foot up with his shirt, got him home, and
departed ourselves, thanking our stars that our
share in the journey was unknown.

Going by the " Sker-fit " you came out at
" Brockie's hole." Why " Brockie's hole " I
kn^ not for certain. There was a rumour
that a man called " Brockie " had once driven
in there with a cart and been drowned. Be
that as it may, " Brockie's hole " was never a
favourite bathing place. In fact, I only know

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of two or three who swam across Tweed there,
ant that more for the sake of doing a dare than
anything else.

Further down there was the "Gullet . ' ' There,
as the name implies, the river was very narrow,
and to our hoyish ideas the foaming river was
something like the whirlpool at Niagara. Only
a few of the bolder spirits dared to swim here.
There was no chance of swimming against the
current, but you went in above the narrowest
place and flung yourself into the current. You
were carried through the waves, and after
swallowing some water you were cast out a
little further down.

The " Saugh busses " was another bathing
place, a little below the "Gullet:" but the
" Haugh," was not in it with the " Boat -hole,"
or, indeed, with any part of the river by the
"waiter side." There were drawbacks to
dookin' by the "waiter side." The footpath
ran close beside the water, and occasionally
there were passers-by. That mattered little
if you were in the water, but it \v&8 inconven-
ient if you were at certain stages of your un-
dressing or dressing. We thought people very
inconsiderate.

Oiice an exti-emely modest and
shy youth had emerged from the water, and
was running towards the place where he had
imdressed, when, coming full speed round a
corner, he ran right into the arms of a young
woman, who was coming in the opposite direc-
tion. Both turneil and ran, and I am afraid
that those in the water, or at safe stages of
dressing, were not sympathetic.

Once, however, an engaged couple came to
the village for holidays, and to them it seemed
that the bank by the '* Boat hole " was an ideal
place to sit and have communion with each
other, and they were so deaf and blind to all
the many hints they got.

Neither undressing nor dressing took any
great length of time, for the summer wear of
the average Tweedside boy consisted only of
shirt, trousers, jacket, and cap, and these gar-
ments were sometimes stripped off as one ran
to the bathing place, so that one arrived ready
to jump in. But on one occasion even that
scanty number of garments was too many, for
a couple, in their desire for retirement, un-
dressed and laid their clothes down on the top
of a wasp-bike. There were lively times when
dressing came to be done.

What a horror all bathers had of eels 1 How
we feared and hated them ! They were popu-
larly supposed to be able to inflict deep wounds
on our feet with their tails, and there were tra-

ditions of monster eels — congers, we called
them — which pursued and attacked bathers.
Our fear and hatred of them drove us to take
offensive measures. We fished for them, we
attempted to catch tliem with forks, or to stab
them with knives, and every one flung out we
reckoned as an enemy slain. To kill them it
was necessary to cut off their heads, and put a
knife through their tails. Tlie beheading you
might omit, but on no account must you forget
to slit their tails ; otherwise they would crawl
back to the river and be as lively as ever.

The idea of eating eels was utterly repugnant
to us. Once two fishers had caught a fair
number, which were lying squirming on the
bank, each decapitated and tail slitted. It was
the fair time, and a mugger who happened to
pass asked permission to take the catch. He
did so, and one of the fishers made an e3q)edi-
tion up to the tents to see if the eels were
actually eaten. We had heard that people did
eat them, but we had never seen them doing so.
However, *' seeing's believing," and those of
us who had not seen wei'e assured that ever}'
scrap of the eels was devoured.

I have bathed in Tweed when on a visit to
mine ancient haunts, but the holes have appar-
ently got filled up a bit, and the stones are
dreadfully bard on our poor feet.

A. L. A. Sudden.

A Border Literary Chronicle, with
Brief Biographical Notes.

PART VIII.

OuvBB, WiLLUM, of Langraw, on Rule Water, Rox-
burghshire (b. 180i-<l. at Edinburgh. 1878).
wrote several pieces of verse, such as "The
Capon Tree," " The Last Fairy/' " The Tushie-
hiw Thorn." "The Angel Stars," &c. His
mother, Mrs Oliver (Jane Scott), was a cousin
of Sir Walter Scott, being the eldest daughter
of Thomas Scott, uncle of Sir Walter, who died
at Monklaw, near Jedburgh, Jan. 27, 1823, aged
90.

Park, Munqo (b. at Foulshiels, Selkirkshire, Sept.
10, 1771— d. 1806), African traveller and ex-
plorer; studied medicine with Dr Anderson of
Selkirk, whose daughter he afterwards mar-
ried ; first expedition to Africa in 1795 ; returned
home two years afterwards and published his
Travels in 1799; practised as a surgeon for a
short time at Peebles; second expedition (in
which he met his death), 1805, an account of
which appeared in 1815. (B.M. i. 94).

Paterson, Rev. Nathaniel, D.D. (b. July 3. 1787— d.
1871), a grandson of "Old Mortality" (Robert
Paterson, 1716-1801) ; ordained minister of Gala-
shiels in 1821 ; author of " The Manse Garden,"
1838; in 1843 he joined the Free Church and
became minister of Free St Andrew's, Glasgow ;
in 1850 he was chosen Moderator. He was a
friend of Sir Walter Scott. (B.M. ix. 282).

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Paulin, Qsoboi (b. at Horndean, parish of Lady-
kirk, Berwickshire, Aug. 16, 1812— d. Jan. 11,
1898), educated at Selkirk and Edinburgh Uni-
versity; rector of Irvine Academy from 1844-
77; wrote a vol. of verse, "Hallowed Ground
and Other Poems," 1876.

Pbnnbcuik, ,I>b Albxambib, of Newhall and Bomanno,
Peeblesshire (b. 165i^-<i. 1722), son of a surgeon
who had served in the Swedish arn^y; author
of a Historical Description of Tweeddale, with
a Ck)llection of Scottish Poems, 1715. His
"Complete Works" appeared in 1815. He is
said to have suggested to Allan Bamsay the
plot of the "Gentle Shepherd," the scenes of
which lie round Newhall.

Pbnnkuu, Alkxandbb, probably nephew of the pre-
ceding; chief works are Britannia Triumphaus,
1713; Streams from Helicon, 1720; wrote also
Lampoons, Satires, &c. ; gave way to drink,
and died in destitution, 1790.

Plummeb, Db Akdbbw, of Sunderland Hall, Selkirk-
shire; studied medicine at Edinburgh and Ley-
den, where he graduated in 1722; returned to
Edinburgh and practised his profession; in
1726 appointed professor of chemistry, an
office he held till 1755; died 1756.

Pbinolb, Albxandeb, B.D. (b. at Blakelaw, parish
of Linton, near Kelso--d. Aug 12, 1839), minis-
ter of the Secession Church, Perth, for sixty-
one years; wrote a vol. entitled "Scripture
Gleanings," published a few months before his
death; ordained in 1777; D.D. of Aberdeen,
1819.

Pbinolb, John Alexandeb (b. at Yair, April 17,
1792— d. Jan. 3, 1839), second son of Alexander
Pringle of Yair; entered the Bengal Civil Ser-
vice; wrote a vol. of poetry — " Select Eemains "
—published posthumously ih 1841.

Pbinole. Szb John, M.D., F.K.S., Babonet (b. in
Roxburghshire, April 10, 1707— d. Jan. 18, 1782),
physician; fourth son of Sir John Pringle of
Stitchel, by Magdalen, daughter of Sir Gilbert
Elliot of Stobs; educated at St Andrews and
Edinburgh, where he studied medicine; grad-
uated at Leyden ; professor of moral philosophy
at Edinburgh, 173444; published several medi-
cal works, the chief being a " Treatise on the
Diseases of the Army." He afterwards re-
moved to London, received a baronetcy from
George III., and became president of tl^e Royal
Society; has a monument in Westminster
Abbey.

Pbinole, Thomas (b. at Blakelaw, near Kelso, Jan.
5, 1709— d. in London, Dec. 5, 1834), educated
at Kelso Grammar School and Edinburgh Uni-
versity (his companion and life-long friend
being Robert Story, afterwards minister of
Roseneath, and father of Principal Story of
Glasgow); started in 1818 and edited "The
Edinburgh Monthly Magazine," having for
contributors Scott, Hogg, Dr Brewster, Prof
Wilson, and Lockhart. afterwards disposed of
to Messrs Blackwood, becoming their still
popular "Blackwood's Magazine." He after-
wards emigrated to the Cape, having obtained
by Scott's influence a grant of land there in
1820; librarian at Cape Town; returned to
London, where he died and was buried in
Bunhill Fields, near the graves of Bunyan and
Defoe; wrote "Scenes of Teviotdale." 1819;
" Bphemerides," 1828; and "South African
Sketches/' 1834. His poetical works with

sketch of his life by Leith Ritchie appeared
in 1838. His best known piece is " The Scottish
Emigrant's Farewell." (B.M. v. 76, 84).

RiocALTON, Rev. Robbbt (b. 1691— d. 1769), miiiister
of Hobkirk, Roxburghshire from 1725-69; wrote
several works published after hie death— ^ vols,
of Sermons and Essays on Human Nature, &c. ;
also wrote a poem (though never published)
on " Winter," which suggested to Thomson the
idea of the " Seasons." Riccalton lived in the
parish of Southdean (of which Thomson's
I father was minister), l)efore he went to Hob-
kirk in 1725, the year Thomson went to Lon-
don.

RiooELL, Henby ScoTr (b. at Sorbie, near Lang-
holm, Sept. 23, 1798— d. July 30, 1870)» shep-
herd in Ettrick, friend of Hogg and Wm.
Knox, who held the Wrae farm, near Sorbie;
studied at Edinburgh for the Church, and
acted as parish minister of Teviothead for
some years, when hie mind gave way ; recov-
ered, but never resumed ministeried duties;
wrote "Songs of the Ark," 1831; "Poems,
Songs, and Miscellaneous Pieces," 1847; best
known as the author of "Scotland Yet,"
"Scotia's Thistle," "Oor Ain Folk," "The
wild glen sae green," "The Crook and the
Plaid," "The Dowie Dens o' Yarrow," &c.
His Memoirs and Works were edited by his
friend, Dr Brydon, of Hawick, 2 vols., 1871.
(B.M. iu. 85. 212, 233).

RiDPATH, Rev. Gbobge (b. at Ladykirk Manse, Ber-
wickshire, 1717— d. 1772), minister of Stitchell,
1742-72; author of "The Border History of
England and Scotland;" edited and published
in 1776 by his brother, and dedicated to Hugh,
second Duke of Northumberland.

RiDPATR, Rev. Philip (b. 1721— d. 1788), minister of
Hutton, Berwickshire, 1759-88, who, besides
editing his brother's work, published an edi-
tion of Boethius's "Consolations of Philo-
sophy."

RrrcHiE, David Gbobge (b. at Jedburgh, 1853— d. at
St Andrews. Feb. 3. 1903). only son of Dr Geo.
Ritchie, minister of Jedburgh ; educated at the
Nest Academy, Jedburgh, and Edinburgh Uni-
. versity, where he had a distinguished career,
then proceeded to Oxford, where he took a
first class in "Litt. Hum., 1878; Fellow of
Jesus College, 1878, and tutor there, 1881-4. also
tutor of Balliol, 1882-86; left Oxford in 1894 to
become professor of Logic and Metaphysics at
St Andrews ; wrote various philosophical works,
"Darwin and Politics," "Darwin and Hegel,"
"Natural Rights." "Studies in Social and
Political Ethics;" edited "The Early Letters
of Jane Welsh Carlyle ;" translated Bluntschli's
"Theory of the State."

To be Continued.

The Bobbeb Almanac, 1907.— Once more this fami-
liar yearly publication from the old-established
press of J. & J. H. Rutherfurd, Kelso, lies before
us. To the Border farmer, who is invariably an
intelligent man. the Almanac provides a mass of
most useful information condensed in quite a re-
markable way, while the ordinary reader will dis-
cover many interesting and historically valuable
paragraphs. Not the least valuable feature in the
book are the obituary notices of prominent Bor-
derers who have passed away during the year.

Printed and Published by A. Walker & Son, Galashiels.

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SUPPLEMENT to the "BORDER MAGAZINE," Vol. XII., No. 13s

The Late MR ROBERT SANDERSON, STOW.

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'•o*

-v>^ AM IlLUSf RATED nOHTHLY

DEVOTED TO

Border Biography, History, Literature, and
Folklore. ,

Edited by WiiUam Sanderson.

Vol. XIL, No. 135

The Late Mr ROBERT SANDERSON, Stow.

\ ULL of years and service, Mr Robert
Sauderson, Stow, Midlothian, passed
away on November 11th, 1906. A
cliaracteristio Scot, an account of his
career is well worth preserving in the pages of
the Border Magazine.

Mr Sanderson waa boni in Galashiels on
18th September, 1824, and was by parentage
a Gala Water man. He went to day schools in
his native town, taught by Mr Fyshe and Mr
Robert Whitson, but, being of a studious dis-
position, he took every opportunity of further
acquiring knowledge, attending night schools
after he had started to work, aa opportunity
offered, and, being a keen reader, he- was to
no little extent self-taught. He served a full
apprenticeship to the woollen manufacturing
trade, learning all its branches, and worked for
some time as a spinner in Galashiels and In-
nerleithen. In 1850 or 1851 he took charge
of a set of machines in Stow Mill, and there
in the following ye«r he settled. Finding in
the village an opening for the conmioner ar-
ticles of the stationery trade, as well as for
the sale of Bibles, picture books, etc., and the
comparatively few periodicals in existence, he
started business in tliese in a small way, and
afterwards as a merchant on his own account,
addingi on the lines of his original venture, and
local, weakly, and daily newspapers, as the

demand for these aroee after the abolition of
the Stamp Duty in 1855, and the repeal of the
Paper Duty in 1861. He wa« thus the pioneer
in the distribution of the daily and weekly
newspaper, and kindred publications in the
parish. About this time he became con'e»-
pondent to the various local newspapers. In
1871 he built new business premises, and ten
years later he became associated with his
youngest son in tlie printing and stationery
trade. In this branch, however, he never took
a very active interest, and he retii-ed altogether
from the tirm a sliort time before his death.

Mr Sanderson's connection with the public
life of Stow may therefore be roughly set down
as of fifty years' duration. No public move^
ment was complete without his presence, and
his helpful aid was always freely offered when
the welfare of the community was concerned.
Possibly the first body with which he became
associated was the Paiish Church Sunday
School. Tlie' Literary Institute, founded by
the late Mr Mitchell of Stow in 1857, had in
Mr Sanderson a wann. supporter. For many
years ho was secretary. As such, he was large-
ly responsible for the arrangements in con-
nection with the annual course of lectures,
given during the winter months, which then,
as now, was a feature of this institution. On
several occasions he himself lectured on popu-

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lar subject* — the last of which was "A History
of Stow," delivered fully twenty years ago.
Possessing some little gift and aibility as a
speaker, he frequently appeared on the public
platform, locally, in support\ of the cauaes
which he espoused, particularly that of total
abstinence, and such publicity exposed him at
times to not a little hostile criticism ; but lie
was usually able, alike by tongue and. pen, to
give good reason, for the faith that was in
him. He topk much interest in a Young Men's
Mutual Improvement Society which was form-
ed in 1882, and which existed' for. several years,
and was a frequent contributor in essay and
debate. Indeed, in e^verything pertaining to
the welfare of tlie village and community he
took a prominent part, and his full shaire of
the work thereby involved. A life-long a.b-
stainer, he was amongst the first to assist in
the forraationi of a total abstinence society in
the village, and w^hen Good Templary was
introduced into this country he was one of the
founders of the local Lodge, being its first
Chief Templar ; while, for many years, he was
a leading mem.l:>er of District Lodge, holding
all the principal offices therein, with the ex-
ception of that of District Deputy, which de-
mands up(5n his time otherwise made it im-
possible for him to accept. He, however, was
mainly instrumental in founding in the village
a Juvenile Lodge of Good Templars, of which
he continued to be superintendent for a num-
ber of years. In respect to purely village
affaii-8, he had to do with Avater and lighting
practically all the time that these affairs re-
mained under the direct control of the villagers
— that is from their introduction until the for-'
niation of special water and lighting districts
under recent Local Government legislation.
He was a member of the Parochial Board, and
auditor of its accounts for a long period of
years. About 1880, finding it inconvenient
to liontiuue his connection with the Baptist
body at Galashiels, he withdrew therefrom,
and joined the conuminion of the Church of
Scotland. In 1882 he was elected an elder
in Stoiv Parish Clmrch, and five years later he
was appointed session-clerk, which office he
held for the next sixteen years.

His long connection with the National Bible
Society of Scotland stt» Treasurer of the Local
Auxiliary was honoured a few yeans ago by a
letter of recognition of long sei^vice from the
Society, and notice in its proceedings. In pol-
itics, he was a staunch supporter of the Liberal
Party and Mr Gladstone until the Home Rule
split, and was a member of that eminent statesr
man's committee when he was so victoriously

returned for Midlothian in 1880. In later
years he took oompa<ratively little interest in
politics.

No notice of the deceased would be cooi-
plete without reference to his long coonection
with, and la.boura on behalf ol, the Masonio
craft in the Border district, also to the litenuy
work in connectioii with Freemasonry, which'
as a yoauiger man he engaged in, and these
are very concisely and appreciatively summaf-
ised in Vernon's "History of Freemasonry in
the province of Roxburgh, Peebles, and Sd-
kirk shires." "Bro. Sanderson,"^ says the auth-
or, "besides giving to tlie world the history ol
Haughfoot Lodge (which he published in tlie
^Freemasons' Magazine,' 1869-70), has also re-
printed the records of the old Lodge of Peeb-
les, and 18 ever ready to give willingly and
ungrudgingly his assistance or advice in any
matter connected with the welfare or advance-
ment of the craft. Bro. Sanderson first saw
Masonic light in St John's Lodge, Stow, in
1862, and from that time was much enamour-
ed with its principles, and zealously devoted
himself not only to their study, but to th^
active undertaking of themi His influence
upon the Lodge is very apparent^ as step by
step he ascended to the highest honour the
Lodge has in its power to bestow, filling the
chair and discharging the duties of his office
during the years 1882-83-84 with rare ability
and tact. In 1863 he was appointed by the
late Mr Henry Ingles of Torsonce, Provincial
Grand Master of Peebles aaid Selkirk, to the
secretaiyship of the Province. As a token of
the estimation in which he was held, the breth-
ren of the Province of Roxburgh and Selkirk
(the district havhig undergone re-arrangement
a year or two ago) pi^esented him last year
(18^3) with a very handsome gold watch and
illuminated address, along with "their heart-
iest felicitations on the completion of 27 yeojrs
of faithful service in the discharge of his oner-
ous dutie-?."

As in all his other underta^kings, he brt>ught.
a higli degreQ of ability to boir on all his
litertuy work. His aim was ever to promote
the welfare of the people by keeping to the
front their interests, and by giving themi a
straight and disinterested lead where such was
necessary. No matter of any moment escaped
his notice ; he wrote because his heart was in
his work and his interest was the interest of
the men and women aiound him. Staunch in
his principles, he was ever mindful of the feel-
ings of otners ; well read, original in his treat-
ment of all questions of public importance, he
was a correspondent greatly valued by the pro-

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prietorg of the various journals for which he
itcted.

Mr Sanderson's shrewd business capacity,
his good, sound common-sense, his suave and
Itindly bearing with all he came in contact,
his conscientious discharge of duty, his deep
.83rmpathy with all arouiid him in trouble or
want, and his spotless and irreproachable
Christian character, were the traits which
shall keep his name fresh beyond the limited
bounds of Gala Water.

After the Toil of the Day.

' N the quiet hours of evening a very
large number of our resident Bor-
derers find rest and refreshment
fronu the toils of the day by indulg-
ing in gardening. To some this recreation
may appear a toil, but such have to learn

tural Association, 92 Long Acre, London, W.C.
It is interesting to note that this valuable
publication was started at the same time as
the Border Magazine. As an example of the
style of the letterpress we quote a portion of
Ella Oswald's interesting article on *'Tlie Col-
our of Flowers" : —

Brilliant and deligfhtful to the eye as are the
colours of 80 many flowers, for what reason are
they adorned with these varied hues? Nothing is
without its purpose in Nature's economy, but the
subject received little attention till about 100 years
ago, when the celebrated scientist Sprengel first
showed that the colour and scent of flowers were
connected with the visits of insects. The later re-
searches of Darwin, Wallace, Lubbock, and Muller
have proved how great a part these colours play
in the power of the plant to form its seeds and
thus reproduce its species.

In the simplest flower, fertilization of its em-
bryo seeds, or ovules, is effected by a grain, of

AFTER TJHE TOIL OF THE DAY.

that rest is often to be found in a change of
employment. There are a thousand and one
books (Ml the subject of gardening, but few
take a more pleasant and practical form as
"'One & Air Gardening," the annual issue of
which is now before us. The book of 200 pages
is full of most readable and informative ar-
tielee by eminent writers, while the text is
helped by a large number of illustratioois, one
of which we reproduce. The annual can be
had through the booksellers for the small
diarge of 2d, or sent per post for 4W by the
publishers, The Agricultural and Horticul-

the pollen-dust from its own stamens falling on a
sensitized portion of the unripened seed-vessel, or
ovary, round which these stand. The pollen-grain,
through a little tube which reaches the ovule, fer-
tilizes it, causing its later transformation into
the ripe seed.

Many plants produce only insignificant, often
greenish flowers, such as those of grasses, trees, or
so-called weeds. These are mostly fertilized in
this manner, or receive the pollen from other
flowers through the agency of the wind.

The more highly-developed plants are, however,
not self -fertilized, but depend on pollen from other
flowers, brought them on the legs and bodies of
insects, who, in search of honey,' visit flower after
flower and unconsciously effect what is termed

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cross- fertilization. The flowers that most people
are familiar with are these highly-developed forms
which possess large, expanded, coloured surfaces
to attract their insect fertilizers. To allure these
and induce them to visit one flower after another
of the same species, the plants have developed,
near the stamens and the ovary to be fertilized,
small quantities of honey, and, in addition, the
gaily-coloured petals which, so to say, advertise
the presence of the honey.

Why should the colours of flowers vary? This
can be explained on the theory of evolution, so
universally acknowledged now in all branches of
natural science, and so admirably applied to this
particular subject by the late Mr Grant Allen.
Goethe and Wolf held the theory— generally ac-
cepted—that all parts of the flower are modified
leaves, a general transition being traceable from
leaf, through bract, green sepal, coloured petal,
and stamen to ovary. However, in the oldest type
of flower at present surviving, the cycads, geologi-
cally earlier than any other flowering plant, the
flower consists merely of, on Jhe one hand, naked
ovules, and, on the other, clusters of stamens in
a kind of cone-»-the essential organs alon« are -pre-
sent. This proves the coloured petals and green
outer sepals to be later in origin than stamens
and ovary, therefore they can hardly mark a
transitional form from leaves to the latter.
Though, of course, it cannot be denied that the
stamens and ovary are originally modified leaves,
the petals and sepals can, in face of this evidence,
no longer be regarded as the intermediate stages.
It is more than probable that they have been
produced by a flattening of some of the outer
stamens, by a reversion of these stamens to the
original leaf form, to serve a special purpose,
that of attracting insect visitors to aid the plant
in setting the seeds.

In the white water lily this transition is clearly
visible, from the ordinary stamens in the centre,
with rounded stalks of filaments and yellow an-
thers full of pollen, to the flat, full-sized white
petals, the smaller intervening petals often having
abortive anthers on them. Moreover, in double
roses and almost all double flowers, the extra pet-
als are formed, under cultivation, from the num-
erous stamens of the centre of the flower, as every
hoiticulturalist knows.

A Border Town,

"A town of extremes."— LoED Eosebeby.

Old town among the Border hills !

Gray warder of the moors !

What though To-day have clashing mills.

Your old-world Moat endures!

You dream by nights of Flodden yet.

While Teviot seeks the sea,

What though your days in toil are set.

You have your history!

What though, at times, the moorland mist

Creeps up by wynd and street !

Your spires peer out above, sunkist.

To guide the stumbling feet.

Yoiir children praise you. Border town.

O'er leagues of raging sea,

Your image calls them, looking down

Through mists of memory.

R. S. C

Border Notes and Queries.

THE BALLAD OF MOSSFENNAN; OR, THE
LOGAN LEE.

The following account of the above is from Pro-
fessor Veitch's " History and Poetry of the Scot-
tish Border," vol. ii. pp. 236-241, and may perhaps
prove interesting to '* M. J. G.," and other read-
ers of the Boeder Magazine :—

"Certain unconnected stanzas of an old ballad
referring to an heiress of Mossfennan, with which
the estate of Logan, or the Logan Lee, was then a»
now conjoined, have floated for long in the mem-
ory of old people about Broughton and Tweeds-
muir. Some of these were known to Miss Jeanie
M. W^atson, who was born and lived near Brough-
ton, and who was well accomplished in the old
lore and story of the district. She has printed
those stanzas in her interesting book, "Life in
Our Village," but no complete or consistent ver-
sion of the ballad has as yet been given. I have
been able to recover several stanzas from oral
recitation, which, compared and taken along with
Miss Watson's verses, seem to make up the bal-
lad. The stanzas now printed for the first time
were obtained from William Welsh, the Peebles-
shire cottar and poet, to whom I am also indebted
for the new version of " The Dowie Dens." His
statement was that he had heard it recited by an
old woman named Jenny Moffat, who died at
Romanno Bridge in 1874, in her ninety-ninth year.
Certain stanzas of it, including the last, were
also sung"* by his mother.

Stanzas 1, 2, 3, 10, or stanzas corresponding to
them, were known to Miss Watson; the others,
seven in all, are due to W. Welsh. The arrange*
ment of them is chiefly mine.

The Ballad of Mossfennan ; oa, The Logan Lbe.

There cam three wooers out o* the west.
Booted and spurred as ye weel micht see,

And they lichted a' at Mossfennan Y^ett,
A little below the Logan Lee.

Three cam east, and three cam west.
And three cam frae the north countrie;

The rest cam a^ frae Moffat side.
And lichted at the Logan Lee.

" Is the mistress o' this house within,
The bonnie lass we've come to see?"

"Fm th« leddy o' this place,
And ' madam ' when ye speak to me."

" If ye be the leddy o* this house.

That we hae come sae far to see.
There's many a servant lass in our country side^

That far excels the Leddy o' the Logan Lee."

" Then ifs no to be my weel-faured face

That ye hae come sae far to see,
But it's a' for the bonny bob-tailed yowes.

That trinle alang the Logan Lee.

But be I black, or be I fair.

Be I comely for to see;
It mak's nae matter what I be.

While I have mony a bonny yowe on the Logan
Lee.

I have seven yowe-milkers a* in a bught,
Wi* their coaties kilted abune their knee.

And ye may seek a wife among them.
But ye'll ne'er get the TpHd\ o' the Logan Lee.""

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" Be she black, or be she fair,
I carena a boddle what she may be;

I wad rather hae ane without a plack,
Than wed the Leddy o' the Logan Lee.'*

"Some say I lo'e young Powmood,

Other some says he lo'es na' me;
But I weel may compare wi' his bastard blood.

Though I hadna a yowe on the Logan Lee.

Graham o* Slipperfield and his gray mere.
Young Powmood wi' his greyhounds three,

Charlie and his pistols clear —
Ye'll ne'er hae a yowe on the Logan Lee.

But young John Graham is a weel-faured man.
And a cunning man he seem^ to be;

But a better lad, wi' less parade.

And he'll be the Laird o' the I^gan Lee.

We can form some opinion of the approximate
date of the incident of this ballad. The estate of
Mossfennan, after being in early times the pro-
perty of the family of Purveys (Purves), passed
into the hands of the Flemings of Biggar. One of
them, Malcolm, third Lord Fleming, son of the
Lord John murdered by the Tweedies on the
heights of Kingledoors, got the lands erected into
a free barony in 1538. After the Flemings, the
barony passed to a family of the name of Scott,
who held it until about the middle of last cen-
tury, when it was acquired by the Welshes (1759).
The reference to Powmood or Polmood as being
of "bustard blood," fixes the date as after the
year 1689; for in that year died Robert Hunter of
Polmood, the last of the legitimate line of the
Hunters of Polmood. Through some arrangement
on the part, of this Robert Hunter, the estate of
Polmood passed to descendants of George Hunter,
his illegitimate son. Thomas Hunter, the last de-
scendant of this George Hunter, died a young
man, and unmarried, in 1765. This sickly youth
on his death-bed made a will assigning the estate
to a person of the name of Alexander Hunter, with
whom he had resided in England, but who was no
relation whatever to the family of Polmood. A
daughter of this Alexander Hunter became Bar-
oness Forbes, and carried the estate into that
family. The incident of the ballad is thus re-
stricted to the period between 1689 and '1765; and
we may take it as having occurred about the first
Quarter of last century [18th]. We find, indeed,
from the book of '* Retours," under January 9,
1685, two ladies, Janneta and Grizalda Scott, re-
turned as heirs-portioners of their brother-ger-
man, William Scott of Mossfennan, in this estate,
and also in half of the quarter of Logan, called
also the quarter of Mossfennan. The heiress was
thus in all probability either Janet or Grisell
Scott. According to the statement made to me by
William Welsh, the date would quite tally with
that I have inferred. He said that Jenny Moffat
got the ballad from a neighbour— that is, a fel-
low-servant — who as a young woman was in the
house of Mossfennan when the incident occurred—
was, in fact, serving with the heiress. The lady
of the house, she said, composed it herself, and
used to repeat the stanzas to this confidential
waiting-woman, whose memory fully retained
them. This is quite compatible with the dates.
Jenny Moffat died in 1874, at the age of ninety-
nine. This takes her birth back to 1775. She
might quite well have known a fellow-servant who
was in Mossfennan in the first quarter or half of

the eighteenth century, and who knew the story
and the ballad itself.".

The Logan Lee recalls Burns' " Willie Wastle,"
the face of whose wife the poet declared " wad
fyle the Logan water." Linkumdoddie, where
Willie " dwalt on Tweed," is now an extinct weav-
ing hamlet. A solitary ash-tree marks the spot,
and close by is a commemorative tablet with the
inscription, '* The spot 'they ca'ed it Linkumdod-
die."

A. G., S.
* * *

A BORDER DANCER OF THE OLDEN TIME.

" Nancy Dawson, the famous hornpipe dancer,
died this year. May 27th [1767], at Hampstead:
she was buried behind the Foundling Hospital, in
the ground belonging to St George the Martyr,
where there is a tombstone to her memory, simply
stating * Here lies Nancy Dawson.' Every verse
of a song in praise of her declares the poet to be
dying for Nancy Dawson; and its tune, which
many of my readers must recollect, is. in my
opinion, as lively as that of * Sir Roger de Cover-
ly.' I have been informed that Nancy, when a
girl, set up the skittles at a tavern in High Street,
Marylel)one. Sir William Musgrove in his 'Ad-
versaria ' (No. 6719), in the British Museum, sa^s
that ' Nancy Dawson was the wife of a publican
near Kelso, on the borders of Scotland.' " — From
" A Book for a Rainy Day." By John Thomas
Smith. Third ed. revised. London : Richard
Bently. 1861." A new edition of this volume was
published in 1906.

J. C.

The Gift of God.

We would not give this land beyond (Compare,
This winding of clean waterways, this lift

Of purple hills, tHis sweep of valleys fair
For all the world. We hold it as God's gift.

From North Sea to the Solway stand ou^ farms
Fringed with green woodland as the seas with
foam.

The low hills wind about them their strong arms.
The grey smoke climbs above them. It is home.

We need not envy when the South sets forth
Her story, or the East her magic tale !

Not all the wonder-legends of the North
Charm like the legends of our hill and vale !

Our breed is of the marches, in our veins
The blood still quickens to a hoof-stroke heard.

Still stand we ready with our gathered reins
When by the chase our quiet fields are stirred.

No troopers gather on the open moss.
Our farms are held upon no sword-lease now.

And if in rivalry the march we cross
^Tis but with produce of the pen or plough!

Dear land beloved! Here at your side we stand;

No spears to guard you need our hands uplift ;
Our hearts shall guard your honour. Borderland,

Land of our fathers and their fame ; God's gift !

Wnx. H. Ogilvie.

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A Border Musician.

^HERE was produced, with preat suc-
cess, in the VoJuiiteer Hall, Gala-
shiels, on February 15th and 16th.
the kinderspiel entitled "The Gip-
sies," by Mr George Ballaiityne, orpianist, Jed-
burgh Parish Church, the subject of this short
sketch. The piece is very much above the
average of such compositions, and was staged
by Mr Maclaehlan, who has won a name for
such woi^k. Mr Maclachlan considered this to
be his biggest effort in this line, neither eac-
pense nor time being spared to give the play a
creditable rendering. In view of the fact that
the composer is a native of the town^ and a
musician who is fit for even greciter things, it
should interest our readers to learn something
of his career. Mr Ballaiityne is the son of Mr
G. B. Ballantyne, draper, High Street, Gala-

enjoyable and educative series of lectures (witli
musical illustrations) on the **Great Masters,"
and in 1894: he was appointed organist to the
West U.F. Church, Coldstream, where he re-
sided till 1898, when he received his present
appointment to Jedburgh Parish Church. At
both Coldstream, and Jedburgh he has shown
a similar activity in musical matters, and to
demonstrate tliat he has not "rested on his
oai*s" it is only necessary to give a list of the
work that he has published, which includes: —
Historical poems, "1825 in Jedburgh," *'Queen
Mary: An incident of 1 566 ; " anthems, "Come
unto Me," "Sanctus," "Hallelujah," "Shout
aloud for joy," "Gedworth," "Monteviot,"
"Sweet Vale,"" "Ancrum. Toon," "The Sing-
ers," and the operettas, "The Village Queen"
and "The Gipsies." As previously stated, p^*-
haps his latest — "Tlie Gipsies" — is his most
ambitious work. With unbounded zeal and
love of his art, Mr Ballantyne is able to infuse
his own enthusiasm into his pupils and work,
which, in large measure aecooints for his mark-
ed success. By his lectures and recitals Mr
Ballantyne has done a great deal to foster tlie
taste for good music in his various scenes of
laboui:.

MR GEORdK BALLANTYNE.

shiels, and was bom in 1870. He was edu-
cated at the Academy under the late Mr Fair-
ley, and from his early days showed a distinct
passion for music. While serving his appren-
ticeship in his father's place of business he was
busy educating himself musically, to such an
extent that he might justly be termed self-edu-
cated. While yet a lad of only fifteen years
he was apix>inted organist of Ladhope Free
Church, and in the following year he organ-
ised and conducted the Galashiels Select
Clioir, and did some good work during his
three years* connection therewith. In 1888 he
was selected as accompanist to Galasliiels
Choral Union, which at that time was on the
wave of prosperity, and giving performances
of the "Messiah," "Samson,*' "Jephtta,"
"Joshua," and "Creation." Mr Ballantyne
undertook in 1890-1 what proved to be a most

** It's Winter Fairly."

[Horace. Ode i.9. Turned intil ScottU.]

'* When a* the hills are covered wi' snaw,
I'm sure it's winter fairly."

See how the triple Eildon taps

Stand Rlitterin' white wi* snaw.
How wuds are groanin* 'neath their wecht.

And burns are frozen a*.

BiK high the peats upon the hearth,

And melt the oauld a wee.
Syne frae the auld Soots tappit hen

We'll pree the barley-bree.

Leave a' your cares to heaven abune,

Wha stills the winds that blaw,
Then gloomy fir and •roddan-tree

Ne'er wag their taps at a'.

As for the morn ne'er fash your thoora.

But coont as gain ilk day ;
While crabbit age is far off yet,

To love and dance gi'e way.

Now let the park and lovers* loan.

While 'tis within your power.
And whispers in the gloamin' sweet

Be sought at trystiu' hour.

And eke the laugh o' lassie sweet

That i* the corner lingers.
And forfeit whuppit frae her airm.
And her half-willin' fingers.
January 1, 19(17. A. G., S.

* An old Scots name for the more familiar
rowan-tree, or mountain ash.

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On Tramp in the Borderland.

fN these days, when votaries of the
cycle and mot6r abound on every
highway, the old-fashioned pedee-
triau, jogging along with knapsack
on back and dusty boots, is rarely to be met
with. He belongs to an order of things which
have well-nigh passed away. Rapidity of
locomotion is apparently now desired by all
classes, and the comparatively slow% though in
many respects innnensely more pleasurable,
pedestrian tour is seldom und«rtaken. How-
ever great may be the satisfaction of
rushing through the country at an excessive
speed, and of covering hundreds of miles in a
brief period, the fact remains that many of the
most interesting details of the journey are of
necessity unobserved. The attention is dir-
ected to such matters as the condition of the
roads, the passing traffic, and many other
things, which to the free and unrestrained
pedestrian are of little or no account. Among
the readers of the Border Magazine there may
yet be some who prefer the freedom of
" shanks' naig " to the restraint imposed by
the use of any mechanical contrivance, and to
such the following brief sketch of a five days'
tour on foot through a considerable portion
of the Borderland may, we trust, be of inter-
est.

On a Tuesday morning in late September
we left Auld Reekie for the south. Tlie wea-
ther conditions were somewhat dubious, but
until one is well out of the influence of the
city atmosphere it is not alwcrvs safe to specu-
late on what we may expect to find in the
open country. Our destination by rail w^as
the busy junction of Newtown St Boswells,
and on our arrival there we found an uncloud-
ed sky and a soft autimm sunshine, under
which the beautiful valley of Tweed wa« seen
at its bef?t. These exceptionally favourable
conditions continued during the remainder of
our tour. From the station we made our w^ay
through St Boswells Green, by Longnewton
forest and the lovely woods of Ancrum, to the
village of that name, where w^e renewed ac-
quaintance with the Auld Kirkyaird, the Lint
Mill Brig, and the wooded banks of Ale. Leav-
ing Ancrum we proceede<l by Jedfoot and
Crailing down sweet Teviotside to Eckford, up
Kalewater to Morebattle, and on to Yetholm,
where we halted for the night. The shades
of evening were rapidly descending as we en-
tereii the village, and we were glad to seek the
friendly shelter of the "Plough." Aher a

rest and an ample meal we sauntered, in the
faint light of a young moon breaking through
silvery clouds, to the gipsy village of Kirk
Yetholm, overshadowed by the grey bulk of
Stairough and and the adjacent Cheviots. So
long accustomed to the numerous and inces-
sant sounds of the city, the quiet of the little
country village was to us very noticeable.
When we returned to our quarters for the
night silence reigned supreme, but for the
spasmodic efforts of an itinerant musician, who
fearfully mutilated some of our most familiar
Scottish airs on that instrument of torture
known as a tin whistle. Lack of patronage
apparently caused him to give up his efforts
in disgust, and with his retiral all sounds of
life ceased. On the following morning we
were early astir, and before breakfast again
visited Kirk Yetholm, which — like its more
important neighbour and also Morebattle — we
found greatly altered and improved since the
days when, with the light-hearted enthusiasm ^
of youth, we delighted to roam the banks of
Kale and Bowmont. September days are
short, and on an extended tour an early
start is necessary, sb before long we had once
more retraced our steps to Morebattle, admir-
ing, as we walked, the beautiful effect of the
morning light on the shoulders of the green
Cheviots. Our next halting place was Cess-
ford, where we were interested in examining
the ruins of the great Castle of the Kers, sit-
uated, like so many other Border strongholds,
on a conspicuous eminence. By mid-day we
arrived in Jedburgh, in which most interesting
and romantically-situated burgh we spent an
enjoyable hour. Up Castlegate to the Dunion
is a steep climb^ and we expected to be re-
warded by an extensive panorama of the Bor-
derland. We were disappointed. The land-
scape was smothered in a heat haze, and even
the near hills were grey and indistinct. At
Denholm we halted to view^ the monument to
John Leyden, that true-hearted Borderer, for
whose gifts and attainments we have always
had the most profound admiration, and who,
we venture to think, has not even yet received
the appreciation his life and work deserve.
From Denholm to Hornshole is not a far cry,
and at the famous bridge we crossed the Teviot
and proceeded by the footpath on the north
bank of the river to Hawick. The factories
were '* scaling " as we entered the town, and
the crowds of operatives on the streets gave us
some idea of what a hive of industry the
flourishing Border burgh is. On the evenings
of Wednesday and Thursday we made our

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headquarters in the Central Hotel, where we
were much interested and entertained by the
racy remarks and conmients on matters in
general of the genial landlord. Thursday we
devoted to a visit to Mosspaul. Above Haw-
ick Teviot well deserves the* appellation of
"crystal," but in the pools at Hornshole we
noticed on the previous afternoon that the
condition of the river was far from satisfac-
tory. Long may Hawick flourish, but we
trust that her prosperity does not necessar-
ily involve the pollution of the sweet river
whose praises her many poetical sons so love to
sing. In Upper Teviotdale the monument to
Henry Scott Riddell is very conspicuous, but
we should like to know why such a peculiar
structure — it bears a striking resemblance to
a badly-shaped extinguisher — has been erected
to his memory. The motor and the cycle —
we are often tempted to use uncomplimentary
language regarding the former, as with its
weirdly-apparelled occupants it rushes past us
Sn a cloud of dust — have brought new life to
the old highway, and the comfortable hostelry
at the water-shed is a convenitjnt and welcome
halting-place. The day wears on, and as we
leave lonely Mosspaul and start on our return
journey we recollect having heard it said that
it. is a mistake to go and return by the same
route. We venture to differ. Objects missed
in going are seen on returning, and in the
afternoon light the hills wear a different aspect,
giving to some extent the c^ffect of novelty.

On Friday we left Hawick — siomewhat re-
luctantly be it confessed, for we like the old
town — and set out for the solitudes of Ettrick
and Yarrow. We greatly admired the grounds
of Wilton Lodge as we passed through them in
the early morning. In no town or city we
have visited do we remember to have seen such
a beautiful natural park. If forms an asset
of which Hawick may well be proud. Soon
after leaving Wilton Lodge we said good-byo
to Teviot, and for some miles followed the
course of Borthwick Water, passing the lonelv
church of Roberton. Thence to Alemuir and
Clearburn — two inky pools in the hollow of the
moorland — and by Buccleuch and Rankleburn
to Tushielaw. From Tushielaw we crossed to
Yarrow, and, as the sun was sinking low in
the western sky, descended the hill to Tib-
bie's — no fuller description, surely, is neces-
sary to a. Borderer — ^where we spent the last
night of our tour. We knew the world-famous
cottage in the days when only the little
"wren's nest " stood by the side of the Loch.
Now the original building is overshadowed and

eclipsed by the additions recently made, which
no doubt modern requirements necessitated.
That evening at St Mary's we shall number
among the happiest we have ever spent, al-,
though we passed it in solitude. The associa-
tions of the place, combined with the exceediag
beauty of the night — the moon had risen in an
unclouded sky and the twin lochs had scarce a
ripple on their surface — raised a feeling akin
to awe as we thought of the great dead, not
one or two, but many, who loved those silent
hills with a love that only ended with death.
There are many shrinee of genius in Scotland,
but only one " Tibbie's." We visited Hogg s
monument on the hillside overlooking the
lochs. Shame on those who have rendered
necessary the elaborate fencing by which it is
now protected. One cannot imagine a Bor-
derer laying rude hands on the statue of the
Ettrick Shepherd. The seriee of visitors*
books, which we were privileged to examine,
contain much that is interesting, some entries
that are amusing, and many that are merely
silly. In this respect visitors' books do not,
as a rule, vary much. At night there was a
keen frost, and when we came to view the
outer world on Saturday morning we f(»und
everything white as in midwinter. The power-
ful rays of a brilliant sun, however, soon dis-
pelled all traces of the Winter King's handi-
work, and a more beautiful scene than St
Mary's in the morning light cannot well be
imagined. Especially striking was the effect
produced by the sunlit slopes of the hills — In
places brown with withered heather and golden
with dying bracken — contrasted with the deep
blue shadows in the hollows and glens. Good-
bye St Mary's and the Lowes. Once more we
are on the road. Soon we pass Cappercleuch
and Dryhope Tower. The auld kirkyaird of
St Mary's lies up there on the hillside.

St Mary 6 Loch lies shimmering still,
But St Mary's Kirk bell's lang dune ringing!

There's naething now but the graveetane hill
To tell o' a' their loud psalm-singing!

After passing Douglas Burn we lose sight of
the loch, and the vale of Yarrow lies before
us. At the Gordon Arms, that well-known re-
sort of honest anglers, we turn northwards
towards Paddyslacks. Ere long we have left
Yarrow valley bdiind us, and in front rise the
hills of Tweed. The sky is ot an intense blue,
the few fleecy clouds that are scattered here
and there of a silvery whiteness, but far-off on
the northern horizon is an ominous line of
murky hue. Strange as it may seem, we are
already within sight of home. That dark line^

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more than thirty miles away we know, denotes
the whereabouts of the capital and its sur-
roundings. By the bum sides plant life is
fltill in full vigour. In a shady place, among
loose stones, we find luxuriant specimens of the
oak fern. Fain would we take a plant to our
city home. But why remove these delicate
creatures from their moist surroundings to the
polluted atmosphere of the city? For them
we know that in time the change means cer-
tain death, so we leave them alone. "Lone
Glenlude" and Newhall are quickly passed,
and we find ourselves on familiar ground. The
Kirk of Traquair lies there on our left. Beau-
tiful in their autumn colouring are the sur-
rounding woods. The end of our long journey
is now in sight. Before us is St Ronan's, that
little town we " took to " when first we saw it,
more years ago than we care to remember, and
which is still a favourite haunt when we are
free to escape to Tweedside. Quiet and peace-
ful we found the place, as of yore, and alter a
needed, rest we entrained for Edinburgh, where,
after the delays which invariably seem to be
associated with the " N.B.," we eventually ar-
rived. As we emerged from the Waverley
Station we found that a fog overhung the city.
On a Saturday evening Princes Street **hum8,"
and never before did it appear to us so crowded
and so unattractive. Fresh from the solitudes
of the Border hills, we were glad to escape from
its rush and roar. Though we cannot boast of
the speed of our Edinburgh cars we arrived,
without undue delay, at our home in the west-
em suburbs of the city. After all, home is
home, and however well we may have been
searved there is no chair so comfortable as our
own particular axm-chair, nor any glow so
cheerful as the light of our ain fireside.

We have brought to our city home many
impressions of our tramp in the Borderland.
There is neither grandeur nor ruggedness in
the scenery we have witnessed, no huge pre-
cipices like those of " dark Lochtlagar," which
we saw only a few days previously from an
outlying spur of the Grampians, but there is
everjrwhere a sense of infinite peace, peace after
warfare, rest after strife, and in that to a great
extent consists the charm of our Borderland.
Another feature which struck us, accustomed
as we are to the isolation of city life, was that
on every hand were kindly greetings and words
of welcome. The postmen, policemen, road-
men, all others we met on our journey, had
their "Fine day, sir; grand weather for the
harvest," or some similar greeting, in the hon-
est Border tongue, which sent a thrill to our

heart We remembered the days when our
home was in the Borderland, and we shrinked
from the thought of leaving it.

A few practical hints to the intending ped-
estrian may not be out of place. Walking is,
in our view, one of the best of recreations. Out
it is not an exercise to be undertaken by any
one at a moment's notice. At least average
strength and a certain amount of training are
required. There are two golden rules — ^pever
exert yourself to the verge of exhaustion, and
take care of the feet. Strong and well-fitting
boots — nails are not necessary unless hill-
climbing is included in the programme — are
essential. Our remarks have no bearing on
the subject of professional pedestrianism.
Mileage is a matter of no concern with us,
and we know nothing of reoordrmaking or
breaking. All we have endeavoured to show
is that, with the exercise of common -sense, any
one of average vigour may spend on foot, with
comparatively little expenditure of energy, a
delightful holiday among the hills and valleys
of the Borderland.

W. M.

A Borderer's Lament.

(Patriae quia exul se quoque fugit.)
Oh ! were I once more home again, though I should
only see
The oold grey haar from off the sea across the
wide glen drift.
And blot out all the distance; if a blink of sun
should be,
I would welcome it with gladness, for I know
the mist would lift
And show me all the hillside. Yet what care I in
what weather
I see the place where I was born? I know it out
and in :
I see in dreams the grey green and the purple of
the heather,
And am half blind with the glory of the honey-
scented whin.

The wimpling burn goes flowing, with its waters
brown with peat,
I feel my cheek a-tingle with the cold wet north-
ern air:
I weary of this, southern land, its blue skies and
its heat.
And I sigh in vain for Scotland, and yet what
should take me there?
A grave is in a lone kirkyard, where once I laid
you, dearie.
And should I e'er win home again 'twould be
near you to lie;
I want to rest beside you, though the place 19
strange and eerie.
And one hears no sound about it but the whaup's
wild shuddering cry.

Mabu Steuakt.

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50 THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

TO CORRSSPONDBNTS. TO ADVBRTISSRS,

Allcommrmicatumsrelating to Literary matUrs should AU 3unne»$ maUers, Advertising Rates, dte., Oumid

he addressed to the Editor, Mr William Sanderson, he referred to the Publishers, A. Walkke ft Son,

81 Oxford Drive, Glasgow. High Street, Galashiels

THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

MARCH, 1907.
LIST OF CONTENTS. pao.

The Late Mr Robkrt 8andkrson, Stow. Portrait Supplemejit. 41

After thk Toil of the Day. One Illustration. By W.S. - - ^ 43

Poetry : A Border Town. By R. 8. C. 44

Border Notes and Queries. 44

Poetry : The Gift of God. By Wili^. H. Ooilvie. 45^

A Border Musician. One Uliistration. 4ft

Poetry: "It's Winter Fairly." By A. G. S. 4ft

On Tramp in the Borderland. By W. M. 47

A Borderer's Lament. By Maria Steuart. 4^

The BijRDER Keep. By Dominie SAtdPSON. 50

8MAILH0LM AND Sir Walter Scott By D. Brown Anderson. 5tZ

The R0.MAN Military Station at Newstead — Ax Appeal. 53-

The Late Mr Qkorge Lewis. One Illustration. 53

Newcastleton— LiDDESDALE. Bv James F. Whyte. 54

Carlyle's Village. By M. E. Hulse. 57

Maggie Elliot : " A Homance of the Ewes." By 6. M. R. 5ft

Present Day Border Literature. ; 51^

A Border Literary Chr<:»nic?lk. Part IX, 5^

EDITORIAL N0TIC8.

As we stated in a previous issue, we are suffering from an embarraisment of riches, in so far as suitable
articles are concerned, and we have to draw the attention of our contributors to our short article in tliis issue on
** Present Day Border Literature." We have occasionally referred' to the suitableness of our bound volumes aft
presents for Borderers in distant parts, and we have no hesitation in saving the 5/6 so expended will seem sniftll
when the amount of genuine pleasure to lie derived therefrom is t«ken into consideration. We have abundant
proof of this in the letters we occasionally receive from ** far ayont the sea."

The Bopicler Keep,

The wave of patriotism which has passed over who know much about Border subjects, and to give
Scotland during these recent months has been the necessary impetus to those who are but be-
proved to be no mere frothy outburst of senti- ginning the entrancing study. It is pleasant to
ment, but a deep-rooted desire on the part of all read in the letters I receive from old friends in
classes to obtain bare justice for our native land. distant lands how the Border Maoazinb comes to
One healthy sign of the new national movement them as a waft of perfume from the heather hills-
is that it is not confined to any particular poli- of home and wakens a thousand happy memories,
tical party, and that men of all shades of opinion * * ♦
are beginning to see that the encouragement of a Captain Waring, the new member of Parliament
true national feeling is the surest way to streng- fo^ Banflshire, is the proprietor of the historic
then the cords and stakes of our vast Empire. Border estate of Lennel. Though within the con-
Hold fast to everything that is trueet and best in fines of Scotland, this fair domain is in close prox-
Scottish character. Keep well before the eyes of imjtv to Merry England. In the eves of the anti-
the young generation the facts of our stirr^g his- quarv. it claims an interest from the fact that
tory, and impress upon them that it is possible to the Border Marriage House is situated on the
attain to the highest position in Imperial affairs grounds. In the good old davs of run-away mar-
without losing one jot of Scottish nationality. riages this humble dwelling was the obje<'tive of
* * * many a love-stricken couple. Among these votar-

I am indebted for the foregoing paragraph to ies of Hymen were numbered Lord Brougham, and
the '* Glasgow News," and also for those which not a few who afterwards attained eminence in
follow. It is very pleasing to see so many refer- the service of their country. Captain Waring has
ences in the daily and evening newspapers to pure- made the unpretentious cottage the object of his
ly Bonier subjects, and it proves once more that special care, and despite its weather-worn appear-
there is a glamour about the Borderland and its ance, the quaint-tiled roof and the whitewwashed
literature which should be prized by every true \*alls are likely to withstand the storms of many
Borderer. One way of keeping true to our tradi- years. Though an enthusiastic Liberal, the gaU
tions is by supporting the Border Magazine, which lant Captain has established a link with the Con*
endeavours to give pleasant reminders to those servative party in the person of his wife. Lady

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Clementina Waring, who is a daughter of the
Marquis of Tweeddale.

* * «

Recent references to James Grieve, the oldest
living Scotsman, recall a still more remarkable
instance of longevity. In the churchyard of Kirk-
cudbright there is a tombstone erected in memory
of Billy Marshall, a Qallovidian gipsy chief, who
is said to have died at the venerable age of 120.
Born in 1666, Billy fought for King William at
the battle of the Boyne. and continued to guide
the fortunes of the Marshall clan at the time when
the National Bard was struggling against the
caprice© of fortune. This remarkable record can
scarcely be regarded as a reward for a temper-
ate and a' well-regulated life, as- Billy was an
ardent devotee of the flowing bowl, and the deeds
of violence that were popularly laid to his charge
included at least one act of murder. Joseph Train,
the author of an interesting volume entitled, " The
Buchauites from First to Last," supplied Sir Wal-
ter Scott with a narrative of the outstanding in-
cidents in Billyhs career; and the gipsj-'s consort.
Flora Marshall, is generally supposed to have sug-
gested some of the characteristics of Meg Merri-
lees. Pi««vo6t M'Cormick, of Newton-Stewart, who
has left no stone unturned to collect all the stray
anecdotes regarding Billy, has thrown fresh light
on the escapades of the gipsy patriarch in the
recently-published " Tinker Gipsies of Galloway."
* * *

AVith reference to the foregoing paragraph re-
garding Billy Marshall, it may be of interest to
know that a descendant of his is livpg at the
present day. He was born in Girvan about
seventy 3 ears ago, and inherits the name as well
as some ^f the " pe<ruliaritie8 " of his more fam-
ous namesake. He is a well-known figure in Car-
rick, where he pursues his trade of bass-making,
and does it well, too, for, no matter how far
" gone " a mat may be, Billy does not refuse it.
In his day he was one of the finest runners in
Scotland, and won the Powderhall Handicap twice
OP thrice in succession. A great admirer of the
National Bard, it is his proud boast that no one
can ask any question regarding the poems he can-
not aUHwer. The last time I saw him we had a
talk together, and the information above I got
from himself. Billy is proud of his descent, and
of the monument in Kirkcudbright church (where
the first Billy is buried) with the scutcheon de-
corated with two tup's horns and two cutty spoons.
•X- # # #

I am possessed of sufficient 'Confidence in the lit-
erary disoiimination of the readers of 'Xorgnette"
to believe that they are acquainted with the writ-
ings of him who once was styled " The Wizard of
the North," and particularly with " The Heart of
Midlothian," one of his most popular works. Yet
I wonder how many could answer straight away
the question — ** What was the name of Madge
Wildfire's mother?" The question was propound-
ed the other day by one of a company of* three,
who had been discussing the book. All three are
thoroughly familiar with the various scenes and
incidents of the novel, were aware, that Madge's
mother was a scoundrelly old hag, and knew ex-
actly whetk and where she appears, and what she
does and attempts to do. but not one could answer
the question. Hack their memories as they would,
the name would not come, although each had it

"on the tip of his tongue." A tantalising pause
occurred in the conversation, and latterly it was
tacitly agreed to change the subject.- Next day the
three friends again met. '* Oh, I say," said the
first, "I've got that name." *' It's 'Meg Murdotk-
son,' " said the second. *' Of course," remarked
the third. But all three admitted that they had
looked it up the previous evening.
•N- « « «

There is no doubt that we live in a much more
enlightened age than our fathers, but it is some-
what surprising to find that it was only a bun-
dled years ago since gas was first used aS an
illuminant, and Pall Mall, London, was the first
street of any city to be lighted. The iuventor was
a William Murdoch, a native of Ayrshire, engaged
at the Kedneth mines, Cornwall, and made his
first experiments in 1792. The credit of bringing
the light to London belongs to a German, named
^^'inser. It is astonishing to find Sir Walter Scott
writing from London that ^ there was a madman
proposing to light liondon with— what do you
think ?— smoke. It was not until 5th of Septem*
ber, I8I9, that it was introduced into Glasgow. It
was in the window of James Hamilton, grocer,
128 Trongate. that the g:as first " saw the light/'
The event created great consternation among the
old wives of the city, who prophesied that the very
smell would spoil 4:he flavour of the tea and other
household goods. However, he stuck to his experi-
ment " for twa or three nichts to see how the
light -got on. However, his shop instead of being
deserted became highly popular, and a great at-
traction to the young folks.

# * « #

In placing the ancient sand-glass near the pul-
pit of the parish church, the kirk-session of llothe-
say have made a departure, that might well b©
widely copied. In the good old days of long ser-
mons, a sand-glass kept the congregation in touch
with the progress of the sermon, and was conse*
quently an object of interest to many eager eyes*
Bound the time recorder of Sanquhar Church an
interesting story centres. In the days of perse-
cution, the curate of this parish was a genial
divine named Kirkwood. One Saturday afternoon
this reverend gentleman was summoned to Sanqu-
har Castle, where the Marquis of Queensberry
was entertaining Lord Airly. The curate's jokes
and stories provided no little merriment for the
company, and every time he attempted to leave
the room. Lord Airly arrested his progress with
the words, " One glass more, and then." At the
service of the following day, the curate preached
from the text. " The Lord will destroy the wicked,
and that early." And his audience were not slow
to recojzfiise that the word early was always pro-
nounced^with an added emphasis, and a knowing
glance at the gallery, where the boon companions
of the previous evening were seated. At the close
of a sermon of unusual length, the preacher shout-
ed to his precentor. ** Jasper, turn the sand-glass,
for I mean to have another glass, and then." A
second time the sand ran its course, and again
the same command was issued. Not until an
ample revenge had been exacted was the congre-
gation dismissed; and it is unnecessary to add
that, long before the moment of release, the coun-
tenances of the unfortunate noblemen indicated
that they had paid a heavy penalty for their re-
cent conviviality. Dominie Sampson.

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Smailholm and Sir Walter Scott.

THOUGH Abbotsford, Meb-ose, and
Dryburgh will always be the
sbrines to which pilgrims will
flock to do homage to the memory
of Sir Walter Scott, it is most fitting that
any place connected with him from infancy to
age should be regaitied with interest, and
have that interest stamped with the sign of a
memorial ; therefore it is with great satisfac-
tion we have to record the recent gathering
at the Parish Church of Smailholm, where a
dedication service was held on the occasion of
there being unveiled a memorial window to
Scott's memory, the unveiling being done by
Lord Binning, who afterwards gave to the
audience an appreciation of Scott in words 90
eloquent as to manifest that his lordship is
a man of considerable gifts. Previous to this
"appreciation,** a sermxwi was preached by the
Rev. William L. Sime, M.A., minister of the
parish, and the audience viewed the window
on which there is inscribed "1907. To the giory
of God and in memory of Sir Walter Scott,
Bart., whose home wa* in this parish, 1773-
1778." It will be in the kno^vledge of many
readers that for five years the infapt Scott,
of delicate frame and feeble health, was care-
fully tended by his grandpa-rents at the farm
of Sandyknowe, near Smailholm, and that,
having been nurtured here with the greatest
kindness, the young mind drank in such in-
spiration as he was capable of, while through
after life he cherished in fondest memory
Smailholm Tower, the Crags, the farm-liouse
and fields, all so vividly imprinted on his in-
fant memory.

So great has be6«i the enthusiasm raised by
Scott's influence and popularity that it is a
great wonder why no memorial had hitherto
been placed at Smailholm to record his youth-
ful days spent here. ' Of course, a good deal
has been said regarding these five years in
"The Life" and in Scott's own Journal, but
this tangible commemoration was wanting to
complete his identification with Smailholm.
The Earl of Haddington is the chiej local
proprietor, and Lord Binning, his son and
heir, was the chief speaker at the inauguration
of the window, which represents in one light
a figure of St Giles for Edinburgh, in the
other of St Outhbert for Smailholm^ the
saint's home in youth. St Giles is represent-
ed as preaching and pointing to his pilgrim
BtaS, which forms a cross. St Outhbert
stands on the green surf-beaten rodk at Lin-
disfame, clasping the Holy Book, emblematic
of his devotion to sacred learning, while be-

hind in the distance is a church, significant
of his fame as a founder of churches. Lord
Binning, a gallant soldier, is also a true
Borderer, with the well-known family ability,
and in our opinion no better speech could
have been delivered than that which came
from his lordship's lips. "It was hard by
there," said Lord Binning, "that a little lam©
boy first looked out over the country famous
in Border history, and with his earliest imr
pressions eagerly drank in the legends of
doughty deeds and the echoes of minstrelsy."
The view from/ his child's seat on the rocks
imder the tower was described, and the silver
Tweed he loved ; by Tweed he built his
stately mansion, and when the last moments
came its gentle ripple lulled him to sleep.
Scott's genius invested Scotland with a new.
lustre, a source of endless delight and study
for generatioi^s to come ; his lilting stanzas
ring on the ear like the jingling of bridle and .
stirrup, the clash of steei, or the measured
beat of a good horse's stride. Wliile dis-
claiming the r61e of preacher, Lord Binning
gave a deeply impressive lay sermon on the
Job-like spirit and philosophy with which our
hero, ruined by financial entanglement at the
age of 55, ^set himself to the taik from which .
men twenty years younger might have
shnink in sheer dismay — ^the herculean task of
paying off a gigantic debt. Did they say the
author's reputation suffered by the feverish
liaste of writing with the sands of life running
out? then what of his reputation as a man?
Broken in health, broken in spirit, to the last
bravely striving, he gave gold for silver, the
gold of his genius and human kindliness. To
quote a favourite author: "If to such a one
there remains barely enough silver to moke a
plate for his coffin, surely the srold he' gave is
still in his possession, and has beeiii beaten
out into an imperishable crown for him in
heaven." Concluding his remarks on this,
the saddest and most tragic phase of Scott's
life, struck from the height of his prosi>erity
and the summit of his ambition, and denied
his well-earned repose in the house he had
built for his declining years, Loixl Binning
said : "This, then, I think, is the most im-
pressive lesson of a noble life, fortitude,
single-heartedness, and the undaunted cour-
age of the Scottish Borderer, which is our
birtliright ; and when I think of the brave old
man battling to the last with the storm of
cares and troubles whicli was overwhelming
him, I am irresistibly reminded of a fine
stanza in 'The Lay of the Last Minstrel,'
when the hardy mosstrooper, William of

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Deloraine, swims the river on his journey to
Mehx)8e:

Never heavier man and horse
Stemm'd a midnight torrent's force,
Yet through good heart and our Ladye's

grace
At length he gained the landing place.

Yesl through good heart! and when the
old hero passed the river we may be sure
that, as for Christian in "Pilgrim's Progrefis,"
the trumpet sounded for him on the other
side, and even as the cliisel of "Old
Mortality" kept green the memory of more
ignoble clay, so may this beautiful window for
years to oome (keep ever green with us the
memory of' one of Scotland's greatest sons."
Those readers who may not know Smail-
holm will find a succinct account of the place
in the "Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland," in
which Scott's connection with the place is
beautifully told.

D. Brown Andebson.

The Roman Military Station at
Newstead.

(AN APPEAL).

fEVERAL articles on the wonderful
discoveries of Roman remains at
Newstead, near Melrose, have ap-
peared in the pagee of the Border
Magazine, 'and therefore we have no hesita-
tion in giving publicity to the appeal for funds
which has recently been issued by the Society
of Antiquaries of Scotland, which bears the
entire expense of the excavations — a burden
which shoidd really be borne by the nation.
The appeal is signed by the president, Sir Her-
bert Maxwell, Bart., and runs thus - —

The results of the exploration of the Roman
station at Newstead, so far as it has been accom-
plished, are described in the report herewith. It
will bd seen that the number and quality of the
objects recovered, and the light thrown upon the
structure and arrangements of this great station,
are of the highest importance to archaeology. But
much remains to be done, and it would be disap-
I>ointing to have to discontinue work which has
been so fruitful until the whole site has been ex-
amined. The funds already subscribed have been
applied most carefully under the personal super-
vision of Mr James Curie, who, fortunately for
the interests of archaeology, resides close to the
spot.

But these funds are well-nigh exhausted, and
part of the camp itself has not been opened; the
northern and western defences are untouched; the
eastern annex has not been fully excavated; and
the western annex contains buildings which it is

very desirable to examine, as being likely to yield
indications of dates of occupation. The cemetery
has not yet been discovered, nor has the founda-
tion of the bridge across the Tweed. r*
In these circumstances, 1 venture ^o make a
strong appeal to Fellows of the Society and others
interested in the early history of our country to
contribute ^o the completion of the work so well
begun and carried on. Subscriptions of any
amount, however small, may be sent either to
Joseph Anderson, Esq., LL.D., National Museuii
of Antiquities, Queen Street, Edinburgh; or te
James Curie, Esq., Priorwood, Melrose.

The Late Mr George Lewis.

N the issue of the Border Magazine
for 1901 (No. 69, Vol. VI.) will be-
found an account of the interesting
and strenuous life-history of
Mr George Lewis, Selkirk, who died on
January 14, 1907, aged eighty-two years. Mr
Lewis' character wa« many-sided, and his later
years were characteristic of his whole career.

THE LATE MR (JEURGE LEWIS.

With unwearied purpose and firm faith in God
he sought to bring into public life that spirit
of righteousness which alone can make a peo-
ple both great and happy. Whatever militat-
ed against that spirit seemed to him- a thing
to be utterly abhorred, and to be trodden
under foot by every earnest-minded man.
Hence the strong position which he took up
towards such questions as social reform, tem-
perance, politics, and religion.

Honour is a homicide and a bloodspiller, that
gangs about making frays in the street ; but
Credit is a decent honest man, that sits at harae
and makes the pat play. — "Rob Roy."

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Newcastleton— Llddesdale.

jIDDESDALE before the Union of uie
Crowns was the scene of many a
Border raid, and viewing the pea£e-
ful village of Newcastleton from the
Holm Hill, the thought come« into
one's mind that Sir Walter had the hangh or
i^eadow ujx>n which it stands befoi'e his eyes,
as the place where the English crossed the
river, when he wrote the Ihies in the "Lay of
the Last Minstrel," in which Watt Tinl inn from
the Liddellgide describes the approach of the
Englisii foe : —

Belted Will Howard is marching here,
And hot Lord Dacre with many a spear.
And all the German hack-but men
Who have long lain at Askerten ;
They croesed the Liddell at curfew hour.
And burned my little, lonely tower.

The village is pleasantly situated on the
liorth-west bank of the Liddell Water, about
three miles from the bordei-s of Cumberland.
It is of comparatively modem construction,
having been built little over A, hundred years
ago. The earliest housefB bear the date 1793,
the year in whicli building was commenced.
To a stranger entering the village for the first
time tJie most striking feature* are the width
and regularity of the streets and squares, the
marvellous air of cleanliness and tidiness which
prevails everywhere, and the fact that eveiy-
body 'keeps a collie dog. The main street is
on the line of the road from Canonbie to Jed-
burgh, and from this street several cross streets
run at rijrht angles. In the centre tliere is a
large square, and near the south and north ends
there are smaller squares. The large centre
square, where the houses ai-e all two stories
in heiglit, was used as a market place before
the ef?tajl>lishment of an auction mart in the
village. There are also a immber of houses
facing Liddell Water. In many cases the older
houses liave been replaced by houses of modern
build and more substantial size. Tlie Duke
of Buccleuch is superior of the village, and is
the only landed proprietoi" in the immediate
neigh]x)ur]io()d, except the proprietor of the
estate of Whithaugh, on the eastern side of
the Liddell. The house**, with one-eighth of
an acre of o^arden ground to each, were origin-
ally held of the Duke on long leases of ninety-
nine years' duration. On« the expiry of these
len^ies al>0'Ut ten years ago, the householders
wore given the option, of having their holdings
converted into feus on fair terms as to pur-
chase price and feu-duty, and this the majority
of them agreed to. Each householder has right

to a cow's grass on the common grazing oi»
Holm Hill, for which he pays an annual sum^
This common grazing was formerly managed by
a committee of three* "bailies," as they >^ere
called, elected by the householders, but the
management is now in the hands of the .Duke.
During the months when the oows are grazed
on the Common it is^an interesting sight to
see the large herd coming home in the even-
ing, and to watch the sagacious creatures mak-
ing for their respective byres. Besides the
right to a cow's grass, each householder ha^
about two acres of Holm land. Stretching out
southwards on both sides of Liddell Water for
nearly a nule, and extending up the faces of
the hills to the dykes separating them from the
lough hill pasture, are to be observed small
areas of ground enclosed by beautiful hedges.
These are the acres of holm land. They are
all laid down in grass, with here and there a
small patch of potatoes. They look exactly
like crofts, but they are never ploughed — ^the
tenants preferring to cut the natural grass in
early autumn and make hay of it to serve for
fodder for their cows in winter. After the hay
is gathered in, they put on their oows and
calves, or a few sheep, to eat off the after-
math.

When tlie village was built hopes were enter-,
tained that it would develop into a large in-
dustrial centre like Galasiiiels or Hawick. The
situatic^i was good : there was the close
proximity to an unlimited supply of water,
which could be used for all purposes where
power waa necessary ; peats were to be had on
all sides ; and it lay in the centre of a pastoral
district affording wool in abundance. With
such advantages eveiything pointed to New-
castleton becoming a centre of the woollen in-
dustry. However, even* with the advent of the
railway, nothing was ever done in this direction,
whether it wais, as is most probable, from the
lack of some man of enterprise to make a be-
ginning, or from some other cause. With the
exception! of the shopkeepers and a few artizans,
such as masons, joiners, shoemakers, and
^'doggers," the inliabitants are all engaged i»
pastoiul pursuits. Indeed, the village owes its
size and importance to the fact that instead of
being spread over the country — a house on each
croft, as one sees in the Highlands—the houses
where the crofters live have been built in
streets. Many of the inhabitants are retired
shepherds, and during the ha}^ hai'vest one may
see these men and their wive* and unmarried
daughters busily engaged on the small fields.
The climate is very healthy, a» is testified by

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the number of old people wHomi one meets
-walking on, the roads to and from their hay-
making, and by the sturdy, fair-haired children
(who nearly all wear dogs) playing in the
fitreeta.

Although little frequented by tourists and
Bumoner visitors, those in search of a quiet,
restful holiday could discover no more attrac- '
tive haven. Tliere are many delightful walks
in the neighbourhood, and good fishing in the
streams. To mention the name of Liddesdale
is to conjure up wealth Of historical recollec-
tions. The road from Canonbie to Jedburgh
passes through the village. Leaving the vil-
lage from the northern end, the road runs
within sight of Liddell Water and the beauti-
ful woods on Whithaugh estate for about a
mile and a-haJf, when we come to Hermitage
AVater at its junction with Liddell. Here the
Hermitage is spanned by a substantial stone
bridge, erected in 1792. At the junction of
the waters on the further side of the bridge
stands Castleton Parish Kirk, and further up
the river Liddell on the opposite bank stood
the Liddell Tower or Castle which gave name
to the parish (Castletown), with the old village
of Castleton adjoining. Few traces of these
ancient buildings remain. Soon after passing
the church, we have the manse on our left,
standing within a fine garden. The road now
rises high, and from the cemetery a splendid
view of the hills on both sides of the dale,
and of the more distant mountains to thd west
of the Cheviot range, presents itself.

Retracing our steps to the bridge over the
Hermitage, we find the road to Hawick on our
right hand. This road lies along the left bank
of the gently-flowing Hermitage Water, and
for a mile or two the banks of that stream
are well wooded. Further on the wood dis-
appears, and the country assumes more of a
moorland character. Four and a-half miles
from ihe bridge, we reach the famous Hermitage
Castle. It is said to be the best preserved
of the border castles, and has been in the hands
of many noble families. Here lived the wizard
Lord Soulis, and close at haind are the Druid
remflins known as the Nine Stane Rig, upon
which was set the cauldron in which the wizard
was boiled. Here gallant Sir Alexander de
Ramsay was foully stan^ed fo death by the
Flower of Chivalry, Sir W^illiam de Douglas,
whom Sir Walter Scott styles "Dark Knight of
Liddesdale." The Reverend Jajnes Arkle,
lAinister of the parish, who wrote the Old
Statistical Account in 1793, mentions that some
years, previous to that date a mason who was

building a dyke in the neighbourhood had the
curiosity to penetrate into a vault at the east
end of the castle. In this vault he found
several human bones, a sword, a saddle, and
a bridle. Hie bit was of unconimoci size.
King David II. had appointed Ramsay to be
Sheriff of Teviotdale in room of Douglas. Con-
sumed by jealousy, the Knight of Liddesdale
burst in upon the Shei-iff when he was holding
a Court, carried him off to Hermitage, and
cast him, along with his horse furniture, into a
dungeon. It is highly probable that the
bones were those of Sir Alexander. Tlie niini-
feter states that the curb of t!he bit is in the
possession of "Walter Scott, Esq., Advocate."
Something in Sir Walter's line we shooild sny !
Queen Mary came to Hermitage on one occa*«iion
to visit Bothwell, who was lying there wounded.
She came from Jedburgh and leturned in one
day. Surely an extraordinary feat for a lady
in those days, when we remember tliat the road
was over mountains and through morasses al-
most impassable.

What is now known as the parish of Castle-
t-on (which, by the way, is the largest parish in
the South of Scotland, being eighteen miles in
length by fourteen miles in breadth) was of old
ki.own £S Liddlesdale — the dale watered by the
Liddell. Prior to the War of Independence,
Liddesdale was in the hands of a NonnaJi family
of the name of Wake, and by the Treaty of
Northampton King Robert the Bruce should
have restoi^ these lands to their owners. They
had, however, been given to the Douglases, and
for fear of stirring up discontent nearer home
the Treaty was never carried out As Sir
Herbert Maxwell tells in his interesting "His-
tory of the House of Douglas/" the Flower of
Chivalry coerced or cajoled the lands of Liddes^
dale from Hugh the Dull, brother of the good
Lord James^ and son of Sir William le Hardi,
Hugh was palish priest of Old Roxburgh, with
no taste aiid no training for warfare (hence his
sobriquet "Tlie Dull''), and therefore, in the
opinion of a doughty champion like Sir William,
ill-fitted to hold a frontier estate. After this
tramsactioij. Sir William, who was of the family
of Douglas of Lothian, is always known as the
"Knight of Liddesdale." Somehow it would
seem that this Flower of Chivalry was at times
engaged in deeds which were the reverse of
chivalrous. Liddesdale remained in the
Douglas family until 1441, when it was given
to the Earl of Bothwell, James IV. deeming it
very undesirable that such a doubtful patriot
a.j Archibald "Bell the Cat" should hold lands
on the frontier.

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Varying our walk, tkis time we leave New-
. castletoii from the southern end. Straight
ahead lies the road to Canonbie. The road
runs for about a mile through the meadorw land
on the right bank of the Liddell. In the last
of the small fields on our right hand, at a place
called Milnholm, just at the foot of the road
leading up to the quaintly-situated Ettletawn
churchyard, and looking across the river to
Mangerton, stands a cross of stone eight feet
four inches high, set in a base one foot eight
inches. On the face of the cross is cut a re-
presentation of a sword, and above the sword
are several letters. Tradition hath it that this
cross was set up in memiory of the treacherous
murder of Armstrong of Mangerton (''Kinmont
Willie'") by a governor of Hermitage — either a
Lord 8oulis or a Lord Douglas — who was
secretly jealous of the power and influence of
Armstrong, and that, notwithstanding that
Armstrong had just saved his life in an en-
counter little to the credit of the Governor.
The Governor was in turn killed by "Jook o'
the Side,'* Armstrong's brother.

The road is now beautifully wooded for some
distance, c^ommanding very fine views of the
Liddell and the woods on the opposite share
above where Mangerton Tower stood, and higher
up the conspicuous eminence called Carby Hill.
Emerging from the wood, a wide stretch of open
country lies before our eyes, with green hills
and many fertile farms, recalling memories of
"Dandie Dinmont" and the "Charlieshope."

Close to the southern end of Newcastleton,
the Canonbie roaxi is joined by another road on
the left. On one ai'm of the finger-post we
read, "Brampton, 20 niilesi" Following lh«j
road, we cross the Liddell by a good bridge,
built in 1793, and a little further on we cro^s
the romantic Tweeden Bum (famous for its
petrifying spring) flowing through a beautiful
wood to join the Liddell. Ascending the brae,
we come in sight of Carby Hill, with the re-
nwdns of a Roman Camp on its summit. This
hill is detached from all others, and commands
a wide pixDspect embracing a large part of
Cumberland, and on a clear day the distant
Solway and the blue outline of the Dumfries-
shire hilla About three miles from Newcastle-
ton we reach the Kershope Bum, which is here
the boundary between Engls/jd and Scotland.
This is a wild mountain stream running among
green hills — just an ideal spot for tlie angler
who delights in fishing the hill bums. On the
way back to Newcastleton the view of the hills
ia lovely. The verdant wooded hills on either
side of the dale and the more distant mountain

barrier form a picture which one never tires of
gazing upon.

Many other fine walks are to be had in the
la^nes between the crofts and by the banks of
the Liddell and the Black Bum, with its beau-
tifying cascades and natural bridge, but we
must not forget the Langholm Koad. Cross-
ing the railway, we strike a, steep mountain
road through part of the common grazing on
Holm Hill, and turning to the south-west adong
the back of that hill. This is the road to
Langholm. It is entirely unfenced, and is the
most exclusively highland road in the neigh-
bourhood. A magnificent panorama of the
town and of the whole district is to be had
from it. One catches glimpses of the smoke
from the trains on the railway as they wind
their way among the hills, even as far off as
Riccarton Junction. On either side of this
road are to be seen the mosses from which tlie
villagers cut their supplies of peat.

One remarkable feature of all the roads is
their solitude- A tramp is "rara avis," and
very seldom do we meet with anyone walking,
on the roads after we have got out a short
distance from the village. The day before one
of the large auction sales is, however, an ex-
ception. Then the roads are crowded with,
flocks of sheep, or with cattle coming from all
directions.

Tlie roads are of comparatively modem con-
struction, as may be seen from the following-
extract, taken from a long paragraph, in which
the writer of the old statistical account bewails
the want of roads in his day.

It must appear stranga to any person acquainted
with the improvements which other parts of Scot-
land have received b^ means of roads when it is
mentioned that in this very extensive country not
a yard of road had ever been attempted to be
formed till within thee© few years. For about 16
miles along the Liddell the road lay rather in the-
river than upon it« banks, the only path being in
what is called the Watergate, and the unhappy
traveller must cross it at least twenty-four times
in that extent. The same thing still takes place
ia respect to the Hermitage so far as it runs.
There is much intercourse with both Hawick and"
Langholm by weekly markets, fains, &c., and the
difficulty of travelling to those places is inconceiv-
able. Every article must be carried on horseback,
and through these deep and broken bogs and mosses
we must crawl, to the great fatigue of ourselves, but
to the much greater injury of our horses, without
the hope of a more comfortable mode of travelling.

Truly, we may well say in this twentieth-
century that our lives have fallen in pleasant
places.

The fishing is under the control of the Esk.

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and Liddell Fisheries Association, whose head-
quarters are at Langholm. Tickets, Is 6d per
day and 12s for the season, can be obtained
from the local representative of the County
Police, who is himself a keen angler. Trout
fishing is good in the Liddell and Hermitage
waters, and in the Kershope and Black bums,
all within easy reach. In autumn sea trout
and herling are caught in the Liddell.

The district abounds in game, and even close
to the roads, grouse, black-game, hares, and
rabbits are frequently seen. In one of the
small fields close to the village the writer ob-
served three hares disporting themselves quite
unconcernedly. Weasels often dart across the
road, and sometimes a craigit' heron rises from
the bed of the river, disturbed at its fishing.
The owl and the hawk are also met with occas-
ionally. But enough has been said to prove
the varied interest of Newcastleton.

Jam^s F. Whtte.

Carlyle's Village.

iHREE things help greatly to due
appreciation of Tliomas Carlyle as
a. man, — Whistler's portrait of
him in Glasgow Fine Art Galler-
ies ; Ecclefechan ; and *'Sartor Resartus."

"All is vanity'* might well have been
written under the picture of the world-weary,
introspective old man. He gave great
wealth of thought to mankind, but mingled
with it so much contemptuous straight
speaking that it is scarcely to be wondered at
that recognition of his greatness was slow in
coming.

Impatient of worries, irritable through ill-
health, married to a wife from a diflFerent
station of life, thrown into a society he despis-
ed, it was impossible for him to find happi-
He writes: — *'I sojourned in that
tuberosity of civilised life, the
England, and meditated, and
de«tiny, under that ink sea of
. . and was one lone soul amid
those grinding millions."

He was a true son of the lowland Scottish
village where he was bom on December 4th,
1795. He broke loose from the stern
theology, but never fromi the strict naorality
of the people to whom he belonged, and his
parents represented to him the highest types
of humanity.

So it comes that Ecclefechan has a special

monstrous
capital of
questioned
vapour,

interest to Carlyle's admirers, and the
humble white-washed house in the village
street where he was bom, together with the
plain enclosure in the churchyard where he
was laid to rest in February, 1881, have
many visitors.

An ordinary Border village is this of Eccle-
fechan, principally consisting of one long
street, which widens into a market square in
the centre. But let Carlyle describe it. "The
traveller, when turning some hill range in
his desert road descries, lying far below

. . the fair town ... Its white
steeple is then truly a starward-pointing
figure. . . . What thousand thoughts
unite, if the place has to ourselves been the
arena of joyous or mournful experiences ; if
perhaps the cradle we were rocked in still
stands there, if our loving ones still dwell
there, if our buried ones there slumber."

Entepfuhl does not reproduce Ecclefechan
with photographic exactitude, but the real
and the ideal villages alike stand "in trust-
ful derangement among the woody slopes,"
and "the little Kuhbach gushes kindly by
among beech rows," in both.

The ^ikind beech rows of Entepfuhl,'* an
avenue of great trees leading to the
parish church at Hoddom, about two miles
away, give the place a quite* distinctive char-
acter, especially on a hot August day ; when,
through the trees, are seen "the toil-worn
craftsmen" binding the wheat or barley into
sheaves, toiling "for the altogether indispens-
able, for daily bread."

Alas, for a prophet in his own country I
The birthplace, one of a row of white-
washed cottages, built by Carlyle's father, is
well kept up, and the room devoted to por-
traits and relics is intelligently shown, but
what would Carlyle have said to a "Resartus
Reading Room"? Perhaps the alliteration
appealed to the namers, regardless of sense I

The woman in charge of the churchyard
remembers Carlyle quite well, but "did not
think much of him" I

Another native said that her family for
four generations back lay in Hoddom kirk-
yard, but she had "never troubled to read
any o' Carlyle's books, and lots o' folks in
Ecclefechan 'hadn't."

Perhaps that is scarcely strange ; for,
though the great writer was so decidedly a
man of the people, and' such a thorough-going
champion of work and workers, his style was
somewhat too obscure and pedantic at times
to be easily understood by simple folk.

M. E. HuLSB.

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Magrgie Elliot: A ''Romance of
the Ewes."

^BS!P|[^^B E have yet another book from
^K^np^^ the Border, the home of poets
gp HM Ig and poetry. Tliis time the
^^fc«S> volume hails from the pastoral
valley of the Ewee, whose natural beauties
And stirring associations have frequently in-
spired the divine flow of eloquence aiid song.
Afifain and again the picturesque dale, from
tv'hich poets have sprung, has set in motion

spontaneous, with not a little swing and
buoyance. Whilst many of the pieces show a
marked vein of himiour, others have a deej),
earnest, religious tome. That the writer is a
lover of the true and beautiful in man and in
nature is evident throughout the boo'k.

The "Romance of the Ewes," which
furnishes a name for the volume, takes the
reader back to the timee of the raiders, and
tells a story of the tragic love of a typical
Borderer and a lovely maiden of the Elliot
clan. The interest is well maintained

9?7.au^ l^^-l

the pen« of many in no way connected with
the Borderland.

The author of the volume with the above
attractive title, Mr Matthew Welsh, whose
verses are well known to readers of Border
newspapers, is a native of Eweedale. Here
he has spent his more than three score and
ten years. Writing poetry has been a hobby
with him during the larger part of his life.
The book before us now is part of the fruits
of those years, and a most creditable produc-
tion it is.

The volume runs into 264 pages and
covers a wide range. There are sonnets,
hymns, memoriam, political, and numerous
miscellaneous pieces, in addition to the prin-
ciple poem. These show a style pleasing and

throughout the poeniL Its vivid and vigoi'ous
pictures recall the towers, keeps, feuds,
forays, and daring Border deeds of those far-
off days. Under the spell of the romance
the poetic mind sees the delightful
dell through which the Ewes flows as it was
when the Elliots and Armstrongs held sway
in the Borderland.

It would ha.ve been a pleasure to give eoc-
tracts from the romance and the other
shoater pieces, as these are full of quotable
material. Space, however, only permits of two
extracts from Mr Welsh's verses. There are
several poems on the ]x»et's native and
''queen of Border glens,'' the Ewes. Hero
js a sample: —

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Sec^uestered vale ! my loved, my native Ewes,

Thy beauty's worthy of a nobler song,

Nor can these broken notes express the strong

Unnttered thoughts that thrill my rustic muse.

Nor can she the congenial task refuse

l^o sing thy limpid streams that wend among

The stately hills, whose outlines sweep along

The azure sky in peaceful lines profuse,

And when the shady eve distils its dews.

The swell and cadence of thy gushing rills

Murmuring soft music to the listening hills,

Can o'er the soul a soothing bliss diffuse ;

Vale of the Kwes no fairer gem I trow

Is in the crown that circles Scotia's brow,"

Among the poems where tlie author is seen at
his be«t "Destitute'* must find u, place. With
tender touch and much patlios the story of
a woman bereft of all is finely told. She
lives her life over again on the night of her
death, and: —

*' Again she entered with womanly pride,
Through the cottage door a happy young bride ;
Acain her heart danced to the music sweet,
. Of her childrens' pattering romping feet.
As they ran out and in with boisterous glee.
And played round the door or rolled on the lea ;
Again she was stroking their golden hair.
As they lisped in her lap their evening prayer."

Rather thaji quote further we urge our
readers to procure a copy for themfielves.
He boo^k is published by Mr R. Scott, Laiig-
hobn, and is well got up. It ought to be a
welcome additiou to Border libraries. TIio
illustrations of local scenery and portrait^5 of
Border men greatly enhance the volume, and
are sure to make it acceptable to Borderers
abroad.

Tlie • Rev. George Orr writes the introduc-
tion with much sympatJiy and skill. The
preliminary sketch by the author is a bit of
delightful reading. Life in the south in the
early part of last century is depicted in a
manner which creates an appetite for moi-e.
Indeed, Mr Welsh would do well to give his
autobiography at greater length. Few could
furnish a bett-er picture of the valley of the
Ewiefl in the old times.

G. M. R.

Present Day Border Literature.

HEN tlie Border Magazine was
first started, twelve years ago,
a friend and contributor ex-
preeaed the fear that we would
not be able to confine the publication to strict-
ly Border matters owing to the lack of mater-
ial, but we felt confident that the supply would
not become exhausted. Since that time the
flood-gateB seem to have been opened, and

Bordei' articles and notes find an honouiuble
place in most of our newspapers and maga-
zines. The Borderland and its wonderful story
of battles and ballads, its songs and folklore,
combine to form a clear-flowing stream which
seems perennial. Tliis is a good sign of the
times, for there is a healthy intellectual tone
in everything relating to Bordei' literature
which is bound to luive a beneficial effect on
the head and heart of the reader. In regard to
our own humble corner of the harvest-field, the
crop is almost too abundant, and we have such
an overflowing supply of articles on hand at
present that we cannot promise to insert any
new contributions sent in for some time to
come. To our large number of valued cobtri-
butora we tender our most hearty thaidcs for
their kind support-, and, though we are com-
j)elled to call a halt for a month or two, we
hope to hiive many articles from themi in the
future. Intending contributotis might please
note that, owing to our limited space, short
articles from 1000 to 1500 words will have the
]) reference. When a subject cannot be pro-
(lerly dealt with in one issue of the magazine
the article should be divided up under separate
headings, so tliat, while the subject may be
continued, each instalment can be read as a
complete article. In mast cases this can eas-
ily be done.

A Border Literary Chronicle, with
Brief Biogrraphical Notes*

PART IX.

I^iDDBLL, William B. C. (b. at Flex, near Hawick,
Dec. 16, 183&— d. July 20, 1856). son of the pre-
ceding ; educated chiefly at John Watson's Hos-
pital and Edinburgh University; a yonth of
great promise, who wrote "The Lament of
Wallace/* which appeared in several collec-
tions of Scottish verse.

KoBBBTsoN, Abbaham (b. at Duns, 1751— d. 1826),
astronomer and mathematician; rose from
pedlar boy to high academical distinction;
M.A. Christ Church. Oxford, 1782; P.R.S.. 1795;
Savilian professor of geometry, 1797-1810, and
of astronomy, 1810-26; chief work, " Sectionum
Conicarum Libri. vii.,'* 1792.

BuiCKBis, Jambs (d. 1829), a native of Inner-
leithen, and a miller to trade; friend of the
Ettrick Shepherd, Prof. W^ilson, Allan Cun-
ningham, H. S. Riddell, Wm. Knox, &c. ; wrote
an "Elegy on the Death of Whisky." 1801;
"The W^ayside Cottager, Pieces in Prose and
Verse/' 1807.

KussBLL, William, LL.D. (b. at Windydoors, Sel-
kirkshire, 1741— d. 1793), historian; educated at
Innerleithen and Edinburgh; served his ap-
prenticeship with a bookseller and printer in
Edinburgh, and afterwards went to London;
author of "History of Modern Europe," in 3
vols., 1779-84; also published a "History of
America," 1779, and other works.

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Rutherford, Elizabeth, Mrs Scott op Wadchopb (b.
1729— d. 1789), daughter of David Rutherford
of Capehope, advocate, and a niece of Mrs
Cockburn ; the poetical- correspondent of Burns,
who visited her in 1787; married to Walter
Scott of Wauchope; wrote "The Lover's Ad-
dress to a Rosebud," and other pieces, chiefly
elegiac; in 1801 a selection of pieces appeared,
entitled ''Alonza and Cora." (B.M. iv. 77).
Rutherford, Dr Daniel (b. 1749— d. 1819), son of
Dr John Rutherford by his second wife and
uncle of Sir Walter Scott; succeeded Dr John
Hope as professor of botany in Edinburgh Uni-
versity, 1786-1820; studied in France and Italy.
Rutherford, Dr John (b. 1695— d. 1765), son of the
Rev. Dr John Rutherford (1641-1710), minister
of Yarrow, maternal grandfather of Sir W.
Scott; one of the founders of the Edinburgh
Medical School; M.D. of Rheims; professor of
the Theory and Practice of Medicine, 1726-65;
was educated at Selkirk, and studied at Edin-
burgh, Leyden, Paris, and Rheims. Anne
Rutherford, his only child by his first mar-
riage was mother of Sir W. Scott, having mar-
ried Walter Scott, W.S., in 1758".
Rutherford, John, a native of Jedbui-gh;- studied
at Bordeaux and Paris ; became principal of St
Salvator's College, St Andrews, and minister
of Cults; a colleague of George Buchanan,
1560; in 1570 he had as his pupil James Crich-
ton, afterwards known as " the admirable
Crichton ;" wrote a " Treatise on the Logic and
Poetics of Aristotle." Died 1577.
Rutherford, Samuel (b. at Nisbet, near Jedburgh,
circa, 1600— d. at St Andrews, March 20,
1661), studied and graduated at Edinburgh;
elected Regent and Professor of Humanity in
that University, 1623-26; became minister of
Anwoth, Kirkcudbright, 1627; professor of div-
inity, St Mary's College, St Andrews, principal
in 1651; wrote in 1644 the well-known treatise
"Lex Rex," but best known as the author of
a vol. of Familiar Letters published after his
death.v (B.M. ii. 181).
Rutherford, William, M.D., F.R.S. (b. at Ancrum
Craig. April 20, 1839-d. Feb. 21, 1899), physio-
logist ; educated at Jedburgh and Edinburgh
University, where he studied medicine, grad-
uating M.D. in 1863; studied also on the Con-
tinent; professor of physiology at King's Col-
lege, London, 1869-74, and at Edinburgh, 1874-
99; published among other works a text
book of physiology, 1880.
ScoTT, Andrew (b. at Bowden, April 19, 1757— d.
May 22, 1839), poet; served as a soldier for five
campaigns in the American War of Independ-
ence; returned home in 1792 and settled at
Bowden, acting as beadle in the Parish Church ;
wrote several vols, of poetry during his life-
time—a small vol. of verse in 1805, "Poems
chiefly in the Scottish Dialect," 1811 ; a vol. in
1821, and another in 1826. His " Symon and
Janet," a tale of the False Alarm, and " The
Guid Farmer " are well-known pieces.
Soott, George (b. at Dingleton, near Melrose, 1777
— d. 1853), educated at Melrose and Galashiels;
schoolmaster of Lilliesleaf, 1805-50; patronised
by Sir John Riddell of Riddell and Sir Walter
Scott; wrote a vol. of poems entitled "Heath
Flowers, or Mountain Vt'lodies." 1820; also

wrote a Statistical Account of Rexburghshire,
but never published. (B.M. iv. 108).
Scott, Lady John, of Spottiswoodb (b. 1810— d.
March 2, 1900), married Lord John Scott, sec-
ond son of Charles, fourth Duke of Buccleuch.
who died in 1860 ; wrote an improved version of
the song "• Annie Laurie,^' originally written by
Mr Douglas of Fingland in honour of Anne,
daughter of Sir Robert Laurie of Maxwelton,
and other pieces. (B.M. v. 101).
Scott, Sir Walter, of Abbotsford (b. at Edinburgh,
Aug. 5, 1771— d. Sept. 21, 1832), poet, historian,
novelist; studied at Edinburgh University,
passed advocate^ 1792, and became Sheriff of
Selkirkshire. 1799; read ballad literature at an
early age, and history and romance; translated
poems of Burger and Goethe; "Minstrelsy of
the Scottish Border" appeared in 1802-3; in
1805 " The Lay of the Last Minstrel ;" in 1808
" Marmion;" in 1810 "Lady of the lake;" fol-
lowed next year by the " Vision of Don Roder-
ick," "Rokeby" in 1813; and "The Lord of
the Isles " in 1815. The appearance of " Wav-
erley" in 1814 marks an epoch in modern lit-
erature; this was followed by "Guy Manner-
ing," "The Antiquary," "Old Mortality,"
"Rob. Roy," "The Heart of Midlothian,"
"Ivanhoe," &c., which formed the Waverley
Novels published anonymously, their author
being the " Great Unknown " till 1827. " His
Life " (one of the best biographies in the lan-
guage) by his son-in-law, John Lockhart, ap-
peared in 1838 in 7 vols.

ScoTT, Captain Walter, op Satchells (b. 1613— d.
1694), genealogist; a great-grandson of the
Laird of Sinton, and son of Robert Scott of
Satchells, in the parish of Lilliesleaf, by a
daughter of Riddell of Riddell; spent his boy-
hood in herding cattle; served in Holland un-
der Walter Scott, first Earl of Buccleuch, 1629;
wrote (or dictated) "A True History of Sev-
eral Honourable Families of the Right Hon-
ourable name of Scott," published in 1688.
New editions have appeared since. (B.M. i.
77; vi. 219).

Scott, William b. at Hawick, 1795— d. at Belfast,
1859), was an intimate friend of Andrew Ley-
den, brother of John Leyden of Penholm ; pub-
lished in 1826 a (foUection of occasional poetry
of considerable merit.

Scott, Sir William, op Thirlestane (b. eirea,
1670— d. 1725), wrote Latin poems, twenty-four
of which appeared in " Selecta Poemata,"
Edin., 1727. In 1699 he married the Mistress
of Napier, heiress of the Napier peerage, and
from this union was descended the late Lord
Napier and Ettrick.

Shields, Alexander (b. at Haughhead, near Earl-
ston, 1661— d. June 14, 1700), Covenanter; grad-
uated M.A. of Edinburgh, 1675; studied theo-
logy of Utrecht ; imprisoned on the Bass ; after
the Revolution, joined the Church of Scotland,
and in 1697 became minister of St Andrews ; in
1699 accompanied the Darien Expedition along
with his brother Michael; died of fever in
Jamaica ; author of " A Hind Let Loose," 1687 ;
"Life and Death of James Ren wick," 1724
(posthumous), and other Covenanting treatises.

To he Continued,

Printed and Published by A. WaVker & Son, ^^^^^^^\g^nzeo oy

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SUPPLEMENT to the "BORDER MAGAZINE," Vol. XII., No. tjfi.

The Rev. HUGH DRENNAN.

VETERAN OF THE INDIAN MUTINY AND CRIMEAN WAR— 1907-

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1 AliilLUSmTEOnoHTHLY

DEVOTED TO

Border Biography, History, Literature, and
Folklore.

Edited by William Sanderson.

Vol. XI I. , No. 136

APRIL, 1907.

REV. HUGH DRENNAN,

VETERAN OF THE CRIMEA AND INDIAN MUTINY.

was Coniniuiiion Sabbath in the
Parish Church of Peebles^ but to
some at least of those present it was
by no means an ordinary sacra-
mental occasion. There was something of the
historic that marked the celebration in an
especial manner, for at the one hand of the
minister there sat the dignifieil and revered
form of a veteran soldier of the Cross, and at
the other a well-known former Moderator of
the Church — tlie Rev. Hugh Drennan, and the
Rev. Dr Charter is.

Mr Drennan has been for some years a fami-
liar figure on the streets and country roads of
Peel;>les, whether passing leisurely along its
sunny High Street accompanied by his wife,
or met by the summer visitor on its rural
highways and byways marching with military
stride and erect figure round by the Swire, or
over the Drove Road, or down by the pleasant
riverside. And yet what a contrast is this
leisured autunm of age to the strenuous heroic
life that lies behind! Tliose. clear blue eyes
have sought out the wounded soldier in the
firing line of many a stricken battlefield ; that
calm, benignant countenance has bent in beni-
8on over many a cliolera-laden cot; those firm

and sinewey hands have conveyed to many a
dying man the consolations of tlie blessed sac-
rament. Jieloved by officer and private alike,
there are alive to-day those who revere the
name and memory of Chaplain Drennan.

He wants now but one year of fourscore.
Born at Tarbelton in 1828 ; educated at Lin-
lithgow Burgh Scliool ; trained at the Univer-
sity of St Andre, vs ; licensed by the Presbvterv
of Linlithgow, Mr Drerman acteil as assistant
in Soutli Leith Parish Church to the Rev. Dr
Stevenson, and finally was ordained by the
Presbytery of Edinburgh.

His true vocation was at hand ; the oppor-
tunity had come, the max was not wanting.
The Moderator of the Church nominated Mr
Drennan Chaplain to the Forces engaged in
the Crimean War, and on 18th October, 1854,
he set sail for the East. At Scutari Chaplain
Drennan was detained on urgent duty by or-
ders of the Commandant Lord W. Paulet, and
he served in the hospitals there until the
month of August, 1855. The awful horrors of
the war were realised to the full by him while
on hospital duty. Dr William Russell and
Miss Nightingale made the British public
acquainteil with the sufferings of the troops,

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with the inadequacy, of their treatment, and
the insuiiiciehcy oJ: stores and medicines. Mr
Diennan experienced them all. He next pro-
ceeded by instructions from headquarters to
the Crimea, where he did duty chiefly with tlie
Highland Division until the end of the war.
when he returned to Britain along with the
staff of the Division, landing at Portsmouth
in July, 1856. While in the Crimea, the regi-
ments with which Mr Drennan worked were
principally the 92nd, the 93rd, and the Scots
Gieys. Sir Colin Campbell commanded the
Division ; he became greatly attached to Mr
Drennan, and ever after manifested the warm-
est regard for him. The Rev. Dr Campbell,
now minister of Balmerino, was the only other
Scottish chaplain in the Crimea, and he and
Mr Drennan have continued fast friends to
this day.

The next chapter of our hero's life opens in
India. On the 20th September, 1857, he was
appointed by the Secretary of State for War
officiating chaplain to the Presbyterian troops
in India, and he proceeded tliither in tlie P. it
0. steamer on October 20. Landing at Cal-
cutta, he went up country with all possible
speed, and reported himself to the Comman-
der-in-Cliief at Cawnpore, who appointed him
to serve with the 93rd Highlanders and such
other Presbyterians as might conje within his
reach. He arrived at Lucknow during the
memorable siege with all its historical in-
stances of individual heroism, and in the end
witnessed its fall. Service at AUaliabad fol-
lowed ; severe engagements at Umbeyla still
further revealed the stuff of whicli the chap-
lain was made, and perhaps most of all, tlie
stealthy death-dealing cholera, which, tries
even the bravest, but emphasised what already
every man knew, that in Mr Drennan they
possessed a chaplain of heroic soul, of never-
flagging courage, and undaunted self-abnega-
tion. Not men alone, but women and child-
ren realised the true friend they possessed in
^his calm and courteous Scot of kindly heart
and resolute manner.

When the fighting was over, Mr Drennan, in
the onlinary course, ought to have been sent
home, but the ofticers having learned this, sent
to the In<lian (iovemment a round-robin signed
by every member of the mess requesting that
as he had made himself so much beloved by
every one, he might be permitted to remain
with the regiment as long as it was in
India. This was at once heartily granted, and
he remained on full pay in India with the
regiment, returning with it in 1871, after

nearly thirteen years' service in India. Dur-
ing those years Mr Drennan marched hundredfi
of miles with the men ; was very often imder
tire ; was present at the capture of many im-
portant towns, such as Futtehgurh, Bareilly,
itc, and during many hot seasons saw the
rank and file fall down from sunstroke in
scores. In the Peshawur Valley in 1862 he
passed through a severe cholera epidemic, dur-
ing which he read the burial service over
ninety-three of all ranks, including men,
women, and children. Here Mr Di^ennan
suffered himself from cholera, and in Central
India from intermittent fever repeatedly,
which clung to him for many months. After
so many years with the 93rd Regiment it is
not to be wondered at that the men of all
ranks Ijecanie devotedly attached to their chap-
lain, who had shared all their dangers, cheered
their sick, marched by their side, won their
confidence, and shown himself a brave man
both under fire and during the cholera scourge.
Those were the men, too, who, recognising
their want of a comiriunion chalice, contributed
each man from his hoard of silver coins, and
caused them to be wrought and hammered
into a beautiful cup for the service of the sac-
rament. Instances such as those greatly
cheered Mr Drennan in his duty, and in India,
as in the Crimea, he was honoured with the
friendship and respect of his old chief, Sir
Colin Campbell. Memories like these carry
the veteran padre in thought far away back
to India and Russia, although it is all but im-
possible to get this most modest of men to
speak of liis own achievements.

Mr Drennan, after an interval, now entered
upon liis last stage of service in the Army.
In the first week of the year 1876 he was ap-
pointed Presl)yterian chaplain to the troops
stationed at Shoeburyness. There he remained
for over twenty-one years, and then feeling the
need for rest, he resigned his appointment.
His period of duty with the soldiers may l>e
thus reckoned: — In the Crimea, one year and "
nine months ; in India, twelve years and six
months ; in Shoeburyness, over twenty-one
years ; total, over thirty-five years' service.

To this period of home service belong two
ceremonies — that of tlie consecration by Mr
Drennan of the new colours for his regiment,
which the DuoheSs of Sutherland presented;
and his marriage to a Yorkshire lady. Miss
Mary W^alker. And now one must relate here
what most people will consider to be alrdost
incredible. Mr Drennan uix>n his retirement
did not receive the pension to which he was

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very naturally entitled, after having spent the
best part of his life at home and abroad in the
service of his Queen and country. Persistent
efforts were made to this end, both by Mr
Drennan personally and by his military
friends, but without avail. The military
authorities fully realised not only his great
services to the troops, but also his outstanding
claims to honourable recognition. But at that
time the Horse Guards was even more than
now swathed in voluminous rolls
of red-tape. The officials there re-

ferred him to the India Office,
and the arm-chair Jack- in -office of that De-
partment sent him back to the War Office!
Mr Drennan had all along hoped that a Com-
mission in the Army might be granted to him,
and so ante-dated that when he came to retire
it would carry a pension with it. But this
brave man, as others have done, realised that
the years had passed. A generation had
gi'own up who did not know him ; the absent
are soon forgotten. Backstair influence was a
method that Mr Drennan disdained to use.
The officials of the War Office had the claims
of their own relatives to keep in mind. Mr
Drennan' 8 self-respect was wounded. He
knew, and his brother officers knew, and the
privates all knew, the kind of man they had
had all those years as their chaplain, and all
united to make representations to the authori-
ties. Then Mr Drennan fell ill. After many
months he recovered, but the spirit was weak-
ened by disappointment, worry, and the ef-
fects of the malady. He was of too sensitive
a nature to persist in the pushing of his
claims, as was es.sential at the time. So the
matter died down. A great wrong was per-
petrated.

But this brief account of a worthy man must
not close on the minor key. Those things had
to be chronicled, but they do not rankle ; the
subject of this article is too large-hearted for
that. He lives in the knowledge of the one
supreme fact that matters — ^hb did his duty.
Por this he is the proud wearer of four medals,
the British Crimean, the Turkish Crimean,
the Indian Mutiny with clasp for Lucknow,
and the Frontier medal with clasp for Um-
beyla. Money could not purchase these ; they
have been gained by a strenuous devotion to
Queen and country.

Very many officers have written of their re-
gard for Mr Drennan ; only one of these may
be allowed to speak, Lieut. -General Burroughs,
" I have very great pleasure in adding my tes-
timony to the great worth and excellence in

e^ery way of my very good friend the Rev.
Hugh Drennan, who, I think, for some fifteen
years served with me in the 93rd Sutherland
Highlanders. I retiember his joining the
regiment as Presbyterian chaplain in 1854,
and his leaving the regiment, to the very great
regret of all in it, on our return to England in
1871. For some ten years of this time I was
in command of the 93rd, and had special op-
portunities of estimating the worth or other-
wise of all in it. I know no better or wor-
thier man than Mr Drennan. In a quiet, un-
obtrusive way he did an immense deal of good.
He did his duty fearlessly to God and man,
and earned the love and respect of all in the
regiment. He was with us in the Crimean,
Indian Mutiny, and Umbeyla Wars, and
through at least two visitations of cholera,
and notably in 1862, when the regiment was
literally decimated by the pestilence in the
valley of Peshawur. I was myself in command
of the regiment at the time and witnessed Mr
Drennan's fearless devotion to his duty, and
although suffering himself, he never deserted
his post, but wafl constantly by the side of
the suffering and dying. I cannot speak too
highly in his favour. If any man ever de-
served well of his country, Mr Drennan is one
of these men. He has richly earned any re-
ward or pension that may be bestowed upon
him."

And now to conclude. One likes to think
of this war-worn hero attending the muster of
veterans at Edinburgh Castle, and doing hom-
age to King Edward on his first visit to the
capital. But there was another pageant, may
be of lesser note though of no less loyalty, in
which he was for a moment the central figure.
As this article began with the Church, so it
^ill close with the Church. The spacious
building was crowded with the burghers of
Peebles of all denominations. It was the
memorial service for Queen Victoria, whom he
had served so well. The minister of the Par-
ish and other clergymen had conducted the
worship, which was now closing. A solemn
and silent sadness pervaded the sacred build-
ing. A tall, military form ascended the pul*
pit. It was the dead monarch's oldest ser
vant. Chaplain Drennan, wearing the medals
she had bestowed, over his loyal heart. He
raised his unwavering hands on high, and im-
plored that benediction, which all his friends
silently breathe for him: — "The Lord bless
thee and keep thee, the Lord lift up His
countenance upon thee and give thee peace!"

C. B. G.

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The Battle of Sark.

" J looked on the field where the batt^ was spread.
Where thousands -stood forth in their glancing
array ;
And the beam from the steel of the valiant was
shed.
Through the dun rolling clouds that o'ershad-
owed the fray."

^H£ Sark is obd of the smallest of Scot^
tish riyera. It is found in the ex-
trenie south of Dumfriesshire. The
coming together of several small
bums cause its fonnation. It is barely twenty
miles in length. For some distance it divides
the parishes of Canonbie and HaIfm<H-ton, and
for over seven miles separatee the latter and
Gretna froim Cumberland. In its course it
passes through the lower reaches of E^dale and
the plains that skirt Solway Moss, and is joined
by the Black Sark near Springfield.

bi the "good old times*' when the turbulent
spirit dominiated the Borders and wasteful
incursiodis were the order of the day Sark wit-
nessed terrible doings. What with the foravs
of the English and the retaliatory raids of the
Scots, its neighbourhood suffered from fire
and sword for many generations. Strugglee,
fierce long, and d€«dly, were waged on its
banks, and its waters were ofttimes red with
blood.

During the sway of the Douglases the Earl
of Salisbury crossed the little E&rder Rubicon,
swept along the Solway shore, and pounced
upon the county town. Having sacked the
dwellings and fired the burgh, he returned,
greatly enriched by the foray. James Douglas
soon after retaliated and put Alnwick through
a similar experience.

Though a seven years* treaty was made be-
tween the kingdoms after the burning of Aln-
wick a laiTge body of men crossed the Sark and
laid Annandale waste during the following year.
This incursion, like many more, was made be-
cause of alleged insults and injuries from Scot-
tish Borderera As the marauders returned
with their booty they were overtaken by Doug-
las, who not only hastened their retreat but
relieved them of their spoil. Not content, the
Douglas soon aftei-wards mustered a large army
and made a ferocious raid on Cumberland, pil-
laging and reducing the whole countryside to a
very desert in his merciless severity.

England, aggrieved and indignant, called for
vensreiajice, and soon took steps to exact her
pound of flesh. Early in 1449 an army, var-
iously estimated at from 14,000 to 40,000, en-
camped on the Sark. Tlie Earl of Northum-
berlaud and son were in command. The latter.

anxious to wipe out the disgrace of hi» recent
rout at the hands of Douglas, hastened tho oon-
fiict, which historians speak of as t>eing one of
the greatest fought between the nations from
the time of Hocnildon (1402) till Flodden
(1513).

The invaders were out marauding when they
learned of the approach of 12,000 Scots, under
Douglas's brother, George, Earl of Ormood.
Choosing their own ground, a favourable pitch
adjoining their tents, the English made ready
for the coming onset. Notable leaders were on
both sides. Ormond addressed his men in spir*
ited words on the justice of their cause, and
urged them to anticipate victory.

The battle had not been long in progress
when it seemed as if it would go against the
Soots. Their pikes and spears were no match
against the bows and arrows of the English
archers. Prom their vantage ground they rain-
ed missiles on the attadking army and made
great ga.p>s in the ranks long before the latter
could strike a blow. In their helpless plight
confusion, panic, and flight were imminent.
Wallace of Craigie, an ancestor of -Sir William,
taking in the situation, called on his men to
follow him, that they might join in hand-to-
hand strokes, where true valour was to be seen.
Two thousand spearmen, who had not the pass-
ive endmrance to stand and be mown down,
were re-animated, across the intervening ground
in a trice, and in close quarters with tb^ir en^
emy. A terrific conflict ensued.

Tlie ranks of the English archers were soon
thinned and reeling. Leaders like Magnus the
Redbeard for a time stood aghast at the terr-
ibleness of the onslaught The latter sought to
encourage his followers, but in vain. Nothing
could arrest the onward, merciless march of
, the assailants. Magnus, however, stood his
ground, advanced in the teeth of a forest of
pike and spear, and fell where the slain lay
thickest.

The death of Magnus and overthrow of the
right division under his command greatly dis-
couraged the English, who had counted on their
archers deciding the battle in their favour.
They, however, fought dogeredly for a time.
But, pressed on every side by a fierce, impet-
uous, and exulting foe, they gave way along
their whole line. The retreat which followed
was an awful scene of slaughter. Three thou-
sand fell whilst the battle raged, and a vastly
greater number were cut down bv the hand of
the pursuer. The ground, whereon merry was-
sal had been held, was littered with the dving
and dead, and the Sark, swollrn by the tide, ran
red with blood.

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The younger Percy and Sir John PenningtOD
were made prisoners, together with hundreds
of gentlemen and common soldiers. Buchanan
tells how that the apoil in money, arms, and
equipments were greater than had ever been
known in any former battle. Fabulous heaps
of gold were found by rustics, and for genersr
tions after evidences of the extent of the de-
struction were ever turning up. Even in the
hording days of the writer implements of the
far-off battle were unearthed on the banks of
the Sark.

On the side of the Scots six hundred men,
in addition to the wounded, were slain. To the
great regret of the Borders, and Scotland gen-
erally, brave Wallace of Craigie, to whom the
victory was largely due, died of his wounds
some three months later. A truce followed in
the train of the memorable battle, and for a
considerable time the frontier county waa free
from the incursions of the English.

.G. M. R.

Tweeddale : A Glimpse at the Past.

E have frequently seen quoted the
story of " a person of rank from
England,*' who had been on a
tour in Tweeddale about the
middle of the eighteenth century, and who, on
being asked what he thought of the country,
replied that " he believed he could describe its
surface in three words, as it almost everywhere
consisted of only a hill, a road, and a water."
But the comment made by him who first relates
this story is not so well known. He continues
the narrative thus: — "Which, indeed, with the
addition of another hill rising inmiediately
from the opposite brink of the accompanying
stream below the road, generally constitute the
sum total of the objects which present them-
selves to a traveller. A flat through which its
glittering current meanders and ripples over
a pebbly channel ; a shepherd's cot at the side
of a rill, in a recess, sometimes sheltered by a
few trees or bushes, a cairn pointing the sum-
mit of a pyramidal mountain, a ring once ne-
cessary to secure the herds and flocks, sur-
rounding the upper part of an eminence, a de-
serted tower on the brow of a projecting
height, erected for habitation, for defence, and
for beacons ; and at times a mansion embos-
omed in woods : occasionally, however, ani-
mates the prospect, surprises by the sudden-
ness of its appearance, and with the varied
shapes, and smooth enlivening verdure of the
surrounding hills, gives spirit and interest to

the primitively simple and truly genuine pas-
toral scenes of this sequestered district." This
picture of the road, the river, the hill, the
shepherd's cot, the cairn, the pyramidal moun-
tain, the ring for the sheep, the deserted tower,
the mansion embosomed in woods, is still a
faithful representation of scenery in Tweed-
dale.

" And the pure mountains, and the gentle Tweed,
And the green, silent pastnres yet remain."

But there have been changes. Dr Pennicuik,
who published his " Description of Tweeddale"
in 1y15, says, "Their greatest want here is
timber. Little planting is to be seen in Tweed-
dale except it be some few bushes of trees
about the houses of the gentry ; and not one
wood worth naming in all this open and windy
country," and the writer of the notes to the
1815 edition of Pennicuik' s works, remarks
that " proofs of this penury of wood still re-
main. Some of the oldest houses in the coun-
try have vaulted roofs entirely of stone and
lime, and many cottages have a row of rugged
arches of the same material, from gable to
gable, called Stone Couples, instead of tim-
bers across which to lay the rough spars and
support the thatch. Sometimes a churchyard,
and generally a walled garden adjoining (a
house) that has been the residence of a landed
proprietor, is surrounded with a row of vener-
able ash or plane trees, but exae^tiug these,
there is hardly a planted tree to be met with
that has yet been in the ground above seventy
years in the whole country, unless in one or
two solitary instances to the contrary where a
patch has been planted for shelter or where
an avenue has been added in front of the man-
sion as a proof of the proprietor's superior
taste." " Since then," Professor Veitch saya,
" there has been a great deal of planting, but
unfortunately not of a commendable sort.
Most of the plantations are absolutely mono-
tonous, wholly fir or larch, unenlivened by the
slightest mixture of other trees. Here and
there, particularly on the heights that sur-
round the House of Dawyck, there appears, as
the product of a cultured yet natural taste,
woods rich in variety of leafage, and set in
wonderfully harmonious outlines. But taking
the valley as a whole, it was more pleasing to
the eye in the last century (eighteenth), ere
the hand of man had touched and marred it.
The slopes of the hills that ran down to the
great haugh of the Tweed were, as yet, green
pastoral braes, unknown by plo\igh and har-
row, and unadorned by means of larch poles.

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each looking like a half-opened umbrella in
summer, and the whole like a dull brown
blanket in autumn. . . . The people of
last century were spared appearances of this
sort, and instead of these they had simply hills,
roads, and waters." There seems, however,
to have been a feeling that woods were re-
quired to complete the natural beauty of the
scenery, for not only Dr Pennicuik laments
the scarcity of timber, but the agricultural
survey of Peeblesshire, published in 1802, and
quoted in the notes of Pennicuik' s works, has
the following reference to the treeless state of
Tweeddale : — " In this country the variety of
hill and dale and "water might furnish scenes
of great natural beauty or even grandeur, were
it not for the almost total want of natural
wood. For though tradition reports that a
great deal of wood once grew in the country,
at present few vestiges of it remain, and where
any are found upon the banks of the waters
and the skirts of the hills, it is mere brush-
wood. With reference to the tradition that
the South of Scotland was a well-wooded coun-
try. Professor Veitch says, " The old idea that
a forest implied a wood is, of course, exploded,
but it is certainly a mistake to suppose, as we
find done in these days, that the forest lands
of the lowlands were not originally and for a
long period well-wooded demesnes. There is
quite cogent historical proof of this apart from^
the geological evidence . . . and now
were the sheep taken off that lowland country,
we should find that in a very short time hill
and glen would be clothed with the birch, hazel,
rowan, all indigenous to the country. The
words of the old ballad are : —

'' The king was cumin' through Caddon Ford,

And full five thousand men was he;

They saw the derke forest them before.

They thought it awsome for to see."

The use of the word "derke" surely implies
that the forest was darkened with the abund-
ance of the trees, yet in the same ballad we
read that, —

" Ettrick foreste is a feir foreste,
In it grows many a semelie tree,
There hart and hynd, and dae and rae,
And of a* wild bestis greate plentie."

But the planting of woods is not the only
change that has come over the face of the
country. A railway has entered the valley of
Tweed, and the old peel towers from Ashiestiel
to Tinnie's Castle, that formerly saw the
beacon fires light up the darkness of the night.

now look down on the puffing of the steam
engine as it rushes swiftly by in the vaUey
beneath.

And a civilising injfluence has come with the
introduction of the railway. In the notes of
Dr Pennicuik's " Description," the writer
says : — " Half a century ago a great part of
the cottages of the Scots day-labourers were
built with walls of turf, stone buttresses or
wooden posts built into the wall, supporting
the heavy timbers of the roof. The house is
18 or 20 ft. by 15 or 16 ft. within walls; the
door is in front, close by one of the gables ;
two close beds form the cross partition, divid-
ing the space occupied by the family from a
space of four feet from the gable at which you
enter, where stands the cow behind one of the
beds, with her tail to the door of the house.
Tliere is one window in front near the fire
gable, opposite to which at the opposite wall
stands the ambry or shelved wooden press in
which the cow's milk and other family daily
provisions are locked up, and above it, lying
against the slant of the roof, is the skelf, a
frame containing shelves with cross bars in
front to prevent the utensils upon the shelves
from tumbling o£E from its over-hanging posi-
tion, the show of the house depending much
upon the quality and arrangement of the
crockery and other utensils placed thus in
open view upon the skelf." Allan Ramsay
thus describes such a house : —

" It's Symon's house : please to step in,
And vissy't round and round.
There's nought superfluous to gie pain
Or costly to be found,
Tet a' is clean : a clean peat ingle
Glances amidst the floor :
The green horn spoons : beech luggies mingle
On skelf s foregainst the door."

" A chest containing the family wardrobe
stands in front of one of the close beds, serv-
ing also for seats. The close beds are also fur-
nished with a shelf at head and foot, upon
which part of the family apparel is deposited
to preserve it from dust." A wooden chair, a
few stools, a plunge churn, a barrel for salted
flesh, and another for meal " complete the in-
ventory of the household furniture." Truly,
as honest Allan says, " there's nought super-
fluous to gie pain."

We also read in the notes that prior to
1770 the most usual construction of the bet-
ter farm dwellings was that of a long house of
only 6 ft. wall in height, the apartments all
upon the ground, the dimensions about 45 by
15 or 16 ft, in breadth within walls, but the

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cross partition effected by close beds, set end
to end with a passage between them.

" A snug thack house : before the door a green :
Hens Iq the midden, ducks in dubs are seen.
On this side stands a barn, on that a byre,
A peat stack joins and forms a rural square."

Allan Ramsay, who wrote the above, evi-
dently looks with a cheerful optimism on the
comforts and sanitary conditions of the dwell-
ing he describes. Cosmo Innes takes a less
favourable view, and relates that '^ old men still
remember when the dwelling of the Scotch
peasant farmer was not secure against wind
or rain, with no window — or none made to
open — ^with the damp earth for floor, with the
dung-hill and green pestilent pool at the door."

Again, it is related that *' after the fatigues
of the day the guidman sat or reclined on d
wooden sofa, listening, in those timeg so dearth-
ful of intelligence, to the news collected by the
wandering beggar, or feasting his imagination
upon the wonders of the lame soldier or sailor
who had visited foreign countries." Concern-
ing one matter, Dr Pennicuik and Allan Ram-
say seem to hold different views. Dr Penni-
cuik says, '^ Both sexes are conspicuous for as
comely features as any other country in the
kingdom, would but the meaner sort take a
little more pains to keep their bodies and
dwellings clean, which is too much neglected
among them, and pity it is to see a clear com-
plexion and lovely countenance appear with so
much disadvantage through the foul disguise
of smoke and dirt." And the author of the
notes says, " Dirt and smoke, they say,
keep them warm; to their persons washing
often is weakening, unwholesome, and trouble-
some, and is expensive in their clothes by the
tubs, soap, labour, and the time it consumes."
A young woman being asked how she came to
be so dun, replied, " Wi' becking ourselves in
ihe sun a' sunmier, and smeeking our heads
o'er the fire a' winter, we country lassies never
come to our right colour." Allan Ramsay,
however, describing Symon's house, says, " all
is clean," and speaks thus of a country lass : —

"Her coats were kiltit, and did sweetly shaw
Her straight bare legs that whiter were than

snaw;
Her cheeks sae ruddy, and her een sae clear,

' And, oh! her mouth's like ony hinny pear.
Neat, neat she was in bustine waistcoat clean,
As she came skiffing o'er the dewy green."

Whichever description comes nearest to the
truth, it may not be superfluous to quote W.
Chambers^ who writes : — " It is scarcely neces-
sary to remark that since the days of Penni-

cuik a great improvement has taken place in
point of personal and domestic cleanliness."

A custom that has fallen into desuetude was
that of milking the ewes as well as the cows.
This practice is described by Jane Elliot,
daughter of Sir Gilbert Elliot, second baronet
of Minto, in her beautiful version of Hie
" Flowers of the Forest " : —

" I've heard them lilting at our yowe milking.
Lasses a' lilting before the dawn o' day.
But now they are moaning on ilka green' loaning.
The Flowers of the Forest are a' wede away.
At buchts in the morning, nae blythe lads are

scorning.
The lasses are lonely, and dowie, and wae,
Nae daffin', nae gabbin', but sighing and sabbing.
Ilk ane lifts her leglin and hies her away.''

Lady Grizel Baillie also charmingly writes : —

" Oh ! the ewe buchten's bonnie, baith evening and
morn.

When our blythe shepherds play on the bog
reed and horn :

While we're milking, they're lilting baith pleas-
ant and clear.

But my heart's like to break when I think on
my dear."

ThiB practice, however, starved the lambs and
exhausted the ewes, " stinting the flocks them-
selves in their growth and powers of breeding,
and enduring tie hardships of winter;" the
gain from the butter and cheese that ysL^ made
from the milk being comparatively small be-
side that derived from " vigorous and unex-
hausted flocks." Turning from the peasantry,
let us now look at the conditions under which
the old peel tower was inhabited. From
" Scotland in the Middle Ages," by Cosmo
Innes, we take the following picture : — " When
again with some breathing time of peace, and
by the efforts of James I. agriculture had a little
revived, and the (rovernment encouraged build-
ing and * policy ' in the desolate country, the
buildings were like the people, poor and mean
in taste. The chief thing aimed at was secur-
ity against marauding bands and unfriendly
neighbours. I need not describe to you the
Scotch castle of that time, the single square
gaunt tower rising storey above storey, each
floor consisting of but one apartment ; the door
placed high for safety, the walls thick, the win-
dow openings narrow and jealous. Such a
dwelling, and we have plenty of them, though
few in their unmitigated bareness, recalls the
time when the rural baron and his family, visi-
tors, vassals, retainers, servants, rural and
domestic, lived and scrambled for their food
all crojwded together in one hall — a gloomy,
cold apartment, when the offal of the board was

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fought for by the. dogs below it> and the garb- ^
age was hid among the foul straw, which might
be renewed when harvest produced a supply —
when the furniture was limited to the movable
boards on which the meat was served, and a
few stools and settles of deal — when carpets,
curtains,, window glass, comfort, cleanliness,
were unknown, when the women had no separ-
ate apartment but their sleeping room, and no
tastes that made such life irksome." "The
internal fittings," says Professor Veitch, " were
no doubt rude enough. The upper or oomer
part of the vaulted roof of each storey was
usually covered with a wooden floor, and as a
precursor of the modern carpet the boards were
generally strewn with the bent grass of the
moors or the rushes of the haughs. With these
were intermingled sweet-smelling herbs, such
as thyme, bedstiaw (galium), or fresh-odoured
heather."

Of the lord of the tower, Dr Johnstone gives
us this picture: — "These castles," he says,
"afford another evidence that the fictions of
romantic chivalry had for their basis the real
manner of the feudal times, when every lord of
seigniory lived in his own hold, lawless and
unaccountable with all the licentiousness and
insolence of uncontested superiority and un-
principled power. The traveller, whoever he
might be, coming to the fortified habitation of
a chieftain would probably have been inter-
rogated from the battlements, admitted /"with
caution at the gate, introduced to a petty nM>n-
arch fierce with habitual hostility and vigilant
with ignorant superstition, who, according to
his general temper or accidental humour, would
have seated a stranger as his guest at the
table, or as a spy confined him in his dungeon.
We live in other times : —

" The raider sleeps : his age has passed away,
His castle walls have cnimbled into dust,,
The spear he hurled has long lain low in rust,
And where his charger pranced in stern array
Now gentle steeds with plough-share till the

clay.
Those fears that trembled for the lance's thrust.
The midnight foray or the robber's lust.
Come not to us again. Peace loves to sway
The nation with a mild yet firmer hand.
And tame the fiercer passions of man's breast,
But Time will see a great and deeper love
Triumphant rule far over sea and land.
When right shall prosper, every life be blest.
And all the world be one with God above."

"Portcullis," in "Border Telegraph."

0, what a tangled web we weave.
When first we practice to deceive I

"Marmion/'

Scott and Operatic Composers.

HE opera of " Lucia di Lammermoor "
has long been off the British stage
— ^we remember seeing it performed
in the Crystal Palace, London, in
1869 or 1870 — ^but Ik)nizetti's musical inter-
pretation of Scott's " Bride of Lammermoor "
has recently been revived. Referring to the
subject, a writer in the " Glasgow Evening
News," says: —

There used to be a legend current that Doni-
zetti was of Scottish extraction ; his name
being derived from Donald Izzett. At all
events he was certainly born at Bergamo in
1798 (six years after Bossini), and the idea of
his connection with Scotland was probably en-
gendered to explain his partiality for librettos
on Scottish, and also on English subjects. Be-
sides his " Lucia," " Elizabetta a Kenilworth,"
and " II Castello di Kenilworth," recall Sir
Walter, the other operas connected with this
country being " Emilia di Liverpool," " Anna
Bolena" (with which he first won European
fame), " Rosamunda d' Inghilterra," and
"Maria Stuarda."

It is curious to review the process by which
the whirligig of time has modified the opinion
of the musical world contemporary with Ros-
sini, Bellini, Donizetti, and Verdi — the fam-
ous quartette of Italians who held the operatic
public of Europe in thrall for half-a-century.
That estimate placed the composers exactly in
the order named. Yet Verdi, who was depre-
ciated until recentlv, when he produced
"Aida," "OtheUo," and "Falstaff/' is now con-
sidered the greatest genius of the four. His
works no doubt wear better, but unquestion-
ably Rossini must still be called his superior
as a musician. The reason why Rossini's
operas — apart fmm " Guillaume Tell " and
" II Barbiere di Seviglia " — are no longer per-
formed is to be found in the decay of the art
of florid vocalisation. Rossini is paying the
penalty of over-indulgence in ornamentation.
Equally remarkable is the survival of Doni-
zetti with "Lucia," " Lucrezia Borgia," "La
Favorite," "La Fille du Regiment," "L' Elisir
d* Amore," " Don Pasquale," and even "Linda
di Chamounix " (more finished in workmanship
than the others), whilst Bellini, once regarded
as his better, is neglected.

Curious, also, is the fact that Sir Walter
Scott, an author so typically national in all
respects, should be indebted to the inspiration
of an Italian (typical, also, despite the apo-
cryphal Donald Izzett), for the musical iUus-

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tration of the romantic qualities of his ^' Bride
of Lammermoor." But Donizetti is not the
only foreigner whom Scott has touched, as wit-
ness Bizet with his " Jolie Fille de Perth,"
Boieldieu with his " Dame Blanche/' and Ros-
sinni with his '' Donna di Lago," and his
"Robert Bruce" — ^but that is another story,
not drawn from Scott. There are others, but
we cannot recall them at i^e moment.

^ore curiosities. Does anyone remember
Mr Calcraft's five-act drama, "The Bride of
Lammermoor," written presumably shortly af-
ter Scott's romance was published, which " un-
animously received the meed of public appro-
bation"? We daresay not; nor the melo-
drama that preceded it, " remarkable as having
been the medium of introducing the all-sur-
passing genius of the illustrious Clarkson Stan-
^eld, who first burst upon the public in this
piece, like some brilliant meteor, with a scene
^f Wolf's Crag by moonlight : the magical ef-
fect of which gave full promise to the proud
pre-eminence he has since attained, causing one
-of our greatest painters, who happened to h^
in the theatre the first night the piece was re-
presented to exclaim, " What 1 have we at last
giants in the art? We have 1 we have 1 or how
could so great, so beautiful a picture ever
have been pXKluced." Heinl that smAcks of
•early Tletorian enthusiasm and grandiloquence.

Alast we do not remember these things.
But there is the " Ravenswood " of H. C.
Merivale, written for Henry Irving and Ellen
Terry ; only, it is to be feared that this further
Attempt to enter the magic circle of the Wiz-
ard of the North will likewise be followed by
the nemesis of oblivion.

In France, in 1828, Victor Ducange, a gifted
and once-popular dramatist, dared to put
Scott's " Bride " on the stage. In this piece,
with its almost literally transoribed title, " La
Fiancee de Lanw»en«oor,", we are told by a
contemporary scribbler tiiat " the mother has
been very judiciously transformed into a
mother-in-law^ rendering her conduct less re-
pulsive to our ideas of maternal love and
Ihuman nature ** 1 1 ! Well, despite all the in-
•genuiities expended on this " adaptation," and
on another by D'Artois (a comedy) called, " Le
'Caleb de Si/ Walter Scott," they failed, and
are now lon^ dead.

The moral is obvious. It points to the pe-
'Culiar power of music to breathe life into, iud
io perpetuate the existence of, literature— even
bad Uterature. The libretto of Salvatore Cam-
marano, which served to inspire Donizetti >n
1835, is hardly superior to the dramatic con-

coctions we have glanced at, but his opera
lives, thanks to Donizetti's enchanting music»
which has the mysterious power of transporting
the imagination to the essential qualities < f Sir
Walter's romance. ^ B

A Legend of Hawick.

Oe, long ago in the ancient days

Of this good old Border town»
Lived "Hab of Hawick/' a bnrgher bold.

Who cared not for king nor crown !

King James of Scotland— he oft had heard

Of Hab and his sayings fine.
So sent a message that Hab must come

To his Tower that night by nine.

Bat Hab, who sat by his ingle-nook.

Was cross as he well could be;
" Oh, ne'er 111 stir from my ain fireside

To speak to His Majesty!"

And when the messenger had come back,

He said, "Go tell to tne King,
That Hab of Hawick sits bere to-night,

A fig for the King and kin I"

Itight angry men were the courtiers all,
Who heard the strange tale one day, ,

"Oh, pnnish this insolent old man,"
They said, " without more delay !"

But good King James dearly loved a joke,

And he deemed it better far
To teach poor old Hab without the boot

That Kings' words important are.

So, soon to the Scottish capital,

Auld Hab a prisoner came;
Trembling and weeping for evermore.

Since he had to leave his hame !

Buccleuch, he brought his vassal so bold
Before the monarch's grand seat,

And loudly for mercy humbled Hab
Cried now at his monarch's feet!

Then drawing closer in to the fire.

King James he began to say,
" A fig for Hab an' a' of his kin !

In Scotland I hold the sway.

" And, Hab of Hawick, if we be friends.
As X would like us to be, ,

Then you must obey your King's commands.
And be loyal aye to me!

''And though I do much admire a man
With courage right staunch and true;

I scorn the insolent who can dare
To show their false pride like you I"

" Forgiven now is your daring deed.

Forgotten shall be the same;
Now rise and mount upon this good steed,

And hasten to Hawick hame!"

And, as the quaint old legend still goes.

The old man soon took his way
To Hawick town, where he loyal lived

Right on till his dying day !

Elizabeth M. McIknes.

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70 THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

TO CORRESPONDENTS. TO ADVERTISERS,

All c<mmufUe(Ui<m8 rtlcUing to LitereuymaUera should AU Sutineu matUra, Advertising Rales, d^, slumUi

he addressed to the Editor, Mr William Sandbbson, he referred to the Publishers, A. Walkkb & 8oHt

8t Rmians, Rutherglen, near Olasgcw. High Street, Oalashiels

THE B ORDER MA GAZINE.

APRIL, 1907.
LIST OF CONTENTS. ,;,„

Rev. HiTGH Drennan, Veteran of the Indian Mutiny. Portrait Supplement. By C. B, G. - * 61

The Battle of Sabk. By G. M. R. 64

Tweeddale: A Glimpse of the Past. By "Pobtcullis." 65-

8cx>TT AKD Operatic Ck>HPOSEBS. By B. 68^

Poetry — A Legend of Hawick. By Elizabeth M. McInkes. 69

The Border Keep. By Dominie Sampson. TO*

John Livingston of Ancrum. Part L 72.

The Border Bookcase. 74

Castlecraig and Drochil Castle. By D. Brown Anderson. 75-

**BosELLs Fair." A. L. A. Sudden. - , 77

A Border Literary Chronicle, with Brief Biographical Notes. .... ... 79,

EDITORIAL NOTES.

This month we have held over several Illustrated Articles in order to publish some other interesting^
matter, for which we have diffioulty in finding room. Therefore, the Border Magazine for this month has no
pictures. We hope bv this means to get through the mass of MSS. with which we are at prc^sent embarrassed.
Contributors will Kindly note the change in the address of the Editor, which will be found at the top of this
page. As a rule the B.M. is typographically correct, but we regret that in the opening lines of our leading
article in last month's issue the date 1907 was printed instead of 1906. Those who keep their copies for
binding should alter the figure so as to ensure historical accuracy.

The Border Keep,

(In which are preserved paragraphs from various publications, to the authors and editors of which

we express our indebtedness.)

In a month we will celebrate (or otherwise) the ial sense there is no English party or English*

bi-centenary of a great national event, and it is Constitution.

Well to remember certain facts which are thus For the benefit of present-day writers of articles-
touched upon by a writer :— ^ England, including Anglo-Scots, the following is^

,,^, „ ... , , „ „ , . , a copy from the Acts of the Parliaments of Scot-

"The Scottish readers of even well-conducted i^nd in the Register House, Edinburgh, touching

English papers are constantly offended at the mis- the Union :

use of the terms England and English in an Im- 'Conventio apnd Edinburgh. 1707, Oet. 3. Cap.

perial sense instead of Britain and British. 7, Act ratifying and approving the Treaty of

To illustrate this, in an article in ' The Speaker * Union of the two kingdoms of Scotland and Eng-
on the British Constitution, the writer spoke of land. Cap. 6, Act settling the manner of elect-
English history, English people, English dress, ing th<> 16 Peers and 45 Commoners to represent
English political ideas, and the two great English Scotland in the Parliament of Great Britain.'
parties. In a later article from the same paper These Acts are erroneously stated in Haydn's Diet.,
on Algeciras— and afterwards, England is used of Bates, 22nd Ed., page 1149, as 16th January^
four times instead of Britain. 1707.

How is such ignorance in a sixpenny weekly with I^ England the Union was ratified and con--

some pretence to culture and learning to be ac- firmed by statute 5, Anne, cap. 8, in 25 articles^,

oounted for ? Let it be noted that Scottish read- whereof the first article is as follows : —

ers of English papers do not object to read in them 'That on the first of May, 1707, and for ever,

of pride, the national vice of England, intemper- the kingdoms of England and Scotland shall be-

ance in England, decline of manly sports in Eng- tmited in one kingdom by the name of Great

land, Christmas in England, lack of table con- Britain."

versation in England, street music in England, ♦ ♦ ♦

dread of the Spaniards in the sixteenth century Few villages can boast so many usages that are-

by England, and so on ad lib. redolent of the olden times as the picturesque-

What we in Scotland object to is to find that Border hamlet of Kirk Yetholm. It will, however,,

where the united country is referred to it is surprise many to learn that the gipsy capital pos-

called England instead of Britain. In this Imper- sesses an Archbishop. The other day (writes a

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THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

correspondent) I enjoyed a lengthened chat with
the holder of this distinguished office. Though in-
vested with little of the pomp and dignity which
one associates with tbe Episcopal hierarchy. Arch-
bishop Gladstone can lay claim to a stl:iking in-
dividuality. His pretentious title he owes to the
fact that he is village blacksmith. At the corona-
tion of King Charles Faa Blythe Rutherford in
the summer of 1898, "Bauldy,'' as he is locally
called, exercised his priestly functions for the first
and last time. On that occasion it was remarked
that his office might be considered a hereditary
one, as his father, George Gladstone, had perform-
ed a similar service for Queen Esther Faa Blythe
in the winter of 1861. The tin crown which did
duty during that ceremony was fashioned by the
skilful hands of the elder blacksmith. "Bauldy"
possesses an interesting link with numberless gipsy
festivals in the shape of an old sword, that was
presented to him by the widow of the late King
Charles.

« « « «

Ingratitude is so generally regarded as a gipsy
characteristic that a movement, which recently or-
iginated among the nomads of the Border, is not
without interest. From time immemorial, the
wandering tribes have been in the habit of camp-
ing in Beanston Loaning, an old right-of-way near
the East Lothian village of Linton. A few months
ago, several neighbouring proprietors determined
to close the lane. Chutwo different occasions the
attempt was made, and as often foiled by the pub-
lic spirit of a gardener named Sinclair, who, arm-
ed with saw and axe, speedily removed the barri-
cades. For this distinguished service to the child-
ren of Egypt, it is now intimated that Sinclair has
lost his situation. The sequel has evoked much
sjrmpathy, and several gipsy potentates are endea-
vouring to raise a sum of money which will more
than counterbalance the monetary loss. As there
are seldom fewer than fifty camps in the loaning
during the summer season, It is confidently ex-
pected that the appeal for subscriptions will meet
with a hearty and spontaneous response.
« « « «

Searching for gold (not in the usual commercial
sense) has not been unknown in the Borderland.
Some of our older readers may remember the ex-
citement caused by the discovery of gold in Glen-
gaber Burn, between Traquair and St Mary's Loch.
"Towards the close of the sixteenth century, a
Dutchman named Cornelius De Vois secured a
licence to search for gold in any part of Scotland.
According to one biographer, the adventurer ' had
six score men at work in valleys and dales. He
employed both lads and lassies, idle men and wo-
men, which before went abegging. He profited by
their work, and they lived well and contented.'
Stories of these halcyon days appealed powerfully
to the popular imagination, as a tourist, who vis-
ited the village of Crawford in 1619, records that
he conversed with an old man named John Gibson,
whose happy lot it had been to gather gold pieces
'like birds' eyes and birds' eggs.' ^n these scep-
tical days there is a tendency to consider stories
of this deflcription somewhat mythical; but their
authenticity is supported by the fact that the Reg-
ent Morton is known to have presented the King
of France with ' a very fine deep basin of natural
gold,' which was made from precious metal found
in the neighbourhood of Wanlockheiui."

Apropos the intimation that the Prince and
Princess of Wales are to spend a few days ivt
Floors Castle, on the occasion of their approach''
ing visit to Scotland, it may interest many to
loarn that this imposing edifice is situated near
the junction of the Teviot with the Tweed. "The
modern mansion of Floors" (writes Sir Walter
Scott), " with its terrace, its woods, and its exten-
sive lawn, form altogether a kingdom for Oberou
or Titania to dwell in, or any spirit who, before
their time, might love scenery, of which the ma-
jesty and even the beauty impress the mind with
a sense of awe mingled with pleasure." Confront-
ing the mansion, but on the opposite side of the
Tweed, stands the ruins of the old castle of Box-
burgh, which formed a royal residence during the
early years of the Stuart dynasty. Here James II<
met an untimely death by the bursting of a can«
non with which he had been making experiments,
and popular tradition avers that an old thorn
tree, whose venerable aspect serves to distinguish
it from its fellows, marks the spot where the
monarch fell. Modern Floors was built by Sir
John Vanbrugh for the first Duke of Roxburgh
in T718, but was reconstructed and considerably
enlarged in 1839.

In the beginning of this year there passed away,
in his 94th year, Mr James Geddes, long a familiar
figure in the parish of Tweedsmuir. Mr Geddes
was born at the Moat of Hearthstane (now ex-
tinct), his father being connected with the coach-
ing operations of by-past days. After a round of
employment at various places in the neighbour-
ho(xl, James Geddes settled down in his native
parish as shepherd at Oliver, where he spent half
a century of faithful and devoted service under
no fewer than three proprietors of that old Tweed-
side domain. A man of intelligence much above
the average, a voracious reader, a bit of a poet
too, a mimic, and a born story-teller, Mr Geddes
was naturally one of the best known and most
popular personages in these uplands. He was for
many years librarian of the original Tweedsmuir
Library, founded by the late Rev. Archibald Tod,
and in not a few other capacities he did his best
for the social and intellectual life of the commun-
ity. He was in all respects a most worthy type of
the old Scots shepherd, and with whom it was
always pleasant and interesting to converse for the
sake of the "auld memories," of which, as be-
fitted one of his age, he possessed such an abund-
ant store. Mr Geddes retired some twenty years
ago, but was a constant visitor to his old haunts
up to within a comparatively recent period; and
now he .has been laid beside many who were his
comrades in days gone by — many whom he has
long survived in life's stress and struggle. Peace
be to his ashes !

Andrew Lang bays that a Scotchman who un-
derstands the distinction between "will" and
" shall " is not a good Scotsman. He tells of a
Scotch reporter who had joined the staff of an
English newspaper. His first night on duty he
knocked on the editor's door and asked—" Will I
come in?" "God knows," replied the editor.

Dominie Sampson.

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John Livingston of Anorum.

1603-1672.
Part I.

I OHN LIVINGSTON was the son of the
Rev. Williajna Livingston, A.M., min-
ister of Kilsyth, and his wife Agnes
Livingston of Dunipace («). He de-
scribes his father as ^'all his days straight and
zealous in the work o€ r^ormation," and* his
mother a& "a rare pattern of piety and meek-
ness," and these traits in their characters were
in large measure inherited by their son. He
was born at Kilsyth, 2 1st January, 1603, and
at tlie age of ten he was sent to the Grammar
School of Stirling to be educated there under
'^Madster" William Wallace (*), whom he after-
wards described as a ''good man and learned
humanist," and with whom, he tells us,^e
spent "the most profitable year he had in the
schools." He was not destined, however, to
continue long under Mr Wallace, and pursue
his studies in the 'little chamber" above the
old Grammcur School of Stirling, as his father
was shortly afterwards, in 1614, translated to
Lanark, while he himself proceeded in October,
1617, lo the University of Glasgow, where he
graduated A.M. in July, 1621. While still a
student he gave proof of non-conformist prin-
ciples in disobeying the Articles of Perth (c),
for he and two or three other young men were
obliged to remove from the communion-table
in. 1619 by order of Archbishop Law (d), who
was a firm upholder of Episcopal forms, as they
had refused to receive the elements in a kneel-
ing posture. At first he had thoughts of fol-
lowing the medical profession, but afterwards
resolved to enter the Church, though his father
had intended him to lead the life of a country
gentleman on the estate* which he possessed.
After studying under the famous Principal Rob-
ert Boyd of ^Trochrig, he was licensed to preach
in Januaiy, 1625, and for sometime he appears
to have officiated occasionally for his father
at Lanark, and in other places about, but re-
mained unordained as he, like many others,
refused obedience to the Articles of Perth.
Various places were eager to have him. for their
minister — ^Anwoth, Torphichen, North Leith,
Linlithgow and Kirkcaldy — but the bishops in
each case refused to ordain and prevented a
settlement on account of his non-conformity,
and so for some five years he remained without
a settled charge. In 1627 we find him. acting
AS domestic chaplain to the Earl of Wigton at
Cumbernauld, which he continued to do for

two jes^ and a half, and while there he was
instiTimental in promoting the great revival of
religion at the Kirk of Shotts, where he offic-
iated at t)ie communion on June 20, 1630, and
preached on the following Monday at the re-
quest of the people who were eager to hear
him. This is sc^id to have been the first occas-
ion of having a service on the Monday following
the Conmiunion — ^a custom which afterwards
became quite conmioin. In the August of this
year he went to Ireland and became minister
of Killinchy in County Down, with a stipend of
£i a year, to which charge he was ordained by
Andrew, Bishop oi Raphoei, who appears to have
been more liberal-minded than some of his
Episcopal bretJiren. Here he and others of
like principles became obnoxious to the Church
authorities, more intolerant than his Grace of
Ra^hoe, and in the following year he was sus-
pended by the Bishop of Down for non-con-
formity, but soon after he was restored on the
intercession of Archbishop Usher, Primate of
Armagh. He was deposed again, however, and
for the same reason. May 4, 1632, and, seeing
but small prospects of aiiy alteration in the
state of affairs then prevailing, he proposed
going to New England in 1634. Meeting with
contrary winds, however, he gave up his de-
sign, returned, and was restored to his minis-
try in May of the same year. He was again,
however, deposed in the following November
by the new bishop of Down, and by his order,
shortly afterwards, finally excommunicated.
He seems to have been in Scotland at the be-
ginning of 1634, as he talks of paying a visit
to Ireland in February of that year, and in
November we find him preaching at Antrim.
On the previous Friday he met the lady, whom
he had kno\^Ti before and who afterwards be-
came his wife, as she was going to Antrim to
attend a religious meeting. Four or five days
after he " propounded " the matter to her,
and after a week or two visited her at her
mother's house and obtained her consent. He
married the lady in June 23, 1635. ShesWas
the eldest daughter of one Bartholomew Flem-
ing, an Edinburgh merchant, " of most worthy
memory," and in her he found a help-meet
worthy of him in every way. Not long after
this we find him and some of his non-conform-
ing friends building a ship near Belfast, of
150 tons burden, which they called "The
Eagle Wing," intending once more to proceed
to the land of the Pilgrim Fathers. They
started on the 9th of September, 1636, but
met with such storms on the voyage that they
concluded it was not the will of the Almighty

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they they should proceed further or settle in
.that country, and accordingly they abandoned
ihe design when near Newfoundland, and after
A perilous voyage they returned, and in Novem-
ber reached Ulster in safety. Orders being issu-
ed for his apprehension, he returned to Scotland
and stayed with his father for some time,
preaching occasionally at Lanark and else-
where. In February 28th, 1638, we find him
at Lanark and other places, where he wit-
nessed the people signing the National Coven-
ant. In this year (c) Presbyter ianism was once
more in the ascendant, and he received caUs
from Stranraer and Straiton in Midlothian.
The latter place he would have preferred him-
self, but his father and some of his friends per-
suaded him to accept Stranraer, whereupon ho
was admitted (at Stoneykirk) 5th July, 1638,
in which year he was a member of Assembly,
and for all the succeeding years till his trans-
lation to Ancrum in 1648. At Stranraer he
remained for some ten years, where he seems
to have been more successful than in Ireland.
The place was " but little and poor," he tells
us, but he found the people " very tractable
and respectful," and he was "sometimes well
satisfied and refreshed." On July 13th, 1647,
he was presented by the Earl of Lothian to the
parish of Ancrum (f), and was inducted on
August 25th of the following year. Next year
he was a member of Asseml^ly, and also of the
Commission for visiting the College of Edin-
burgh. At Ancrum he laboured for some
fourteen years with much acceptance, and
gained the respect and love of his parishioners.
In February, 1650, he was appointed by the
Assembly one of the Commissioners to proceed
•(along with James Wood, George Hutcheson,
the Earl of Cassilis, the Earl of Lothian, and
Alexander Brodie) to Breda in Holland, to
negotiate with Charles with a view to his ac-
cepting the Crown and returning to Scotland.
He had not much heart in this business thtis
imposed on him, and would rather have de-
clined the unwelcome errand, as he had but
little faith in the sincerity of 'Charles, and so
returned dissatisfied with the way in which
the pttoceedings were conducted. However,
Charles satisfied them by giving his oath of
fidelity to the Church, and was duly crowned
with great pomp and ceremony at Scone by
Robert Douglas, who more than hinted at the
suspicions which prevailed as to the King's
sincerity. After the sermon Charles swore to
and subscribed the Covenants, and so the sol-
emn farce was concluded. Sbotland, no doubt,
acted from a sense of loyalty, but was soon

destined to pay dearly for it at Dunbar and
Worcester. Of all the Stuart kings, Charles
n. was the most contemptible. He was a man
of pleasure, of winning manners, but without
principle, dissolute and licentious to a degree ;
oaths and promises even the most solemn he
was always ready enough to give, but to keep
them was, for him, another matter. Living-
ston, who seems to have seen through the dup-
licity and hypocrisy of the King at this time
more dearly than some of the others, was op-
posed to the Coronation. About this time a
most unhappy division took place in the
Church regarding the King, some adhering to
certain " resolutions " in his favour, others
protesting against them, hence respectively
called " Resolutioners " and " Protesters." In
1651 Livingston took part with the Protesters,
and at a general meeting of the party in
October of that year was elected their Modera-
tor,

(a) William Livingston was born 1576; gradu-
ated A.M. at Glasgow in 1595 ; ordained to Kilsyth,
1596; was deposed in 1613 for opposing the restora-
tion of episcopacy and not submitting to the can-
ons and ceremonies of the Church, but afterwards
was restored and became minister of Lanark in
1614, and died in 1641, aged 65. His wife, Agnes
Livingston, died in 1617, aged 32.

(b) William Wallace, A.M., was master of the
Grammar School of Stirling from 1612 to 1617,
when he removed to Glasgow to hold a similar
position there. He died in 1641. He appears to
have written a poetical address in Latin to the
King when he visited Stirling in the summer of
1617.— " History of High School of Stirling,'' by
A. F. Hutchison, M.A., pp. 43-49.

(e) These may be briefly stated as follows :~
(1) Kneeling at the Communion; (2) Private com-
municating in case of the sick; (3) Private bap-
tism to be allowed; (4) Episcopal confirmation; (5)
the observance of certain holidays, as Christmas,
Good Friday, Easter, Ac. They were passed by
the Assembly which met at Perth, 1618, and con-
firmed by Parliament. They were keenly opposed,
however, by the Presbyterians, who regarded them
as a return to Popery, and, besides, they did not
like to have them thrust upon them by the King
against their will. They remained in force,
though only partially ' observed in many of the
churches, till swept away by the Glasgow Assembly
of 1638.

(d) James Law, the successor of Archibald Spot-
tiswood, held the see from 1615 to 1632, and was a
staunch upholder of Episcopal forms. On the oc-
casion referred to, Principal Robert Boyd of
Tochrig is said to hav» expostulated with him next
day for dealing " at Christ's table as imperiously
as if removing his horse-boys from the bye-board.'*
Boyd, who was one of the greatest scholars of his
age, was Principal of Glasgow University from
1614 to 1621. He was the son of Archbishop Boyd

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(1572-81>, and cousm of Zachary Boyd, minister
of the Barony Church, 1623-53. Trochrague
(Trochrig), the family estate, is near Girvan. A
very pleasing account of this learned scholar is to
be found in Hewat's " In the Olden Times."

(e) The Greneral Assembly which met in the
nave of Glasgow Cathedral on November 21st,
1638, is famous in the ecclesiastical annals of Scot-
land. The Marquis of Hamilton acted as Lord
High Commissioner from His Majesty, while Alex-
ander Henderson was elected Moderator. The
Assembly was dissolved by the Commissioner dur-
ing their seventh sederunt, but notwithstanding
they continued in session till the 20th of December,
and proceeded to abolish Epiecopacy, the High
Commission, the Articles of Perth, the Canons
and Liturgy, and to overthrow the whole fabric
which James and Charles had been trying to set
up with so much care and policy. The proceed-
ings of the Assembly contributed in no small de-
gree to the subsequent fate which overtook Charles
in 1649. A full account of its proceedings is to be
found in the quaint and interesting letters of
Robert Baillie, who was a member of this Assem-
bly and afterwards Principal of the University
of Glasgow.

(f) Ancrum (Alncrumb, the bend on the Ale),
is a small village of Roxburghshire, on Ale Water,
which joins the Teviot, a little south of the place.
Though now quite modern in appearance it is of
great antiquity, and has a cross said to be of the
time of Alexander III. In pre-Reformation times
it was a prebend of the see of Glasgow, and was a
favourite residence of the Bishops, especially such
as were Border men— Jocelin (1175-99), Bondington
(1233-58), Turnbull of the house of Minto, founder
of Glasgow University (1448-M), and others. Bis-
hop Bondington died here in 1258, and was buried
in Melrose Abbey, near the high altar. Near to
the village is Ancrum House, the residence of Sir
W. Scott, and Mounteviot, a seat of the Marquis
of Lothian, where Miss Jean Elliot, the author of
" The Flowers of the Forest," died in 1805. In the
immediate neighbourhood is the well-known Bor-
der land-mark, Penielheugh Monument, built by a
former Marquis of Lothian, to commemorate Wel-
lington and Waterloo. Ancrum Moor, scene of
the famous battle between the Scotch and English
in 1545, lies about 1^ miles north-east of Ancrum
House. In later times Ancrum was tlfe birth-
place of William Buchan, M.D., author of the
well-known and popular work "Domestic Medi-
cine," referred to by Burns in his " Death and Dr
Hornbook." Buchan died in London, 1805, and is
buried in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey.

To be CofUimted.

What, man, ne'er lack a draught, when the full

can
Stands at thine elbow, and craves emptying 1 —
Nay, fear not me, for I have no delight
To watch men's vices, since I have myself
Of virtue natight to boast of.

Motto ("Kenilworth.")

The Border Bookcase.

^M?SQ7 USKIN was a great admirer of the writ*
HBOflL ings of Sir Walter Scott, and the great
TSSjKi ^T^^ critic's fine description of the
ItMMo Tweed near Ashiestiel shows that he
•^^^^1^ also loved the Scottish Borderland.
Owing to the high price charged for
Ruskin's works they have been sealed books to
the large mass of the people, but now that the
copyrights have run out, there will be a competi-
tion among publishers for the reproduction in
cheap form of the masterpieces of that great ex-
ponent of the gospel of art. Foremost among
such enterprising firms is the famous house of
George Routledge & Sons. Already this firm has
issued fifteen volumes of Ruskin^s most important
works, and mere will follow as the copyrights
expire. There is a peculiar satisfaction in pos-
sessing one of these unabridged books, containing
all the original illustrations, and handsomely
bound in cloth with gold lettering, for the small
sum of Is net. Take the volume lying before us,
"The Seven Lamps of Architecture,'' as an ex-
ample. It contains over 230 page's of dear print-
ed matter on fine paper, and fourteen full-page
illustrations. The thing is a marvel of beauty
and cheapness.

"THE TINKLER-GYPSIES OF GALLOWAY."

The true Borderer has always a warm side to
the swarthy nomadic race which has so long had
a home in the Borderland, but it is not every one
who has the time or special talents necessary for
a close study of the history and folklore of this
peculiar people. Provost Andrew M'Cormick, of
Newton-Stewart, however, is an exception in this
resi)ect, for he has spared neither time nor money
in gathering into a handsome volume of nearly
500 pages much of the Romany lore, which but
for such researches would soon be lost. Althougk
quite recently published by Messrs J. Maxwell
& Son, Dumfries, the volume, which contains over,
100 illustrations, is already out of print. We
understand the author's material is not yet ex-
hausted, so we look forward to a new and en-
larged edition of his valuable work.

THE WONDERS OF LIFE.

So many marvels surround us in earth, air,-
and sea, and they become so common to us that
we lose the power of seeing them. It is well,
then, that we should occasionally be reminded
of our environment, and this has been admirably
done by Mr Allan Sutcliffe, headmaster of St
John's School, Jedburgh, in a booklet bearing th«)^
above title, and published at 3d by Mr T. S.
Smail, Jedburgh. The author has the happy fac*
ulty of clothing in simple language the great
truths and mysteries of Nature. Beginning with
the speck of dust dancing in the sunbeam, we are-
led en till we reach the stellar world. To our
young readers in particular we would recommend
this little publication as a key to open up the
avenues of knowledge.

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CHRISTIANITY: ITS UNITY IN DIVERSITY.

This is the title of a sermon by the genial min-
ister of Traquair, the Rev. Jardine Wallace,
B.A., which has been recently published by
Messrs Wm. Blackwood & Son. The sermon is re-
markable alike for its whole-hearted plea for
Christian nnity, and for the fact that it was de-
livered ovet twenty years ago, when the "middle
wall of partition'' was much stronger than it is
now. Mr Wallace says: — "There is no reason to
prevent the most cordial co-operation at present
on the part of sister Churches, but rather every
argument for it. Adhering to their respective
communions, the members might well combine
in spreading that blessed Gospel which is dear to
us all, in maintaining with each other the most
brotherly intercourse and intercommunion, and
in reciprocating the ordinary courtesies of life.
There is a wide field for their United energies at
home and abroad — ^a world of sin, ignorance, and
misery." In the prefatory note there is repro-
' duced a hitherto im.published letter by Thomas
Carlyle, who says that he read the sermon " with
«*atie«faction and at^sent." Surely this is the
high-water mark of praise.

MORE CHEAP BOOKS.

We have become so familiar 'with cheap re-
prints in these recent times that we are apt to
forget the sixpenny edition of the "Waver ley
Novels," which has held the field for nearly forty
years. This was owing to the enterprise of the
old-established firm of A. & C. Black, who are
now famous as pioneers in the production of high-
class colour books. Formerly the trouble with
cheap reprints was that the paper covers soon
came off, but now we have the Amalgamated
Press, Ltd., bringing out their "Daily Mail"
series of sixpenny novels with strong flexibl'*
cloth covers, which enable the reader to use the
book without fear of destruction, but with the
same freedom as he handled the paper covers.
The series has begun well with Hall Caine's
"Eternal City," Robert Hichens' "The Woman
*with the Fan." and W. B. Maxwell's " Vivien "--
all new standard novels. If the competition in
the publishing world goes on as at present, we
will all be able to be our own Carnegies, so far
as library formation is concerned.

SCOTIA.

Such is the truly national name of the new
•quarterly issued by the recently-formed St An-
drew Society. This association has met with
marked success, and it has already an imposing
list of prominent national names upon its roll.
The headquarters are in Edinburgh, and it has
been formed to carry on similar work to that of
ttie Scottish Patriotic Association, to which the
new Society owes its origin. " Scotia " is a bulky
budget of most interesting articles, which in
every case appeal to our national sentiment — a
sentiment which strengthens the bonds of the
Empire. The quarterly is published at Is, and
its blue cover with the white St Andrew Cross
may be seen on many bookstalls, and we trust
In many Scottish households.

Castlecraig and Drochil Castle.

^HESE contiguous places, the first a
spacious mansion embroidered with
woods which expand around the
domain and the estate ; the second,
a historical and picturesque ruin, are situate
eight miles from Peebles and seven from
Biggar, and are therefore not remote from
access by railway, while the region round
about them is one wherein you may, if so dis-
posed, have the "ultima thule of quiet;" on .
the other hand, you may have " quietude lim-
ited," varied in summer by the gaiety of the
visitors who seek out the mansions, farms, and
lodgings available to them s» tenants. Re-
garding shooting, fishing, the motor, the cycle,
and the golf club, where are these not to be
had 1 Climb the braes beyond Drochil Castle,
from which you look across to Castlecraig, and
equally on the road, bordering the river Tarth,
or by the Lyne, you will see and hear a fair
amount of summer life in its different aspects.
This bit of country between Tarth bridge, past
Castlecraig to Skirling and Biggar, may be
termed a good land and u large; one you
would do well to traverse on a summer day.

Our first remembrance of Castlecraig is in
the distant days when it was (continuing till
quite recently) in the hands of the Gibson-
Carmichael family, whose high social status,
vast acreage, and political influence gave them
an important position in a county of which the
late Lord Wemyss was then the head as Lord-
Lieutenant, though not resident therein, and
which was in Parliament represented in turns
by the Montgomerys, Forbes-Mackenzie, and
the Gibsoij-Carmichaels. There is an excel-
lent public road running, as it were, through
the policies of Castlecraig, with the mansion
on the left a large house reposing on a
wooded bank, and surrounded by a perfect for-
est of leafy shade. In the immediate neigh-
bourhood is the old house of Scotston, the
kirk and manse of Kirkurd, the hamlet of
Blythbridge, the mansion of Netherurd, and all
these are in proximity to a small stream yield-
ing plenty trout, the Tarth, which joins the
Lyne at Tarth Bridge. Beyond doubt it is
Castlecraig which for many miles dominates
the district, with its intense beauty of wood
and its grassy undulation, its agricultural
farms, trim cottages, hay meadows, gardens
and orchards ; the eye is meemerically attract-
ed to Castlecraig as the place between Biggar
and Peebles, via Skirling and Lyne, and we
cannot fancy any residence more suitable for a

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gentlejnan who has done, and may still be do-
ing, active work, obtaining herein whatever
degree of restfulness he may find desirable.
Stepping from the front-door on a July day
is the flower lawn, wafting its scent of honey-
suckle and roses ; the papers are read, and a
stroll into the forest yields a gladsome shade.
Here the laird makes his plans for the after-
noon drive, which, whether it be to Peebles or
to Biggar, has the best of roads and the
prime of lowland scenery. Happy and grate-
ful man I The close of this summer day finds
him on good terms with mankind and himself,
and on the Sunday he contributes to the plate
of Kirkurd Church, a sovereign gleaming
bright among the dusky pennies or the dim-
med " saxpence!'*

Scotston has this much of historical interest,
that it once belonged to the Telfers, near re-
latives of Tobias Smollett, historian and nov-
elist, who visited the place more than once.
We see here the remains of an interesting old
mansion, now used as a farmhouse, while the
property of Scotston and Knocknowes came by
purchase to the Gibson-Carmichaels exactly a
century ago. But for historical interest more
palpal}le let us now visit Drochil Castle, which
the Earl of Morton of his day commenced to
build, but which he did not live to complete,
he having been executed at the Cross of Edin-
burgh as being art and part in the murder
of Lord Darnley. In Chambers' " History of
Peeblesshire " it is thus referred to: — " Tlie
ruin is open throughout, except some of the
vaults and passages, and the whole, a kind of
pendicle of the farm -steading of Drochill, may
readily be inspected by the tourist. The sit-
uation of the Castle, though dull and lonely,
has not been ill-chosen. It commands a view
of the valleys of the Lyne, Tarth, and Tweed,
and could not have been easily taken by sur-
prise;" and Pennicuik's decription supple-
ments that of Chambers : — " The Nether
Drochill hath been desigpied more for a palace
than a castle of defence, and is of mighty
bulk ; founded and more than half built, but
never finished by the then great and powerful
Regent James Douglas, Earl of Morton. Upon
the front of the south entry of this Castle was
J.E.O.M., James, Earl of Morton, in raised
letters, with the fetter-lock, as Warden of
the Borders. This mighty Earl, for the plea-
sure of the place and the salubrity of the air,
designed here a noble recess and retirement
from worldy business, but was prevented by
his unfortunate and inexorable death, three
years after, Anno 1581." Taken in connec-

tion with Castlecraig, Drochil is made inter-
esting as a most important adjunct of old-
world architecture, well preserved amidst it»
general decay, and its remains constitute, says
Chambers, " the grandest of the ruined castles
in the county." Now residing far away from
it, we turn in memory to the days when it
was frequently visited, and the '* rim of the-
place " was freely accorded us by James Mur-
ray of Craigend, the respected tenant of the-
farm of Drochill, where he resided during sev-
eral leases under the lairdship of the last E^rl
of Wemyss, and this worthy gentleman (Mur-
ray) lived to an age prolonged enough to
make him weather-beaten and rugged like the
very Castle itself. Superintending his staff
of farm-servants, and interesting himself in his
flocks and farm produce, "Old Drochil," as he
came to be called, though not a celebrity, was
a very popular man on the banks of the Lyne,
where his son, also James Murray, laird of
Callands, resided at the mansion of the latter,
near to Newlands manse. Hie family -worship
at Drochil, which included several of the out-
door servants, commenced by the master him-
self raising the tune of the Psalm, followed by
his reading and devotional exercises, and it
was a pleasant sight to observe Mr Murray
returning from kirk or market up the Castle
brae to his peaceful domestic home, which he
so long enjoyed, and where there was dispensed'
much cordial hospitality. Being quite the
fathp^v of the household, and prominent as the
patriarch of the district, we cinnot help asso-
ciatintr this vpneraMe man with these parishes
of Newlands and Kirkurd ; but the jays are*
now cawing their evening melody around th^
Castle, and thus we finish our imperfect sketch
of Castlecraig, <fec.

D. Brown Anderson.

Ne'er did Grecian chisel trace
A Nymph, a Naiad, or a Grace,
Of finer form, or lovelier face !
What though the sun, with ardent frown,
Had slightly tinged her cheek with brown I
— *liady of the Lake."
« • » »

Glide-will is a geizened tub, that huads in nae-
liquor, and gude deed's like the cask, tight,
round, and sound, that will baud liquor for the-
•king. — "Bride of Lammermoor."
* « ♦ *

Set roasted beef and pudding on the opposite -
side o' the pit of Tophet, and an Englishman
will make a spang at it. — "Rob Roy.''

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" Bosells Fair/*

OSELLS FAIR I" What memories
these words suggest in the mind
of a Lessudden laddie 1 "The
Fair I" There was only one fair,
neither Lammas Fair nor James' Fair counted.
They were outside the Lessudden horizon.

For at least a fortnight before, the days
were counted, and when the » Green became
"common" caps were metaphorically thrown
in the air, arid it was ,with a delicious sense of
proprietorship that we scampered across the
grass. It was ours, and not even the Duke
could put us off. We were keen on our rights.
The first coming of the muggers was eagerly
looked for, and we counted them as they ar-
rived. It was a cause of congratulation when
their numbers exceeded that of the previous
year. ** There's just aboot the same number
on the front green as there was last year."
This, said rather sorrowfully. "Ay, man,"
comes the response from one who has been to
see, " but 'e should see them on the back green.
There's a gey lot there. Their camps are doon
by the pound and up near to Merwick gate."

The muggers' horses were things of delight
tempered with fear. How the muggers rode I
What daring, dashing fellows they were I and
how delightful to ride on horseback to Tweed,
and splash through the cool shallows at the
"Burn-fit" and the " Plainstane. " In addi-
tion to the fascination of the horses, there was
that of dwelling in tents. How that appealed
to us, too!

There were few muggers forty years ago udio
had houses on wheels, as they have now. The
tents for the most part then were made of
stuff of some sort — plaids, blankets, horse-
rugs, and the like — stretched on a wooden
framework. The fire was outside, and the
meals were cooked in pots, and kettles hung
on tripods over the fire.

Even for the mugger children there were
bed-time, washings, and combings of hair, but
how fine and free to sleep on straw in the open
air. The week in which the Green was " com-
mon " was, we thought, a seven days' picnic
for tliem. We knew many of the muggers,
too. The arrival of a new family for the first
time was noted with satisfaction, and we man-
aged somehow to find out how they were re-
lated to the other members of the fraternity.

Tabor, of " Tabor take a tattie, ay, Tabor,
take twae," was there ; Hawick Wattie, with
his one song, was a frequent visitor ; the Doug-
lases, and many others never failed, and we

spoke familiarly of them by their christian
names, and felt a proprietary interest in them,
for they came to " oor green " and " oor fair."
School holidays in these days did not b^in
till some time in August. This, I fancy, was od
account of the harvest, and so we had to make
our visits to the Green when " the school was
not in;" even "leave-time" allowed us, at
the risk of a palmy for being late, to run up
and just take a hurried peep. We always got
a holiday of two or three days for the fair, and
we felt that Providence was distinctly unfair
when the fair fell on a Friday or a Monday.
For it to, fall on a Saturday, of course, was
rankest injustice. We maintained that the
least that the school authorities could do In
such a case was to give us the days all the
same, but they did not. The day before the
fair we sang : —

" The morn's the fair, and I'll be there.
And I'll have on ma curly hair ;
I'll meet ma lass at the fit o' the stair.
And gie her a glass and a wee drap mair."

On the day itself we were up before breakfast.
I once knew a boy who spent all his coppers
before breakfast. What a day he put in I but
he did not leave the fair ; neither did he ever
err in that particular way again. After break-
fast and after dinner we were " up " again —
it was always " up the Green " — and after tea
we took a final look round. Then we made
ourselves as unobtrusive as possible whenever
any of the Home authorities appeared,
lest they should say, "Home, bed." If such
an one appeared we discovered we had business
in another part of the fair.

Before the Marts were established at New-
town the fair was a great sheep and cattle
market, and it was one of the traditions of
boyhood that coppers, to what seemed to us a
fabulous amount, might be made by acting as
assistant drovers. Nice supple ash plants were
cut from the '" Braes " some time previous —
we had a great belief in what were called
" ground ashes " — ^and (we were ready when
the sheep and cattle came on the groi\nd, but,
truth to tell, coppers were not plentiful. One
Irish drover had a little way of enlisting drov-
ers, and promising to pay big money; but
when pay-time was drawing near he made a
practice of shouting some order, then, pretend-
ing that it had not been carried out, he worked
himself into a great rage, and rushed at his
assistant with uplifted stick. The amateur
drover usually took to his heeli without wait-
ing for payment. He got sen-ice for nothing
in this wnv.

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There were, as wai^ natural, some farmers
^nd cattle-dealers who objected, to the Marts.
Human nature, even among farmers, is in-
tensely conservative. A few of them made an
organised attempt to buy and sell their beasts
on the Green by private bargain, as they had
been accustomed to do, and as their fathers
had done before them ; but Messrs Swan cap-
tured one of the leaders in this movement and
made him their agent. In addition, the Marts
commended themselves, and now cattle and
sheep are conspicuous by their absence. I can
remember the last solitary lot of sheep that
was on the Green. They, or it, stood on the
Green on the other side of the road from the
Bmiddy, and they looked forlorn.

The horse market was held on the back
Green, and, again, to go there w^s a delight
tempered with fear, for you never knew when
a horse was coming charging down at full-tilt,
one man hanging on to its head, and seller and
probable buyer watching its paces.

The muggers were all horse-coupers. Many
of them had good beasts, but they were always
willing to make a swap, and, as a rule, what
they did not know about horse-flesh was not
worth knowing. They were past-masters in
the art of doctoring an aged staid horse so that
it capered and danced with the youngest and
freshest.

Tlie day before the fair, or, perhaps,
even the day before that, the shofws, shooting
galleries, and hobby-horses arrived, and were
duly set up in their stances. All those were
more primitive than these we are accustomed
to see to-day. So far as I remember, the mo-
tive power for the hobby-horses was a man,
who perspired freely as he turned a big wheel.
The better class had a horse or a pony which
did the work. Now they have steam-power
and electric light, and even the organ — no, it is
a full orchestra — is driven by steam.

The " kraraes " — id est the stalls — were an-
other source of delight. There used to be an
old woman who came evei-y year, for long, with
a large stall, in which she displayed toys. To
us they seemed marvellous, but I fancy that
children to-day would turn up their noses at
them. Among other things, she had a stock
of fancy canes, and it was the correct thing,
after you came to a certain age, to buy one of
those swagger-sticks and carry it all day.
They rarely lasted beyond the day, but you got
one all the same, and you compared yours with
your neighbours.

It was that stall that was responsible for
emptying the pockets of the boy whom I men-

tioned a little ago, and insult was added to
injury too, for later on in the day, when he
was asking the price of something, he was or-
dered away because he had no money. That
was the largest krame of the kind there, and it
always stood in the same position on the Green
quite near to the smiddy. From it other stalls
stretched in an irr^ular, broken line over to
the road that leads to the cross-roads and up
the side of it fpr a little way..

There you could get sherbet drinks, for a
ha'penny; yellow gooseberries, popularly sup-
posed to be ripe by the fair ; sweets of many
hues and various degrees of indigestibility, and
so on. There were the usual cocoa-nut shies
and aunt-sallies. On one occasion, at least, I
have seen the nimble-fingered thimble rigger
there, but he had short shrift, for the law made
him move on.

Occasionally, too, there came the auctioneer,
who offered bargains and made startling pre-
sents. You bought a sixpenceworth, and you
got your sixpence back — at least one or two
did. The others who came in then with a rush
did not.

The Duke of Buccleuch is owner of the
ground on which the fair is held, and thirty
years ago there was a quaint custom in vogue.
Some time in the forenoon a procession was
formed. There was a man with a drum, and
others with some sort of weapon or symbol of
office on their shoulders, and to the tuck of
drum they marched through the fair. Whether
this was a relic of the " Court of the dusty
feet" — a court that used to be constituted to
tr^ and punish offences committed in the fair,
or a proclamation of the Duke of Buccleuch's
over-lordship, I cannot say.

I have the impression that I once saw a man
committed to the stocks on the fair day. The
stocks lay near the old police station on the
Green, and were unused most of the yeai. I
certainly saw a man confined, but I am not so
sure that it was on the fair day, and I do not
know by whose authority he was put there.
Perhaps some of the older readers of the Bor-
der Magazine can throw some light on the
origin and meaning of this custom and on the
fate of the stocks.

I think that the late Mr Charles Lamb, of
St Boswells, was one of the officials who
marched through the fair.

Beyond the time that my memory recalls, I
believe that the day after the fair was de-
voted to games and horse-racing. The mug-
gers played a great part as horsemen. One
year, however, a young man, a native of the

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village, was killed while riding, and after that
sad event the games and races were stopped.

I re-visited the fair some yeai*s ago, aftei- an
absence of many years, and saw many changes.
The cattle and sheep had vanished ; the mug-
gers are now only allowed on the (ireen on the
fair day, a few hours before, and a few hour*
afterwards. I suppose if they cared to insist
on their ancient rights they might occupy the
Green for seven days as formerly, but it is
not worth "while. The horse market is as busy
as ever ; wool is still sold ; the shows are more
numerous and better appointed ; the muggers
have mostly got houses on wheels now, and the
tent is a thing of the past. The old stocks
have disappeared, and so has the quaint pro-
cession of which I spoke.

The old folks used to say, " Bosells fair,
Bosells flood," and occasionally the 18th of
July is a day of rain, but when I was there
last the sun .shone gloriously, and one could
only move about with effort. Lammas fair
has gone, but Bosells fair gives evidence of
nourishing for many years. That this may be
80 is the wish of A. L. A. Sudden.

A Border Literary Chronicle, with
Brief Biographical Notes.

PART X.

iSiBBALD, Jambs (b. at Whitelaw, Roxburghshire,
1747— d. at Leith, 1803); educated at Selkirk;
after trying farming went to Edinburgh and
set up as a bookseller; wrote in 1802 "The
Chronicles of Scottish Poetry from the 13th
Century to the Union of the Crowns;" edited
the "Edinburgh Magazine" from 1785-92;
friend of Burns; had a circulating lihrary in
Parliament Square, which young Walter Scott
used to frequent. (6.M. iv. 93).

Shanks, Key. Alexakdbk (h. 1731), was Burgher min-
ister at Jedburgh from 1760 till 1799; "was a
man of great simplicity of character, but very
considerable talents." He publishecl several
sermons, one on " Peace and Order " attracted
the attention of Qovernment, a^nd in conse-
quence he was offered a pension, whicli he mod-
estly declined.

tfMiBBET, Thomas (b. at Peebles, 1810— d. at Edin-
burgh, 1854), practised as a surgeon at Inner-
leithen; wrote for "Chambers's Journal," of
which he acted as sub-aditor, and in the same
capacity for the "Scotsman;" published in
1851 a vol. of poems, " lo Anche I Poems chiefly
Lyrical." His best piece is "The Scottish
Widow's Lament ;" his " Conde's Wife " was
acted at Edinburgh, 1842; published also "Clans
of the Highlands." 1850.

SoMiEViLLE. Riv. Thomas, D.D., F.R.S.E. (b. ai
Hawick, 1741-Hi. May 16, 1830). minister of
Minto, 1767-72; succeeded Dr MacKnight at
Jedburgh, 1772; wrote histories of the Restora-
tion and Fall cf the Stuarts, 1792, and of
Queen Anne, 1798; and an interesting autobio-

graphy, " My own Life and Times," from 1741-
1814, published in 1861. He was uncle and
father-in-law to

SoMBRViLLB, Maey (b. 1780— <l. 1872), daughter of
Admiral W. Geo. Fairfax, the hero of the
battle of Camperdown; married (1) in 1804 her
cousin, Samuel Greig, who died in 1807, and
(2) in 1812 another cousin, William Somer-
ville (1771-1860), physician to Chelsea Hospital,
eldest son of Dr Thos. Somerville; devoted her-
self to science and wrote on the Spectrum and
Laplace; "The Mechanism of the Heavens"
appeared in 1831 ; " The Connection of the Phy-
sical Sciences," in 1834; and her "Physical
Goography " in 1848. In later life she settled
in Italy, and died at Naples in Nov. 1872.

Steblb, Andbbw (b. at Coldstream, 1811 — d. Feb.
20, 1882), was a shoemaker to trade; contri-
buted poetry to the Border newspapers; pub-
lished a vol. of poems in 1871.

Stoddabt, Thomas Tod (b. Feb. 14, 1810-^. Nov. 22,
1880), " the Scottish Walton " ; was educated
for the bar and passed as advocate, but gave
up law and settled down for life at Kelso,
1836 ; wrote numerous angling songs and poems
—"Art of Angling," 1835; "Angling Remini-
scences,'' 1837; "Songs and Poems," 1839;
"Angler's Companion," 1847; "An Angler's
Rambles" and "Angling Songs," 1866; "Songs
of the Seasons and other Poems," 1873. His
daughter, Anna M. Stoddart, is the biographer
of Prof. Blackie. whose forbears belonged to
Kelso.

Stoey, Robert (b. at Yetholm, March 3, 1790 — d.
18 ), schoolmaster at Yetholm, afterwards
minister of Roseneath, the intimate friend of
Chalmers, Irving, Thos. Pringle, Dr Norman
Macleod, Dr Robert Lees, Ac. ; father of Prin-
cipal Story, who wrote his Memoir, 1862.

Tblfbr, James (b. at Southdean, 1800 — d. Jan. 18,
1862), balladist; schoolmaster at Saughtree, on
the Liddell; wrote a vol. of "Border Ballads
and Miscellaneous Poems" (1824), dedicated to
the Ettrick Shepherd, also the Border story of
"Barbara Grav," 1835, and a vol. of "Tales
and Sketches." about 1855. (B.M. v. 55, 68).

Thomson, James (b. at Ednam, near Kelso, Sept.
11, 1700— (1. at Richmond, Aug, 27, 1748), poet
of the " Seasons ;" third son of the minister
of Ednara, afterwards of Southdean, near
Jedburgh, where the poet spent his early
years; educated at Jedburgh Grammar School,
and studied at Edinburgh for the Church ; pat-
ronised by Lord Cranston, Sir W. Bennet, and
Sir Gilbert Elliot of Minto, at whose ii'f-id-
ence he spent some of his vacations; remo/iHl
to London in 1725; puV)li8hed "Winter" in
1726; "Summer" and "Spring," 1728;
"Seasons" complete, 1730; "Castle of Indol-
ence," 1748; wrote also several plays — " Sophon-
isba," "Agamemnon," "The Masque of Al-
fred " (which contains the famous song "Rule,
Britannia"), " Tancred and Sigismunda;"
"Coriolanus"; died at Richmond, to which he
had removed, in 1736. (B.M. v. 163, 166; vi. 16).

Thomson, Anobbw, D.D. (b. at Langholm, 1779— d.
1831), minister of Sprouston, 1802; translated in
1808 to Perth, and afterwards became minister
of St George's, Edinburgh : a prominent h-ader
and orator in the Church Courts; wrote on
public questions of the day.

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Thomson, Jamiss (b. at Bowden, July 4, 1827— died
at Hawick. l>ec. 21, 1888), spent the greater
part of his life at Hawick; published in 1870
a small vol. entitled "Doric Lays and LyrioB."
"Up wi' the Banner," "The Border Queen,"
"The Auld Smiddy End," "Star o' Robbie
Burns," "Oor Jock," are some of hie better
known pieces. (B.M. iv. 133).

TuBNBULL, William, a son of TurnbuU of Bedrule;
Bishop of Glasgow, 1448-64. In 1450 he pro-
cured a bull from Pope Nicholas V. for the
founding of Glasgow University. He is said
to have founded Jedburgh Grammar School,
and was Archdeacon of Lothian, Keeper of the
Privy Seal, and Bishop of Dunkeld, before he
was promoted to the see of Glasgow.

Vbitoh, James, of Inchbonny, near Jedburgh (b. 1770
d. 1838), a self-taught astronomer and philo-
sopher; friend of Sir Walter Scott and Sir
David Brewster, who spent much of his boy-
hood in Veitch's shop; constructed telescopes,
Ac, and wrote articles on mechanical subjects
to the " Edinburgh Cyclopeedia." (B.M. v. 15,
34. 45).

Veitch, John, LL.D. (b. at Peebles, Oct. 29, 1829—
d. Sept. 3, 1894), was professor of Logic and
Rhetoric, St Andrews, I860; occfupied the same
chair at Glasgow from 1864 till* his death;
wrote "History and Poetry of the Scottish
Border," 1878; "Hillside Rhymes," 1872;
" Tweed and other Poems," 1875 ; " Feeling for
Nature in Scottish Poetry," 1887 ; " Merlin and
other Poems," 1889; "Border Essays," 1896.
B.M. i. 214; 198).

VBrrcH, William, LL.D. (b. at Lanton, near Jed-
burgh, 1794— d. 1885), educated at Jedburgh and
Edinburgh University, and a licentiate of the
Church of Scotland; devoted himself to the
study and teaching of Greek in Edinburgh from
1843; known to scholars as the author of
" Greek Verbs, Irregular and Defective," 1848.
He was an excellent Greek scholar, and as-
sisted in revising Liddell and Scott's Greek
Lexicon.

Wadb, Jambs A., author of "A History of Melrose
Abbey;" edited the "Border Magazine," 1863-
64.

Watt, William (b. at West Linton, 1792— d. 1859),
poet; author of a vol. of songs published in
1835; 2nd edit, in 1845. "Kate Dalrymple,"
"The Tinkler's Waddln'." "Merrily danced
the Quaker's Wife," "Auld John Paul,"
" Katie Christie," are some of his better known
pieces.

Watts. Thcmas (b. at Duns, 1845— d. 1888?), pub-
lished in 1880 a collection of his poems under
the title of " Woodland Echoes."

Watson, Rev. James Hibam (b. at Eccles, Berwick-
shire, 1852— <1. Jan. 24, 1903), son of the Rev.
James Watson, minister of Eccles ; educated at
Eccles and Edinburgh University, where he
studied for the Church; contributed to the
magazines and periodicals; chief work, "Pro-
verbs, Proverbial Expressions and Popular
Rhymes of Scotland."

Watson, Jambs (b. at Jedburgh, April 1, 18a5— d.
April 13, 1898), wrote "History of Jedburgh
Abbey : Historical and Descriptive," 1877 ;
" Living Bards of the Border," 1859 ; and var-
ious interesting literary papers. (B.M. iv. 136,
152. 165).

WAaoH, Alexanobb, D.D. (b. near Earlston, Aug.
16, 1754— d. Dec. 14. 1827), educated at Earl-
ston, Edinburgh University, and Aberdeen;
licensed to preach in 1779; minister of New-
town, near Melrose, 1780-82, and of Wells Street
Congregational Church, London, 1782; pub-
lished a vol. of " Sermons," 1825.

Wilson, Jambs Hood, D.D. (b. at Duns, 1829— d.
18 ), minister of the Barclay Church, Edin-
burgh. (B.M. i. 201).

Wilson, John Mackay (b. at Tweedmouth, 1803— d.
1835), poet and dramatist ; editor of the " Tales
of the Border " and of the " Berwick Adver-
tiser." 1832-35. (B.M. ix. 134).

Wilson, James (b. at Hawick, 1805— d. 1861), for
some time carried on business as a hatter, but
afterwards devoted himself to literature and
economical questions; in 18;59 published a vol.
on " The Influence of the Corn Laws -** in 1848
editor of the "Economist"; in 1847 elected
M.P. ; was Secretary to the Board of Control
and Financial Secretary to the Treasury; in
1860 sent by the Government on a political
mission to India, but died in the following
year.

Wilson, Robert (b. 1772— d. Sept. 7» 1837), wrote a
"History of Hawick," 1825, and a "Disquisi-
tion on the Corn Laws," 1826; was a leading
citizen of Hawick, and took great interest in
the political questions of the day.

Young, John, D.D. (b. 1744— d. March 25. 1806).
anti-burgher minister of Hawick, 1767-1806:
wrote several vols, of Sermons and Essays, and
a History of the French War in 2 vols.

Youngbb, John (b. at Longnewton, parish of An-
crum, July 5, 1785— d. June 19, 1860), a shoe-
maker to trade; a man of great intelligence
and sterling honesty, who could "heuk a
saumon and write a guid sang," for "in both
was he equally skilful;" lived at St Boswells:
published "Thoughts as they rise," a vol. of
poems, 1834: "River Angling for Salmon and
Trout." 1839; left MS. Memories, published in
" Autogiography of John Younger." Kelso.
1881. (B.M. ii. 33).

« « «

With the present month our "Chronicle"
comes to an end. It is more than likely that
some names may have escaped the compiler, and
readers of the Border Magazine would confer a
favour if they would -kindly send to the Editor
any brief notices of Border worthies which have
br^en omitted from the list. These oonld be added
later on by way of supplement. No names, how-
over, of persons still living should be given.
A. Graham,
(Compiler of "Chronicle.")

Love's darts
Cleave hearts
Through mail shirts.

"Fair Maid of Perth."
* « «

Too much rest in rust,

There's ever cheer in changing ;
We tyne be too much trust,

So we'll be up and ranging.

Motto ("Tlie Betrothed.")

Printed and Published by A. Walker h. Son, Galashiels.

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SUPPLEMENT to the "BORDER MAGAZINE," Vol XII.. No. 137.

REV. ROBERT BORLAND, YARROW.

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REV. ROBCRT BORLAND^

MiraSTeS Of VAMOW.

" Oh Yarrow garlanded with rhyme.
That clothee thee in a mournful glory/'

I O enter this lovely valley even with a
soul no grester than the common-
plaoe tourist is to realise the pres-
sure of an atmosph^e whioh caniiot
be explained in terms of the laws of physics.
The air is spiritualised; ballad, legend,
romance, and chivalry conjure shapes of some
old unhappy far-off time that move across the
soft, green-rownded hills, peep from every bush,
nestle among the bracken and heather, and
murmur in the sweet wave of Yarrow flowing.
To attempt an analysis of one's feelings is to
run the risk of materialising one's concep-
tions; better to feel and be silent else the
dream of glaraourie and of fairyland will van-
ish.

Yarrow has a literature all its own, and no
student of our language can be said to know
the finer essence of that which is peculiarly
Scottish till his mind has assimilated the
spirit of the Border ballads, especially the
group that centres in the love and tragedy of
this fascinating valley. Wordsworth felt it,
English though he was ; the poetic interpreter
of nature was at home the moment his eye

caught the contour of the hills and his ear
heard the ripple of tlie stream, if familiar-
ity does iK)t always breed contemptj it eeldom
fails to dull the vision, even when the acting
influences are more or less spiritual ; but the
late Mr James Brown, Selkirk, who lived all
his life within sight of this valley, could write
in middle life of Yarrow as if his soul had just
been caught on a fresliet of poetic experience.
His poems ei^ress that subtle charm peculiar
to his environment which show how thorough-
ly the spirit of the valley had penetrated his
life.

Yarrow has outstanding names associated
with its history and romance : Dr Rutherford,
Scott, Hogg, Christopher North, Mimgo Park,
and Veitch rise easily in oiie's memory ; but
while they are recognised as having given the
valley its setting in Scottish literature, the
real life of the people resident gathers round
the manse, and centres in the lives of those
ministers who for centuries, even before the
Reformation, administered the ordinances of
the church. Notable among tliese are, Ruth-
erford, the great-grandfather of Sir Walter
Scott, and the two Russells, father and son, but
not less (vtriking has been the incumbency of

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the present minister, the Rev. Robert Borland.
No one can meet Mr Borland without feeling
in touch with an interesting personality. His
tall, straight figure, inches beyond the six feet,
abundant hair that crowns his head like a
miniature snowdrift, and his keen, sharp eyes
stamp him as a man whom you cannot pass
without notice. Bom in Dalserf, in the
Middle Ward of Lanarkshire, fully a half-cen-
tury ago, and educated in the village school at
Stonehouse, he early set his heart upon being
a minister, but he could not enter the Church .
of Scotland, for Calvinism at that time in its
severer aspects dominated the teaching of the
pulpit and repelled him. His sympathies were

that quieter times had set in, permeating the
pulpit ; and Mr Borland, recognising the trend
of thought, resolved to follow the lead which
his experience of church life and work had
given him. In 1880 he was admitted a stud-
ent in Theology in the University of Glasgow,
and became a probationer of the Church of
Scotland. His recognised ability as a prea-
cher secured for him at once a call to Kirkton
parish, which he declined in favour of another
call to Ladhope in Galashiels. Here he lab-
oured for about a year and. a half with much
acceptance^ preaching Sunday after Sunday to
crowded congregations. The church and par-
ish of Yarrow became vacant in January, 1883,

YARROW KIRK.

with the views of Morison, who founded the
Evangelical Union, and he entered the Uni-
versity of Glasgow to qualify for that church,
eventually occupying charges at Langholm and
Kilmarnock. But Mr Borlana was not long
in realising that the three "universalities"
which lay at the basis of the teaching of the
Evangelical Union Church had begun to pene-
trate the thought and life of the Church of
Scotland. The teaching of Campbell of Row,
in many respects akin to Morison 's, and for
many years sterilised by the cold blasts of con-
troversy that blew between the Church and the
State, which ended in the Disruption, was, now

by tlie death of Dr Russell ; and Mr Borland,
sent by his Presbytery to supply in accord-
ance with the laws and practice of the Church,
so caj)tivated the people with his eloquence
that they resolved to give him a call. This
he accepted. For twenty-four years he has
been minister of this beautiful and historic
parish, endearing himself to his people by the
beauty of his services and the charm of his
manner.

Relief from the strain of a town charge has
provided him with the leisure requisite for
literary work, and the years have been fruit-
ful. " Yarrow : Its Poets and Poetry," " Bor-

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der Raids and Reivers," " A Memoir of James
Hogg," "A Holiday in Norway," and "A
Word in Season," besides articles to numerous
magazines and newspapers, have followed in
regular succession, all indicating a cultured
and well-informed mind. Mr Borland has
thoroughly assimilated the history, literature,
and spirit of the Yarrow valley. There is not
a single question of antiquarian or literary
interest which has not exercised his mind, and
regarding which he has not given proofs of
independent study.

A man of affairs, he touches and moulds
the social and educational, as well as the re-

in the Courts of the Church his voice is
often heard, but he never speaks without im-
pressing the brethren with his grasp of detail
and intelligent insight. He is an ecclesiastic
of the best type — large-minded and warm-
hearted — and though he frequents Queen
Street, No. 22, as a member of numerous Com-
mittees, they have failed to put the brand of
that fatal number upon him.

Those of us who listened to Mr Borland's
preaching nearly a quarter of a century ago
can never forget the sonorous roll of his voice,
his vigorous eloquence, and closely-compacted
thought, and to one inclined to forecast the

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W^^j^g^^K^^M

YARROW KIRK, SHOWING ALTERATIONS.

From a Photo by

ligious side of his parish at all points. Chair-
man of the School Board, and the Parish
Council, member of the County Council, and of
the County Committee on Secondary Educa-
tion, he lives as busy a life as the minister of
a city parish, afad exercises an influence few
city ministers wield. As a testimony to
his breath of view and practical insight, the
Chairmen of the School Boards within the
County of Selkirk elected him to represent
them on the Provincial Committee for the
Training of Teachers. He is an F.S.A. (Scot.),
and takes part in the studies and business of
numerous other societies.

J. R, Brown, SoUcirk,

years, there was the danger that when the
fires glowed with less heat, he might rea<jh
the unpopularity of over -burdened thought ;
but Yarrow has saved him from the severities
of the logical mind. The rich colour of poetic
thought has checked and corrected latent ten-
dencies, giving to the pulpit utterances of lat^r
years a more emotional and imaginative
strain. And yet, while the years have made
him more of the poet, he is still the keen dia-
lectician, reading all the best theological lit-
erature as it issues from the Press, never losing
interest in a " problem," and eager to discuss
with whomsoever will. As a conversational-

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ist^ he is '^ facile princeps '^ among all the min-
isters of my acquaintance, and hours spent
with him are the most cherished memories of
life.

It is well known that our Universities are
endowed with travelling scholarships assoc-
iated with theology, the classics, and science;
but why should the Church of Scotland not
Save a travelling lectureship as an adjunct to
the literary department of the Young Men's
Guilcl ? There could be no difficulty in decid-
ing as to the minister who should receive the
first appointment. Mr Borland's claims are
pre-eminent, for his fame as a lecturer is wide-
ly acknowledged. He has done valuable ser-
vice to the Church in her several parishes,
where he has been called back time and again
to deliver lectures, which never fail to charm
with their humour and pathos, as well as their
exact scholarship and literary grace.

Though Mr Borland is conservative in many
respects, with a strong love for all that the
Church has inherited of the beautifid and the
true, he has come to recognise that Yarrow
Kirk, built in 1640, has fallen behind the
aesthetic needs of the time, and with the aid
of sympathetic heritors, members and friends,
he has executed a scheme of thorough renova-
tion and adapted it to modern requirements.
A beautiful apse has been built on the south
wall of the church, in which there have been
placed three handsome stained-glass windows.
The interior has been completely renewed, the
whole woodwork being of oak, with much
lovely panelling and screen work. The cost
has amounted to £1700, and the bulk of this
sum was raised by Mr Borland's lectures in
different parts of the country. Everywhere
he went the people evinced the keenest inter-
est in the work, and responded to his appeals
with a heartiness which astonished the lec-
turer.

A day in Yarrow has always been associated
in my memory with a day at the manse. A
warm welcome and generous hospitality from
Mrs, as well as Mr, Borland never fails to meet
one. To sit at the study window and look
out on Deuchar Swire, with the soft, green,
rounded hill behind, where the shadows play
like fairies on the slopes, while the lonely
music of the river mingles with the hum of
conversation — to think of Yarrow, its legends,
romance, chivalry, and song, and weave all as
parts of our common life — these are memories
that touch sources of feeling, hope, and in-
spiration as near the religious as it is possible
for one to experience outside the Christian
faith. Alkx. Loudon.

Regarding Yarrow Kirk restoration, Mr
Dimcan Fraser, writing in the " Southeru
Reporter " of 18th April, says: —

" A THING OF BHAUTT IS A JOT FOB BVBR.'*

We have heard a good deal about the sue-
CjBSsful restoration of Yarrow Kirk, but cir-
cumstances had not allowed us to see and judge
for ourselves, until last Sunday. It was a
lovely April day, cold, but clear, with every
hill standing bold against the blue sky, dis-
tinct as a cameo. Four miles down the valley
on such a day was ideal church going. Sa
seemed to think many of the good folk of the
district, for they hied on their way in good
numbers, considering the claims of the season
upon the shepherd worshippers. The impres-
sion made upon our minds when we entered
the gate of the -churchyard was, that somehow
the ground covered more space than of old, or
that the various gravestones were at least more
distinctly brought into view. It was with
mingled feelings that we saw the names of
many who, in bygone days, were wont to await
the ringing of the kirk-bell, even as we were
doing that day. The exterior of Yarrow Kirk
has much of its old familiar look, save for the
semi -octagonal bulge of the apse, and its ad-
ditional length. The interior — ahl Who
can describe the alteration there? Graceful
in form, artistic in wood and stone, spacious
in its pews, and grateful to the senses in its
chaste colouring — there was nothing obtrus-
ive, but much that was helpful to devotion.
We have known Yarrow Kirk when its dim
religious light was too real for comfort ; and
when the fresh air from the glorious adjacent
hills was too rigorously excluded. But for all
that we revered it for its history, and for the
eminence and piety of the famous men who*
successively filled its pulpit. But neither re-
ligious tradition nor manse piety is endan-
gered by the beautiful house of worship now
placed at the disposal of the dwellers in the
classic vale. Old associations are precious I
Here they are not endangered, but enhanced.
Older folk treasure their memories, but we
almost envy the children the impressions and
memories they are laying up around their
beautiful church. While Mr Borland wa«r
earnestly delivering his message, we could not
help recalling the aphorism of the political
economists — that he who makes two blades of
grass grow instead of one is a benefactor of
mankind ; and we thought how much more is
he a benefactor of mankind who can raise a
" house beautiful " upon the sombre founda-
tion of an old one.

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The Proclamation of the Sovereign.

SOME RECORDS OP JEDBURGH.

By Pboyost Hilson.

[fLNCE 1901 this subject, as relating to Scot-
tish jurisdiction, has from time to time
occupied the attention of the Convention
of Royal Burghs. The burgh represen-
tatives were compelled to deal seriously
with it, owing to the procedure which
took place throughout Scotland at the ascension
of His Majesty King Edward in 1901. Till then
the belief was prevalent that in the ancient Royal
burghs of ScotlaLnd a King or Queen ought to be
proclaimed at the Mercat Cross, and that the
lieges had an immemorial right to hear the all-
important message from the mouths of their Pro-
vosts and Magistrates. This claim was believed to
be founded on immemorial usage,, maturing under
the rights and privileges conferred by the Royal
charters which called these burghs into independ-
ent corporate being. Mr Cosmo Innes, in his
" Scottish Legal Antiquities," says that " the very
essence of Royal Burgh tenure is that the burgh
holds immediately of the Crown," and that the
Parliament in the time of David II. declared it
illegal for the King to interpose any persons be-
tween him and his vassals. He sets forth in
ample historical detail the inherent powers of self-
government which the Royal Burghs for centuries
enjoyed. By the twenty-first article of the tTnion
it was enacted that "the rights and privileges of
the Royal Burghs of Scotland as they now are do
remain entire after the Union, and notwithstand-
ing thereof." Round the Mercat Cross linger
many memories of the past, and to the indwellers
it is a spot really sanctified by tradition. But in
1901, when King Edward was proclaimed, the Mer-
cat Cross was no longer held inviolate in not a few
of the Royal Burghs. Owing to the operation of
an ill-considered Order in Council, dated 11th
August, 1881, a new procedure was set up, whereby
copies of all Royal Proclamations, except those for
further proroguing Parliament, were directed
to be sent to the Sheriffs of all counties in Scot-
land, who were directed to make them known *' in
the manner accustomed." Had the latter instruc-
tion been punctiliously observed much conflict of
■ opinion and irritation might have been avoided.
In a good many burghs the lieges at the proclama-
tion of Edward saw their Provost and Magistrates
ignored altogether, and the Sheriff in supreme
authority at the Mercat Cross. Indignation and
ill-feeling were created, and it is not too much to
say that the heartiness and loyalty of a memor-
able occasion were marred to a considerable extent
in many an old Royal Burgh. To do the Sheriffs
justice, they acted in some cases with caution, and
did not avail themselves of their utmost author-
ity. This was notably the case at Edinburgh,
Aberdeen, Perth, and Dundee. In Glasgow the
new King was proclaimed by the Sheriff in George
Square, and it is stated there is no record of the
occasion in the Council minutes.

In 1901, on the motion of the Provost of Forres,
the Convention opened up the question with the
Scottish Home OflBce, and initiated the slow pro-
cess of obtaining redress. For its guidance the
late Mr William Officer, agent of the Convention,
prepared a memorial, which was addressed to Lord

Balfour of Burleigh, Secretary for Scotland. It
was a document of great interest and value» as
Mr Officer had collected many historical data on
the subject and cited numerous precedents. He
had also investigated the procedure which had
taken place at the recent proclamation of Edward,
and tabulated the results. In his print of the
claims of the Royal Burghs, Mr Officer stated that
in thirty-seven of these the Magistrates proclaimed
the ascension of the Sovereign, and that in thirty-
two the Sheriffs did so. Of the latter he mentions
that twenty-four were head Royal Burghs of
Counties, and seven of them possessed an express
grant of Sheriffship. Now that the Convention
has received a final report from the sub-committee
appointed, Mr Officer's elucidation of a somewhat
knotty constitutional point must be gratefully re-
called and acknowledged.

To the student of burghal customs it may be of
interest to get a glimpse into the ceremonial of
olden times associated with one of the older
Royal Burghs, namely, Jedburgh. At the same
time it will help to illustrate the grievances set
forth under the title of this article. The Queen's
birthday was always a notable event in the humble
life of the lieges, and was celebrated befittingly.
The Town Council met on 6th February, 1706, and
the minute of meeting tells that " In respect that
this is the Queen's birthday (Queen Anne),
appoynts the Magistrates and Counsell to convein
in the Counsell-hous about thrie o'cloak in the
afternoon in ordour for ther gooing to the Croce
for solemnizing therof. Appoynts the bells to be
rung and the drum to beate at twa o'cloak." The
previous year the ceremony was more imposing,
as a " feu de joie " was given in the market place,
and with a parsimony thus quaintly expressed —
'* The Counsell, seeing Tewsday is the Queen's
birthday, appoynts the trade companie. with four
of each of the eight trades, to meit in the church-
yeard betwixt thrie and four in the afternoon, to
attend the Magistrates at the Croce, and ther to
fyre when ordoured. And ordaines the thresaurer
to give them thrie pund of puder to be distribut
amongst them, which, with a pund on Wedinsday
last, makes four pund in the haill." The burgh
was then in a position to supply a volunteer com-
pany for such special occasions as this. In Jan-
uary, 1705, at a meeting of Council the Provost
had represented, "That maist pairts of the king-
dom are putting themselves in a posture of de-
fence conforme to Act of Parliament, and that it
is necessar this plaice doe the -same as any plaice
in the kingdom. And for that end produced a
leet of young men fitt for to take armes. Also
named some persons in the toune to be officers to
traine those, who shall ingadge." The Council
also drew upon the trades for their quota, enjoin-
ing "the aught deacones to meit and consider
amang themselves how to make up ane companie
of ane hunderth men or therby, and to mount
them with sufficient armes to goe out with ther
deacons, or such of them as they shall" choyse, to
be ther officers. And to attend the Magistrates
and ther companie whenever they goe out for the
good of the burgh." As time went on the newly-
appointed town's guard showed its utility at var-
ious crises in the history of the town. At the
celebration of the Queen's birthday in 1711 the
Magistrates recommended the inhabitants "to set
out ther luminaries and lights," and the bells to

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ring from four to eight in the evening. There
being a company of dragoons stationed in Jed-
burgh at this time, the treasurer was instructed
to invite the officers to come to the Cross.

At a meeting of Council held 11th August, 1712,
the Provost represented "That maist pairt of the
burrowes of Scotland had addrest her Majestie
upon the accoumpt of the Peace. And therefor
presented to them ane draught by this burgh,
which was approven of by the Counsell, and the
Provost appoynted to seign the samyn." At a
subsequent meeting the Provost produced a letter
which he had received from Sir David Dalrymple
of Hailles, advocate, "wherein he shows a great
dale of cyndes and affection he hes for this
burgh, and promising to serve the Counsell and
communitie therof to the best of his capacity.
And how honorably he had gott the toun's ad-
dress to the Queen, presented to her by his Grace
the Duke of fiamllton, and which he wytts was
graciously receaved by her Majestie." It may be
stated that "the Peace" referred to was anterior
to the famous nine-fold treaty of Utrecht, con-
cluded on 11th April, 1713. The news of it at last
reached the burgh on 15th May of that year. The
Council is specially convened, and the Provost
stated that "A proclamation came this day for the
Peace, which accordingly he had caused proclaim-
ed. And that he had now conveined them how to
signifie the same and to propose a solemnitie for
drinking her Majestie's health, and that the bells
should be rung, and bonfyres, and luminaries."
At the next meeting of Council the treasurer
handed in his account for the " wyn and glasses
at the Croce," amounting to <£12, 128 Od pounds
Scots, equal to 2l8 present-day value.

But Queen Anne's reign draws to a close. On
5th August, 1714, Provost Simpson has a grave
announcement to make to his Bailies and Council-
lors. He produces " ane letter from the Lord
Justice Generall, Lordes of Justiciarie, her Majes-
tie's advooat and Barrones of Excheaqr, giving
accompt that on Ffryday last her Majestie is in
a verrie dangerous conditione. And for prevent-
ing of any disturbance to fall out heir." These
last words are interesting in their import, as
they indicate the fact of there being Jacobite sym-
pathies in the burgh, and these the Magistrates
kept in check with a stern hand, as is clearly set
forth by the following Council record : — " The
Counsell appoynts conform to the directiones of
the letter of the tonne's guird to be doabled. And
everie deacon of crafte to give advertishment to
ther respect, trades to be' in readiness in c€ise of
disturbance, and that non be on the guird but
sufficient able men, who are to continue till sex
o'cloak in the morning. And each officer to wait
on the guird by course each night." Such, then,
was the martial state of matters prevailing in
this old Boyal Burgh on the night of 5th August,
1714. The letter with these grave concerns is then
handed back to Provost Simpson, of Sharplaw,
" being daited at Edinbrugh the third day of Aug-
ust instant." The Council meets again the fol-
lowing day, and the Jedburgh Provost at once
states that "he has receaved sade news of her
Majestie Queen Anne's death, which happened
upon Sabeth morning last, the first of August
instant. And that George, Duke of Bruntsweik
Leunenburg, is proclaimed King of thes realmes
alreadie at Londone, and yesterday at Edinbrugh.

And expects the same to be sent heir this day
or to-morrow at far rest. And that sua soon as
the proclamatione comes the same must be pro-
claimed instantlie therafter — sua that it's necessar
the tresaurer provyde for the solemnitie to be
made at the proclamation. And also that it's
proper that the Magistrates' seatt in the kirk
should be coveird with black cloath." The Coun-
cil unanimously agreed to the Provost's proposals,
and they empowered the treasurer to make all
necessary arrangements for the forthcoming im-
portant function, at the same time authorising
him with the Magistrates "to buy as much black
cloath as will cover ther seatt, not to exceid sex
shill. per yaird." The outlays for this mark of
respect to the memory of Queen Anne are after-
wards set forth in an account due " Robert Rich-
ardson, baillie, for dailies and black cloath to the
Magistrates' seat in the kirk, ane hundert and
four pund fyve shill. Scotts."

But the state of the burgh and the temper
of the lieges still gave cause for anxiety^ Conse-
quently the Magistrates instructed the guard to
continue on its existing footing and to remain so
till further orders, and by public intimation of
the drummer each member was warned to attend
every night when the drum beat at eight o'clock.
Yet another step the authorities took in the in-
terests of public safety, for they re-enacted an old
regulation regarding the entertaining of strangers.
This warning they immediately caused " to be
intimat threw the burgh by toake of drum dis-
charging the said inhabitants to receave any
strangers without acquainting the Magistrates
therwith under the paine of ane hunderth pund
Scots." Succeeding events showed the wisdom of
the precautions taken, as in the following year
Jacobite demonstrations became somewhat prom-
inent in and around Jedburgh. They, however,
never acquired proportions of a really threaten-
ing aspect, for, as Sir George Douglas points out
in his history of Roxburghshire, the Borderers
did not take an acute interest in the question of
dynastic succession at issue, and the peace of the
Borders was more to them than the risks, how-
ever heroic, of espousing a dubious cause. The
coronation day of George I. was celebrated at
Jedburgh with great warmth and loyalty of sen-
timent. The county gentlemen were invited to at-
tend at the Mercat Cross, the trades were mar-
shalled with their colours flying, wine and glasses
provided at the Cross, and at the Anna, a
well-known open space by the side of the Jed,
and a large bonfire was lighted. Subsequently the
Magistrates and Council drew up a dutiful and
loyal address to the King, for at the September
meeting of Council the Provost stated that
" severall burghes hes addressed his Majestie King
Greorge. And that the shire are preparing ther
address lykewayes. And the tonne's address being
readie, the Counsell condiscends that the samyn
should be seigned instantlie." The King's birth-
day continued to be a red-letter day for the towns-
people, and the spirit in which it was celebrated
may be imagined from an entry in 1715 recom-
mending that "The officers of the twa troupes
lying in the toun be invited," and that "the sol-
emnitie be handsomlie done for the honour of the
burgh."

The proclamation of Queen Victoria took place
in the maricet place, and was carried through by

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instructions of Samuel Wood, the town clerk» with
a rigid observance of precedent and all ceremonies
used and wont, the declaration being made not
only at the Cross, but at the various "ports" of
the burgh. A vivid and picturesque narrative of
the procee<lings has been left by the late ex-Pro-
vost George Hilson, solicitor, who has described
the scene in the market place and its pomp and
circumstance with great fidelity of detail. In
1901, at the proclamation of King Edward, an un-
toward shifting of the scene took place. The
Sheriff occupied the place of honour to the ex-
clusion of the Provost and Magistrates, and con-
stitutional usage, and the picturesque memories
of the past associated with the grand ceremony
were all brushed aside as if naught. The Council,
however, had the melancholy privilege of paying
the cost of the stand from which the Royal an-
nouncement was made. Since 1902 the Convention
has made numerous representations to the Secre-
tary for Scotland, and at last an important de-
liverance has recently been given in reply to the
oft-repeated pressure of the Convention. Sir
Eeglnald Macleod has written from the Scottish
Office, Whitehall, that copies of these proclama-
tions are in future to be sent to the Sheriffs and
to the Provosts of all burghs, the procedure to be
mutually arranged in the towns which are head
burghs of their respective counties. In these a
joint proclamation will be made both by the Sher-
iff and the Provost of the burgh, if so determined.
In the other burghs the Lord Provost or Provost
will take the necessary steps to effect the proclama-
tion. It may be granted that the prayer of the
Convention has been substantially conceded, and
at the annual meeting held last month in the
Old Parliament Hall in Edinburgh, the communi-
cation from the Scottish Office was finally ap-
proved, thus terminating a long-continued contro-
versy.

Border Notes and Queries.

JOCK O' HAZELDEAN.

In the Border Magazine for December last there
was a " query " as to the historical basis of
Scott's well-known song, "Jock o' Hazeldean."
The following correspondence on the subject,
which recently appeared in the "Scotsman"
newspaper, may perhaps interest readers of the
Border Magazine : —

April 2, 1907.

Sir,— It has sometimes been asked, "Was Jock
o* Hazeldean a real flesh and blood man, or
merely a character born in the brain of Sir WaK
ter Scott?" I am informed by a trustworthy
connection that he was a real man — a miller at
Hassendean— Hazeldean. The remains of his mill
are still to be seen on the south side of the west
end of the Hassendean mill pond, and the late Mr
Robert Falla. builder, Hassendean Common, near
Lilliesleaf, was his great-grandson. Mr Falla's
father's name was John, and most likely he was
named after his grandfather, the said Jock. So
much for Jock ; but who the sorely-tried lady was
who "let the tear doon fa' for Jock o' Hazel-
dean" I do not know, nor can I locate Frank,
the chief of Errington and lord of Langleydale,
wherever these places were. Perhaps some of
your readers, who may have access to parish rec*

ords, particularly the records of the old church
of Hazeldean, if any are still extant, may be able
to throw some light on the subject. — I am, &c.,

J. A. G.

The Manse, Tweedsmuir, April 3, 1907.
Sir,— Scott never caught the spirit of Scottish
song more perfectly than in the above-named
lyric, which was first printed in Campbell's
"Albyn's Anthology" in 1816. It must not be
forgotten, however, that the opening stanza is
not Scott's at all, but was transferred from an
older ballad, " John (or Sir John) of Hazelgreen,"
on Which the subject of the modern song is un-
mistakably founded. "Hazelgreen" exists in se-
veral copies, of which Professor Child gives at
least four. It is extremely unlikely that the, in-
cident has any real reference to Hassendean, Scott
having merely changed the older Hazelgreen into
the more euphonious Hazeldean, a name he had
already used in the "Lay" for Hassendean or
Halstaneden (probably from kalig ttan derm*
the dean, or wooded dell of the holy dtone.)

Tradition may associate a local family with the
romance indicated in the song, but of direct evi-
dence there is absolutely none. In one version of
" Hazelgreen " the following stanza occurs : —
"He takes this pretty maid him behind.

And fast he spurred his horse.
And they're away to Biggar toun,

Then on to Biggar Cross.
Their lodging was for sought.

And so was it foreseen;
But still she let the tears doun fall

For pleasant Hazelgreen."
Biggar, in Lanarkshire, is certainly a far cry
from Hassendean in Teviotdale. Langleydale is
quite likely to have been taken from a jplace of
that name in Northumberland, where Scott spent
some enjoyable weeks in 1791. There is, I think,
an Errington in the same district. — I am, &c,,

W. S. Crockett.

Greenlaw, April 2, 1907.
Sir,— Your correspondent "J. A. G." in to-day'»
paper expresses a wish for information as to the
place-names in the ballad, and as one thoroughly
acquainted with them for more than fifty years
my knowledge may be of some use to him. Without
making any claim in opposition to his adoption of
"Hassendean," I may say that in a map of Ber-
wickshire dated 1771 I have Heshilldean in Car-
frae Water, between Tollishill and Longhope, near
the head of Lauderdale. The Erriu^ons, an an-
cient family of South Northumberland, whose
principal seat was Beaufront Castle, near Hex-
ham, were owners of extensive estates, including
that of Errington Castle (now a ruin), which in-
cluded the district named Erringside, through
which the Erring Burn flows to the North Tyne
near Chollerford. The last of the Erringtons on
the male side was well known in the early part
of last century as "The Chief," and one of his
two daughters married a Stanley of Haggerston,
whose descendants, the Stanley-Erringtons, are
still the owners of the larger portion of the
estates. Langleydale is a few miles west of Hex-
ham, near to Haydonbridge, and in its dale the
grand old Langley Castle still stands in perfect
preservation. — I am, Ac,

W. C. T.

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April 2, 1907.
Sir, — With reference to the letter in to-day^s
"Scotsman" bearing on the above, I find in a
MS. copy of the song, written in January, 1817, by
a person with whom Sir Walter Scott was very
intimate, that Hazeldean is spelt with an ** 6."
In the seventh line " loot " reads " let," and " Er-
rington" appears as ** Erlington." "Ladie" also
is written " leddie," and '* church *' takes the
place of "kirk" in the last verse. The writing
generally is clear and distinct, so that there is
no mistaking what is meant by the copyist. — I am,
Ac., J. L. H.

April 2, 1907.
Sir, — Eeferring to the letter of your correspond-
ent, "J. A. G.," in your issue of to-day, may I
say that there is nothing to connect Sir Walter
Scott's song, ** Jock o' Hazeldean " (itself founded
on an older metrical fragment) with Hasseudean.
That name is derived not from hazel, but from
halse, the throat (A.S. heale, Ger. Hals), a term
eminently appropriate to the situation and nat-
ural features of the place. — I am, Ac,

Madame Roland.

St Andrews, N.B.
Sir,— "W. C. T." is slightly inaccurate regard-
ing the Stanleys and Erringtons. Sir Thomas
Stanley of Hooton married a Haggerstone, and his
second son. Sir Rowland, assumed the name of '
Errington. Sir Rowland left two daughters, and
was succeeded by his brother, Sir John, who
died without issue in 1893, when the baronetcy be-
came extinct. The Stanleys may now be said to
be represented by the children of Lord Cromer,
whose first wife was daughter of Sir Rowland
(Stanley) Errington, and also by Sir Richard Wil-
liams Bulkeley, whose grandmother was daughter
of Sir Thomas Stanley of Hooton above-mentioned.
The Hooton Stanleys were the senior branch of
the historic house of Stanley. Sir John, the last
baronet, was once well known on the turf, and
won the Derby with Teddington in, I think, 1852.
—I am, &c.. P. K. Q.

Sir, — Erington was one of the castles or peel
towers that guarded the ford of Cholerford, where
the Roman wall crossed the North Tyue. Lang-
ley Castle, again, still stands on the right bank
pf the South Tyne, near to Hadou Bridge, and
about seven miles south-west of Erington, both
places being within three to five miles of Hexham.

Hazeldean is most probably a local corruption
of " Axellodunum " (the dunura in the axil), by
which name the territory upon which Hexham
stands was known in Roman times. An "axil"
is literally the armpit of ground formed by the
meeting of two streams, and Hexham is so en-
closed by the Tyne on the north and by the
Devil's Burn on the south. These three localities
—Erington, Langley, and Axellodunum— are all
marked on the map of Northumberland in " Cam-
den's Britannia," published 1695.— I am, Ac,

Scott himself has given us no information as to
the composition of his famous song, except that
he tells us the first stanza is ancient and that
the others were written for Campbell's "Albyn's
Anthology." The first volume of this work ap-

peared in 1816, and the second in 1818. It con-
tained contributions from Sir Walter Scott, James
Hogg, Mrs Grant of Laggan, and others. Scott,
in his "Journal," makes a passing reference to
the song, but that is all. The song reminds one
of "Lochinvar," which Scott makes Lady Heron
sing in Holyrood to beguile James IV. (Marmion,
Canto 5). He founded this song on the early bal-
lad of Katherine Janfarie, of which there are
several versions. Perhaps some reader of the
BosDBB Magazine could give the editor a copy of
the original ballad (or fragment) of "Jock o'
Hazelgreen," in order to see how far Scott fol-
lowed it. Hazeldean, Errington, and Langleydale
were probably introduced for local colouring.

Readers of " Lockhart " will remember how Sir
Walter, feeble in body and brain, while travelling
in Italy, on one occasion twice recited with pathos
his ballad of " Jock p* Hazeldean."

A. G.. S.

THE EWE-MILKING.

In an article on Tweeddale in the April number
of the BoBDBB Magazine reference was made to the
practice of milking the ewes, as described in the
"Flowers of the Forest" and in the well-known
lines of Lady Grizell Baillie. The following ex-
tract from the late Rev. H. G. Graham's "Scot-
tish Men of Letters " (p. 327-8) may perhaps prove
interesting to the readers of this Magazine :—
"High-born ladies of those daye did not keep
aloof from the common affair^ of the common
people; they spoke the broad Scots tongue them-
selves, and the work of the byre and barn, the
wooing of servants and ploughmen, were of lively
interest to them in their parlour and drawing-
room, and did not seem themes unworthy of their
verse. This we find in the fragmentary verses of
Lady Grizell Baillie :—

'O, the ewe-buchtin's bonnie, baith e'ening and

morn.
When our blithe shepherds play on the bag,

reed, and horn;
When we're milking, they're lilting baitl\

pleasant and clear;
But my heart's like to break ivhen I think on

my dear.'

The scenes of the ewe-milking in Lady Grizell's
verse and in Miss Jean Elliot's 'Flowers of the
Forest' are reminiscent of an aspect of rural life
which has long ago vanished. Up to the end of
the century it was still the practice of the farm-
ers of Ettrick forest to milk ewes for seven or
eight weeks after the lambs were weaned. In the
evening were hundreds of ewes all gathered, and
the voices of the peasantry would be heard 'lilt-
ing,' while the men ' buchted ' (folded) the sheep,
and the women sat on their 'leglans' m.ilking.
Those were days when the women as they worked
sang songs which their grandmothers had sung
before them, and when men as they ploughed
whistled ancient tunes — so different from tonday,
when old songs have died out, and whistling is
heard no more in the fields."

In Scottish song there is frequent reference to
this practice of ewe-milking. Thus in Allan Ram-
say's " Yellow-Hair'd Laddie":—

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"The yellow-hair'd laddie sat doun on yon brae.
Cried, 'Milk the yowes, lassie, let nane of them

gae;'
And aye as she milkit, she merrily sang,
'The yellow-hair'd laddie shall be my gndeman.'
And aye as she milkit, she merrily sang,
'The yellow-hairM laddie shall be my gude-
man,'"

and in his "Peggy and Patie," "Pegary'* opens
the dialogue thus —

" When first my dear laddie gaed to the green hill.
And I at ewe-milking first seyed my young skill.
To bear the milk bowie nae pain was to me
When I at the buchting foregathered with thee."

The original ballad of the "Broom of Cowden-
knowes" opens thus—

"O the broom, and the bonny, bonny broom.
And the broom of the Cowdenknowes !
And aye sae sweet as the lassie sang,
I' the bought, milking the ewes;"

And in Crawford's version this pleasing stanza
occurs—

"More pleasing far are Cowdenknowes,
My peaceful, happy home.
Where I was wont to milk my ewes,
At e'en amang the broom."

The classic passages, however, occur in Lady
Orizell Baillie's well-known lines (completed by
Thomas Pringle) and in Miss Elliot's version of
the " Flowers of the Forest," already given in the
April number of the Bobdeb Magazine.

A. G., S.

WAS JEDBUEGH A WALLED TOWN?

Can any reader of the Bobdeb Magazine provide
me with information regarding the walls of Jed-
burgh? When visiting that town I have failed to
see any traces of these, and, indeed, have not
heard their existence even alluded to. Professor
Veitch, however, in his "History and Poetry of
the Scottish Border" (second edition), vol. I.,
p. 263, when referring to the Border towns, states
that "the most of those burghs, especially along
the Tweed from Jedburgh to Peebles, were walled
towns." On the other hand, the late Mr George
Hilson, solicitor, Jedburgh, in his "Jedburgh a
Hundred Tears Ago," casts doubt upon the mat-
ter. Beferring to the capture of Jedburgh in 1523
by the Earl of Surrey, and the destruction of the
town, he states that "as to the walls, alleged by
Sir Walter [Scott], in his 'Tales of a Grand-
father,' to have existed, there are not the slightest
grounds for his assertion, or anything of the
kind." Can any one reconcile the contrary state-
ments here attributed to Mr George Hilson on the
one hand, and Sir Walter Scott and Professor
Veitch on the other?

Auntie Qubeb Ane.

* * * «

WROTH SILVER.

On the Buke of Buccleuch's Warwickshire
estates a cnrious custom survives from a remote
period, in the payment by certain parishes of
annual dues called "wroth silver." The collec-
tion is made annually in November, and early in

the morning, "before sunrising," under a clump of
fir trees, at Knightlow Cross. An agent from the
Duke's Estate Office at Dunchurch meets the com-
pany about seven o'clock at the Cross, and reads
out the charter of assembly. This charter calls
upon seven-aud-tw^uty parishes to pay the wroth
silver under a penalty of twenty shillings for every
penny, or a white bull with red ears and a red
nose. The sums vary much, for each parish pays
according to the value of its cattle, and not ac-
cording to the value of its land. For instance, in
1903 the majority paid from Id up to 4d each, one
12d, one 2s 3d, and another 2s 3H« while the par-
ish of Ryton-on-Dunsmore, in which the custom
is held, is let off without paying. The money is
thrown into a stone trough, as each parish is
named, and taken out by the Duke's agent. One
of the parishes bears the famous name of Waver-
ley.

After the dues have been collected, the company
adjourn to the Dun Cow Inn, where breakfast is
served to all and sundry, " by order of his Grace,"
who pays for twenty-five guests, but everybody
contributes something, "colts" being charged an
extra sixpence. Sometimes as many as seventy
persons, including some ladies, have attended,
many coming from Rugby and Coventry, and one
old labourer is said to have attended every meet-
ing since 1839. After a hearty meal the custom is
always for glasses of hot rum and milk (known
as the wroth silver beverage), with long church-
warden pipes, and an ample supply of tobacco to
be brought in. The rest of the morning is spent
in toast-giving and harmony, which sometimes
lasts until midday, when the meeting breaks up.

"And each took off his several way.
Resolved to meet some other day."

A view of the wroth silver ceremony was engraved
on a piece of silver-plate, presented to Lord Dal-
keith on the occasion of his marriage.

The origin of the custom dates back to a very
remote period; some antiquaries say from the
Druids, but it certainly can be traced from the
time of the Saxons. In early times in England, a
district supposed to contain a hundred families,
was called a Hundred, and the Duke of Buccleuch,
as the lord of a Hundred, claims these dues. At
that time there were only tracks through the for-
ests and wastes, and the owners of all cattle go-
ing to market over these tracks had to pay tribute
to the lord of the Hundred, over whose land they
passed. The white bull with the red ears and red
nose required as an alternative penalty for non-
payment was one of the native white cattle of
Britain. The herd of white cattle at Chillingham
Castle in Northumberland have red ears and
brownish muzzles, and are said to be descendants
of the native cattle. The name wroth silver is
probably an altered form of the old English word
" r other " for cattle, or of the Anglo-Saxon word
"hryther," an ox — ^with final "er" worn off in
course of time, as happens to many old words.

This old custom of collecting the wroth silver is
said to be kept up by the Duke not as a monetary
gain to himself, but with the idea of keeping an
interesting old custom from lapsing into oblivion,
while the merry meeting of friends and neigh-
bours serves "to soften down the rugged way of
life."

A Linton Lad.

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TO CORRESPONDENTS. TO ADVERTISERS,

All eommunicatums rel(Uing to LUerari/ rnoMera 8?u>uld All JSuainess maUers, Advertising Rates, dbc,, sJunUd

be addressed to the Editor, Mr William Sandebson, he referred to the Publishers, A. Walesb & SoN,

8t R^nans, RtUherglen, near Glasgow, High Street, Galashiels

THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

MAY, 1907.

LIST OF CONTENTS. pao.

Rev. Robert Boelanp. Portrait Supplement and 2 Illustrations. By the Rev. A. Locdon, M.A., B.D.,

Falkirk. 81

The Proclamation or thk Sovereign'. Some Jeclburgh Records. By Provost Hilson. - - - 85

Border Notes axd Qiieries. 87

The Border Keep. By Dominie Sampson. 90

John Livingston op Ancrum. Part I. 9^

The Border Bookcase. W

Appreciations. OS*

"Threi Days wi'Bluid." By G. Watson. 96

A SuccESSFtTL Border Angler. One Illustration. 97

The Four Towns. By. G. M. R. 98^

Jedburgh "Wren> Nest" Reminiscences. 9^

The Late Mr Francis Lynn. - - - lOO

EDITORIAL NOTES.

We have still plenty of matter on hand, but we have no desire to prevent our valued contributors from
preparing articles for future use. To these friends we would once more recall the limited space we can afford
for each article, and suggest the maximum of 2000 words. Contributors would save ub some trouble if the
approximate number of words were marked at the top of their manuscripts. We have abundant evidence that
their contributions are highly appreciated, even in remote parts of the world.

The Border Keep,

(In which are preserved paragraphs from various publications, to the authors and editors of which

we express our indebtedness.)

A brother Dominie, and a classical master to late twenties of last century, that Mrs Fraser
boot, has sent me the following links with Sir had her one glimpse of Scott, coming unexpected-
Walter Scott, and doubtless the readers of this ly upon him near the Register House, as she was
column will feel grateful to my friend for thus walking with a relative, who told her to look
employing his " learned leisure " in culling bits well at the man approaching them. In later life
of Scott lore for their information :— she accounted herself happy to have seen the

TT 1 r X r 1. J great magician, and was fond of dwelling on the

Upwards of seventy-four years have now sped « ^ ^^^^^ ^^^ j^i^^ pleasant face which had

^"^""^^^W^^} Border Wizard breathed his last j^^ ^ssed her girlish mind. Many summer*

at Abbotsford, with the gentle ripple of the ^ ^^^ ^^ Yarrow had deepened her love of Sir

Tweed sounding in his ears. Comparatively few, ^^^^^^ ^^^ ^is country, and one of her keenest

indeed, now su^ive who can say they knew, or Measures during the last winter of her life waa

even saw. Sir Walter in the flesh, yet from time ^ re-reading of Lockhart's 'Life.'

to time as ane by ane they gang awa we hear "

of the passing away of " links " which bound the ♦ * » »

present with the past in memory's magic chain "Survivors are now few who can say that they

Two such hnks-Mrs Campbell Fraser wife of o^^n ^^t ^jth the great wi«ard. The pase-

Emeritns-Professor Campbell Fraser. of Edin- V ^ « privilege-Mrs C^p-

bnrghUmyersity and Miss Eobb. an Edinburgh ^fj praser-was recorded yesterday Another

lady-have lately disappeared as we learn from ^^nerable Edinburgh lady, whose earthly remains

interesting notices m the Scotsman news- ^^^^ ^^^^^^^^ j^j| ^^ ^^^^ ^ q^^^^^ Cemetery,

paper . * * * ♦ could also say not only that she had seen, but

that she had conversed with. Sir Walter. This

"The death of Mrs Campbell Fraser on Easter was Miss Robb, who long resided in Palmerston
Eve, in her 88th year, removes a figure long well Road, and who lately died there at the ripe age
known in Edinburgh society, and one of the few of nearly ninety-four. She was the posthumous
remaining links connecting the present generation child of Captain Robb of the Royal Navy, and
with the days of Sir Walter Scott. ... It waa was named after him, ' Charles Robb ;' and, har-
as a young girl, on a visit to Edinburgh in the ing been a naval pensioner from her birth, she

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was in the enjoyment of a State subsidy for the
considerable period of ninety-three years/'
« * « «

Miss Bobb spoke with zest of her meeting with
Scott, which occurred in this wise. While she
was a young girl at boarding-school in Edin-
burgh, she was taken, along with the other pup-
ils, to a concert, and happened to be sitting at
the end of a row next the passage. The hall was
full, and just before the concert began, an old
gentleman with a limp came forward and took up
a position just where she was sitting. The young
girl, not liking to see him without a seat, rose
and offered him her own. Patting her on the
shoulder, he said — " Never mind, my dear, keep
your place !" She did so for a little, but feeling
uncomfortable and selfish in retaining it, she
pressed him to take her chair. With some re-
luctance he complied, and at th.e close of the en-
tertainment cordially thanked her for her cour-
tesy. Miss Robb was quite unaware to whom she
had extended the kindness that had earned such
gratitude. But a lady came forward to her and
said — " Do you know who that it you were speak-
ing to? I wish I had been in your place. That is
Sir Walter Scott!"

The incident is a very interesting and pleasant
one, and recalls to our mind the lines of Tenny-
son—

"O great and gallant Scott,
True gentleman, heart, blood and bone,
I would it had been my lot
To have seen thee, and heard thee, and known I"

* « *

Here is an account of still another interesting
link from the same source, given (April 10) in
connection with the Bi-centenary celebration of
the Journeymen Lodge of Freemasons, Edin-
burgh. "The first centenary of the Journeymen
Lodge (of Freemasons) was celebrated on 19th
March, 1807, and the third jubilee of the Lodge
on Idth August, 1857, when an excursion was
made to Roslin, and an imposing ceremony was
carried through in the ancient chapel hallowed
to the memory of its founder, Wm. St Clair,
Prince of Orkney, whose office of Grand Master
Mason of Scotland continued in his family for
nearly three hundred years from the time when
the honour was bestowed on its original holder
by James II. With the inauguration of their
present hall in 1871, the Journeymen celebrated
the centenary of Sir Walter Scott. On that oc-
casion Bailie Howden, in replying to the toast of
the Corporation of Edinburgh, narrated the in-
teresting reminiscence that he was present at the
Theatrical Fund dinner on 23rd February, 1827,
when Sir Walter Scott acknowledged himself the
sole author of the Waverley Novels. He had, he
said, a vivid recollection of Scott proposing the
health of Mr Mackay, so distinguished for his
representation of Bailie Nicol Jarvie. Sir Wal-
ter Scott said he was sure that when the author
of Rob Roy' drank to the health of Bailie
Nicol Jarvie, it would be responded to with that
degree of applause to which the Bailie had always
been accustomed, and that on the present occa-
sion they would take care that it would be 'pro-
digious.' All eyes were then turned on Mr Mac-
kay, when, after a pause, he rose, and in his
weU-known character of the Bailie, exclaimed —

* My conscience ! My worthy f aither the deacon
couldna ha'e believed that sican an honour should
befa' me, his son, as to ha'e sae high a compli-
ment paid me by the "Great Unknown.'" 'Not
'unknown now. Bailie,' interjected Sir Wal-
ter, and the toast was received with immense
applause."

♦ * * *

Two hundred years ago Scotland gave up her
Parliamentary independence, and while we note
the two hundredth anniversary of the first meet-
ing of the Parliament of Great Britain, and en-
deavour to estimate the advantages derived from
that union, it is well to look also at the opposite
side of the shield. In countless ways our south-
ern neighbours have violated the compact, and
by misusing the national names, &c., have arous-
ed feelings in Scotland which, while not hostile
to the union, will not rest until justice is done to
the northern kingdom, which is as thoroughly
Scottish as it was two hundred years ago.

Mr G. Sutherland, Sculptor, Galashiels, pre-
pared a tablet of silver grey granite, which was
inserted in the pedestal of the Mungo Park
monument at Selkirk as a memorial of the two
companions of the great African explorer, who
went with him from Selkirkshire, and who per-
ished before Park was killed on the Niger, and
also of Park's son, who lost his life in searching
for his father :— The inscription on the tablet is
as follows : — " This inscription is to commemor-
ate the death of Mungo Park's companions during
his second expedition : Alexander Anderson, M.D.,
Selkirk, who died at Sansanding on the Niger,
28th October, 1805; and George Scott, Singlie. Sel-
kirk, died August, 1805 Also of Thomas Park,
son of Mungo Park, died in Aquambee, West
Africa, in 1827, while endeavouring to obtain
traces of his distinguished father."
« * « *

The announcement that Glasgow will henceforth
be entitled to send four representatives to the Con-
vention of Royal Burghe forme a tribute to the
growing importance of the city. Originally known
as the Court of the Four Burghs, the right of re-
presentation at this annual gathering was long
limited to Edinburgh, Berwick, Roxburgh, and
Stirling. During the War of Independence, Ber-
wick passed into the hands of the English, while
Roxburgh gradually sank to the condition of an
insignificant village. Under these circumstances,
the privilege was transferred from them to the
towns of Perth and Linlithgow. With the pro-
gress of time, the growing commercial prosperity
of the nation gradually brought other burghs with-
in the sphere of the Court's jurisdiction, and it
wae ultimately decided that the capital should
have the honour of sending two delegates. At the
beginning of last century, the Convention was de-
prived of all the judicial and legislative powers
that it originally held; but within recent years it
has done much to encourage municipal activities
and reforms. In view of the homage that hae now
been paid to Glasgow, it is no empty boast to as-
sert that many of these movements owe their in-
itiation to the energy and enterprise of the Second
City.

Dominie Sampson.

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John Livingston of Ancrum.

1603-1672.

Part II.

OR the next ten years during the
Cromwelliau interregnum, he seems
to have lived in comparative peace
and quiet. " Presbyterianism,'*
says Professor Flint, " was dominant, but was
broken up into parties which hated and reviled
one another. The enthusiasm for Presbyter-
ianism had greatly declined in consequence of
its internal dissensions and the national mis-
fortunes to which they had led. The clergy
were, however, in general, notably faithful and
earnest ministers of the Word ; and their flocks
were sincerely attached to them. . . . Re-
ligious toleration was enforced ; but this was
felt to be a sore grievance and a deadly sin."
In April, 1654, Livingston was invited by the
Protector to visit him at London to render
assistance in settling the affairs of the Church,
and had the honour of preaching before his
Grace, who subsequently, August 8th, 1654,
appointed him one of those for certifying to
the fitness of applicants for admission to a
benefice. In March, 1655, he was called. to
Antrim ; in November to Killinchy, his old
charge ; and in May 7th, 1659, to Glasgow by
the Kirk-Session, though the Town Council
had fixed upon another, Ralph Rodger, who,
like so many others, was driven from his church
in 1662. In 1660 came the Restoration, which
was welcomed everywhere throughout the
country with great rejoicing, though in Scot-
land not without misgiving. At first all went
well, but Charles very soon came out in his
true colours ; and by the aid of his minions
and worthless favourites did his best to over-
turn Presbyterianism and set- up Prelacy and
despotism in Scotland. He found a ready tool
in Middleton, who, with the aid of his packed
parliament (commonly known as the " drunken
parliament ") proceeded to pass measures for
the overthrow alike of civil and religious lib-
erty — ^an act of supremacy, by which the King
was made supreme in all matters civil and
ecclesiastical ; an oath of allegiance, in which
no jurisdiction was valid but that of the King,
and which was afterwards used as a test and
criterion of loyalty, and all who refused to
swear to it, in its widest sense, were incapaci-
tated for holding public trust, or declared
guilty of rebellion ; and finally a general rescis-
sory Act, by which all proceedings of the Scot-
tish parliament were declared null and void.

The hierarchy was established with full pow-
ers ; all who had been ordained since 1649 had
to be presented anew and " collated " by the
bishops of the diocese; those who refused to
comply within four months forfeited all right
to manse and stipend, their churches were to be
declared vacant, and if patrons refused to pre-
sent, the right devolved lipon the bishop.
Diocesan meetings were to be held in October,
to which the clergy were cited to repair to
receive canonical admission to their benefices
from the hands of the bishops. As very few
appeared, Middleton then passed the iniquitous
Glasgow Act, 1662, by which all who had not
episcopal ordination were ordered to remove
with their families by the 1st of November
beyond the bounds of their presbytery, or be
forcibly ejected by the military, while the
people were forbidden to own them as their
lawful pastors, to attend their services or pay
their current stipend. (Wodrow, Historv i.
119-125).

In consequence of this cruel Act about 350
parish churches were closed. The effect of the
Act was felt more especially in the west and
south. " Edinburgh was left with a single
minister, Mr Robert Lawrie, of the Tron
Church, who, on account of his conformity to
Episcopacy, was nicknamed the * Nest Egg.' *'
Many of the ministers had to leave their homes
and manses in the middle of winter, without
support and without knowing where to find
shelter or subsistence, yet they did not hesi-
tate as to their course of action, and they had
the sympathy and support of the people so far
as they could give it. These men believed that
they were fighting for law, liberty, and con-
science, and we who live in happier times and
have entered into their labours, cannot but
admire the firmness and constancy — doumeJsSj
if you will, for that is their chief glory — of
these men, so long as we believe, with old
Barbour, that " f reedome is a nobil thing."
Shortly afterwards as a natural result arose
field-preachings and conventicles, while the
government employed every means that in-
genuity could invent for putting them down."
And this "crowned and mitred tyranny,*' with
persecution, fire and sword in its train, con-
tinued more or less till the Revolution swept
away the Stuart name and race and their doc-
trine of the " divine right of kings." But this
is to anticipate somewhat —

"The Solemn League and Covenant

Now brings a smile, now brings a tear:
But sacred Freedom, too, was theirs;
If thou'rt a slave, indulge thy sneer."

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In times like these there was no room for
such a man as John Livingston, who, whatever
faults and failings he may have had (and the
Scottish Covenanters of his and later times
were by no means free of such) p>osse8sed at
least a back-bone and a mind of his own, and
could say, like the old Huguenot merchant,
^* Loyal au Roy, mais ma Foy est k Moy." And
so he had to bid farewell to Aiicrura and to
Scotlapd and seek a refuge in a more friendly
land. On October l^th, 1662, he held his
last Communion at Ancrum, and at the -Mon-
day service he took an affectionate farewell of
his parishioners, many of whom were much
moved, knowing well that probably the part-
ing would be final, and that they would see his
face no more. And so it proved. " We have
been labouring among you," he said, " for
these fourteen years, and have that conviction
that we have not taken the pains in private or
public, which we ought ; yet in some sort, we
hope we may say it without pride, we have not
sought yours but you. We cared not to be
rich and great in this world. In as far as we
have given offence, less or more, to any in
this congregation, or any that have interest in
it, or any way about it, or any that are here
present, or any of the people of God elsewhere,
we crave God's pardon, and crave also your
forgiveness." And so the good man had to
leave his home and manse by the Ale with its
caves and scaurs and craggy' knolls,' "the
green pastures and the still waters," beside
which he had hoped, no doubt, to end his days
in peace.

On December 11th he appeared before the
Privy Council, and was chaf ged with " turbul-
ency and sedition." He acknowledged the
King's civil supremacy, but refused to take,
unqualified, the oath of allegiance (a). The
Chancellor offered to adjourn the Court to give
him time to consider his refusal. " I humbly
thank your Lordship," Livingston replied ; " it
is a favour which, if I had any doubt, I would
willingly accept. But if, after seeking God
and advising anent the matter, I should take
time, it would import that I have unclearness
or hesitation which I have not." The Council
then passed sentence that the prisoner was to
leave His Majesty's dominions within two
months, and within forty-eight hours remove
from Edinburgh to the north side of the Tay.
He was refused admission to pay a short visit
to his home that he might have some talk with
his wife and children. " At last," to quote
his own words, "on the 9th of Aprile, 1663,
I went aboarde in old John Allan's ship, and

in eight days came to Rotterdam " — the city
of Erasmus, which then and subsequently af-
forded a friendly shelter and refuge to many a
poor persecuted exile from Scotland. Here he
remained, devoting himself to biblical study
and occasional preaching in the Scots Kirk of
that city, till his death on the 9 th of August,
1672, in the seventieth year of his age and
forty-second of his ministry. Such, in brief,
was the career of the " godly John Living-
ston," as he was often called by his contem-
poraries, of that lad of parts who, some sixty
years before, had in a " little chamber " con-
ned his Latin grammar and " gone through the
most parte of the choice Latine writers, both
poets and others," under that "learned hum-
anist," worthy Maister William Wnllace, A.M.,
of the old Grammar School on the Castle hill
of Stirling."

Livingston was one of the most popular
preachers of his day, and at the same time a
man of very considerable attainments and
learning, but withal of deep piety and modesty.
He knew Hebrew and Chaldee, and " somewhat
also of the Syriacke," and was proficient in
French, Italian, and Dutch, and could read the
Bible in Spanish and German. As a student,
he was fond of music, " wherein he had some
little skill," as he tells us. "Modest in man-
ner," says Dr Scott in his "Fasti," "and
sweet in temper, he was of retired and con-
templative habits, so that, though he joined the
more extreme Presbyterians, in liis moderation
he deeply lamented the divisions that had torn
the Church asunder. As a preacher, he was
so singularly esteemed and so signally favoured
as to be the means of working a change on
hundreds of his audience, even bv one sermon,
and perhaps to have had more of the counten-
ance of his Master than any other from the
days of the Apostles."

In 1671 he published at Rotterdam a "Letter
to his Parishioners of Ancrum," and he also
wrote " A Brief Historical Relation of his
Life" and "Memorable Characteristics exem-
plified in the Lives of Divines and Private
Christians," which were published at Glas-
gow, long after his death, in 1754. On his re-
turn from Breda, he was urged by the General
Assembly to write a history of the Cliurch of
Scotland from 1638, and the Synod of Merse
and Teviotdale, in October, 1650, reconnnended
ev^ry member who had any historical observa-
tions to send them to him, but he does not
appear to have undertaken the work. During
his exile in Holland he occupied much of his
time in making a new translation of the Old

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Testament into Latin, which, though highly
spoken of by some of the Dutch scholars, has
never been published.

He married, as we have said, the eldest
daughter of an Edinburgh merchant in 1635.
In his Memoirs he gives us some interesting
and curious details of his courtship. In 1650
she is said to have had a narrow escape from
falling into a mill-dam, but survived. In
June, 1G74, after her husband's death, we find
her bravely undertaking the somewhat dan-
gerous task of presenting a petition to the Lord
Chancellor, the Earl of Rothes, praying that
the Presbyterian ministers might have liberty
to preach the gospel. Few men would have
ventured to beard the lion in his den. By this
lady he had a family of sons and daughters —
John ; James, a merchant in Edinburgh ; Wil-
liam, who suffered in the days of persecution ;
a daughter, Marion, who married the Rev.
John Scott, minister of Hawick (A), and others.
(Scott: "Fasti.") Another of his sons, Rob-
ert, born at Ancrum, 1654, emigrated to Amer-
ica in 1673, settled at Albany, and received a
grant of a vast tract of land. He died in 1725.
He had two grandsons who rose to distinction.
Philip (1716-78) who signed the Declaration of
Independence, and William (1723-90), who was
the first and able Governor of New Jersey
(1776-90), while two of his great-grandsons
attained to high positions at the American
bar, and were both members of Congress —
Robert (1746-1813) who was one of the five
appointed to draw up the Declaration of Inde-
pendence, was Chancellor of New York State,
and assisted Fulton to construct his first
steamer ; and Edward (1764-1836), who filled
several hi^h Government offices, being mayor
of New York, member of Congress for New
Orleans, and afterwards in 1836 went to
France to act as plenopotentiary. He died
23rd May, 1836. [There are portraits of John
Livinp:ston and his wife in Gosford House, be-
longing to the Earl of Wemyss].

In a Rubsequent paper we shall see how it
fared with the parishioners of Ancrum when
Livingston's successor was inducted in 1665.

Stirling. A. Graham.

(j7) None of the Covenanters at this time re-
fused to take the oath of allegiance, provided it
were qualified with the word " civil " supremacy,
but this was not permitted. It was purposely am-
biguous in order to lay them under a dilemma,
for if they swore it absolutely, they were bound,
in consistency, to submit to bishops, while ^f ihey
refused, they were liable to punishment for deny-
ing allegiance to the King. (Burnet's Hist, i.,
146: Wodrow, 1.. 133).

(h) John Scott graduated A.M. at Edinburgh,

July 15, 1650, and hecame minister of Hawick in
1657, but "deprived" by the Privy Council, Oct.
1, 1662. In 1681 he assisted the Earl of Argyll in
his escape to London. He survived to the Revolu-
tion, but does not seem to have returned to the
charge at Hawick. Marion Livingston was his
first wife.

The Border Bookcase.

" CANADA— NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS."
Of the 15,846 Scots who emigrated to our great
Western Empire last year not a few hailed from
the Borderland, and consequently any reliable in-
formation on the subject will be welcomed to
many of our readers. Mr Walter Easton, junr.»
Jedburgh, made an extended tour in the "New
Dominion," as Canada used to be called, and on
his return he gave his interesting experiences to
the public in a series of articles which appeared
in the columns of the " Jedburgh Gazette." These
articles have been reproduced in book form at
the very low price of threepence. The book is
well illustrated, and is prefixed by an excellent
index. The author's style is racy, his experiences
many and varied, and the whole production is so
readable that we strongly advise all interested in
Canada and the Canadians to send five stamps to
the office of the " Jedburgh Gasette " for a copy of
Mr Easton's book.

« « « *

"ODDS AND ENDS IN RHYME."
Mr John Alston, of Motherwell — a native of the
Borderland — has produced a third edition of his
poems under the above title. The previous edi-
tions were^ reviewed in our columns, and we need
only say that the present issue contains several
additions, and is got up in excellent style — in.
paper covers at 1/ and in cloth at 1/6. Mr Alston
is a poet of whom the Borderland has no reason
to be ashamed, and the notices he has received
from the Press, including the "Academy," "Book-
seller," Ac, show how he is appreciated in liter-
ary organs.

* * * *

If Solomon said of the very limited publishers'
output of his day, " Of making books there is no
end," what would have been his opinion of the
overwhelming issues and re-issues of our times.
If any one remains ignorant of the fountains of
knowledge it is not the fault of the publishers, as
every firm seems to vie with the others in pro-
ducing cheaper and cheaper issues of the world's
best literature. But in this rapid age we are
more and more inclined to receive knowledge by
means of illustrations, and to this to some extent
may be attributed the extraordinary popularity
of the picture post-card. So many beautiful re-
productions of Border scenery have appeared in
this way that the man who is wealthy enough to
secure them all must have a collection which will
provide delight for a lifetime. We have referred
occasionally to the issues of these cards in connec-
tion with various towns, and we have just received
a new set from Jedburgh, issued through the en-
terprise of Mr T. S. Smail. In this case scenery
is confined to a fine reproduction of "Light Pipe
Hall, Jedburgh," which was demolished in 1879.
This once well-known row of cottages stood on the
knoll beyond the second bridge on the Jed. The
spot is now covered with trees, but the auld folkp

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will be pleased to see this bit of lang. syne so for-
cibly recalled. Going further back to 1802, we
have Andrew Lumsden, Town Crier, represented.
The scene is in the Canongate of Jedburgh, and
the original picture was painted by John Scott,
who was a lawyer's clerk in that locality. The
gem of the lot is a reproduction in colours of the
flag taken from, the English at Bannockburn by
the weavers of Jedburgh on 24th June, 1314, a
priceless relic which was unfortunately lost in the
disastrous fire of 17th October, 1898, when the
local museum was destroyed. Another card will
give much amusement to all true Jethart folks
by reason of the clever way in which the names
of prominent citizens have been formed into a
humorous and continuous narrative. This card
is a very clever piece of work, and we do not think
the publisher and author live far apart.

Long- before sport in all its varied forms had
received the present-day wide acceptance, the
Borderland was famous for its athletes and sports-
men. As the Borderers of our own time are still

Magazine very much, writes : — " We have j ust re-
ceived a letter from a correspondent in Nairobi,
British East Africa, who says, * Very many thanks
for sending on the Bobdeb Magazine, which I thor-
oughly enjoyed, I can assure you, as it is the first
one I have seen, and, although small, every bit of
it is readable.' "

* * » *

The Provost of a Border town, himself an im-
portant folkloreist, writes:— "I intend to get the
BoBDBB Magazine regularly. The value of such
work as you are doing will be best understood
fifty years and more hereafter — and meantime you
must be content to find that here and there people
do recognise and appreciate the good work you
are doing in preserving local history, literature,
and folklore."

* « » «

The Edinburgh correspondent of a well-known
Border newspaper thus refers to the Bobdbb Maoa- ,
ziNE : — " I would again urge upon readers of the

FLAG TAKEN FROM THE ENGLISH AT BANNOCKBURN BY THE WEAVERS OF JEDBURGH,

ON 24TH JUNE, 1314, (Block kindly lent by T. S. Smail, Jedburg^h.)

fond of all athletic sports, we desire to recommend
to them the "Record of Sports," issued by the
Royal Insurance Company, 28 Lombard Street,
London, E.O. The results of the past year's im-
portant matches and competitions are tabulated in
a finely printed book, which may be had free by
any of the readers of the Bobdeb Magazine who
apply for it to the above address. The neat little
volume deals with nearly every class of sport, and
contains no advertisements from first to last page
— for this reason we recommend it.

Appreciations.

We have often pointed out how much pleasure
a copy of the Bobdeb Magazine would bring to a
Borderer who was resident in some distant land.
A Border gentleman, who has done much for
Border literature, and has helped on the Bobdeb

' Kelso Chronicle ' the value of our contemporary
the Bobdeb Magazine as a store-house of Border
lore and literature. The twelfth volume is now
well in progress of publication, and when, as the
Editor pointed out in the January number, it is
considered that no previous attempt to establish
a distinctly Border monthly passed the second
year of publication, we have reason to congratu-
late ourselves upon the fact that our literature
and history are at last finding recognition. So
much so is this the case in fact, that the publica-
tion under review is experiencing diflBcuIty in
keeping abreast of the current of articles, Ac,
which keep pouring in. Such a state of affairs
must be exceedingly encouraging to the Editor,
but other forms of encouragement are alno neces-
sary, and the most helpful of all is that of each of
us becoming a regular subscriber. Tt may now be
said to be the accredited organ of Border affairs,
and there seems to be no reason why a copy should

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not every month find its way into each honsehold
in the Borders. Even in other parts of Scotland
it may profitably be £akeu, and is taken, for, after
all, south of the Celtic fringe at least, the history
of Scotland generally was to a very large extent
bound up in that of the marches and their con-
tiguous country."

Threi Days wi' Bluid."

I N the course of rambling in the Bor-
derland the^ present writer has at
times come across a curious bit of
folklore which is worthy of being
put on record. This is found in connection
with places where tradition asserts that a battle
was at one time fought; and the country
people there state that so great was the slaugh-
ter that the neighbouring burn ran red " threi
days wi' bluid." The age is, of course, too far
advanced for us to undertake to prove the
verity or the falsity of the phrase in applica-
tion to the combats in question ; but as some
of these fights were only small skirmishes, it is
probable that the phrase is no more than a
strange feature of folklore.

It is borne in mind that at the time when
Scotland and England were intermittently at
war, blood was spilt in quantity much greater
to the number of casualties than would be the
case at the present day. With our present-
day methods of warfare much less blood is shed
even where the number of deaths may be
greater ; for wounds caused by shot do not
result in tlie loss of much blood. But in the
middle ages lighting was always at close quar-
ters, and ghastly wounds were inflicted by
long slashing blades or by pikes, in conse-
quence of which there was considerably more
effusion of blood. At the battle of Pinkie,
fought near the river Esk in the year 1547,
the Scots were defeated by the English with
dreadful loss. So great was the slaughter that
Patten, who was with the English anny, states
that " the ryvere ran al red with blode." Of
the other battles where rivers ran with gore,
that of Towton Moor — fought in 1461 — may be
singled out. Here for six houi-s a battle raged
between the Yorkists and the Lancastrians, —
the former being the victors, — and when it
finished :i3,000 were left dead upon the moor.
The snow was dyed crimson with the blood of
the wounded and the slain, and the river
Wharfe ran red with gore. But of no such
magnitude were the most of the fights to
which the phrase above-mentioned has been.
attache<l.

Although the phrase cannot be traced back

to the time of any of the skirmishes, etc., with
which it is now associated, it is not one of
recent creation, reference being made to it
in the ballad entitled "The Lads of Wamph-
ray,*' printed in Scott's "Minstrelsy of the
Scottish Border'' fully a century ago. This
poem describes the fight which took place in
1593, when the incensed Criohtons intercepted
the plundering lads of Wamphray, headed by
Willie of Kirkhill, at Biddes Law. Right
noble were the deeds then done by Willie and
his men, and great was the slaughter of the
discomfited Crichtons, who, a short time pre-
viously, had hanged the Galliard, Kirkhill' s
uncle. It was afterwards said that the ad-
joining burn was discoloured for three days
with the crimson blood of the wounded and
the slain : —

Out through the Crichtons Willie he ran.
And dang them down baith horse and man ;
O but the Johnstones were wondrous rude,
When the Biddes-burn ran three-days blood '

" Now, sirs, we have done a noble deed.
We have avenged the Galliard's bleid.
For every finger of the Galliard's hand,
I vow this day I've kill'd a man."

At Bloodylaws Hill, in Oxnam Water, and
about eight miles from Jedburgh, a battle i&
stated to have been fought so sanguinarily that
in consequence the elevation is said to have
been named Bloodylaws. So great, it is re-
ported, was the spilling of the vital fluid on
that occasion that the burn which flows down
from that hill to join the Oxnam is said ta
have been augmented for " threi days wi'
bluid."

In the valley of the Rule, not far from
Fodderlie, tradition reports that there took
place a bloody battle between the English and
the Scots, and that for " threi days " the life-
blood of the combatants stained the pure wat-
ers of the Rule. This battle is easily identi-
fied with the running fight between Dacre'&
men and the warriors of Teviotdale during a
raid by the former into these regions in Sep-
tember, 1513. The Soots overtook the Eng-
lish at Slaterford, and " bickered " with them
there ; but the number of casualties on that
occasion was so small that it gives little basis
to the traditional shedding of much blood.

At Rutherford, on the Tweed, a similar tra-
dition prevails. Here, according to legend,
two rival armies faced each other for a consid-
erable time. The Scottish forces were located
in a ravine still termed " Scots' Hole," while
the English, who were of greater numbers,
lay on the opposite bank of the river. At

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length, having eiliausted their patience, the
English, trusting in their superior numbers,
forded the river, and were thereupon assailed
by the Scots on rising ground still known as
the "Plea Brae,'' and, beitig totally discom-
fited, were forced back through the river
again. So great was the slaughter — as the
present writer was informed by one who dwelt
in that locality — that the River Tweed "ran
red wi' bluid for threi days." From this
wholesale slaughter, it is said, the locality pro-
cured its name. The English undoubtedly
would " rue the ford "-ing of the river; but it
is more probable that this ancient ford at
Rutherford obtained its name from the col-
our of the soil in the locality rather than from
the lamentation of the English in consequence
of their defeat.

At Skaithmuir, about two miles to the north
of Coldstream, there is a tradition to the ef-
fect that at the ford of the Leit in the vicinity
there was a battle fought in which so many
were slain that the rivulet ran red with blood.
The first time I heard the story it was added
that it ran thus "for threi days." This tra-
dition about the skirmish — leaving out of ac-
count the inevitable phrase concerning the ex-
traordinary amount of gore that was shed — is
on a good basis, for here, in 1317, Sir James
Douglas, having issued forth with his forces
from his forest retreat at Lintalee, overtook
the Gascons and others who had come forth
from Berwick Castle and who were now re-
turning with a number of cattle for the suc-
cour of the famishing English garrison. It
was a sharp, bloody conflict, and the Gascon
forces, though superior in numbers, were put
t3 flight, Douglas had overtaken them at the
ford near Skaithmoor (or Scamore), and doubt-
less the blood spilt on that occasion helped to
swell the volume of the brook ; but the number
slain does not warrant us to suppose that the
waters were augmented for so long a time as
three days.

Near Flodden Field there is a brooklet nam-
ed Pallinsburn, which also is said to have run
red for three days with valiant blood. The
association of the disastrous battle of Flodden
with this tradition is only too obvious. There
are doubtless many bums, rivulets, and rivers
on both sides of the Border to which this grim
and gory phrase appliee ; and it would be in-
teresting to have a catalogue of their names
printed in the Border Magazine, as the above
subject is undoubtedly a curious piece of folk-
lore connected with the Borders.

G. Watson.

A Sneeessful Border Angler.

It is not the sphere of a magazine such as this
to record or take part in the present contro-
versy regarding the future of public rights to
fishing in the Tweed and its tributaries, but we
have pleasure in noting the contest for the 1906
Loch Leven Championship, which resulted in
the victory of Mr Robert TumbuU, fishing
tackle manufacturer, 10 Hanover Street, Edin-
bui^h, who is a native of Kelso, where his
'prentice hand was introduced to the mysteries
of the " gentle art."

On the Championship day, 3rd September^
thirty-two champions of clubs competed.

MR ROBERT TURNBLLL.

Mr TumbuU, who carried off first honours
and won the distinction of being champion for
the year, had a catch of si^ trout, 5 lb. 1 J oz. He
fished all day from the south shore, (iifting in
a south-westerly direction, and used an 11 ft.
Walton rod of his own make. Two of his trout
were got with the Butcher, two with Teal and
Red, one with the Bloody Doctor, and one with
his own invention, "Tumbull's Favourite."
Last year's Champion was Mr Wm. Watson of
the Fifeshire club, who had a catch of 11 trout.

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10 lb. 6 oz. Mr TumbuU was fifth with 9 trout,
6 lb. 7 oz. On both occasions Mr Turnbull re-
presented the Walton Club of Edinburgh. The
Championship competition was instituted in
1872, and the blue riband of Loch Leven has
twice been carried off by a representative of the
"Walton"— in 1876 and 1906.

Robert
sidence.

The Four Towns.

Unparalleled Rustic and Lilliputian
Aristocracy.

I HERE are few more interesting par-
ishes in Scotland than that of Ix>ch-
maben. It claims the honour of
having been the birthplace of King
Bruce, and conWns his ancestral re-
The town which gives name to the
parish is beautifully situated in the vale of the
Annan, and figures largely in early history.
Its old-time inhabitants were not backward in
feud or foray, and were wont to give and take
hard knocks.' Its castle was of great strength,
and figured frequently in Border wars. Not a
few Annandale freebooters found shelter within
its borders, the most noted of these being
John Cock, or O'Cock, who was surrounded
when asleep by the King's foresters, and laid
seven of them dead at his feet before he could
be overpowered.

The parish is unique, in that it contains the
four towns — four villages with commonage
land held direct from the Crown, Greenhill,
Smallholm, Heck, and Hightae. From a very
early date the inhabitants of these were known
as "the King's 'kindly tenants," or the "ren-
tallers " of the Crown.

The lands around the four towns and in
touch with Lochmaben Castle were amongst
the most fertile on the Annan, and were held
by a species of tenant wholly unknown in Scot-
land, save perhaps in Orkney. They belonged
to the Kings of the country, and are believed
to have been granted by Bruce to his domestic
servants or the garrison of the Castle.

The " rentallers '* were bound to carry arms
in defence of the royal fortress, and were re-
sponsible for its provision. They were without
charter or seisin, and held their title by pos-
session, and could part with their property by
a sort of deed of conveyance. The new pos-
sessor, who paid a small fee, took up his suc-
cession without service, and maintained his
claim by actual possession as in the case of
the original tenant.

These privileged tenants wei^e frequently

harassed by those in authority, who cast en-
vious eyes on their land, and more than once
appealed to the Crown. During the reign of
James VI. and Charles II. they obtained orders
under the royal sign-manual to remain in un-
disturbed possession of their unique rights.
On several occasions subsequently these rights
were upheld by the Court of Session and House
of Lords.

A large portion of the "rentallers' " land, up
to the middle of the seventeenth century, ex-
isted as a common, but then, by mutual agree-
ment, was divided. To the portions were
. added neat farmhouses, and the land was
brought under cultivation, and soon became
greatly enhanced in value compared with the
original allotments nearer the villages.

As time advanced much of the commonage
was disposed off piecemeal. The neighbouring
proprietor of Rammerscales secured a goodly
share. But portions still remain as origin-
ally set apart, and as one writer puts it,, " ex-
hibit in the person of their owners a specimen
of rustic and Lilliputian aristocracy unparal-
led in the kingdom."

If the possession of landed property, says
the same authority, in a regular line of an-
cestry for several generations is what confers
the dignity of gentleman, that title" may be
justly claimed by this community, whose fath-
ers have owned and occupied their ridges and
acres from the thirteenth century.

The names of those who form^ " the King's
kindly tenants" predominate in Annandale.
They were for the most part Raes, Kennedys,
Nicholsons, Wrights, and Richardsons, the lat-
ter being the most common. These names,
observes some one, were borne by companions
of Wallace and Bruce in their struggles against
the usurping Edward.

Of the village themselves little need be said.
The names of the two first, Greenhill and
Smallholm, are derived from their situation.
Heck takes its name from what in olden times
was the hiU of the heck. The ground on which
it stands was frequently surrounded by water,
and as often looked like an island in a lake.
A rack was placed on the high ground so that
the cattle might be fed, hence the name.
Hightae is the largest of the four towns, and
stands on a fertile tract of land, with its
church, school, post office, and a lake with
numerous fish. A charter granted by James
VI. gave the ancient royal burghites the right
to fish here, as in the other six lochs in the
parish.

G. M. R.

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Jedburgrh "Wren's Nest"
Reminiscences.

T is good even to recall those hours
to memory," A. L. A. Sudden says
in that breezy ai*ticle of his on
''Dookin' in Tweed" in the February
number of the Bobdbb Magazinb, and I agree
with him.

I have felt it good, but with not a few
touches of sadness in the memories, to recall
similar days of dookin' in the Jed, for there we
did, 70 years ago, use the definite article, and
had no jealousy in allowing the majestic Tweed
to be known without it.

I often wonder how many of us are living
who were daily let out by Mr Pringle, a part-
ner witii Mr Burnet in the boarding school
known as "The Nest" — I recall only four,
but there must surely be more.

The "Nest Academy" — or, as it was orig-
inally called, the "Wren's Nest," by Mr Bur-
net, the first proprietor, after the favourite
little busy bustling "Kitty Wren," with its
numerous fledglings — was at that time one of
the most famous and successful high-class
schools in the South of Scotland, the students
coming from all parts of the country, and
some even from the Continent.

All through the warm days of summer the
school was "let out" about twelve, and, under
the guidance and care of Mr Pringle, we
marched in order, or, perhaps, spealcing more
correctly, in disorder to the pool just below
the second bridge, whei-e the haugh was speed-
ily littered with clothes and the river swarm-
ing with bright, clean, healthy boys, morally
and physically, who tumbled over each other,
regardless of appearances or consequences —
some good fearless swimmera, others timid
and anxious, but longing for and believing in
the time when they would do as the best of
them.

I learnt to swim in my eleventh year in this
wise. On the opposite or wooded bank, un-
derneath an overhanging scaur, there was a
flat "clint" with perhaps not more than two
to two and a half feet of water over it in the
summer time, which you could reach by wad-
ing above and round on to it, and from this
"clint" all the good swinmiers dived and fro-
licked into a pool, which then had, and pro-
bably has to-day, at least six to eight feet, or
more, of water.

An old schoolboy had promised to swim
across with me, and without hesitation or fear
I put my hands on his shoulders and we
launched out; but — ^his name was Douglas —
Douglas had fun in his veins, and in the mid-

dle of the deepest part he dived and left me
to sink or swim. Of course, I promptly did
the latter, and I have thanked him ever since.
I met him once afterwards when he was in
a lawyer's office in Edinburgh, and we talked
of swimming in the sea ss much easier
than swinaming in the fresh water of the Jed.
I am next reminded that we thought Mr
Pringle a magnificent hero when he plunged
in with all his clothes on to rescue a boy named
Emerson — how is it that when you think of
a place, a name and an incident come so easily
to your memory, where they have lain for over
sixty years, but out of which wild horses could
not have drawn them in any other connection ?
— ^who was in inmiinent danger of being
drowned.

That was either 1845 or '46, and, although
I began to write under the inspiration of A. L.
A. Suddens' lead on bathing and on clear pools,
over which the freshest air under the heavens
always blows, I shall go along on my tangent
of school memories for a little longer and tell
briefly the story of a noble life.

The headmaster of the "Wren's Nest" kept
a pony carriage for the use of dear Mrs Bur-
net, a true and affectionate mother to all the
fledglings of the "Nest," and to take charge
of pony and do other necessary rough work of
the school a sharp little, capital fellow, of the
name of Timson, was engaged. "Wullie" soon
became a great favourite with all of us, the
healthy tone of a healthy school leaving no
"side" in any one ; if it were there with a new
boy it was very quickly knocked out of him,
for his future good, so that when "Wullie,"
the son of a widow woman down Bon jed ward
way, who had all the boy's wages sent to her
every week, took it into his plucky little head
that he also would like to learn French and
Greek, he had every boy's books at his dis-
posal, and more willing teachers than falls to
the lot of most boys.

By and bye the story of it all reached the
headmaster's ears, and opportunities were
given him, which he was quick to lay hold
of and under which he advanced step by step
until — well — all who have followed me thus
far know, without being told, what it led to.
At that stage I left the "Nest," and for some
years entirely lost sight of Wullie Timson,
only hearing occasionally that he was a school-
master somewhere or other.

One day, probably in 1857, I was walking
along Princes Street, Edinburgh, when a well-
dressed, firmly-set young student passed me,
whose face was familiar, but I could not name
Him, and, as he did not recognise me, we

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pMsed each other, but a yard more, and the
weU-kiK>wn manly face of Wullie Timson was
in my ey€, and, und^r the impulse of it, I
speedily overhauled him, much to his delight
and mine.

He had gone through his College course
with credit in the Edinburgh University, had
attended the Theological Hall of the United
Presbyterian Church, and was about to be
licensed.

Thia is a. common story of Scotch student
lile, but it bears being re-told.

That^ however, is not all about him. After
his ordination he decided to become a mission-
ary, and, applying to the Foreign Mission
Committee, was accepted and sent abroad with
his wife.

In the spring of 1858 I received an appoint-
ment to proceed to Old Calabar, West Africa,
on business, and, arriving there on 24th May
in the good steamer "Hope," we anchored at
sundown in the broad river, opposite Duke
Town, eighty miles from tlie sea'.

Immediately the anchor was over the side
& numb^ of six-oared gigs, with their white
owners eagerly waiting for letters and news,
pulled alongside, and the first on deck was —
Wullie Timson.

During the five years I remained there we
saw each other often — though he shortly after-
wards was sent by the Presbytery to an up
station. He was a most excellent missionary,
and had broad ideas, often of an unconven-
tional type — ^for instance, one day, coming
through tile town, he saw a chief very badly
ill-treating one- of his slaves, and, finding that
kindness and reason were of no use, and that,
very probably, the poor creature would be
killed, the Rev. Wni. Timson became once
more the rough and tumble schoolboy of
" Jethart," who did not even stay to doff his
coat, but promptly, with Nature's weapons,
felled the chief to the ground.

And he was all the more respected by the
natives, who acknowledged he had acted
rightly.

He has long since gone to his reward, and
his photograph is one of my cherished pos-
sessions.

But this is a rather long digression froon
that of dookita' in the Jed.

There were many pools, the first just above
"the cauld;" the second, already referred to,
at the second bridge; a third was known as
"Tammy White's Pool,'* nearly up to the third
bridge, and immediately under the highest
peak of the scaurs — ^Mr Sudden uses, I see,
the vernaculai*, ''skerfit," which, for the sake

of days long eone by, I wfllingly, accept.
"Tammy White^ Pool" was too deep and sullen
to be such a favourite bathing place as th»
second bridge, but some of us, on very warm
days, in a (kring mood, and without Mr Pnn-
gle, had our swim in it. I suppose no one <ean
tell why it was called "Tammy White's Pool?"
I often asked the question in those days, but
never got an answer, and, for want of it, we
concluded some one of that name had been
drowned there.

It is an interesting fact that just of^xmite
the scaurs from this pool lliomson of the
seasons wrote his poem on "Summer," sitting
on a sloping bank near an old, lonely schocA
building, which was there, though not in use,
in my earliest days.

My recollections have run on in a very de-
sultory manner, and I must close — ^but anoUier
time I may say something more about those
unique and glorious scaurs and refer to odd
holidays and Saturday half-holidays spent in
climbing out and into the caves cut o«t of the
face of those at the '^fourth bridge," a feat I
cannot now think of without a Judder, but
which, when the brain was clear and nerves
unknown, was done with exhilarating fear-
lessness.

Claughton. Jamhs iRTun.

The Late Mr Francis Lynn.

The death, says the **St Ronan's Standard,"
occurred suddeiily on 23rd April, at his resi-
dence in Livingstone Terrace, Galashiels, of
Mr Francis Lynn, F.S.A. Scot. Mr Lynn, wlio
was sixty-eight years of age, had been in busi-
ness as an upholsterer and cabinetmaker in
Galashiels for nearly forty years, and was
highly respected by all classes of the commun-
ity. *Mr Lvnn was an enthusiastic antiquar-
ian, and was well known throughout the coun-
try as an authority on that subject, and he
contributed papers of considerable value and
interest on subjects such as the Catrail Hill
forts and artificial caves to the meetings of the
Scottish Society of Antiquaries, of which be
was a Fellow. In the affairs of the Berwick-
shire Naturalists' dub he- took an actiw
interest, and was a highly esteeptied member,
his services as guide to the Club in their ram-
bles in the Border district and the North of
England being greatly appreciated. His
name appears in the list of excursions for liiis
season. We were purposing a sketch of him
in the "B. M.," and may still carry out our
intention, though death lias called our friend
homa

Printed and Pabliahed by A. Walker & Son, GaUshisls.

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SUPPLEMENT to the "BORDER MAGAZINE/' Vol. XII., No 138.

CAPTAIN ROBERT DAVIDSON, DALMUIR, CLYDEBANK.

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CAPTAIN ROBERT DAVIDSON,

DALMUIR, CLYDEBANK.

A SUCCESSFUL BORDER GENTLEMAN.

I HE subject of our sketch is that of
Captain Robert Davidson, Ist
D.R.V., who is likewise Quarter-
master of the regiment and a Town
Councillor to boot for the Dalmuir Ward of
Clydebank — ^the home of ships and sewing
machines — succeeding ex-Provost Francis
Spite, and has had the distinguished honour
of being thrice returned unopposed as one of
the three representatives on the Council of
this particular Ward. It will be in the recol-
lection of our readers that Captain Davidson
was lately honoured by our well-beloved King
in being commanded to attend the levee in
St James' Palace, London, for presentation to
His Majesty — ^he being the only representative
from Scotland present on that occasion — thus
bringing honour not only on himself, the
"risingest" Burgh of Clydebank, and the
Ward thereof of which he is a bright and
shining light, but on Borderers all o'er. Still
in the heyday of manhood, or, rather, youth,
for, as our readers can see from our block, he
looks quite the youth, and, what is more and
better, feels it, tot he has yet a long journey

to travel before he crosses over from the sunny
to the autumn side of fifty. Bom in the
pleasant little Border village of Yetholm,
which nestles at the foot of the Cheviot hills,
he spent a portion of his boyhood amid scenes
which are dear to every lover of Scott, and
which are famous in several ways in Scottish
history. His parents having removed to Jed-
burgh to engage in farming, he, perforce, ac-
companied them to Hundalee, a large and
well-stocked farm, of which his grandfather
had a lease from the Marquis of Lothian.
Here young Davidson set about making a way
for himself in this busy world, and here he
first exhibited that tact, energy, and unflinch-
ing devotion to duty that has not only stood
him in good stead, but has brought about an
honoured and deserved reward, and that, too,
at such a comparatively early age as falls to
the lot of few. He served his apprenticeship
with the firm of Messrs Noble, wine merchants,
Jedburgh and Berwick-on -Tweed, and after-
wards transferred his services to Messrs Hil-
son, Jedburgh, where, after four years' faithful
work, he hied himself to Glasgow, for the bet-

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102

THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

ter scope and enlargement of his undoubted
talents, amid the best wishes of his past em-
ployers and fellow-employees. After a short
spell of city life and city experience,. Captain
Davidson removed to Clydebank some twenty-
one years ago, when the district was but in its
infancy, and he rapidly blossomed into a popu-
lar young man, adding success to success, and
making friends aU along the line. Acquiring
the licensed premises, corner of Dumbar-
ton Road and Buchanan Street, Dalmuir, then
owned by Mr John McLaughlan, Dun tocher,
he soon succeeded in adding to and building
up the business, and on Mr McLaughlan 's
death he bought his wide range of property
in Buchanan Street and Dumbarton Road.
Lately he transferred his business to new and
more central premises at the corner of Trafal-
gar Street and Dumbarton Road. His manner
at all times has been characterised by cour-
tesy, energy, and tact. Captain Davidson has
had since his earliest days the best interests of
the Volunteer Forces at heart, having served
with the Border Rifles first in 1882, under
the command of the late Sir George Douglas,
Bart., before leaving his native heath. Com-
ing to Clydebank, he, as soon as business ar-
rangements permitted, attached himself to the
Yoker (L) Coy. Ist D.R.V. After a short
spell in the ranks, it was at once seen that
he was an acquisition to the corps, and got
promoted to the rank of Lieutenant (1896),
receiving on his appointment the warmest con-
gratulations from, among others. Colonel
Denny, late member of Parliament, and then
commandant of the regiment. His rise in the
service has been as rapid as it was deserved.
On the retiral of Lieut. -Colonel Birrell, he was
promoted to the rank of Lieutenant -Quar-
termaster, and later on to his present rank of
Staff-Officer Captain Quartermaster. At each
camp held under his management and personal
supervision, he has at the close of each been
personally thanked and complimented by the
Commanding Officer for the careful and effi-
cient manner he had carried out the entire
arrangements for the comfort of both officers
and men. Notwithstanding his extensive
business and public duties, he succeeds in find-
ing time for pleasure and recreation. An
early riser, he gets through a vast amount of
work, and then, in season, hies himself to some
of the waters, for he is a most ardent and en-
thusiastic angler, and for this season holds
the record catch of salmon on Loch Tay.
Shooting also claims a portion of his time, as
might be expected, and he is a noted marks-

man with both riBe and revolver. With the
latter he twice won the Denny 100 guinea
challenge cup, and is looked on as the crack
revolver shot of the county. With the fowling
piece he has twice lifted the Old Kilpatrick
glass ball and clay pigeon trophy. In fact,
on one occasion he won it right out, and was
presented with it, but on an opponent putting
in an appearance after the event was over,
Captain Davidson waived his claim, and on
the opponent retiring from the mark it was
found he had beaten the Captain's score by a
point. The Captain, by his action, thus only
showed one of his many outstanding traits of
character and sporting spirit with which he
is imbued.

Those who know the Captain best, know him
for his sportsmanlike nature, genial
character, and kindly disposition, . ever
ready to unloosen his purse strings
and give bountifully and ungrudgingly of his
means to those in distress, and especially when
it is the cry of the widow and fatherless. As
a Freemason he could have filled any office he
chose in Lodge St John, Dalmuir, No. 543,
but it can readily be seen that he succeeds in
putting a lot of work into a short space of
time, and a limit must be struck somewhere.
Still he takes more than a passive interest in
the craft and all pertaining thereto.

Some fourteen years ago the Borderers re-
sident in Clydebank foregathered together and
became desirous of forming themselves into a
Borderers' Association. At the time Captain
Davidson was approached, and, as becomes
him, he threw himself heart and soul into the
suggestion, and was made president of the new
body. Under his care and watchful eye the
Association, which first met under his wel-
comed roof, has grown so well that it is now
one of the recognised institutions of the
" risingest " burghs of Scotland, the success
of which has been greatly contributed to by
Borderers, but by none more so than by Cap-
tain Davidson.

We offer Captain Davidson our heartiest
congratulations on his many achievements,
and trust he will be long spared to be an hon-
our to the town in which he has cast his lot
and a credit to Borderers at home and abroad.

B. C.

A long story is, next to a good evening
draught and a warm nightcap, the best shoeing-
horn for drawing on a sound sleep. — "Leg^uJ
of Montrose.'*

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THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

103

The Author of '' Waverley *' on the
South Side of the Border.

Bt Waltbb Scott, Gjjnford.

Part I.

Ak English peer, with Scottish blood in his
veins, wrote: —

"England, thy beauties are tame and domestic
To one who has roamed o'er the mountains afar ;

Oh, for the crags that are wild and majestic.
The steep frowning glories of dark Loch-na-gar."

And since his day many have been the com-
parisons drawn between the quietude, and al-
most tameness, of the scenery in the south^n
kingdom and the grandeur of loch, mountain,

could give expression to the true patriot's feel-
ing in the lines: —

"O Caledonia! stern and wild.

Meet nurse fsor a poetic child!

Land of brown heath and shaggy wood,

Land of the mountain and the flood.

Land of my sires, what mortal hand

Can e'er untie the filial band

That knits me to thy rugged strand!"

And so, annually, there is a stream, of every
kindred and people, making the pilgrimage to
Abbotsford, Dryburgh, the Trossachs, and
wherever the foot of the mighty magician trod.
And yet the scenery of many of his poems and
novels is to be found in the country of the
southron. So, not to go over the Ivanhoe
country, that of Kenilworth, the sylvan beauty
of Woodstock, or the diversity of the Peak

ROKEBY HOUSE.

and glen in Scotland. Hie truth is, there are
beauties of scenery and entrancing views in
both countries. In England, for the most
part, what we see and admire are the results
of aees of occupation and cultivation — "the
stat^y homes of England," the old-world
farm-houses, quaint country hoetelries, its syl-
van scenery, and ecclesiastical buildings of
note in almost every parish. In the northern
part of the island nature has been lavish in
providing the grandeur of rugged mountains,
shimmering lochs, impetuous streams, and all
that beauty ol her own which "unadorned is
adorned tlie most."

All the world knows how Sir Walter loved
his country and how, in undying verse, he
opened its beauties to the world. He only

country, all vividly described and peopled by
real men and women who live in our memor-
ies, a short note of interesting places in the
Border counties of Northumberland, Durham,
Westmoreland, Cumberland, and North York-
shire, associated with Scott or his works, may
be interesting to the readers of this magazine.
He knew these counties well, and had friends
in them all. But the one friend of the greatest
intimacy wad the genial and scholarly Lord
of Rokeby, in the North Riding of the County
of York, within a mile of the junction of the
Greta with the Tees, the latter being the boun-
dary between the "county of broad acres" and
Durham.

And how surely his all-observing eye noted
every place he saw and its surrounding char-

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THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

acteristics. In illustration of this faculty let
VLB just glance through the pages of "Rokeby,"
the poem he wrote in honour of his friend,
John B. Sawrey Morrit, "one of the most ac-
oomplished men that ever shared Scott's con-
fidence." One of the heirlooms left by him
wa« that famous Velasquez picture, leoently
the subject of so many newspaper articles be-
fore it was secured for the nation by a pay-
ment of £40,000. Morrit frequently visited
Abbotsford, and was also Scott's host at Roke-
by on many occasions. It was on one of these
latter that he began the poem "Rokeby.'
When published it was received with great
favour, though its popularity was overshad-
owed by the fame which had oome to its pre-

causing alternations of darkness and silvery
light, when the first incidents of the poem
occur : —

"Such vivid hues the warder sees
Beflected on the woodland Tees."

It is the time of civil conflict, King against
Parliament, and here, in this castle, the plot
between Oswald Wycliffe and Bertram of Ris-
ingham is hatched. The object is to obtain
the treasure of the Liord of Mortham (a keep
on the side of the Greta further from Rokeby),
supposed to have been slain by Bertram in
the battle of Mcu'ston Moor, recently fought.
Another aim of the plotters is to obtain the
hand of Rokeby's daughter for WyclifFe's son,

BARNARD CASTLE

decessors, riie Lady of the Lake," "The Lay
of the Last Minstrel,'' and "Marmion."

The scene of "Rokeby" is, of course, princi-
pally at that place, and moves to Barnard
Castle and other places in the neighbourhood.
It opens in Barnard Castle,, that proud guar-
dian of the Teesside frontier built by Barnard
Baliol, the grandfather of him who, for a short
time, wore the crown of Scotland. Around
the castle grew a town ; and for centuries it has
been an important market for South Durham
and North Yorkshire. It has had its vicissi-
tudes, like most old places, some of its older
inhabitants even yet remembering the grand
old days of stage coaches and crowded hostel-
riee on its famed market.

It is a breezy and rainy night, scudding
clouds shrouding the pale face of the moon,

who was of a very different nature from that
of his scheming and unscrupulous father : —

"He loved the quiet joys that wake
By lonely stream and silent lake.
In Beepdale's solitude to lie.
Where all is cliff and copse and sky;
To climb Catcastle's dizzy peak.
Or lone Pendragon's mound to seek/'

The first two of these places are up the Tees
from Barnard Castle, well suited to attract
the admiration of a nature-lover like Scott;
and to-day the solitude of cliff, copse, and sky
in Deepdale is only rarely broken ; Catcastle's
dizzy peak is as it was then ; and lone Pen-
dragon's Mound, near Penrith, is the puzzle
of archflBologist and antiquarian.

Bv the plotters it was arranged
that Wilfrid, the son of Wycliffe,

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THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

105

should accompany Bertram to Morth-
am Tower to take possession of the treasure on
that night when

"Three banners floating o'er the Tees
The woe-foreboding peasant sees;
In concert oft they braved of old
The bordering Scots' incursion bold."

These were the banners of Rokeby, Mortham,
and Barnard Castle. To this day many small
land owners pay "Barnard Castle guard rent"
to Lord Barnard, who represents the old fam-
ily who protected tho flocks and herds of their
predecessors. But at the time of the story
Rokeby was for the King, Mortham for the
Parliament, and Wycliffe held Barnard Castle
for Vane, who wanted to see first which side
was likely to be victorious.

Bertram and Wilfrid waited not for sunrise,
nor turned to view what the clear moon would
have revealed : —

"The moon was cloudless now and clear.
But pale, and soon to disappear;
The thin grey clouds wax dimly light
On Brusselton and Houghton height,

• And the rich dale that eastward lav-
Waited the touch of wakening day. '

[To Bb Continued.]

Border Notes and Queries.

JEDBURGH «* WREN'S NEST," Etc.
I am one of the many who read Mr James Irvine's
*' Reminiscences " of the above in last number of the
Border Mixgazine with both interest and pleasure.
He seems to fall into two mistakes, however, which I
venture to correct, not in the spirit of criticism, but
for the purpose of effacing any false impression made
upon the readers of the article., He refers to ''the

* Nest Academy ' or, as it was originally called, the

* Wren's Nest,' by Mr Burnett, the first proprietor,
after the favourite Uttle busy bustling * Kitty Wren,'
with its numerous fledglings." Far from it having re-
ceived this name from Mr Burnett, however, it is
specified in a charter (or perhaps charters) granted by
King James VI. of Scotland to LK>rd Home two centuries
before Mr Burnett's time. Eight or nine years ago
I saw an extract from the charter to Lord Home, in
which there occurs the phrase " All haill ze lands of
. . . and of ze Wren's Nest," etc. (As I am
quoting entirely from memory, I cannot pretend to be
UtenUly accurate.) In No. 5 of his '* Yesterdays in
a Royal Burgh " (reprinted from the Jedburgh OazeUe "),
also, B£r Lindsay Hilson cites a charter from the Crown,
and dated 1671, in which reference is made to *' The
Abbay Kirk of Jedburgh, with these three houses
commonly caUed ' Dobies Tour,' * Wran's Nest,' and
" Old HaU,' " etc. These facts put the matter beyond
question that Mr Burnett did not originally give the
place its name.

Of the school to which Mr Irvine refers, and which
was exactly at the first milestone from Jedburgh, not
a vestige now remains. There must be some mistake
in Mr Irvine^ statement that Thomson, the poet of

the " Seasons," wrote Ws poem on " Summer " on
the embankment near this school. In 1715, Thomson,
then aged fifteen, left Southdean for Edinburgh Uni-
versity, and in the following year, in consequence of
the death of his father, the household removed to
Edinburgh. (I have not read anywhere that the poet
again visited Jedwater.) Nine years later, Thomson,
having removed to England, commenced " Winter,"
the first poem of the " Seasons," which appeared in
1726. " Summer " was published in the succeeding
year, and therefore could not have been written when
Thomson lived on the Borders. '

Regarding Mr Irvine's query as to the derivation of
the name " Tammy White's Pool," I may say that his
conclusion that some one of that name was drowned
there is very probable. In more recent times than
those of which ne writes it was given me' as the actual
reason why the awsome pool was so named. No data,
however, were given along with the simple statement.

G. WATSON.

JOCK 0' &AZELDEAN.

The following additional correspondence on this
subject has appeared in the SeoUman: —

Edinburgh, April 20, 1907.

Sir, — ^Hazeldean must have stood between Hawick
and Minto. In the ** Lay of the Last Minstrel,"
canto I., stanza 25, in describing Sir William of Delo-
rajne's ride from Branksome to Melrose, Scott says : —

" And soon the Teviot side he won.

Eastward the wooded path he rode,

Green hazels o'er his basnet nod ;

He passed the Peel of Goldiland,

And cross'd the Borthwick's roaring strand.

Dimly he viewed the Moat-hill's mound

Where Druid shades still flitted round ;

In Hawick twinkled many a light ;

Behind him soon they set in night ;

And soon he spurred his courser keen

Beneath the tower of Hazeldean."
— I am, &c. J. B. Fairgrieve.

StirUng, April 24, 1907.
Sir, — ^There can be little doubt, I think, that the
Hazeldean of the " Lay " and the ballad are the same.
As to the Hazeldean of the *' Lay," every one knows
that it is Hassendean in TeviotdaJe, as Scott himself
has told us in a note to the poem, in which he says that
*' the estate of Hazeldean, corruptly Hassendean,
belonged formerly to a family of Scotts." Scott is here
mistaken, for undoubtedly Hassendean, or Halstane-
den, JB the old form of the name. Scott and Leyden
both use Hazeldean, and it is to be remembered that
the " Lay." appeared in January 1805, while Leyden,
who had sailed for India in April 1803, had been
previously staying with Scott at Lasswade, busy with
the old Border ballads and his Scenes of Infancy, It
is therefore rather curious to find Scott saying that
Hassendean is a corruption of Hazeldean, when pro-
bably either Leyden or himself was the first to use
that form of the place. I am not aware of its previous
use by any one else.

I doubt your correspondent " S." is rather wide of
the mark when he seeks to identify Hazeldean with the
Roman AzeUodunwn, near Hexham. He will find a
more Ukely explanation of that place in Taylor's
" Words and Places " (under Axelholme) than the one
he suggests.

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I am afraid the history of " Jock '* and the laorimose
" ladie *' who " loot the tears down fa*/* whether as
set forth in the old ballad or in Soott's song, is likely to
lemain a mystery, though one would like to know the
story of the pair.— I am, &c.,

A. GRAHAM.

There are still in connection with this subject some
points on which further information would be accept-
able. Where is Hazdgreen of the old ballad, and was
the form Hazeldean (t.e. Hassendean) erer used by
any one else before Scott and Leyden ? Perhaps some
reader who may have access to Professor Child's
Tolumes {Engliah and SeoUiah BaUads, 8 vols., 1861)
could furnish us with some additional information not
brought out in the above correspondence.

In a letter of Scott's (dated September 30, 1792) to
his friend William Clerk, Esq., he speaks of an *' ex-
pedition " he had lately had through Hexham and
partiB of Northumberland, which, he says, " would
have delighted the very cockles of your heart,"
Ac. He sulds : " I was particularly charmed with the
situation of Beaufront, a house belonging to a* mad
sort of genius, whom, I am sure, I have told you some
stories about. He used to caU himself the Noble
Errington, but of late has assumed the title of Duke
of Hexham." Scott may have remembered the name
when he composed his song some twenty-four years
after, as Mr Crockett suggests in his letter.

It may perhaps be worth while to add that it was
lately intimated in the Scotsman that there was to be
offered for sale by auction in London a collection of
important autograph letters and documents relating
to Scotland, and amongst these Sir Walter Scott's
signed manuscript of the famous song *' Jock o' Hazel-
dean." A. G., S.
« » « «

HIGH PRICE FOR A BURNS'S RELIC.
** A tnost interesting relic of Bums was sold yester-
day at Christie's, London. It was the poet's seal,
formed of a Scottish pebble engraved with his coat of
arms, and mounted in gold. The arms of the bard
are characteristic, and were cut in Edinburgh. Above
a shield cont^aining a horn, pastoral crook, and bush,
a bird sings, and it is surmounted with the words,
" Wood notes wild," while on the sides of the shield is
the inscription, " Better a bush than nae bield."
This object is referred to by the poet in letters 213 in
the seventh volume of Cunningham's " Life and
Works" of Bums. Tl^e poet says : — " I have gotten
one of your Highland pebbles, which I fancy would
make a very decent seal, and I want to cut my armorial
heading in it." The seal hung at Bums's watch for
several years, and it passed from him to his son Robert,
then to his daughter Eliza (who married Dr Everett),
falling to her daughter, the late Martha Burhs Thomas,
who bequeathed it to her cousin, the late owner.
Keen competition raised the price for the tiny trinket
to £210 before Mr Dunlop, a private collector, secured
iu"— Scotsman, May 1, 1907.— " We are informed
that the purchaser of the poet Bums's seal at Christ'e's,
London, on Tuesday, is Mr W. H. Dunlop of Doonside,
and that the relic is to be placed in Bump's Cott4tge,
near Ayr." — Scotsman, May 2.

« « * *

WAS JEDBURGH A WALLED TOWN T
fVIt was with much interest that I read the query, pro-
pounded by a writer signing himself *' Auntie Queer

Ane,'* which appeared in the last number. The in-
formation which I have been able to collect upon the
subject enables me to answer the question negatively.
Before producing this scanty material, it may be staled
that there are no remains or traces of any kind to
indicate that walls surrounded the town, and in the
hundreds of references to Jedburgh in medieeval times
which I have seen in contemporary documents, not
once are the hypothetical walls referred to.
, It was not the custom of the Scots to build walls
round their towns ; they rather trusted in their abili^
to defend them by bravery and by foroe of arms. *' The
Scots," says John Major, the Scottish historian and
divine, " do not hold themselves to need walled cities ;
and the reason of this may be, that they thus get them
face to face with the enemy with no delay, and build
their cities, as it were, of men. If a force 20,000 strong
were to inrade Scotland at dawn, a working day of
twelve hours would scarcely pass before her people
were in conflict with the enemy." The case of Jed-
burgh, unfortunately, illustrates by no means favour-
ably tjiis policy of the Scots in these troublous times, as
this Border town was burned by the English no fewer
than six times within the one hundred and thirty-six
years following the capture and demolition of the
castle in 1409 by the Scots, after it had been possessed
by the Southrons for seventy-five years.

Don Pedro de Ayala visited Scotland in the year 1498,
and in the account of his visit he states that there was
then not more than one fortified town in Scotland, " as
the kings do not allow their subjects to fortify them."
John IM^jor also, writing in 1521, states that Perth was
the only waUed town in Scotland. In addition to Perth,
however, Edinburgh itself had ere this been fortified,
having in 1460, immediately after the battle of Sark,
been enclosed by walls, which were further strengthened
after Flodden in 1513. Writing in 1647-52, David
Buchanan, when he refers to " the custom of the Scots
being able to defend their cities with arms and not
with waUs," corroborates Major's previous statement.
These references seem to exclude the idea that Jedburgh
was a walled town.

From the " History of Scotland," written about 1582
by the famous George Buchanan, more direct proof can
be adduced that Jedburgh had no walls round it.
Alluding to the projected attack upon it in 1572 by
Kerr of Femiherst, Buchanan states ih&t Jedburgh
was **a small town (" oppidulum "),^ unfortified, as is
the cxtstom of the country, but inhabited by the Ivavest
of citizens, who in former years had always strenuously
resisted the attempts of the rebels." If more conclusive
proof than this be required, it is found in the fact that
in the same work, when this writer deals with the Earl
of Surrey's successful assault on Jedburgh in 1523, he
refers to the town as ** unwalled, according to the
Scottish custom." ' These facts prove the case beyond
doubt, and answer the question in the negative.

I would be edified to learn Professor Veitch's author-
ity for his erroneous statement. Mr George Hilson was
obviously in error in stating that Sir Walter Scott alleged
the walls of Jedburgh *' to have existed." He evident-
ly has in mind the passage in Chapter XXV. of the
" Tales of a Grandfather," where Scott thus ralers to
Surrey's capture of Jedburgh in 1523 : — " But the foroe
of numbers prevailed, and the English carried the
place by assault. There were six strong towers within
the town, which continued their defence after the
waUs were surmounted. These were the residenoes of
persons of rank, uniUffd round, and capable of strong

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107

resistanoe." The words I liare emphasised show that
it was not the wiJls of the town, but those Soott sup-
poses to have sniromided the bastel towers, that that
author alluded to. Even these walls, it may be pointed
out in closing, have no existence in Surrey's memorable
letter, printed in the "Minstrelsy of the Scottish
Border, from whioh communication Sir Walter
evidently obtained his information respecting the
capture of Jedburgh in 1523.

G. WATSON.

Burns's ''Beauteous Rosebud..'*

)T the Stirling Fine Art Exhibition, held in
the Smith Institute during the months of
February and March, there was exhibited a
very interesting portrait of Bums*s heroine,
Jenny Cruiokshank, the " Beauteous Rose-
bud " of his poems. This portrait, which is un-
donbtedly authentic, and has never been publicly
exhibited before, is a small canvas, 20 inches by 14, and
shows the girFs figure in three-quarter length. She
has a sweet face, with rosy cheeks, and wears Ui;e quaint
cap according to the fasiiion then prevailing. In her
arms she holds a Prince Charlie spaniel. The artist is
unknown, but the work artistically appears io be fairly
well done, and is not without a certain delicacy and
oharm.

William Cruickshank, the father of the " heroine,"
was a colleague of William Niool, the Willie who brewed
the peck o* maut, of the Edinburgh High School, and
both were intimate friends of Bums. Bums, it will be
remembered, on the advice of Dr Blacklock, set out to
Edinburgh in order to get a second edition of his poems
brought out there. He reached Edinburgh on the 28th
of November, 1786, and was soon lionised and patronised
by sll the fashionable literaU of the place-nlaw lords,
professors, clergymen, and blue stockings. His poems,
an issue of 2800 copies, duly appeared on the 21st of
April, and soon after, on the 5th of Mav, Bums,
mounted on "Jenny Geddes," along with his friend
Robert Ainslie, set out on his Border tour, in the
course of which he visited Duns, Coldstream, Kelso,
Dryburgh, Melrose, Jedburgh, and Selkirk, besides
other places on the other side of the Border. On the
4th of June he reached Dumfries, and on the 9th
Mauchline, and was received, after an absence of seven
months, by his brother, sisters, and mother, who is
said to have welcomed him back with the simple words,
*' Oh, Robbie ! " Soon after, in the month of August,
he returned to Edinburgh, and on the 25th, along with
his friend William Nicol, a man with some good qualities
and some not so good, started on his northern tour.
They visited Stirling and Bannockbum, then proceeded
through Perthshire, and on to Inverness and CuUoden,
Aberdeen and Montrose, where the poet was kindly
received by his relations whom he had never seen before,
and returned to Edinburgh, which was reached on the
16th of September. Then in October he again, along
with his friend, a Dr Adair, set out on a ten days* tour,
when he visited his old friends at Harviesfon, Sir
William Murray of Ochtertyre, and Mr Ramsay of
Oohtertyrd (near Stirling), returning to the Capital on
the 20th of 0<^ber, ill with a cold contracted on the
journey. On this occasion Bums lodged with his
friend William Cruickshank, who occupied a house at
30 St James's Square.* The poet*s room was a high
upper chamber looking down into a green plot behind

the Register House, and here he chiefly employed his
time in composing songs for Johnson's Muaewn^
and in hearing young Jexiny Craiokshank, at this time
a girl of some twelve years of age, play the melodies on
her harpsichord. And here also it was that he penned
some of those stupid amatory epistles to Clarinda,
whoso acquaintance he had made towards the close of
the year. Professor Walker, who had occasion to oall
upon Bums at this time, says : " I found him seated by
the harpsichord of this young lady, listening with the
keenest interest to his own verses, which she sang and
accompanied, and adjusting them to the music by
repeated trials of the effect. In this occupation he was
so totally absorbed that it was difficult to draw his
attention from it for a moment. " Would not " Robbie"
and the " Rosebud " with her harpsichord have formed
an admirable and charming subject for the painter ?
It was probably about this time that Bums composed
his song '' A Rosebud by my Early Walk," ** in whioh
he makes graoeful reference to the accomplishments
of his young friend who could tune such strains " on
trembling string or vocal air." In Febmary, 1789,
Bums paid another visit to Edinburgh, when he is
supposed to have written and inscribed to Miss Cruiok*
shank the poem beginning : —

" Beauteous rosebud, young and gay.
Blooming in thy early May."

It was written on the blank leaf of a book presented
by the poet to the young lady. It would be interestiog
to ascertain if this book with the poem is still in exist-
ence. In June, 1804, Miss Craickshank became the
wife' of a Mr James Henderson, writer in Jedburgh.
She died in 1836, and she and her husband lie buried in
the Abbey Churchyard of Jedburgh.

About the beginning of August, 1887, there was
erected in this churchyard a tombstone of Aberdeen
granite, of a plain but neat desimi, to mark the resting-
place of Bums*s heroine. It bears the following in-
scription : — " In memory of James Henderson, writer,
Jedburgh, who died 1839, and Jean Cruickshankt his
wife, one of Bums's heroines, who died 1835 ; also of
their five sons and three daughters. This stone is
erected by the children of Anctew, third son of the
above, who died at Berwick, 1846." Another of their
sons, it may be added, Mr William Cmickshank Hender-
son, was a banker, who, on retiring, settled at Stirling.
In 1869 he married a Miss Scott, a native of Kelso, and
died in 1882, and was buried in 8t Ninians Churchyard.
His widow still survives, and the portrait to *whieh
reference has been made, remains a cherished treasure
in the possession of that lady.

A. GRAHAM.

* On the death of Cruiokshank, Bums wrote the
following hues :—

** Honest Will *s to heaven gane.
And mony shall lament him;
His faults they a' in Latin lay.
In English nane e'er kent them."

-^lines not over-complimentary to the Latinity of the
Edinburgh High School classioal master !

** At a sale of Bums MSS. at Sotheby's, London,
March 16th of the present year, these lines amongst
others were disposed of to a Mr Maitland. The vendor
was a descendant of Bums's friend, Alexander Eraser
Tytler, afterwards Lord Woodhouselee.

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The Border Bookcase.

|H0 that has read the works of
Sir Walter Scott intelligently,
has not wished that he could re-
tain in his memory even a hun-
dredth part of the wise sayings he met in the
living pages, or even longed that he had time
to imitate Captain Cuttle, and " make a note
of it ?" So much of

THE WISDOM OF SIR WALTER
is thus lost to the general reader that we hail
with delight a volume bearing this appropriate
title from ' the famous publishing house of
Messrs A. & C. Black. The volume is by
Owen Redfem, who has done his work well,
while the pdblishers have produced a hand-
some book at 5/ which should find a place in
every Border library. There is a melancholy
interest in the fact that the preface ia from the
pen of the late Rev. John Watson, D.D. (Ian
Maclaren). He says : —

'* The mind of Scott is always worth having, because
it ia so honest and fair, so charitable and friendly, so
shrewd and sagacious. He is not clerer : he is wise ;
he does not tickle you with epigrams : he sums up a
situation. When you have read what he says about
pride and remorse, about religion and friendship, about
English gallantry and English good-nature, about
women and children, about OUver Cromwell and the
Puritans, about selfishness and happiness, about dogs
and horses, about honour and love, and a hundred
other subjects within the range of life, then you are
bound to have a saner as well as friendlier outlook upon
your fellow-creatures. This book will serve a double
purpose : it will excite an appetite for Scott among
strangers ; it will be a handy iK)ok of reference for his
friends. And nowhere can one find a weightier or
kindlier teacher of practical wisdom than Sir Walter."

As an example of the style of this new work
we quote one of the pages : —

««Hom6. The Bride of Lammermoor. Chap. XVII.,
p. 420.

Sir, stay at home, and take an old man's

counsel;
Seek not to bask you by a stranger's hearth ;
Our own blue smoke is warmer than their fire ;
Domestic food is wholesome, though 'tis

homely,
And foreign dainties poisonous, though
tasteful

TJie French Courkxan,
HonMty. Life of Scott. Vol VII., p. 100.

You ought never to leave a country without
clearing every penny of debt.
Honour. Quentin Durward. Intro., p. 2.

A man of honour. His word generally ac-
counted the most sacred test of a man's
character, and the least impeachment of
which is a capital offenoe by the code of
honour.

Rob Roy. Chap. XII., p. 672.

True honour consisted not in defending, but
in apologising for, an injury so much dispro-
portioned to any provocation I might have to
all^e.

Hope. Life of Scott. Vol. IX., p. 177.

Our hope, heavenly and earthly, is poorly
anchored, if the cable parts upon the stream.
I believe in God, who can change evil into
good; and I am confident that what befalls
us is always ultimately for the best.

Rob Roy. Chap. III., p. 637.

Hope, that never forsakes the young and
hsidy.

Redgauntlet. Chap. IX., p. 464. '

Hope will catch at the mast feeble twig for
support in extremity.

Horse-riding. Castle Dangerous. Chap. III., p. 820.
Any one acquainted with equestrian exercise
is aware that no means of refreshment carries
away the sense of fatigue from over-walking
so easily as the exchange to riding, which
calls into play another set of muscles, and
leaves those which have been over-exerted
an opportunity of resting, through change of
motion, more completely than they could in
absolute repoee."

•N- -N- « «

BRITAIN'S GENERAL DEBILITY :

Its Causes, Effects and Remedy.

Bearing the above striking title Mr Alex-
ander Laing, M.P.S., has published a lecture
addressed to the people of the British Empire
at Home, and has included also in the book
another lecture entitled " The Evolution of
Jack the Giant Killer." Mr Laing, who is a
native of Kelso, and was for many years pro-
minently connected with the work of the
Glasgow Border Counties Association, is a most
original thinker, and a perusal of these two
lectures will well reward the reader. The
booklet is published at 6d., by John E. Smith
375 Great Western Road, Glasgow. Mr Laing,
who is the author of " The True Hero and other
poems," reviewed in our columns some years
ago, says in his preface to the present publica-
tion : —

Now, in this the seventh year of the twentieth
century of the Christian era, when the desultory and
tumultuous babel of voices in the British Empire at
home resolves into the cry ** who will shew us any
good T" it befits to ask the people to pause and con-
sider if thev are able to discern " any good *' that is
shewn to them I Every one in this fortunate island
thinks his opinion as good as any one's else, however
different; and opinion has become a fossed intrench-
ment wherein each burrows. They must be driven
out into the light of the ascertained. Their ditch is
unclean, unwholesome, insanitary; it has brought
them into such a state of Genersl Debility as is here
depicted beyond their ability to confute.

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The Late Rev. David Macrae.

JCOTLAND was decidedly the poorer
when, on the morning of the 16th
May, 1907, the Rev. David Macrae
passed to his rest. Although a High-
lander, he belonged to the whole of Scotland,
and therefore it is fitting that the passing of
such a true Scotsman should be noted in the
Border Magazine. To millions he was known
by his brilliant pulpit and platform orations,
or through his works and contributions to the
public press, for he combined the eloquence of
an orator with the pen of a ready writer. As
a journalist, a preacher, a pioneer in theological
advancement, a powerful Temperance ad-
vocate, and a leader in the renaissance of
Scottish nationalism, he stood in the front rank.
Looked at from every side, he was a great man,
and those of us who were privileged to know
him personally and meet him in his own' home,
were even more convinced of this fact than if
we had known him from the outside only. On
the evening of Mr Macrae's death, Mr James
Walsh contributed to The Evening Times
(Glasgow), the following fine tribute : —

Farewell, farewell, thou valiant one,

Aoro88 the sea where hangs the night

Thick with Death's mystery — whose waves

With hollow moan break on the shore

Of human woe — thy bark has sped,

WhOe winged with love through mists obscure

Our thoughts go out in yearnings deep

That thiwer fain would turn its prow.

But bright to thee the heaving tide

And sounds seraphic hushed its moan.

For pilot sore was thine— the Christ

Whom thou didst love and follow here.

^e Isles of Best before thee lay

A gleam beneath that Sun whose light

The joy made perfect is of saints

And guerdon pure of faithful life.

Yet stand we sadly by the marge

And mourn a friend revered and loved.

Whom ne'er in flesh our eyes shall see

Nor hand clasp hand in fnendly grip ;

Whose voice no more our ears shall hear

In temp'rate counsels sage and wise.

Or fraught with tone that spake the heart

Rich in the wealth that makes the man.

Bmt to thy heart was Scotia's wea! ;

T)ear were her bens avid rugged steeps, 1

Her streams and straths and lone, still glens,

Tet dearer made by deeds that glowed

Bright with the valour of her sons.

When claymores flashed and spears uprose

And vengeance smote the alien hosts.

Then Scotia freed, exultant stood

And marked with pride her loyal brood.

Who sware no fetter forged by foe

Would stamp the craven on tikeir flesh,

Vat witness to their manhood's death.

H^ to their spirit and their fire,

The patriot's seal and fervour thine.

Than thou no braver fought of old.

Though bloodless was the strife thou waged.

Keen-eyed and eloquent and quick

To guard her rights, her wrongs redress—

The gibe and sneer — the swords of fools

Thy scorn but met for Scotia's sake.

Thine too, a higher duty still

That claimed thy manhood's strength and prime

To minister *in holy things.

And in the van of heroes strive

With pen and voice to quell the ills

That rampant spoil the land thou lovedst

And blighten with their breath its life,

Fast breeding woes whose victims crowd

The haunts impure and dark of vice:

A seeker after Truth thou wert,

Un&werving in the light that streamed

From that clear height where God abides.

Nor clamours rife nor rude assault

Eer stayed thy cour?«*. but bold thou stocJ'st

Paithful to that revealed to thee —

No caitiff fear forbade the voice

That with prophetic power outrang

And spake of love encircling all —

Of hope that clear through ancient mists

Shone with the radiance of a star

And lit the shores of nether worlds.

Brave, thou did'^st meet the wrath of those

Whose mood the lie gave to their creed

And drave the Christ from out their deeds

That shrivel in the light of love.

The withered fruit of bigot growth.

Now years of bitterness are past.

The battling and the striving o'er.

The sounds of strife for ever hushed.

Peace, peace is thine and endless calm.

Where loyal sprites and pure are met

Crowned by the Christ they loved and served.

Ballads of the Border Singrers.

'Tis not the poet's passing word,
Nor yet the wind-song in the trees.

Nor rapture of the April bird,
Nor stir and bustle of the bees
That twines the tune our hearts to please.

And strikes the note the lover learns —
A melody more sweet than these

Lies in our lilting Border burns.

From out the woodlands sombre-firred,

Across the gowan-broidered leas.
Like Lochinvar our streams have spurred

To river-loves and sought-for seas.

Bearing soft Border melodies
That echo from her bower returns;

The promise of love's mysteries
Lies in our lilting Border burns.

In hidden glens these rills have heard
Romance's whisper on Time's knees.

Our Border hearts are stayed and stirred
With fragments of forgotten glees.
And mourning songs wailed on the breeze.

And measures played at country kirns;
The music of Life's changing keys

Lies in our lilting Border burns.

If any song can grief appease,

If sorrow ever solace earns.
Then music for the spirit's ease

Lies in our lilting Border burns.

Will H. Ooil

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TO CORRBSPOITDBNTS. TO ADVERTISERS,

AlleomtnuniecUionBf^laHng to LUerarjfmatUra should AU Bvsime$$ maltert^ AdverHHng Rata, ^c, tkimid

he addressed to the Editor, Mr William 8akdbb905, he referred to the Puhlishors, A. Walksr k Sov,

8t Ronamst Rntherfflen, near Olasgow. High Street, OaUuhiels

' . ' ' ' V

THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

JUNE, 1907.

LIST OF CONTENTS. ,^,0.

Captain Robert Davidson, Dalmuir, Clydbbank. Portrait Supplement. By. B.C. - - - . 101
The Author of "Wavkrlky" on the South Side of the Border. Part I. Two Illustrations.

By Walter Scx)tt, Gaisford. 10^

Border Notes and Queries. , 106

BuRNS*s " Beauteous Rosebud. " By A. Graham. 107

The Border Bookcase. 108

The Late Rev. David Macrae. 10^

Ballads of Border Singers. By Will. "H. Ooilvik. 109

The Border Keep. By Dominie Sampson. 110

Reminiscences of LiDDESDALE IN Pbe-Rail WAY Days. Parti. 112

The Battle of Dryfr Sands. By G. M. R. 114

The Late Mr John Cochrane. One Illustration. 116

BiRKHiLL— AND Beyond. By J. R. Y. 116

Sir Walter Scott : A Criticism. By Leslie Stephen. 119

EDITORIAL NOTES,

We have still plenty of matter on hand, but we have no desire to prevent our valued contributors from
preparing articles for future use. To these frieuds we would once more recall the limited space we can afibrd
or each article, and suggest the maximum of 2000 words. Contributors would save us some trouble if the

approximate number of words were marked at the top of their manuscripts. We have abundant evidence that

their contributions are highly appreciated, even in remote parts of the world.

The Border Keep

(In which are preserved paragraphs from various publications, to the authors and editors of which

we express our indebtedness).

Some curious customs still linger in the more out- the cost, which ia estimated at about £1700. Thft

lying country districts. In a sequestered recess of ^e heritors, who have given their sanction to the schemer

Lammermoors stands a cottage named Tollis Hill. contribute £200, in addition to the £1000 held by Bir

Aooordinff to the terms of an agreement with the Mar- Burr, so that about £300 is still required before the

quia of Tweeddale, the tenant of this lonely dwelling work is commenced. In the restoration the old buHding

must keep a callon of whisky for the special use of in all its lines will be strictly preserved. In the bnildiiig

travellers who have the misfortune to lose their way on are the burial vaults of the houses of Rozburghe, MintOy

the wilds. This arrangement dates back to the remote and other old Border families,

period when Tollis mil formed a half-way house for « « * «
pedestrians journeying between Edinburgh and the

Borders. Since the dawn of the railway era the de- The recent vacancy in the pastorate of Glencaini

mands on the shepherd's hospitality have yearly become Parish Church, brought about by the translation of the

less frequent. This is largely due to the fact that ToUis Rev. G. G. Duncan to Glenesk, recalls that many

Hill is too far removed from any village to attract the eminent divines have occupied the Glencsjm pulpit,

man with a perpetual thirst. Under other circum- Among the number are the Rev. Patrick Playfafr, now

■tances, the obligation which exemplifies the kindly of St Andrews, and the Rev. Patrick Barxowman, who

ways of the old-time Scot would probably have fallen was the incumbent at the time of the DisruptioiL > H«

kito abeyance. was one of those who left church and manse '* for oon-

^ ^ ^ ^ science* sake/' and thereafter he entertained the bitter-
est contempt for those who remained " in." One of the

The Rev. Mr Burr, Bowden, whose church is one of reasons for his unquenchable rancour was that immedi*

of the oldest and most historic In Scotland, dating back ately before the memorable cleavage of *43, Mr Barrow-

to the twelfth century, and continuously in use for man was instnimental in carrying out extensive im-

public worship since then, has during the winter been provements on the church property, and his manse was

mroseouting a scheme for the restoration of the building, one of the finest in Nithsdale. On a scroll over the

The soheme was only mooted about November, but door leading to the gaiden, which was almost ideal in

■inoe then Mr Burr has collected about £1000 towards its arrangement, were the words, *' One soweth and

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another reapeth.*' Hardly had the improvements,
which had cost him so muoh thought and effort, been
completed, when Mr Barrowman turned his back upon
them for ever, and so fulfilled the motto which he had
himself selected to adorn the entrance to his garden.

What is the origin of the prejudice against May
marriages ? Sir Walter Scott, who hurried back from
London that his daughter Sophia might be married to
Loohart before April was out, confessed himself unable
to explain why this "genial season of flowers and
breeses," so apparently favourable for matrimony,
should be banned by brides and bridegrooms. Some
have traced the prejudice back to the marriage of Mary
Stuart and Bothwell, which took place in May, 1667.
But the Scottish people knew all about the superstition
lozig before that. Indeed, it was one of their grounds of
objection to Mary's marriage that the date was set down
in the forbidden month. Somebody even fixed on the
gates of Holyrood the warning line from Ovid (who, as
a matter of fact, quoted it as an *' old saw "), *' 'Tis bad
to marry in the month of May." The Latins had ft say-
ing to the effect that " only bad women marry in May."
In Scotland, judging by the marriage notices in May,
the number of bad women is infinitesimaUy smalL The
registrar of a parish with a population of a thousand
told recently that only three May marriages had been
recorded in his books during the last fifty years.

On 1st May 1707, the Rev. Thomas Boston was trans-
lated from Simprin to Ettriclc The induction did not
attract much contemporary notice, but it has derived
interest from the prominence which the learned minister
afterwards attained. Comparison between the rural
Scotland of two hundred years ago and that of to-day is
suggested by the present condition of Simprin. The
parish was the smallest in the Merse. When Boston
became minister in 1699, it supported only eighty-eight
examinable persons. Little more than fifty years later
it was merged in the neighbouring parisl of Swinton.
To-day. the old " kirk-town " is represented by only one
one weather-worn cottage, and little remains of the
sanctuary save the eastern gable. The number of
labourers employed on the three farms that fall within
the limits of the old-time parish has steadily diminished
during the last twenty years. But sreat as the mere
outward change has been, a perusal of Boston's " Mem-
oirs *' suggests that the mental outlook of the com-
munity has undergone a still greater transformation.
An earnest performance of the duties of life should
never fail to command respect, and never was pastor
more devoted to his calling than Thomas Boston.

r Of the joyousness of life Boston knew little. His
religion was tinged with superstition, and physical
blindness could not have rendered him less susceptible
to the charms of Nature. His ministerial career was
divided between two parishes that are both rich in
historic and romantic associations, but there is nothing
in his voluminous writings to indicate that these exertM
any influence on the learned, yet lugubrious divine. To
the proud position of a father of the Scottish Church later
generations have raised him, and if earnestness of pur-
pose constitute a claim to the distinction, it was not un-
deserved. For the rest, it may be doubted if life has

lost much by the passing of the religious school which
regarded Thomas Boston as one of its leaders.

* » * *

In connection with the recent Royal vi^ to the
West, one may be permitted to ask why Glasgow is so
seldom associated with a romantic interest. For up-
wards of two hundred years, kings and courtiers have
rarely graced the city by their presence; but it was
otherwise in the time of Queen Mary. As every school-
boy knows, the family to which the unfortunate Damley
belonged held extensive possessions in the West of
Scotland. There is, therefore, good ground for be-
lieving that the paliietic poem, "Waly, Waly !*' was
founded on an incident associated with one of the
Royal visits to the Western metropolis. Be this as it
may, the ballad is the only effusion in Scott's ** Min-
streUy of the Scottish Border " in which direct allusion
is made to the Second City.

* * « «

February 5th was the twenty-sixth anniversary of
the death of Thomas Carlyle, and it may be interesting
to record that willing workers are still engaged en-
deavouring to controvert the erroneous statements
published by Mr SVoude in hie biography concerning the
character of the Saffe. The first to attempt rebutting
some of Mr Fronde's misstatements was Professor
Charles Eliot Norton, Harvard University, who, in re-
printing the famous ** Reminiscences," declared that in
five pages Mr Froude had committed no fewer than 130
errors. Sir James Crichton Browne has also done
good service to the memory of Carlyle, and another
Scotsman, Mr David Wilson, of the Indian Civil Service,
has also devoted himself to the same laudable object.
Mr Wilson some years ago published a work directly
refuting many of Mr Froude's statements; and it is
gratifying now to learn that Mr Wilson is at present in
this country on leave of absence, and is busily engaged
prosecuting inquiries into certain aspects of the Saffe's
character, which he will embody in a biography Uiat
he has been at work upon for some time.

The old Scottish prejudice against the " wearin' o'
the green " dies hard. Though generally supposed to
be based on antipathy towards garish display, it seems
to have its roots in superstition. The other day I over-
heard an old native of Ayrshire quoting the following
rhyme for the benefit of her grand-daughter : —

'* Blue is beauty, red's a taiken.
Green's a grief, and yellow's forsaken."

To the Grahams the fatal colour seems to have been
fraught with more than the average ill-luck. *' Green,"
writes Scott in one of his letters, " is a colour fatal to
several families m Scotland, to the' whole race of
Grahams in particular, insomuch that we have heard
that in battle a Graham is generally shot through the
green check of his plaid, moreover, that a veterc.^
sporUman of the name having come by a bad faU, he
thought it sufficient to account for it» that he had a
piece of green whipcord to complete the lash of his
hunting-whip. I remember also my late amiable
friehd, James Ghrame, author of * The Sabbath,'
would not break through this prejudice of his clan, but
had his library table covered with blue or black cloth,
rather than use the fated colour commonly employed on
such occi»sions."

DOMINIE SAMPSON.

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Reminiscences of Liddesdale in Pre-
Railway Days.

(Part L)

There's no' a corrie, cleucli, or cairn

I dinna ken richt weel;
There's no' a linn aboot the place

I hav'na tried to speel;
There's no' a stream for miles aroon'

That to the Solway strays
But what I've guddl't baggies in

In barefit laddie days.

^HERE are few of our Border valleys
richer in associations, or which have
contributed more largely in song
and story to our Border literature,
than Liddesdale. Quiet and peaceful though
it still remains, with scarce a sound to break the
stillness save the bleating of sheep or the hill
birds' cry, time was when it was even more
of a solitude, when its glens were undisturbed
by the locomotive's throb, and the steam
whistle had not awakened the echoes of its hills.
Though the unpretentious dalesfolk have not,
like many of their contemporaries, gone in for
advertising the attractions of the district, it is
not altogether \mknown. The angler and the
botanist have fo\md it a happy himting-ground,
where, away from the bustle of business, they
can, without let or hindrance, pursue the bent
of their inclinations to their hearts' content.
The archaeologist, too, has found in it a
veritable store-house, possessing, as it does, so
many land-marks of long ago, in the shape of
Roman camp and Border peel, while that un-
solved mystery the "Catrail" can be traced for
miles along the hillsides in the upper reaches
of the valley.

Town dwellers are gradually finding out this
quiet retreat, and each summer sees them in
greater numbers seeking health and recreation
among its green hills. As proof of the health-
giving properties of the district, it is sufficient
to mention the fact that it is seldom without a
nonagenarian or two, while octogenarians are
quite common.

Having had occasion recently to visit these
uplands, we found few topographical changes
since the time we first knew tiiem. Patches of
woodland had sprung up here and there, and the
woods we used to explore did not seem at all
so extensive as our memory had led us to be-
lieve, while individual trees appeared barer and
gaunter than we remembered them. We found,
however, the same undulating hills and eye-
soothing grassy slopes, with the commodious
farm-houses still nestling cosily^among their firs

at the foot of some glen or cleuch. Some of the
older cottages have been completely swept away
and their places taken by others of a more sub-
stantial and modem kind. The most noticeable
change was the absence of old friends, of the
familiar faces and kindly greetings of bygone
days, and it was with subdued feelings that we
read many of their names on the tombstones in
the auld kirkyard. Though it seems but a
short while, it is considerably over half a century
since we first knew Liddesdale, and in less than
half that time there will be few living who knew
it as it then was — Liddesdale without a rail-
way.

In pre-railway days Jamie Mabel and Wattie
Loch, the Hawick and Jedburgh carriers,
brought all the necessaries of life, except those
that were home-produced, to Upper Liddesdale.
People were not in such a hurry then as nowa-
days, and in most cases when anything was
wanted, be it a tin of treacle for the porridge, or
a " McCulloch's Collection" for the bairns, they
were content to wait the coming of the carrier.

As an exception that proves the rule, however,
we have known a herd callant sent across the
hills to Hawick, entailing a journey of not less
than thirty miles, to fetch a few pounds of beef
for the chppers' dinner.

The Hawick carrier was a man of large pro-
portions and of austere countenance, invariably
dressed in a square-crowned hat, corduroy
trousers, and a huge double-breasted waistcoat
with sleeves and flap pockets. His dog, the
faithful guardian of his cart, bore a striking re-
semblance to the redoubtable "Rab."

Whether he was a man of morose temperament
or merely assumed his austere looks, we never
knew, but he was without doubt the terror of all
the boys on his rounds. Youthful delinquents
were threatened to be handed over to "Mabel"
to be made a "creeshie" of — ^whatever that might
mean no youngster ever stopped to enquire.

On one occasion a boy of our acquaintance had
been more troublesome than usual, and antici-
pating '*MabelV' arrival hid himself in the byre
amongst the hay. Unfortunately for him there
was a calf in the byre which the carrier was
brought to see with a view to purchase. His
terror can be better imagined than described on
being discovered and dragged from his hiding-
place by his dreaded enemy.

While the carriers named supplied the inner
comforts, such of the outer garments required as
were not home spun were brought across the
Northumberland border by Fenwick Newton.

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Fen wick, in company with his brother Robert,
owned a drapery store at Falstone, and for
many years perambulated the Border counties
with his pack. He conveyed his goods on the
back of a stout pony of the " Dumple " type,
and was a general favourite, particularly with
the gentler sex, to whom his visits were always
welcome and who dearly loved to explore his
miniature warehouse. Fenwick had a happy
* knack of turning up on such occasions as clip-
pings and hay leadings, when he was sure to
find quite a number of young folks of both
fiexes. Such an opportunity was not to be lost,
and by a species of pawky humour and innocent
banter he generally succeeded in inducing the
young fellows to treat the lasses to some of his
wares, much to the delight of the latter and to
his own profit.

Another travelling merchant of the period
was Sandy Maxwell, a little old man somewhat
resembling the pictures one sees of Father
Ohriatmas. Sandy always wore a tall hat (and
hats were tall in those days), from the crown of
which, as occasion required, he could produce
fiuch a miscellaneous assortment of articles as
would have made a conjuror envious. He was
in the hardware line and carried his goods in a
neat brass-bound wooden box, such as is never
now seen on the back of an itinerant trader.

Though only a travelling pedlar, Sandy was a
steady, respectable man, and his periodical
visits were looked forward, to with interest,
quite as much, probably owing to the budget of
news he brought from over the fells, as on ac-
coxmt of his varied wares. He traded in cheap
jewellery — which was a much more substantial
article than its namesake of to-day — shaving
requisites, pocket knives, and the hundred and
one V httle necessaries of a country housewife.
The Ettrick Knife, made from a pattern sup-
plied by James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd,
was in great demand, and the numbers of this
knife disposed of by Sandy were enormous. It
was part of the outfit of every shepherd.

Fifty years ago school boards had not been
called into existence, and, as regards compul-
sion, so far as Liddesdale was concerned,
they were little needed. Children, when old
enough to negotiate the roads, which in many
cases were both long and ill kept, were sent to
school. A common custom of the time was
that boys, on reaching the age of ten or eleven,
were put to work during the summer months,
and sent to school during the winter. Hiis
would continue for several seasons, and as the
lads grew bigger they derived much benefit

from the system. We have known youths at*
tending school for a winter's session showing
quite a promising braird of whiskers. If school
boards were not needed to compel parents to
educate their children, they have worked a
wonderful reformation in school buildings. The
school in our mind's eye was simply a but and
a ben, and this is a fair description of a country
school of the period. The "but" was the domi-
cile of the schoolmaster and his family, and the
"ben" was used as the class-room. Our teacher,
who claimed to be a descendant of the goodman
of "The Fair Dod-Head," though not bred to
the profession, was a man of more than ordinary
ability, and though the subjects taught were
limited in number, he made sure that his pupils
got a thorough grip of them. Not a few of those
pupils have done more than hold their own in
the battle of Ufe, and have elbowed their way
into lucrative positions in London and else-
where. Though often made to smart under
both his tongue and his tawse, they have, like
ourselves, no doubt lived to appreciate his
worth. How we did enjoy a stormy day in
winter when only some half-a-dozen of the
bigger boys were able to put in an appearance
There were no regular lessons on such a day
but being a great reader, he would on occa*
sions of the kind tell us in a quiet, conver-
sational way, and in the pure Border doric, of
what he had been reading. It might be of
travels in foreign lands, some new discovery of
science, or, better still, the battles of Wallace
and Bruce ; or he might treat us to a captivating
lecture on the tales and traditions of our Border-
land. He would generally begin sitting at^his
desk, but, warming to his work, would leave the
desk and pace the floor with his hands behind
his back and his spectacles pushed up over his
forehead. His salary was a mere pittance, so
miserable that Jeffrey in his history of Rox-
burghshire felt ashamed to name it. Yet he
lived comfortable and contented, another
instance of the fact that a man's wealth con-
sists not so much in the greatness of his posses-
sions as in the fewness of his wants. A
Borderer bom and bred, there were few
better versed in Border lore, and being not
altogether a stranger in the field of literature, he
was in close touch with several of the literary
men of his day.

Churches as well as schools have increased
since those days, but we question if the
reverence for, and attention to, religious ordin*
ances have increased in proportion. Castleton
Kirk, situated at the junction of the Liddel and

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Hennitage, was the nearest to the inhabitants
of both valleys, and thou^ distant eight to ten

miles from some of the outlying farms, the
attendance at public worship was most regu-
lar. Except in the lambing-time or maybe
a Sunday or two just before the clippings,
the shepherds were seldom absent. Sunday
after Sunday the same groups foregathered on

• the road, and were not above discussing the
secular matters pertaining to their own little
world on their way to and from church. Group
joined group around the kirk door a good half
hour before the ringing of the bell, when there
was a general exchange of the news of the water-
gates. For -a true word picture of such a
gathering we know of nothing to equal Ian
McLaren's "Days of Langsjoie." Services were
held occasionally during summer in a bam-like
structure near to Kielder Castle, and con-
ducted by a minister from Falstone. These
meetings, which were well attended by people
from both sides of the Border, were known as
the Tynehead Preaching. The meeting-house,
a damp and dismal place with earthen floor, was
situated in the centre of a field bdonging to
John Dagg of Lightpipe. Owing tb the dis-
agreeable smell arising from the damp, services
had to be conducted with open doors. On one
occasion one of John's calves grazing hard by,
no doubt attracted by the singing and finding
the door open, made its way into the building,
much to the annoyance of the preacher and the
amusement of the yoimger portion of his
audience. This edifice has now been re-
placed by a neat and comfortable little church
close to Kielder Station.

The Battle of Dryfe Sands.

THE DEADLIEST OF SOUTHERN FAMILY
FEUDS.

OR generations a bitter feud existed
between the Maxwells and John-
stones, the two leading families in
Dumfriesshire. The enmity seems
to have had to do with one of the early Lord
Maxwells. For long it looked as if the strife
would end in the ruin of both houses, so re-
lentlessly were they pitted against each other.
Though nothing like equal with the Max-
wells in wealth, numbers, or power, the John-
stones, by daring and strategy, maintained
their ground against the stronger. For a time
the wardenship tossed between them like a
tennis ball and proved no small bone of con-
tention.

Circumstances ultimately ensued which
brought the rival chiefs together, and a sort
of peace was patched up. Both clans came
under a solemn promise to ''freely remit and
forgive all rancours of mind, grudge, malice,
and feuds that had passed or fallen between
them in any time bygone.'*

When Lord Maxwell became Warden of the
Western Border the Johnstones apprehended •
no danger from him, since they had agreed to
"stand by each other against all the world."
Continuing to sally forth from their fastnesses
and rapaciously raid neighbouring clans, great
indignation was aroused against them. Their
descent into the valley of the NiUi resulted in
the spoiling of the land of notable barons.
These pursued the raiders, but were sorely
defeated for their trwible. Plundered and
defeated, they appealed to the Warden, who,
in spite of the recent tieaty, entered into a
secret compact to despoil and humiliate the
Johnstones.

The raiders got wind of the compact with
the Nithsdale men, ani with characteristic
swiftness and aidour maide needed prepara-
tions. Believing that the ruin of himself and
clan was being aimed at, JohTtstone sought the
aid of several Border clans. TTiese included
the Scotts, under the Laird of Elihar k ; El-
liots of Liddesdale, Grahams of the Debatable
Land, and some of the greatest lobbers and
fieroe««t fighters of the Borderland. In hope
of wiping out old scores ond gaining plunder
these were ready for any onslaught.

The Warden summoned Johnstone to sur-
render in the King's naitie. The oit.^tion was
treated with conten«pt. Thus fighting became
necessary if the rebels were to be subdued,
MaxAvell hurriedly got together an army of
2000, including the leadiag chiefs of Kithsiiale,
and invaded Annandale, displaying the Royal
banner. Johnstone, knowing his inability to
meet such a force, remained on the defensive,
ready for any advantage. Maxwell sent out :\
reconnoitring party, who were met by the
Johnstones under the shadow of Bruce's ancient
castle and were put to the sword. Those who
fled and took refuge in the Parish Church
were burned out At this the Warden became
desperate and hastened forward.

Siege was laid to Lockerby Castle, the
stronghold of a Johnstone who was then with
his chief. His wife defended the fortress with
great bravery. The Maxwells drew off from
the siege, on it being reported that the Laird
of Joljinstone was coming to the relief of the
besieged.

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On his way towards the feudal army Lord
Maxwell made it known through his army that
he would give a ''ten pound land" for the head
or hand of the Laird of Johnstone. On the
latter hearing of the offered reward ho said
that he had no "ten pound lands" to bestow
on any one, but he would give a "five-mark
land" for the head or hand of Lord Harwell.
The Kithsdale men, advancing, came over
Lochmaben heights, and on December 6, 1593,
camped near Skypmyre, below which flowed
the Dryfe. Next mornmg they found the
enemy on the defensive and strongly posted
on elevated ground sloping gradually to Dryfe
Sands.

Johnstone, realising the inequality of the
forces in point of numbers, handled his men
with considerable military skill. He display-
ed only a handful of horsemen, sent out
"prickers" to provoke the Maxwells, and by
adroit manoeuvring drew them into situations
disadvantageous to themselves. The riders,
or "prickers," flaunted their pennons and
shouted their war cry, "Ready, aye ready,'*
and rode back in a most provoking manner.
A small band made a hasty attack on the
Maxwells and then retired as if defeated or
afraid to remain exposed any longer. The
Warden, enraged by their tactics, lost his
temper when coolness was most needed and
sent forward a large detachment to punish the
Johnstonee. These rushed impetuously for-
ward, shouting the slogan of Nithsdale, "I
bidel you bid! Wardlaw." This was the op-
portunity for which the Annandale men were
waiting. Never dreaminj^ of staying the on-
coming torrent, they whirled quickly aside and
thus exposed the Nithsdale men to a sudden
and desperate charge froti the main body of
the Johnstones, who stood ready for action.
This was the crisis of the battle. The furi-
ous and polid charges of the Annandaleites
came like mighty avalanches upon the Max-
wells. The onslaughts were terrific. The bat-
talions of the latter were broken. The John-
stones, going for all they were worth, turned
the temporary confusion into a ruinous panic
and rout. After a brief, but desperate, stand
their enomy gave way on all sides. Lag,
Closeburn, Drumlanrig, and other chiefs made
good their escape by the fleetnees of their
steeds. Hence we have in the old Scottish bal-
lad— "Lord Maxwell's Good-night"— the
lines: —

"Adieu, Drumlanrig, false were aye,
And Glosehnrn in a hand;
The Laird of Lag, from my father that fled,.
When the Johnstone struck off his hand.

" They were three brethren in a band,
Joy may they never see !
Their treacherous art, and cowardly heart,
Hae twined my love and me.'*

Lord Maxwell and the relics of his army
went helter-skelter in the direction of Locker-
by, and were terribly mangled in the effort.
ITie victors were ever on their track and slay-
ing mercilessly all who were overtaken. Many
were cut down in the streets of Lockerby, or
slashed in the face by a kind of blow which
became and is known to this day as a "Locker-
by lick."

The Warden himself was overtaken by John-
stone of Kirkdale and struck from his horse.
As he offered to surrender and stretched out
his hand for mercy it was slashed from his
body and he was slain outright. Tradition,
however, says that Willie o* Kirkdale rode off
with the hand to claim the reward from his
chief, and that the Lady of Lockerby, already
mentioned, when searching for her husband,
came on the wounded Maxwell lying beneath a
thorn-tree. On discovering his identity, and
inflamed by the deadly feud, she is said to
have beaten him to death with the fortress
keys.

This story is discredited by historians, and
it is thought that Willie, most likely acting on
the Kirkpatrick motto, "Mak' siccar,'* took off
the head as well as the hand of the enemy of
his clan. Be that as it may, slain he was and
left on the bank of the Dryfe, For many a
day two thorn trees, known as ''Maxwell's
thorns," marked the spot where this notable
representative of royalty breathed his last.

The followers of the noble house suffered to
a fearful extent in their retreat. Never had
the Johnstones obtained such an opportunity
of chastising their hereditary foe. Fugitives
were pursued to the Annan fords, in whidi
many sank and swelled the roll of victims.
No fewer tham 700 fell in the disastrous rout
which closed the battle of Dryfe Sands, said
to be the bloodiest of an internecine kind
ever waged on the Border fells.

The Johnstones were at once declared rebels,
but were soon afterwards respite<l and Johnstone
himself restored to the King's favour. The
strife, however, between the two houses was
renewed with all its ferocity. Though Dryfe
Sands was the; deadliest family conflict ever
waged in the county and the last to disturb
its tranquility it was not the last of the
terrible acts of revenge between those families.
The son of the slain Maxwell, whose headless
body was kept from burial in token of ven-
gecmce to be wreaked on the Johnstones, in-

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vited the chief of the opposing house to a
friendly conference, in which each chieftain
was to have a friend. They met in 1608 at
Auchmanhill in August, when Sir James John-
stone was treacherously shot through the back
by Lord Maxwell, who, finding no refuge on
the Border, fled to France. On returning to
Scotland he was captured in the wilds of Caith-
ness, tried, and publicly beheaded in Edin-
burgh, 21st May, 1613. Thus ended the dead-
ly debate between the notable Dumfriesian
houses. G. M. R.

The Late Mr John Cochrane,
Galashiels.

JNOTHER well-known Galashiels citi-
zen has passed away in the person of
Mr John Cochrane, who died on
Wednesday, Ist May, at his resid-
ence, Willowbush, Abbotsford Road. Mr
Cochrane, who was seventy-nine years of age.

/''

had been in failing health for some time. De-
ceased was a member of a well-known Galashiels
manufacturing family, being a son of the late
Mr Walter Cochrane, and a brother of Mr
Adam L. Cochrane, Kingsknowes, and Mr
Archibald Cochrane, Abbotshill. For over fifty

years he had carried on a large drapery business
in premises at the foot of High Street, and was
one of the oldest shopkeepers in the town.
While taking little active part in the burgh's-
affairs, Mr Cochrane was at all times deeply
interested in all those matters which made for
the town's improvement, social as well as
malerial. He was a manager of the Trustee
Savings Bank, and he was also a director of the
Gas Light Company. In church matters Mr
Cochrane took a deep interest, being an elder
of the Parish Church, whose interests he waa
always ready to serve. Deceased was un-
married, and resided with his sisters at
Willowbush.

Birkhill— and Beyond.

By J. R. Y.

^NE day on the mountains in Aug'
gust is an unforgettable pleasure to
the lover of breezy uplands and
large open spaces. The pleasure is-
both physical and mental. And there are no
mountains so enticing in this respect to the
devotee of the Scottish Borders as the aggre-
gate of ample peaks which surround tiie
sources of the Moffat and the Little Yarrow,

With the prospect of such a day in their
thoughts, a small company of five amateur
mountaineers slept brokenly through the in-
tervening hours of August third until daylight.

The morning dawned grey, but looked pro-
mising. Our chauffeur wa« soon ready with
the car we had chartered for the double jour-
ney. Very soon Yarrow and St Mary's lay
behind us; the Loch o' the Low€« scarcely-
stirred a ripple; and the quietness of early
morning still brooded over the '*hopes" of the^
upper valley. Birkhill was reached five min-
utes before nine. The car dismissed, our sup-
ply of boots and stockings for the return jour-
ney to Selkirk were soon deposited in the^
famous cottage.

From Birkhill the prospect is majestic. On
our right lies, furrowed and folded in thick
layers of peat, the Watch Hill. The name
doubtless originated in the use which the Bor-
der raiders and the Covenanters made of its^
slopes. Indeed, it is peculiarly fitted for pur-
poses of observation, as it commands an ex-
tensive look-out in all directions, but particu-
larly down both valleys of the watershed. The
defile of Dobbs Linn, a favourite hiding-place
of the Covenanters in those tragic days of
man-hunting, runs back from the road in awe-

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inspiring, naked grandeur. The silence of the
place is oppressive, and seems to cling to its
rugged sides and gaunt gashes in native sad-
ness.

To the left, on the Ettrick side, stretch many
mighty monarchs as far aa eye can reach. In
the front row, Herman's Law ; Towgrain Mid-
dle, with the Raking Gill, to^iay in full spate ;
Bell Craig and Andro-Whinney vie with kingly
heights on the Moffat side, and share the hon-
ours of brealdng the rolling mist. To-day the
cloudscape is rakish; the wind is detaching
small craft in all directions. Bran Law has
still on its misty table cloth ; Carrifran on the
right, and on the left distant Bodesbeck, both
have their night caps close on their ears ; the
spirit of the wind may soon call them from the
slumber of a late morning, if, indeed, he has
not already peeped under their caps on the
farther fold. Just over the misty shoulder of
Carrifran can now faintly be seen the massive
head of the White Coomb, which is our destin-
ation to-day.

But we have come to the famous waterfall
known to all the world as "The Grey Mare's
Tail," Its distant roar has already announc-
ed proximity. We climb the path to the foot
of the nearer fall, and then and there stand
impressed with the sheer declivity of these
mountains. The waters of the Tail Bum are
hurled over a precipice two hundred and sev-
enty feet high, and the spectacle is strangely
moving. The first sensation of shock over,
the grandeur of the torrent appeals irresistibly.
To be over the inner barrier and round the pro-
jecting cliff is a matter of minutes, and we are
ushered into the auditorium to witness a sub-
lime terpsichorean debacle with gravitation.
Spray rises from the foaming dark brown pool
in clouds, and exhausts itself on the precipitous
sides of the theatre. Magnificent in volume
to-day, it fascinates and bewilders ear and eye
to frenay. And yet the effect is not all grim,
for just now the sun shines forth in his autumn
glory and sends a thousand shafts of light
into the ravine, to be instantly refracted in
their sevenfold beauty. Gentler features of
the Seventh Muse now sport themselves in
the living pool, and reflect their fantastic mo-
tions on the spray-drenched rocks. It is the
last touch, and it is exquisite.

As we retrace our steps reluctantly to the
road, the mound known as the "Giant's Grave,"
near by the old fort of the Strathclyde Britons,
is passed, and the thought gains credence that
there were giants in those days.

Silence has fallen alike on their old story
and on the valley. The present mood of soli-

tude sits kindly on the hillsides. Above and
all around are fleecy clouds drifting about in
the blue void as white rigg^ yachts upon a
sununer sea. Far up the mountain side the
tiny sheep dot the expanse where the steep
winding road leads over to Ettrick ; distantly
heard is tlie musical murmur of the bums as
they course down the gullies and thread their
way to the main stream under ledges of moss
and tall grass. The air is strangely silent;
even the muiroock and the plover do not whis-
tle for their mate. Over the waving cotton
grass, fanned by the gentlest of breezes, no
"late lark is singing." It is no stretch of fancy
or a picture of make-believe^ but the saddest
expression of Nature's quiescent realism.

And so we saunter along in sympathetic
mood, imtil from over a sudden rise in the
road there bursts upon our view an automobile I
Its occupants are two, and from the Emerald
Isle. The gentleman, who is his own chaf-
feur, is pouring water from a large tankard
into the cooling chamber, and also, quite gal-
lantly, after refilling from the burn, does the
honours of the occasion by quenching his fair
companion's thirst. This human interlude had
its uses in bringing home the fact of our own
physical necessities. Already the keen air
has sharpened our appetitie, and soon we are
seated on the heathery bank in "aJ-fresoo" dis-
cussion of sandwiches and other like comest-
ibles. Immediately to our right stands a com-
fortably-built farm-house, and the suggestion
to procure milk is quick as perception — one of
our number essaying the task. He soon re-
turns with a large can and five capacious cups.
We had arranged for fivepence worth of milk
— ^town measure — but here is a prodigious sup-^
ply it is quite impossible to e^diaust at a sit-
ting. Many are the encomiums passed upon
that milk. Being generous on impulse, we
offer a draught to the drivers of the two ex-
cursion coaches which now bowl along from
Moffat, but, both having to keep their time-
tables, have only time to acknowledge our
generosity with a lusty "thank you" and a
wave of the whip, while the tourists look on
with a patronising air. We learn at least one
interesting fact from the well-filled coaches,
that the drive through Moffatdale is exceed-
ingly popular.

Lunch over, we return "en masse" to the
farm — Polnaoody, by the way — ^to settle our
little transaction. As we approach two beard-
ed ooUiee bark a true Border welcome and set
the hillsides a-ringing with the echoes of tkeir
sincerity. In front of the whitewashed waJl
stands a hay cart, in which a little boy of

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scarce mx summers is playing in solitary pi
ure. He creeps shyly to the door as we pay
our debt — a ridiculous charge d twopence
which the matron made^ after some strategy
to get her to name a figure at all 1 Standing
half hid in her ample apron, the boy as shyly
accepts the extra coins we now place in his
hand, and returns for thanks a confused blush.
Here we see the young 'herd in embryo, a bud-
ding member of that clean-limbed race of Bor-
der shepherds of which we axe all proud. That
is our parting thought as we turn to the hill,
and afterwards wave a second good-bye from
the 'herd's track far up the hillside. The dogs
stand long and gaze as we climb the path they
have doubtless been along that morning.

The ascent is steep from the road, but when
we reach the march dyke on the Black Goomb
it is steeper still, and an hour haa gone. Slow-
ly, but steadily, the vista to south and east
is opening. The trailing mists obscure the
view at irregular intervals, and finally shut us
■out from viewing at all, and even from each
other. Down in the valley of the Carrifran
Bum, which rises in the caverns of the Ravens-
craig, over against the high Saddle Yoke, a
great cloud-dissolution is m progress. High
above us, and rolling on the hillside, dense
mist is settling. Blinding showers of rain de-
scend and make our climb more dismal. Not-
withstanding this sudden change of weather
we can still appreciate vividly the marvellous
mist-spectacle in the valley during the inter-
vals of comparative clearness which ever and
anon ensue. At one moment the summit of
the Saddle Yoke, upon which a person can sit
astride between the twin peaks, assumes the
aspect of a giant anvil, xipon which is laid the
heated iron after sudden cooling with water.
Another moment, and the whole peak is lost to
view, only to be cleared as soon — ^the vapor-
ising process to be as suddenly resumed from
the bottom of the valley. Overhead, at such
moments, rifts break in the cloud-screen and
discover patches of faintly blue sky. Another
hour and the mists clear away, and we are on
the summit of the White Coomb. Two thou-
sand six hundred and ninety-five feet above
sea-level should bring an extensive landscape
within our ken. If only the mists would evap-
orate then should we see the Solway. But we
are to be drenched before realising the pros-
pect. Creeping into the precarious shelter of
the broken hill dyke, we escape in some faint
degree the blinding rain which comes pitilessly
down. Ten minutes more — ^and comparative
calm. The hill is in captious mood to-day.
But the prospect! The mountain tops in

upper Ettrick reveal thw hekda in the streaks
of vapour and now wan sunlight; Hartfell
lies bare behind us, and far south, under a
bluish haae, stretches the Stewartry of Kirk-
cudbright. We cannot distinguish the Sol-
way, but aa a kind of compensation, down in
the east, there stand out in miniature majesty
"the Eildons three." Then all again is obscur-
ed, and rain and wind, witii equal force, drive
us down-hill to the valley of the Midlaw Bum.
Over boggy ground for two miles we plunge;
over innumerable watercourses, and round peat
hags and treacherous pools of ominous black-
ness, until we round the broad shoulder of the
Mid Craig and see Loch Skene. It is pleasant,
at least, to stand upon rock, if only to allow
the rain to run oflf our dripping clothes.

The rain has ceased, but the landscape is
far from inviting. Two members of our party
have lagged b^ind. They are anglers ; it is
hardly necessary to say more. Have they
tackle and bait? We have seen neither, unless
that mysterious little bag in the corner of the
sandwich tin contained worm I A spy is sent,
and returns with the news that they are fish-
ing with walking-sticks and worm, and as they
come in sight he hears a great shout and sees
a lusty trout dangling wildly in mid air ! At
length they rejoin us at the upper end of the
Lodi, well satisfied with their half-hour's pleaR-
ure. But will they divulge the exact locus of
their good luck? Never I

No sheet of mountain water so dark and
desolate as Loch Skene can surely be found
in all broad Scotland. In its comparatively
shallow waters are two islets, where desola-
tion might well be said to have its home. For
three parts round are the grim, gaunt moun-
tains. No living thing is visible on its silent
shores save the sheep, which nibble sparely
on the lower altitudes of the Loch Craig. Oc-
casionally the awful stillness of the heights
is broken by the shrill cry of the whaup on
the wing. Like distant Loch Spey, th^e is
heard around its shores "the whispering of a
hundred rills," but the likeness ends here.
The moraine which dams its waters on the
south-eastern end has, in the course of ages,
been slowly worn away by the stealthy over-
flow. Here the Tail Bum escapes from the
parent source much as a petted child runs
from his home to sound the deeps and shallows
of the world. For a short distance it runs
smoothly enough, but soon the undulations
become sharper, and alter a series of declivi-
ties the waters are hurled over a precipice
nearly three hundred feet from the valley
level, with what force we have already seen

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119

from below. Geologists aver that in prooess
oC time Loch Skene will in this way be drained,
OB was the loch whence the neighbouring tri-
butary, Midlaw, flows. Be that as it may, the
place would still be the home of solitude and
the scene of even greater desolation.

Consultation of time and & glance at the
waste which lies between us and Birkhill de-
termines us on an immediate forward move-
ment. Over ground of a worse nature than we
had experienced in Midlaw basin we plunge,
until tile shoulder of the Watch Knowe is
reached. Dobbs Linn lies far below us, and the
well-known lines which ''J. R Selkirk'* has
given us in one of his most memorable poetic
flights rush irresistibly to mind. They were
penned at Birkhill: —

" In the green bosom of the ennny hills.
Far from the sound of human ills.

Where silence sleepeth ;
Where nothing breaks the still and charmed

hoars.
Save whispering mountain stream that 'neath
the flowers

For ever creepeth.

" The birth, the glory or the fall of nations
Is naught to thee! delirious generations

Ceasing never !
Bave onward, and thou heedest not the chase.
But lookest up serenely in the face

Of God for ever!

Birkhill now lies before us ; and the welcome
thought of creature comforts brings up our
leaden feet in gayer steps as we descend the
road by which the worthy shepherd brings his
peats. Across the bum at the hill-foot and
into the cottage is the work of a few moments.
We are shown to the "ben-end," where many
such ocMnpanies as ours have been entertained.
A few minutes finds all hul one into dry
clothes. He has been unfortunate at the last
march in sinkine to the knees in a pent hole,
but the "gude" nousewife is equal to such an
emergenqy. A pair of the 'herd's kirk ga'in'
"bre^s" are soon produced, to the great com-
fort of the recipient and the no small amuse-
ment of his friends. For ten minutes he is
the butt of their wit as he stalks proudly across
the floor in the good "tweed checks," which are
nothing short of a perfect fit ! And the chil-
dren look on in amazement as they see their
"faither's breeks" on the limbs of a "foreign-
er." Being assured that they will be duly
returned one of the days the bi-weekly post-
man comes to Birkhill, their laughter soon
mingles with the mirth of the company. Af-
ter a generous "tea," to which full justice is
done, we purchase postcards of the cottage

as souvenirs, but find that there is no visitort'
book in which to record our thanks.

Soon after tea we are invited "beo-the-
hoose" to share the glow of the cheery peat
fire. Talk at first flows sparingly — hill sh^
herds are men of action, not of words. Grad-
ually it grows limpid when the subject of his
daily toil is introduced. He tells us something
of the hills and his difficulties in extricatine
sheep from the bog-holes and beat-hags, and
all in the manner of a man who thinks he has
done nothing noteworthy. It is his duty. In
this pleasant fashion two hours slip past. Our
car is heard at the door ; good-byes are said,
and the cordial welcome finds its warm coun-
terpart in the "safe journey" which is waved
by half-ardoeeo arms from the doorstep. As
the car speeds down the darkening valley the
thought of the day and its happy ending finds
expression on every lip in sentiments which
cluster round its events sa the full-blown roses
round the doorway at Birkhill.

And this day has its pleasant sequel. Two
days after, a parcel found its way to the shep-
herd. It was partly his and partly ours ; tor
in the folds of his stout tweed trousers was
packed a visitors' book with a suitable inscrip-
tion, duly subscribed by the members of our
party. It now lies on the table in the "ben-
end* ' to receive the names of a new generation
of visitors who may wish to hear the ''Walcome
as ever, sir*' of old Ailie, in the spirit^ at leasts
if not in the letter.

Sir Walter Scott : A Critleism.

[From "Hours in a Library/* by Lbslib
Stephen.]

perishable
That is
have to

! HEN naturalists wish to preserve
a skeleton they bury an animal
in an ant-hill and dig him up
after many days with all the
matter fairly eaten away,
the process which great men
undergo. A vast multitude of
insignificant, unknown, and unconscious critics
destroy what has no genuine power of
resistance, and leave the remainder for poster-
ity. Much disappears in every case, and it is
a question, perhaps, whether the firmer parts
of Scott's reputation will be sufficiently coher-
ent to resist after the removal of the rubbish.
We must admit that even his best work is of
more or less mixed value, and that the test
will be a severe one. Yet we hope, not only

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for retusons already suggested, but for one
which remains to be expressed. The ultimate
source *)f pleasure derivable from all art is
that it brings you into communication with
the artist. What you really love in the pic-
ture or the poem is the painter or the poet
whom it brings into sympathy with you across
the gulf of time. He tells you what are the
thoughts which some fragment of natural
scenery, or some incident of human life, ex-
cited in a mind greatly wiser and more per-
ceptive than your own. A dramatist or a
novelist professes to describe different actors
on his little scene, but he is really setting forth
the varying phases of his own mind. And so
"Dandie Dinmont," or the "Antiquary," or
"Balfour of Burley," is merely the conductor
through which Scott's personal magnetism af-
fects our own natures. And certainly, what-
ever fault* a critic may discover in the work,
it may be said that no work in our literature
places us in communication with a manlier or
more lovable natufe. Scott, indeed,' setting
up as the landed proprietor at Abbotsford, and
solacing himself with painter plaster of Paris
instead of carved oak, does not strike us, any
more than he does Carlvle, as a very noble
phenomenon. But, luckily for us, we have
also the Scott who must have been the most
charming of all conceivable companions ; the
Scott who was idolised even by a judicious
pig; the Scott who, unlike the irritable race
of literary magnates in general, never lost a
friend, and whose presence diffused an equable
glow of kindly feeling to the farthest limits of
the social system which gravitated round him.
He was not precisely brilliant ; nobody, so far
as we know, who wrote so many sentences has
left so few that have fixed themselves upon us
as established commonplaces ; beyond that un-
lucky phrase about "my name being
MacGregor, and my foot being on my native
heath V — ^which is not a very admirable sen-
timent — I do not at present remember a single
gem of this kind. Landor, I think, said that
in the whole of Scott's poetry there was only
one good line, that, namely, in the poem about
Helvellyn referring to the dog of the lost
man —

When the wind waved his garmentB, how oft
didst thon start!

Scott is not one of the coruscating geniuses,
throwing out epigrams at every turn, and
sparkling with good things. But the poetry,
which was first admired to success and then
rejected with undue contempt, is now begin-

ning to find its due level. It is not poetry of
the first order. It is not the poetry of
deep meditation or of rapt enthusiasm.
Much that was once admired has now
became rather offensive than otherwise.
And yet it has a charm, which becomes
more sensible the more familiar we grow
with it, the , charm of unaffected and
spontaneous love of nature ; and not only is it
perfectly in harmony with the nature which
Scott loved so well, but it is still the best in*
terpreter of the sound healtiiy love of wild
scenery. Wordsworth, no doubt, goes deeper ;
and Byron is more vigorous ; and Shelley more
ethereal. But it is, and will remain, a good
thing to have a breath from the Cheviots
brought straight into London streets, as Scott
alone can do it. When Washington Irving
visited Scott, they had an amicable dispute as
to the scenery ; Irving, as became an Ameri-
can, complaining of the absence of foreeta;
Scott declaring his love for his " honest grey
hills," and saying that if he did not see the
heather once a year he thought he should die.
Everybody who has refreshed himself with
mountain and moor this summer should feel
how much we owe, and how much more we are
likely to owe in future, to the man who first
inoculated us with his own enthusiasm, and
who is still the best interpreter of the " honest
grey hills." Scott's poetical faculty may, per-
haps, be more felt in his prose than in his
verse. The fact need not be decided ; but as
we read the best of his novels we feel ourselves
transported to the "distant Cheviot's blue;"
mixing with the sturdy dalesman, and the
tough, indomitable Puritans of his native
land; for their sakes we can forgive the ex-
ploded feudalism and the faded romance
which he attempted with less success to gal-
vanise into life. The pleasure of that healthy
open-air life, with that manly companion, is
not likely to diminish ; and Scott as its ex-
ponent may still retain a hold upon our affec-
tions which would have been long ago forfeited
if he had depended entirely on his romantic
nonsense. We are rather in the habit of talk-
ing about a healthy animalism, and try most
elaborately to be simple and manly. When
we turn from our modern professors in that
line, who affect a total absence of affectation,
to Scott's Dandie Dinmonts and Edie Ochil-
trees, we see the diffei^nce between the sham
and the reality, and fancy that Scott may still
have a lesson or two to preach to this genera-
tion. Those to come must take care of them-
selves.

Prmtfld and PabUshod by A. Walkw & Son, Qalaahiftla.

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SUPPLEMENT to the "BORDER MAGAZINE," Vol. XII.. No 139.

THE LATE MR FRANCIS LYNN, F.8 A., (SCOT)

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THE LATE FRANCIS LYNN, F.S.A. (SCOT.).

' T has been said that " character is the
permanent element in human his-
tory," and our belief in the truth of
this statement makes us ever de-
sirous to bring before our readers men of out-
standing character who have influenced for
good our beloved Borderland. In the front
rank of this class of men stood the late Mr
Francis Lynn, who passed away on the 23rd of
April last. We had the privilege of knowing
Mr Lynn personally, and we have very pleasant
recollections of the profitable hours spent in
the company of himself and his family. He
was a man of many parts, but whatever he put;^
his hand to received an impress for good. A
true gentleman in the best sense of the word,
and a man of wide reading and broad sym-
pathies, he ever remained a loyal son of the
Borderland, in the history and lore of which
he was deeply versed. Those who have had
the pleasure of accompanying him in arch-
aeological or botanical rambles will recall how
unaffectedly he gave forth his rich stores of
local lore, and how pleasantly he could use the
" soft Lowland tongue o' the Border " to con-
vey information. By the passing of Francis
Lynn the Borderland is decidedly poorer to-
day, but the lessons of his life are before us,

and it behoves our young men especially to fol-
low in his footsteps and labour unselfishly for
the good of others, as he did.

Many tributes to the worth of our departed
friend have appeared in the oolunms of the
varioys Border newspapers, but the limits of
our space compel us to confine ourselves to
quotations from the admirable sketch which
appeared in the "Border Telegraph." The
writer of that article says : —

It is with deep reKret that we have to record
the death of another of the most highly esteemed
and respected citizens of Galashiels in the person
of Mr Francis Lynn, F.S.A. Scot., which took
place suddenly on Tuesday evening, 23rd April,
1907, at his residence in Livingstone Terrace. Mr
Lynn had been unwell for a few days, but no ser-
ious results were anticipated. On Tuesday, in
fact, he showed signs of improvement, and was
chatting with some members of his family at five
o'clock. About an hour later the end came quite
unexpectedly, death being due to an affection of
the heart. Mr Lynn was a native of Smailholm,
and served his apprenticeship as a cabinetmaker
at Jedburgh. He came to Oalaahiels forty-six
years ago, when he started business on his own
account in Huddersfield Street, near the old Gas
Works, as a cabinetmaker and upholsterer. A
skilful tradesman, Mr Lynn speedily built up a
large and successful business, and the firm's es-
tablishment in Galapark Road is one of the larg-
est of its kind in the district. As a carver, Mr

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THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

Lynn hud consideration reputation, and among
the work he did iu his day were the choir stalls in
St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh, and those in St
Paul's and St Peter's, Galashiels, while there
is scarcely a mansion-house in the diHtrict which
does not contain carved work executed by him.
,In the public affairs of Galashiels Mr Lynn took
an active part in his younger days, being re-
turned about the early seventies to the Town
Council as a supporter of the scheme for the in-
troduction of water into the burgh. lie also ser-
ved some time as a Magistrate, but his strong
views on the temperance question, views he held
all his life, roused the hostility of " the trade/'
and as the result of their efforts he was unseated,
the temperance party being unable to secure his
re-election. All his life Mr Lynn took the great-
est possible interest and was an active worker
in the temperance movement; he was the first
Chief Templar of the first Galashiels Lodge, and
up to the last he retained his connection with the
Order. In his earlier days, too, he was actively
associated with politics. He acted as secretary
for the Galashiels braiich of the Keform League,
and later was secretary of the Liberal Association.
' At the Home Rule split he cast in his lot with
the Unionist party, and when Sir George Trevel-
yan contested the Burghs as a Unionist, Mr Lynn
acted as secretary to his committee. Latterly he
did not take such an active interest in politics,
but he showed his sui)port of the party by ap-
pearing on platforms and occasionally speaking
to resolutions. In all other public matters he took
an active interest. At a great Fishery Reform
meeting in Galashiels in 1873, for instance, he
was one of the speakers, submitting a resolution
proposing that the House of Commons be petition-
ed to appoint a Commission to inquire in the
district into the nature and operation of the .
Tweed Acts. It is somewhat saddening to note
that with the death of Mr Lynn only one of the
speakers of that occasion, and there wore quite a
number, now survives, viz., Mr James Anderson,
Meigle Street. Mr Lynn was also a director of
the Good Templar Hall Com])auy, and attended a
meeting of the directors about a week before his
death. This would be the last meeting at which
he was i)resent. Mr Lynn was a member and of-
fice-bearer of the Congregational Church, having
officiated as a deacon for many years. There, as
in other spheres of life, he will be greatly missed.
While in all the departments of life mentioned
Mr Lynn was well known in Galashiels, iu an-
other "sphere he had attained a much more than
local reputation, being generally, and rightly, re-
garded as one of the foremost antiquarians and
archaeologists of the day. The time which he de-
voted to the pursuit of this subject occupied no
small portion of his life. He displayed intense
zeal and enthusiasm in what was to him a hobby
which brought with it much interest and delight,
and ho was never more in his element than when
engaged in antiquarian research in the district.
While a boy at Jedburgh he was thrown often into
the company of an aged relative, whose memory
was stored with all the historical and traditional
tales of the surrounding district. He speedily be-
came acquainted with every part of Border tra-
dition, every holiday being taken advantage of
to increase his knowledge of the historic country
around him. On coming to Galashiels he adopted

the same methods, until he became intimate with
the whole of the country on both sides of the
Border line. He had traced the Roman Road
known as Watling Street, and he had also travel-
led along Hadrian's Wall from Carlisle to New-
castle. At intervals also he made extensive re-
searches on the Northumberland side of the Bor-
der in the Wooller district, where numerous early
British forts and remains exist. Only a few
months ago Mr Lynn issued a pamphlet contain-
ing papers on Yeaverin« Bell, Harehope Fort, and
Humbleton Hill, which he had contributed to the
proceedings of the Berwick Naturalists' Club, of
which he was a member. They were illustrated
with sketches made by himself, and were good ex-
amples of the excellent work he has done in his-
torical and antiquarian research in the Border
district. 1 he greatest . service which he rendered
to Border antiquities was his survey of the my-
sterious Cat rail, the results of his investigations
thereon forming an elaborate and painstaking
work, illustrated with more than half-a-dosen
full-page and smaller sketch plans. Mr Lynn had
the honour conferred upon him of being admit-
ted a Fellow of the Scottish Society of Antiquar-
ies, and contributed to that body a number of
extremely interesting papers on such subjects as
the Catrail, hill forts, and artificial caves on the
Borderland. He was also a member of Jedburgh
Ramblers' Club and Innerleithen Alpine Club,
and often officiated as guide to them, and also to
the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club on their ex-
cursions in the Border district. These services
were greatly appreciated by those who benefited
from them. In the recently-discovered Roman
camp at Newstead he was naturally keenly inter-
ested, and he paid numerous visits thereto in or-
der to study and interpret the great discoveries
that have been made from time to time. Mr Lynn
did not keep his knowledge to himself, but by
lectures and papers from time to time gave others
the benefit of his researches.

Of a quiet, unassuming disposition, Mr Lynn
was held in esteem by a wide circle of friends,
and the town is poorer to-day by the loss of one
who was a good and worthy citizen in every sense
of the word. Tlie news of Mr Lynn's death came
as a surprise to the community, and was received
by all with genuine expressions of regret. Mr
Lynn, who was sixty-eight years of age. leaves
a widow and family of two sons and three daugh-
ters, for whom the greatest sympathy is felt in
their sad bereavement.

* On the Sunday following Mr Lynn's death his
minister, the Rev. W. F. Adamson, M.A., after
referring to Mr Lynn's public services, his work
in connection with the temperance movement, and
his attainments in the fields of antiquarian and
topographical study, said— Mr Lynn was one of
the type of men who have done so much to make
our country what it is. In addition to the talents
God had given and the formative influences that
study and the social movements going on around
us exercised him, a large place must be allowed
to the influences of his home life, which, being
always Christian, kept about him the sweeten-
ing atmosphere of strong faith in God, strong
practical common-sense, and love of virtue, which
strengthened and encouraged the good that was
naturally in him. The home life of a good man
is a sacred thing; we think of it; we thank God

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123

for it» but we leare thoee who mourn by the fam-
ily hearth to speak ooncerning it. We know what
oar brother was as a Christian man, and as a
member and office-bearers of t^is church. A few
still remain among us who remember what he
was in the early days about forty years ago,
taking a deep interest in the church's affairs. To
him, indeed, the church was always a sacred
place. We well remember him as manager and
deacon, careful, anxious, helpful, comforting, re-
joicing in eyerything that seemed likely to pro-
mote our prosperity and peace, broadening and
maturing in his judgment of men as the years
went on, and yet clinging with all the fervour of
his youth to the everlasting verities of our re-
ligion, holding fast to the doctrine once delivered
unto the saints. He looked with a wise tolerance
on advances in theological opinion that recognised
the eternal Christ as a refuge and as the Saviour
of sinful men. For theological opinion of another
kind he had little sympathy. He had proved the
worth of the Gospel by a personal experience
of its healing and sustaining power. In this
house of prayer, full of interest to him as a place
he had planned and built, but fuller still of in-
terest as a spot hallowed by the prayers and wor-
ship of Christian brethren and friends, by his own
prayers and worship, and by the prayers and
worship of those who bore his name— in this
house, I say, when sorrow came heavily upon him
be had felt the consoling grace of Qod's own spirit,
and hence it was peculiarly dear to him. Sad as
it is to think that he will be with us in his ac-
customed place within this sanctuary no more,
we turn with gratitude to God for all those years
of intercourse and friendship, and thank God for
one who was a faithful fellow-worker with us, a
loyal comrade, a wise counsellor, and a true man.
At a meeting of Jedburgh Ramblers' Club Mr
Lindsay Hilson, the secretary, after presenting his
report, said he wonld like to add a word or two
more, with reference to the death of Mr Frank
Lynn, Galashiels, who was a member of their
Club and of many kindred societies in the- Bor-
ders. They all remembered how much the plea-
sure of their visit to Newstead last year, and also
to Flodden Field, was enhanced by Mr Lynn's
presence, and by the notes he gave them upon
points of interest in the surrounding districts. By
his pleasant manner and his genial method of
making himself at home among them, Mr Lynn
added very much to the enjoyment of these two
occasions. He might also refer to the fact that
some years ago Mr Lynn gave them in the Nest
Academy a most interesting lecture relating to
the Roman i)eriod. On Saturday fortnight he (Mr
Hilson) went over to Galashiels to see Mr Lynn,
who was speaking then of his interest in the
Jedburgh Ramblers' Club. When told of a pro-
posed visit to the Glen, he looked forward with
great pleasure to joining them on that occasion.
Mr Lynn had mentioned to him that the mem-
bers of Innerleithen Alpine Club were intending
to visit Penielheugh on the first Saturday in June,
and Mr Lynn was hoping to meet ^he members of
the Ramblers' Club then. He (Mr Hilson) had
sent Mr Lynn, along with a copy of their trans-
actiops, a statement of what had been done in
connection with the projected visit to Peniel-
heugh. Ho thought they would agree that the
Jedburgh Ramblers' Club should very sincerely

oome to a resolution deploring the death of Mr
Lynn, and that he (the secretary) should be in-
structed to send a copy of the resolution to Mrs
Lynn.

Provost Hilson said he was sure they all cor-
dially endorsed the sentiments that had been so
well expressed by Mr Lindsay Hilson with re-
ference to the lamented death of Mr Frank Lynn.
In the sphere of local antiquarian research his
death would be very widely and very sincerely re-
gretted. He was a great enthusiast in all matters
archttologioal and antiquarian, and he had ac-
quired by life-long study a very extensive and
minute knowledge of the ancient features of this
Borderland of theirs, and indeed of many parts of
Scotland. He was also at all times very willing
to impart to others the fruits of his study and re-
search. Their Club had lost a very good friend
in Mr Lynn, one who was always ready to come
forward and do anything in his power to add to
the enjoyment and utility of their excursions. On
several occasions he acted as guide to the Club,
giving them the advantage of knowledge that
could only have been acquired by long-oontinued
study. They would all desire to exj^ress their sin-
cere regret at Mr Lynn's death, and to tender re-
spectfully their deep sympathy with the family
circle that had been so greatly bereaved.

Dr D. Christison, M.D., LL.D., a noted anti-
quarian, writes:— "The late Mr Francis Lynn
was distinguished as an antiquary by remarkable
powers of observation, and by the truly scienti-
fic methods of his work in the field. No depart-
ment of archesology that came within his reach
escaped his attention, but perhaps his favourite
subjects were the pre-historio forts and Catrail.
Several of the forts in his neighbourhood were
planned for the first time by him, and testify to
his skill and accuracy. It was his investigation
of the Catrail, however, that crowned his labours.
This mysterious work had been already noticed by
many antiquarians, but all their accounts, found-
ed on theory rather than on facts, are vague, un-
satisfactory, and almost valueless. It was reserv-
ed for Mr Lynn to lay a solid foundation for the
study by patiently planning its whole length from
north to south, and if the purpose of the Catrail
is still a moot point, the conclusion that he came
to of its being a primitive road seems to be the
most likely to be the true one, and is confirmed
by what he was the first to point out, that
branches proceed from it to the neighbouring pre-
historic forts. Mr Lynn was a delightful com-
panion from his interest in all scientific inquiries,
and from the singular kindliness of his disposi-
tion, and his death will be lamented by many far
and near."

Of Mr Lynn, W. M. A. says :— To know him was
to respect him in the highest sense of the word :
the impression of his superiority was no ephe-
meral one, but gained strength with closer ac-
quaintance. One summer afternoon, many years
ago, it was our privilege to enjoy a ramble in his
company over a certain part of our beloved Bor-
derland, and never shall we forget how deeply
we were impressed with his vast knowledge of
nature, animate and inanimate. The flowers of
the fields he knew, their family history, and re-
lation to each other ; the why and wherefore of the
hills and dales, and water courses in their wild
career; the Catrail, the caves, the British and

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Eoman camps, he could again re-people, and give
US a glimpse of these strange beings and their
doings, from benighted barbarism to the dawn of
civilisation. Much was of necessity conjecture on
his part, but so clothed with interest that ' we
marvelled at his knowledge, and felt how puny
was ours compared with this giant intellect. It
was no stereotyped sense of duty which impelled
ns to follow all that was mortal of him to its
last resting-place, but the pleasant memories of
blissful associations long gone by; and when we
heard God's servant talk of the dutiful husband,
the kind father, and the sincere friend, we knew
that it was truth, and inwardly responded
"Amen.'' When the dull, cruel thud which be-
tokens " earth to earth " fell on our ears we stole
sadly away, our hearts filled with a great pity
for her who still stands on the near shore of that
mystic flood, gazing with strained and tearful vis-
ion across the dark expanse whose further shore
will some day witness a re-union which shall be
for all eternity.

The Late Mr George Croal,
Edinburgh.

A LINK WITH SIR WALTEE SCOTT.

JHERE died at his residence, 17 London
Street, yesterday, in his 97th year
one of Edinburgh's oldest citizens-
Mr GeoTge Croal. He had paid rates
and taxes for 78 years, and in his
long life had met ^ith many eminent and interest-
ing people whose names are associated with the
history of the city in wit and literature and
music. The son of Mr David Croal, a sub-editor
of the "Caledonian Mercury," Mr George Croal
was born on the 28th February, 1811. His fi^rst
schoolmaster was one "Daddy Main," who taught
children in a house in High Street, not far from
John Knox's house. In a little book which he
published in 1894, called "Living Memories of an
Octogenarian, 1816-1845," Mr Croal has many in-
teresting reminiscences of the city and its in-
habitants. One of his earliest recollections was
seeing the remnants of the "Black Watch" regi-
ment, on their return from Waterloo in 1816,
march up the Canongate amid the cheers of the
people. He recalls the introduction of gas into
the city in 1817, when the small boys assembled
nightly before a shop window in Hunter Square
to see the new illuminant lit; and he saw, from
the slopes of the Calton Hill, the entry of George
IV. into Edinburgh in 1822. Mr Croal was ap-
prenticed in 1823 to Alexander Robertson, then
one of the principal music-sellers, and a very
successful teacher of the pianoforte. With the
musical profession in Edinburgh Mr Croal was
connected all his life, and was well known in
musical circles both as a composer and an able
performer, especially of Scottish melodies. H©
had many things to relate about music in Edin-
burgh in these old days, and of the eminent sing-
ers and pianists who visited the city — such as
Madame Catalani, Kalkbrenner, J. B. Cramer,
Moschelles. Paganini, John Braham. Adelaide
Kemble, and many others. He had seen Charles
Matthew? the elder and Edmund Kean acting in

Edinburgh; Lord Jeffrey and Lord Cockburn in
the Parliament House, before their elevation to
the Bench; and he had conversed, in 1828, with
Captain Maitland, of the battleship Bellerophon,
to whom Napoleon surrendered and gave up his
sword after Waterloo. Captain Maitland then
resided at Lindores, in Fife. But Mr Croal's most
cherished memories were those associated with
Sir Walter Scott. He was privileged to be in
the Assembly Rooms in the year 1827, when, on
the occasion of the Theatrical Fund dinner. Sir
Walter, in response to the toast of his health,
declared himself, as Mr Croal says in his remin-
iscences, "to be the sole and undivided author of
'Waverley.'" "The enthusiasm evoked on the
occasion," he says, "can be better imagined than
described. After the lapse of more than sixty
years the scene is still as vividly before me as on
the evening of its occurrence." But even more
interesting to him than that was an interview
he had with Scott at Abbotsford. To quote again
from his little book, "Two years after I had heard
Sir Walter Scott's important avowal I had occas-
ion to be at Abbotsford, and, on Sir Walter hear-
ing me run over the keys of the piano, he request-
ed that I would play some Scottish airs to him,
which, I need scarcely say, I was proud to have
the honour of doing.' He also had met James
Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, in the year 1827 or
1828 at his house at Mount Benger ; and it is in-
teresting in this connection to mention that a few
years afterwards he was the first to arrange for
the pianoforte, and to publish Hogg's well-known
song, 'When the Kye comes Hame.' Soon after-
wards Mr Croal did the same for Burns' beautiful
lyric, 'My Nannie's Awa'.' Mr Croal never saw
Burns, but, while still a young man, he had the
pleasure of meeting at supper one evening Mr
George Thomson, the correspondent of the poet,
for whom many of his songs were written. Thom-
son was then an octogenarian, but sang with great
spirit and humour the song of 'Muirland Willie.*
So long ago as 1858 Mr Croal brought out a nar-
rative poem entitled 'Eaglesward,' and, as has
been said, he was the composer of many songs
and of music for the pianoforte, consisting of
arrangements and transcriptions and dances, pub-
lished mostly under the name of Carlo Zotti. He
tells an interesting story of one of his early com-
positions of seventy years ago. It was on the oc-
casion of the celebration in Edinburgh of the
fourth centenary of the art of printing. The cele-
bration took the form of a banquet in the Theatre
Royal, at which the poet Thomas Campbell presid-
ed. Some stirring verses were wanted appropriate
to the occasion. These were supplied by Alex-
ander Smart, one of the minor Scottish poets of
the day. Mr Croal set them to music, and he also
accompanied the singer of them on the pianoforte
—this being, as he says, 'my first and only ap-
pearance on that or any other stage.' He also set
six songs of Sir Walter Scott^s to music for the
centenary souvenir. Mr Croal was a member of
the Edinburgh Society of Musicians and of the
Pen and Pencil Club, and at one of the meetings
of the latter, after he was ninety years of age,
he was present, with his brother, who predecea^d
him a month or two since, and favoured the com-
pany with a pianoforte performance of Scottish
songs."— From the "Scotsman," June 10. 1907.

In connection with the foregoing we add, through
the kindness of a contributor, the following par-
ticulars regarding the

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BiviLATiOH or TBI Gbiat Uhknown.

remarking by the way that we had the pleasure
of the personal friendship of a nephew of the
actor Maokay, referred to later on, who told us of
Sir Walter's deUght on seeing Mr Mackay's won-
derful interpretation of Bailie Nicol Jarvie.

The "dinner'' referred to in this extract is
such an interesting* one in the history of Sir Wal-
ter Scott that perhaps we may be excused for
giying some particulars about it, taken from the
pages of Lookhart. Lord Meadowbank proposed
the toast of the Chairman. He knew that this
was the first public dinner at which the object of
this toast had appeared since his misfortunes,
and, taking him aside in the ante-room, asked
him whether he would consider it indelicate to
hasard a distinct reference to the parentage of
the Waverley Novels, as to which there had, in
point of fact, ceased to be any obscurity from
the hour of Constable's failure. Sir Walter smil-
ed, and said — "Do just as you like — only don't
say much about so old a story." In the course
of the evening the Judge rose accordingly, and
said — "I would beg leave to propose a toast^the
health of one of the patrons— a great and distin-
guished individual, whose name must always
stand by itself, and which, in an assembly such
as this, or in any other assembly of Scotsmen,
must ever be received, I will not say with ordin-
ary feelings of pleasure or of delight, but with
those of rapture and enthusiasm. In doing this T
feel that I stand in a somewhat new situation.
Whoever had been called upon to propose the
health of my hon. friend some time ago would
have found himself enabled, from the mystery in
which certain matters were involved, to gratify
himself and his auditors by allusions sure to find
a responsive chord in their own feelings, and to
deal in the language, the sincere language, of
panegyric, without intruding on the modesty of
the great individual to whom I refer. But it is
no longer possible, consistently with the respect
due to my auditors, to use upon this subject
terms either of mystification, or of obscure or in-
direct allusion. The clouds have been dispelled—
the darkness visible has been cleared away— and
the Great Unknown— the minstrel of our native
land — ^the mighty magician who has rolled back
the current of time, and conjured up before our
living senses the men and the manners of days
which have long passed away, stands revealed to
the eyes and the hearts of his affectionate and
admiring countrymen. If I were capable of im-
agining all that belongs to this mighty subject-
were I able to give utterance to all that as a man,
aa a Scotsman, and as a friend, I must feel re-
garding it, yet knowing, as I well do, that this
illustrious individual is not more distinguished
for his towering talents, than for those feelings
which render such allusions ungrateful to him-
self, however sparingly introduced, I would on
that account still refrain from doing what would
otherwise be no less pleasing to myself than to
those who hear me. But this I hope T may be al-
lowed to say— (my auditors would not pardon me
were I to say less)— we owe to him, as a people,
a large and heavy debt of gratitude. He it is
who has open€Ki to foreigners the grand and char-
acteristic beauties of our country; it is to him
that we owe that our gallant ancestors and illus-
trious patriots— who fought and bled ifa order to

obtain and secure that independence and that
liberty we now enjoy— have obtained a fame no
longer confined to the boundaries of a remote
and comparatively obscure country — it is he who
has call^ down upon their struggles for glory
and freedom the admiration of foreign lands; —
he it is who has conferred a new reputation on
our national character, and bestowed on Scotland
an imperishable name, were it only by her hav-
ing given birth to himself. I propose the health
of Sir Walter Scott."

Long before Lord Meadowbank ceased speak-
ing the company had got upon chairs and tables,
and the storm of applause that ensued was deaf-
ening. When they recovered from the first fever
of their raptures. Sir Walter spoke as follows :—
"I certainly did not think, in coming here to-
day, that I should have the task of acknowledging
before 300 gentlemen a secret which, considering
that it was communicated to more than twenty
people, has been remarkably well kept. I am
now at the bar of my country, and may be under-
stood to be on trial before Lord Meadowbank as
an offender ; and so quietly did all who were ' airt
and pairt' conduct themselves, that I am sure
that, were the 'panel' now to stand on his de-
fence, every impartial jury would bring in a
verdict of * not proven.' I am willing, however,
to plead ' guilty ' — nor shall I detain the Court
by a long explanation why my confession has been
80 long deferred. Perhaps caprice might have a
considerable share in the matter. I have now to
say, however, that the merits of these works, if
they had any, and their faults, are all entirely
imputable to myself. Like another Scottish crim-
inal of more consequence, one Macbeth,

'I am afraid to think what I have done;
Look on't again I dare not.' '

I have thus far unbosomed myself, and I know
that my confession will be reported to the public.
I mean, then, seriously to state that when I say
I am the author, I mean the total and undivided
author. With the exception of quotations, there
is not a single word that was not derived from
myself, or suggested in the course of my read-
ing. The wand is now broken, and the book
buried. You will allow me further to say, with
Prospero, it is your breath that has filled my
sails, and to crave one single toast in the capac-
ity of the author of these novels. I would fain
dedicate a bumper to the health of one who has
represented several of those characters, of which
I had endeavoured to give the skeleton, with a
truth and liveliness for which I may well be
grateful. I beg leave to propose the health of my
friend Bailie Nicol Jarvie — and I am sure, that
when the author of 'Waver ley' and 'Rob Roy'
drinks to Nicol Jarvie, it will be received with
the just applause to which that gentleman has
always been accustomed, — nay, that you will take
care that on the present occasion it shall be Pro —
di — gi — ous!" (Loud and vehement applause.)

Mr Mackay— "My conscience! My worthy
father the deacon could never have believed that
his son would hae sic a compliment paid him
by the Great Unknown !"

Sir Walter Scott— "The Small Known now, Mr
Bailie," Ac. Ac.

The "sensation" produced by this scene was,
in newspaper phrase, "unprecedented." Sir Wal-

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ter'B Diary merely says— " February 84. I car-
ried my own instructions into effect the best I
could, and if our jests were not good, our laugh-
ter was abundant. I think I will hardly take the
chair again when the company is so miscellan-
eous; though they all behaved perfectly well.
Meadowbaok taxed me with the nom^, and to end
the farce at once, I pleaded guilty; so that splore
is ended. As to the collection— it has been much
cry and little woo, as the deil said when he shore
the sow. I got away at ten at night. The per-
formers performed very like gentlemen, espec-
ially Will Murray." "March 2.— Clerk walked
home with me from the Court. I was scarce able
to keep up with him; could once have done it
well enough. Funny thing at the theatre last
night. Among the discourse in " High Life below
Stairs" one of the ladies' maids asks who wrote
Shakespeare. One says 'Ben Jonson;' another
'Finis.' 'No,' said Jones, 'it was Sir Walter
Scott; he confessed it at a public meeting the
other day.'"

near to Houghton is a steep part of the road,
at the top of which two roads cross. Its com-
mon name is Legs Across Bank. Tradition
gives two accounts of the origin of the name.
One is that a small religious house or hut
stood here, and that the hermit kept there a
light burning night and day before the small
aJtar, and he was in the habit of speaking to
wayfarers of "La Lux de Croix." lie changes
of Elizabeth's time came ; and the " Light of
the Cross" was desecrated into its modern
name. The other is that when in 1603 good
King Jamie rode over Brusselton from Bishop
Auckland and came to this place, the beauty of
the valley of the Tees was before him, from
Barnard Castle down by Wycliffe, Winston,
Gainford, and on to Darlington. He rested
on the lower of two standing stones, in a pas-

STAINDROP CHURCH.

The Author of ** Waverley " on the
South Side of the Border.

Bt Walter Soott, Gainford.

Part IL

IRUSSELTON and Houghton are two
heights far away to the eastward
from Barnard Castle, and dominate
the valley of the Tees lying between.
Between the two the old Roman Road, or Wat-
ling Street, called by the natives "the Street,"
winds, or rather climbs, in a straight line from
Catterick, in Yorkshire, over the Tees at
Pierce Bridge, on its way to Vinovium, the
Roman camp near Bishop Auckland. Quite

ture field by the roadside, and exclaimed to
his immediate attendant : "Man 1 what a grand
country to come to be King ofl" And he
crossed his legs and sat and admired. And
well he might ; for, on a clear day, besides
all the sylvan beauty of Tees' banks, the old
churches nestling among the trees, and well-
cultivated farms, you can see right away over
past Barningham, the hejither hills overlook-
ing Swaledale and Arkingarthdale, past the
wooded height overlooking Richmond, found-
ed by Fitzalan in the twelfth century, away
eastwards, till" you get a glimpse of the distant
Cleveland Hills, a view covering many square
miles of smiling and fruitful country.

Neither did the two glance westward to-
wards

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"Stanmore'e shapelees swell
And Ltinedale wild and Eelton Fell,
And Tock-becrirded Gilmanecar
And Arkinggarth lay dark afar—"
nor even

"Prond Barnard's banner'd walls.
High crowned he sits in dawning pale.
The sovereign of the lovely vale."

But the poet cannot let them start on their
journey without a further reference to what
the breaking dawn might have revealed: —

"Staindrop, who from her sylvan bowers
Salutes proud Baby's battled towers.
The rural brook of Egliston,
And Balder, named from Odin's son.
And Greta, to whose banks ere long
We lead the lovers of the song;
And silver Lune from Stanmore wild
And fairy Thorsgill's murmuring child."

in the possession of two families, with a very
short interval between the forfeiture of the
Nevilles — 1597 to 1637 — and ownership of the
Vanee. The church of Staindrop contains
monuments of several very eminent members
of the families, notably Neville, Earl of War-
wick and Westmoreland, commonly called the
King-Maker, and his consort, the mother of
two kings, Edward IV. and Richard III, Eg-
gleston, or Egliston, brook runs down from
the green hills on the Durham side of the Tees
opposite Romaldkirk, a very ancient place,
whose fair was once as noted a gathering-place
for the northern oounties as the slopes of Eil-
don at Lammastide. Below and nearer to
Barnard Castle the brawling peat-coloured
Balder enters the Tees, carrying the mind to

RABV CASTLE,

and

' Romantic Beepdale's slender rill.'^

Hie sight of such beauty sents the poet in
imagination to ''Roslin's magic glade" and
"Cartland's Crags, fantastic rent." How won-
derful the memory that could give all these
places their proper situation and appearance
in the picture ! Any one who has seen Stain -
drop, on the skirts of the huge park of Raby,
the small "beck** dividing it from the great
overhanging beech woo*! on the boundary of
the park, will not wonder at, but admire, the
expression, her "sylvan bowers." And the
sight of "Raby's battled towers" is something
wonderful. In 1318 royal permission was
granted to crenelate its walls ; and from that
date till to-day the castle and estate have been

the times of Scandinavian settlers in that,
even now, lonely valley. A common saying in
the neighbourhood up to thirty years ago, or
even later, was this: — " Baldersdale's lawless,
thou knaws ; " its rough but hospitable dwell-
ers being wont to be a law to themselves. The
Lune is a brighter and clearer stream, flow-
ing down from Stanmore past Wemmergill,
Grains o' Beck, and Mickleton, to the Tees.
The Greta rises on the other side — the York-
shire side of Stanmore— flows down past
Bowes, Gilmonby, and Rokeby, joining the
Tees a mile below the mansion-house ; and
the "meeting of the waters" there is a beauti-
ful scene. Thorsgill is ft wooded and bosky
dell, through which a beck or burn runs mur-
muring down past Eggleston Abbey to join the

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Tees. This is a beautiful ruin — a couple of
miles down the Tees from Barnard Caatle, ro-
mantically placed on the banks of that river
a short distance from the Abbey Bridge, •ver-
nacularly called "t'Abba Brig." Deepdale is
a wooded valley, down which runs a mountain
beck, rising in the heathery moors between
Bowes and Cotherstone. Bowes is a pretty
village, four miles west of Barnard Castle,
just on the rise of the long sweep of Stanmore,
once the boundary between the domains of
Malcolm of Scotland and those of England's
Ring, Rerecroes, on Stanmore, marking the
division. In this village, it ib^ said, Dickens
found the prototype of Whackford Squeers,
Fanny his daugliter, and John Browdie. The
original of Squeers kept a boarding school in
it The house is now a comfortable villa, and
can be seen with its cobble-paved yard and
pump and trough, where Nicholas Niokleby,
Smike, and the other pupils made their morn-
ing ablutions. As for the honest Yorkshire
farmer, John Browdie, many a sample of his
kin can be seen at the "ordinaries" of the hos-
tels in the town on market days. But, how-
ever, Scott's genius did not lead him to any
such investigations.

Border Notes and Queries.

JOCK O' HAZELDEAN.

The following awoiint of the old ballad of
"John of Ilazelgreen," which I came acroBS the
other day in the late Mr Robert Ford's interesting
little book. "Song Histories," may perhaps prove
interesting' in connection with previous corres-
pondence on this subject. He says that "Jock o'
Hazeldean" — perhaps the most popular of all
Scott's songs— was, like the "Macgregor's Gather-
ing" and the "Pibroch of Donnil Dhu," originally
written for "Albyn's Anthology," a collection of
Highland airs e<lited by Alexander Campbell, and
was suggested to Sir Walter by an old ballad bear-
ing the title of "John of Hazelgreen." Except in
the first verse, however, Scott is unindebted to
the ballad, which, though inferior in smoothness
and poetic grace, records a pleasanter incident
than the song: —

"As I went forth to take the air.

In till an evening clear.
If s there I spied, a lady fair,

Making a heavy bier;
Making a heavy bier, I wot,

But and a piteous meen;
And aye she sighed and said 'Alas !

For John o' Hazelgreen/"

The elderly gentleman, who was thus taking his
evening walk, accosted the fair maid, and asked
her who had done her wrong, and who it was she
called Hazelgreen. She replied that he need not
add affliction to her woe; that no one had done
her wrong, and least of all her young lover. He

then offers, if she will forsake young Haselgreen
and go along with him, that he will wed her to
his eldest son and make her "a lady free." His
offer she refuses by saying : —

"It's for to wed your eldest son,

I am a maid ower mean;
I'd rather stay at home," she says,
"And die for Haaelgreen."

She is offered the second son, with her weight in
gold as a dowry. Him she also refoseB: —

"Then he's ta'en out a siller comb,

Comb'd down her yellow hair.
And looked in a diamond bright
To see if she were fair."

He tells her that she surpasses all the maids that
ever he has seen. He lifts her before him on his
horse, and rides straight to Edinburgh, telling
her that he will do all in his power to bring her
and her lover together: —

"Then he has coft for that lady

A fine silk riding gown;
Likewise he coft for that lady

A steed and set her on.
**They nimbly rode along the way.

And gently spurred their horse.
Till they rode on to Hazelgreen,

To Hazelgreen 's own close;
There forth he came young Hazelgreen,

To welcome his father free,
'You're welcome here, my father dear.

And a* your companie.'"

This explains the interest that the hitherto anony-
mous gentleman has taken in the young lady. It
transpires also that young Hazelgreen had only
seen the fair maid in a dream, and that the maid's
knowledge of the young man had not been much
more substantial. They had been fated "mar-
rows," and a marriage that day makes the heroine
joint possessor of "the rigs that lie on Hajcel-
green."

In Professor Child's "English and Scottish Bal-
lads" there are no less than five different versions
given of "John o' Hazelgreen." A friend has
kindly sent me the following copy (together with
the Professor's remarks) of the version, which
suggested to Scott his famous song: —

"Why weep ye by the tide, ladye?

Why weep ye by the tideP
I'll wed ye to my youngest son.

And ye sail be his bride;
And ye sail be his bride, ladye,

Sae comely to be seen" —
But aye she loot the tears doon fa'

For Jock o' Hazelgreen.

"O whatna man is Hazelgreen?

I pray i^ee tell to me."
"O there's not a handsomer gentleman

In a* the South Countrie;
His arms are long, his shoulders broad,

Sae comely to be seen!"
And aye she loot the tears down fa'
For Jock o' Hazelgreen.

"This version was given," says Professor Child,
"on Kinloch's authority. Alexander Campbell,
when on a tour on the Borders of Scotland to
collect airs, is said to have received the first
stanza from Mr Thomas Pringle, who derived it
from his mother's singing. (Chappell: Topular

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THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

129

Music/ p. 575). Upon this traditional stanza was
built Scott^s 'Jock o' Hasseldean/ first printed in
Campbell's 'Albyn's Anthology/ 1816/'

The Alexander Campbell (b. 1764— d. 1824) here
referred to was a native of Perthshire, but re-
sided the greater part of his life in Edinburgh,
where he taught music, etc. He was employed
as musical tutor to' young Walter Scott. Scott
afterwards (1826) said of him that he was a "warm-
hearted man and an enthusiast in Scottish music,
which he sang most beautifully." He published
several works and undertook three journeys to the
Borders, the last in 1816. He published an ac-
count of one of these journeys in two volumes in
1802, and it would, in all probability, be from
Campbell that Scott obtained the first stanza
which he made use of in his song.

Last month (May 29) there was offered for sale
at Messrs Puttick & Simpson's Booms, Leicester
Square, London, a manuscript copy, in Sir Walter
Scott's handwriting, of "Jock o' Hazeldean." The
MS. is said to differ considerably from the pub-
lished song, and was formerly in the possession
of Lady Shelley. It went to a Mr Pearson for
JS32— not a bad ending for "an auld sang!"

A. G. S.
« « « «

BORDER UNWALLED TOWNS.

Mr G. Watson, in the admirable notes published
in your June number, proves conclusively tnat
Jedburgh was not a walled town. But when
George Buchanan, in his history (1582), speaks of
it as "a small town, unfortified, as is the custom
of the country," his generalisation seems to be too
sweeping. Selkirk, for example, though un-
walled, was undoubtedly fortified. In the Coun-
cil Records of 1538, still extant, mention is made
of the "auld barros cast in time of war." In 1532
each watch was ordained to mend their own bar-
rows honestly until they come to the yetts hang-
ing and then the yetts shall be hung at the com-
mon expense. Earlier still, in 1509, the "'In-
quest," as the Town Council was then called, "or-
dains watches to be keepit by mens and not by
laddies; and, as was ordanit befor, to walk on
the back side within the boundis of their watchis
. . . and to wak quhyll cokraw, and syne to
warn Stewin of Lauder in the West Port, Thomas
Johnson in the Under Port, and Wat Haw on
the East Port." In a map of Haining estate, date
1757, the town is clearly shown with the lines of
its fortifications and the three Ports or Gates.
These gates were hung from large oaken beams
built into strong walls on either side. I have
talked with a "Souter" who remembered hearing
in his youth about the beam across the West Port
of Selkirk. The gates were hung on huge iron
hooks attached to the beam.
"Unhook the West Port and let us gae free,

For ifs up wi' the bonnets o' Bonnie Dundee."
Each gate was flanked for several yards by strong
mason work, from which the earthen rampart
stretched to the next ports.

T. Cbaio-Bbowk.

Selkirk, 2nd June, 1907.

"THREI DAYS WI' BLUID."

A burn in the vicinity of Eyemouth is reputed
to have run three days and nights with blood,
after a skirmish in 1557 between the English and

the Scots on a field to the north of the Fort and
since called the "Barefits,'" because the Scots were
so hurriedly engaged as not to have found time
to put Iheir shoes on. The late IDr George Hen-
derson of Chirnside, quoted the following rhyme
—as a prophecy of Thomas the Rhymer— in con-
nection with three burns on Coldingham Moor: —

At Three-burn Grange at ane after day
There sail be ane lang and ane bluidy fraye,
A three-thumbit wight by the reins sail hauld
Three kingis horsis baith stout and bauld.
And thae three burns three dayis sail rin
Wi* the bluid o' the slain that fa' therein.

Dr Henderson added:— "By the way, we often hear
of streams running three days with blcod. There
IS a small stream in the parish of Chirnside,
called Murderton Burn, which unites with the
Whitadder at the Bluestone-ford. This is said
to have been flooded with human gore for three
days in consequence of a dreadful battle fought
upon its banks in some nmote age of our history,
and we have heard of other similarly polluted
streams in other districrs of Scotland." — Popular
Rhymes of Berwickshir*;.

I instinctively thought of the above rhyme last
^ear on noticing in the eastern part of Cuba a
river equal in size to our Whitadder, tinged for
almost three-quarters of a mile with the blood of —
not human beings — one cow only.

It is hardly necessary to point out that a small
quantity of blood will discolour a large quantity
of slowly running water. I think the Border
traditions generally convey the impression of dis-
colouration only, which I can readily understand.
Material augmentation of the volume of even a
small stream by inflow of blood is scarcely con-
ceivable. W. M. S.

• • « «

STUART GENEALOGY WANTED.

I am trying to trace a "William Briscoe St
George Stuart," who was drowned at Chilhowie,
in Tennessee, in 1859 or 1860, just before the birth
of his daughter. Shortly afterwards his wife died,
and the child was ultimately brought to England
by her grandmother. As they were detained in
the Conferedate lines before Richmond for two
years, all papers were lost, and Miss Mary Stuart
knows nothing about her father except that he
said he was descended from the Royal Stuarts,
and had always said that the child, if a girl, was
to be named Mary, after his unfortunate ances-
tress. Mr Stuart edited a paper (name unknown)
in New York for some time, but no particulars
can be given.

Miss Stuart, who is now in Constantinople, ex-
perienced great difficulty in securing a passport
from Britain to Turkey, as she was born in Amer-
ica, and cannot prove that her father or grand-
father were British subjects. The enquiries after
her father ought to have been made at once when
the child was brought to England. 1 fear it is
now too late, and yet it is just possible that some
reader of the "B. M." may be able to supply the
missing links. M. E. H.

[We have submitted the foregoing interesting
case to the Stewart Society, but the secretary of
that influential association regrets that no light
can be thrown on the subject.— Ed., "B. M."]

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130 . THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

TO CORRBSPONDENTS. TO ADVERTISERS.

All etmimunicatumareUUing to Literary rnaUera 8?iauld All Bvsinesg nutUera, Advertising RaUs^ Ac^ sfunUd

he addressed to the Editor, Mr William Sandebson, be referred to the Publishers, A. Walkkb & Son,

St RsnanSj BtUherglen^ near Glasgow. " High Street, Qalashiels

THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

JULY, 1907.

LIST OF CONTENTS. p^ok

The Late Fbancis Lynn, F.S. A., (Scot.). Portrait Supplement. - ^ 121

The Latk Mr George Ckoal, Edinburoh. - - 124

The AuthoVof "Wavbbley" on the South Side of the Border. Part II. Two Ilhiatrations.

By Walter Scott, Gainford. 126

Border Notes and Queries. 128

The Border Keep. By Dominie Sampson. 130

REMiifiscENCES OF LiDDESDAi^B IN Pbb-Railway Days. Part II. 132

The Border Bookcase. 134

A Border Valley. One Illustration. By G. Dickson. 135

The Literature of the Scottish Border. 138

Brookib's Hole. By Richard Wauqh, Winnipeg. 140

Poetry— By the Tweed. By Margaret Fletcher. 140

EDITORIAL NOTES,

We have time and again pointed out the great advantages to be gained to the heart and mind, and often
the body as well, by keeping in close touch with the homeland. To city dwellers who are worried with the
cares and anxieties of business, or the Borderers in far distant lands, what can be more refreshing than to hear
or read something which reminds them of the scenes and faces of youth. Next to religion, the love of the home-
land is the purest feeling w^hich can thrill the human heart, and to foster such feelings is the mission of the
Border Magazine. We cannot carry out the work alone, however; we require the assistance of our readers.
Say a good word for the B. M. whenever you can.

The Border Keep

(In which are preserved paragraphs from various publications, to the authors and editors of which

we express our indebtedness).

A short time ago there passed away at Schen- bonnet.'' As it^ turned out, the young hopeful
ectady, New York, Mr John £/. Laing, a typical was masquerading in his grandfather's pirnie;
Borderer, who was over 80 years of age. Mr Laing and, needless to say, when his attention was thus
was born at Ettrick Schoolhouse, but, his mother drawn, the great man made amends to the little
dying at the time of his birth, and his father fellow, and the friendship was restored. Mr
shortly afterwards, he was brought tip • by his Laing learned the carpentry trade at Cloven-
grandparents at Torwoodlee, about a mile from fords, and as a journeyman worked on the rail-
Galashiels. Laing's grandmother, whose maiden way at Newtown. He emigrated to America
name was Davidson, possessed a vast knowledge of about sixty years ago.
old Border literature, and on this account was a « * * *
great favourite with Sir Walter Scott, who was

a frequent visitor to the house. Mr Laing used Though the modern youngster enjoys many
to tell that often has he stood and heard his holidays that were denied to his predecessors,
grandmother recite "Chevy Chase" and scraps of several old-time festivals have disappeared from
other Border ballads to Sir Walter, who, it can the scholastic calendar. Among these are the
well be imagined, proved a most appreciative lis- "Bent SUver Plays" that were long associated
tener. Mr Laing, even in his old age, had a dis- with the first of June. On that morning it was
tinct recollection of the " Wizard of the North," customary for every scholar to present the dem-
and told that when a boy he used to consider it a inie with a penny, which was ostensibly devoted
duty, as well as a pleasure, to run and open the to the purchase of the "bent" or rushes littered
gate for him when he saw him come limping up over the schoolroom floor. During the early years
the hill towards the cottage. On one of these oc- of the eighteenth century it was customary for
casions Sir Walter was so p re-occupied that he school children to collect the bent. But as l^e
passed on into the house without bestowing the youthful varlets often damaged trees and shrubs
usual attention on the little gate-opener. The with their hooks, it ^as deemed advisable to
boy, however, declined to be passed over in this transform the obligation into a monetary exac-
manner. and following the great man into the tion. With the death of Lady John Scott, the
house, planted himself squarely in front of him, gifted authoress of " Annie Laurie," in the spring
and said : " Mr Sheriff, ye didna see my new of 1900, there passed away the last of the genera-
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131

tion that had participated in the "Bent Silver
Plays."

^ » » » »

The stone out of which the statue of Hogg, the
Ettrick Shepherd, was constructed, was got from
Whita Hill Quarry, near Langholm. It^ mea-
sured at the base i feet 10 inches, by 3 feet 8
inches, tapered towards the top, and was more
than 7 feet in height. Its weight was about six
tons. Great difficulty was experienced in getting
such a huge block down the hill from the quarry,
but it was accomplished safely, and left Lang-
holm for the studio of Mr Cux:rie, Darnick, drawn
by six horses.

• « « «

It may not be very widely known that Sir
Walter Scott made some progress with a Life of
Shakespeare. He visited Stratford in 1821 and
again in 1828, and shortly after the earlier visit
Constable suggestively wrote to Scott, after al-
luding to the various editions of Shakespeare,
that a new edition "of the Immortal Bard in
twelve or fourteen volumes might be brought
out, with a set of readable and amusing notes."
On February 25, 1822, Sir Walter wrote to his
publisher that "a Shakespeare, to say truth, had
been often a favourite scheme with me— a sen-
sible Shakespeare, in which the useful and read-
able notes should be condensed and separated
from the trash." Constable approved of Scott
asking Lockhart's assistance with the philology,
and fixed the remuneration at JB2500. The win-
ter of 1824-5 was decided upon ab a date of ap-
pearance. Constable reported in 1825 that the
work was proceeding. Next year three volumes
were completed ; but all we know of these volumes,
alas ! has been told by Constable : after the crisis
in his fortune they were used as waste-paper I

* « * *

In the interesting autobiography of Dr Alex.
Carlyle, of Inveresk, some excellent glimpses are
to be had of the social habits of the Scottish
people and the drinking customs of the clergy.
Br Carlyle became minister of Inveresk about the
middle of the eighteenth century, and after a
pastorate of fifty-seven years, he died in the year
1805, at the advanced age of 83.- He occupied a
prominent position in the Church; was well ac-
quainted with all the eminent men of his time,
and has left on record some brief but racy ^ktt-
ches of a number of them. When a young man,
he states that he was taken by his father, in the
year 1733, on a tour in Dumfriesshire, accom-
panied by the Rev. Mr Jardine, of Lochmaben.
"Among the places we visited," says he, "was
Bridekirk, the seat of the eldest cadet of Lord
Carlyle's family, of which my father was de-
scended. We did not see the laird, who was
from home; but we saw the lady, who was a
much greater curiosity. She was a very large
and powerful Virago, about forty years of age,
and received us with kindness and hospitality;
for the brandy bottle— a Scotch pint— made its
appearance immediately, and we were obliged to
take our morning, as they called it, which was,
indeed, the universal fashion of the country at
that time. The lady, who, I confess, had not
many charms for me, was said to bo 'ibie to
empty one of those large bottles of brandy—
smuggled from the Isle of Man— at a sittin^^.
They had no whisky at that time, there being no

distilleries in the South of Scotland. I had never
seen such a Virago as Lady Bridekirk, not even
among the oyster-women of Prestonpans. She
was like a sergeant of foot in women's cloth*^s.
On our peremptory refusal to alight, she darted
into the house like a hogshead down a slope, apd
returned instantly with a bottle of brandy and
a stray beer glass, into which she filled a bumper.
After a long grace by Mr Jardine— for it was his
turn now, being the third brandy bottle we had
seen since we left Lochmaben — she emptied it to
our healths, and made the gentlemen foUow rer
example. She said she would spare me as I
was so young, but ordered a maid to bring a gin-
gerbread cake from the cupboard, a luncheon of
which she put in my pocket. This lady was fam-
ous, even in the Annandale border, both at the
bowl and in battle. She could drink a Scots pint
of brandy with ease; and when the men grew
obstreperous in their cups, she could either put
them out of doors or to bed, as she found most
convenient."

In an article in the "Book Monthly" on the
favourite sort of reading with sailors as a class,
the writer says the short story is very popular
both among the officers and men of our mercan-
tile marine. Sailors are not as partial as might
have been expected to sea stories. When, how-
ever, they find a man who can write in ship-
shape and sailor fashion, they like him all right,
and Clark Bussell's "Wreck of the Qrosvenor"
is a favourite book. All Sir Walter Scott* s ro-
mances are in demand, and, in fact, they repre-
sent the kind of story which is sure to be appre-
ciated at sea. Other books in demand include
Milton's Poems, Jerome's "Three Men in a
Boat," Clark Russell's "John Holdsworth, Chief
Mate," Dickens's "David Copperfield," Rider Hag-
gard's "Dawn," and that classic of the sea,
"Tom Cringle's Log."

Apropos the r'ecent death of Mr George Croal,
the announcement that the veteran musician com-
posed the air of the popular song, "When the
Kye Comes Hame," has occasioned widespread
surprise. Strange to say, another lyric that has
long been regarded as a national heritage was
the work of one, until recently, numbered among
the living. Many years ago the late Lady John
Scott of Spottiswoode favoured a friend with the
following narrative regarding the composition of
"Annie Laurie":— "I made the tune very long
ago to an absurd ballad, originally Norwegian, I
believe, called 'Kempie Kaye,' and once, before I
was married, I was staying at Marchmont, and
fell in with a connection of Allan Cunningham's
poetry. I took a fancy to the words of 'Annie
Laurie,' and thought 'they would go well to the
tune I speak of. I didn't quite like the words,
however, and I altered the verse, 'She's backit
like a peacock,' to what it is now, and made the
third verse ('Like dew on the gowan lying') my-
self, only for my own amusement." Shortly be-
fore her death in the spring of 1900, the venerable
poetess expressed satisfaction at the appreciation
displayed by Scots all the world over for the
words that she had wedded to such an appropriate
air.

Domini Sampson.

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THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

Beminiseences of Liddesdale in Pre-
Railway Days.

(Part II.)

jN outstanding event in the religious
life of the district was the occasion
of the "Blanket Preaching" at
Saughtree. This was conducted
annually, on a Sunday in July, by the Rev.
John Black, of the Townfoot Meeting-house,
Newcastleton, a worthy man in his day and
generation. The place of meeting was on the
Dawston Bum, about midway between the
farmhouse of Saughtree and the present rail-
way station of that name. The site was an
admirable one, being a natural amphitheatre
on the hillside, from which no human habita-
tion could be seen, giving the gathering a
flavour of Covenanting times. The congre-
gation, irrespective of kirk or creed, was
drawn from a wide radius, and with the excep-
tion of one or two farmers everybody made
their way to the rendezvous on foot. There
were neither motor-cars nor. bicycles then, such
as are now used to swell the crowd at the
" Blanket Preachings " in Yarrow. Long be-
before the hour of service men and maidens
could be seen tripping over the hills from all
directions. They generally walked bare-
footed, carrying their shoes and stockings un-
til they came near the place of meeting. In
this quiet sanctuary of Nature's architecture,
surrounded by the everlasting hills, and can-
opied by the deep blue sky, these services had
an impressiveness and solemnity seldom ex-
perienced and never to be forgotten.

As may well be imagined, the postal facili-
ties of the time were of the most primitive
order, and, in the present days of red tapeism,
it would hardly be credited that Her Majesty's
mails in Liddesdale were entrusted to Jean
Elliot, better known as " Lucie Lass," a crazy
female who could neither read nor write. The
number of those who remember Jeanie as post-
runner must now be small, but there are many
still alive who recollect her in her later years.
Imagine a face, weather-beaten to a degree,
and covered with a network of wrinkles laid
on at different angles, a pair of small piercing
eyes, overhung by shaggy eyebrows, a closely-
cropped head, white as snow and without cov-
ering — a figure of medium height clad in a
drugget petticoat reaching a little below the
knee, a man's coat and shepherd's plaid, with
her feet and legs encased in a pair of Welling-
ton boots, and you have a life portrait of
Jeanie " Luce/' the Liddesdale post. In call-

ing at the farmhouses her favourite seat was
a comer of the parlour hearth, the kitchen be-
ing beneath her dignity, and, being related to
some of the better families, she received much
toleration from the farmers' wives. There
was another reason, and a pretty strong one
too, why Jeanie received more consideration
than would have been meted out to most people
in her circumstances. If there was a skeleton
in the cupboard Jeanie was sure to get to
know of it, and woe betide those who offended
her. They had to run the gauntlet of her iU-
scrapit tongue wherever she met them.

On Jeanie's retiral she was succeeded by
Jamie Nichol, a worthy man long since gather-
ed to his fathers, who continued for many
years to carry the letters and the local news
up and down the two watergates, Liddel and
Hermitage, on alternate days. Of course, his
journey did not cover anything like the whole
of the valleys, but the children attending the
different side schools were utilised as auxiliary
postmen, and conveyed the letters to, or at
any rate a stage nearer, their destination. As
an instance of the straits people were put to,
and showing the primitive methods adopted
of supplementing the postal service of the
time, we knew of a shepherd who resided in a
remote corner who had a sub-post office fitted
up for his own use. It consisted of a water-
proof tin box and a bunch of broom tied to the
end of a pole. This box was sunk in the
ground on the top of the hill, where his hirsel
joined that of a neighbour herd, who lived on
the more frequented side of the hill. When
he had a letter to despatch he put it into the
canister and stuck the pole in the ground, and
his neighbour, making his rounds and seeing
the signal, knew there was something in the
"post office" for removal. Letters arriving
were similarly treated.

Except in farmhouses, coal was little used
as fuel, though the distance to cart it was not
prohibitive, there being pits at Lewsbum and
Shilburnhaugh, just across the Northumber-
land Border. Peat was the principal fuel, the
casting and winning of which entailed a deal
of labour, but it was heartsome work, bringing
together as it did a number of young folks —
which is just another way of saying that a
good deal of harmless diversion was engaged
in — ^a wondrous lightener of labour. First,
the turf was cut into sections about four inches
square and fifteen inches long by a spade shap-
ed for the purpose. These were laid out side
by side on the heather to dry, and, the weather
being fine, in the course of ten or twelve days

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they required to be turned. After a like per-
iod they were " winrawed," that is, the peat
was built loosely into rows so that they were
exposed to the wind, hence the name " win-
raw." When quite dry they were built into
stacks, each containing about a cartload, in
such a way that be the weather ever so foul
only the outer ends got wet. As opportunity
occurred during the summer, the peat was
carted home and built into a large stack, which
was thatched with rashes against the winter's
storms. When well dried peat makes excel-
lent fuel, and many of the country house-
wives preferred it to coal. It is now hardly
used at all — even by the shepherds — since the
railway has brought coal within easy reach of
everybody.

There are many still living, no doubt, who
remember the railway war which was waged
during the early fifties. In the Bill before
Parliament two routes were proposed between
Hawick and Carlisle. One up Teviot by way
of Mosspaul and Langholm, and the other
along the vale of Slitrig, across the Nine-
stanerigg, and down the Liddel. Feeling ran
high amongst the promoters and supporters of
the rival routes, often finding vent in news-
paper correspondence and poetical squibs. Mr
Jardine, of Arkleton, near Langholm, a noted
stock-breeder and greyhound courser, much to
the vexation of the Langholmites, was a
staunch supporter of the Liddesdale route, and
gave evidence in its favour before a Select
Committee of the House of Commons. On his
attention being called to a map of the district
by the opposing counsel, he replied, " I need
nae map. I ken every fit o' the country."
A poetical squibist thus referred to the in-
cident: —

"Has Jardine gane to mind his dogs
An' left the maps to minin' rognee;
He may invest in tups an' hoggs.

But mind I've said it.
His cash will sink in Pla^ett'e bogs

As fast's he's made it."

On the other hand, a witness having asserted
that a hundred horse and carts were required
in the trade of the " Muckle Toon," a Liddes-
dale rhymster, in referring to the statement
and to Langholm's great festival — ^the Com-
mon-Riding — ^promised that when the line had
been made through Liddesdale —

"We'll send yon herring frae Dunbar

Tour standard to nail on.
And Markie wi' his hunder horse
Will drive your barley scone."

When it became known that the present route

had been fixed on, there were great rejoicings
along the length and breadth of the valley.
On 5ie news reaching Newcastleton, Dr Mur-
ray, a native of the village and an enthusias-
tic supporter of the Liddesdale route, had his
gig yoked, and with flags flying carried the
tidings to the head of Liddel water. •At this
stage the words of J. B. Selkirk's "Appeal
from Yarrow " might have been most appro-
priately used —

"O touch it not, but let it be
As Nature has arrayed it,
As softening time has sanctified
And poet's fancy made it,
A vale where world-weary feet

May come to rest or roam in.
Where pilgrim love has found so much
And we have found a home in."

Eire long the Hutchinsons, the Palmers, the
Ritsons, and the Ridleys invaded the :iuiet
valley, bringing with them an army of nav-
vies, whose uncouth appearance and unfami-
liar jargon was a wonder to the natives, and
as one old man tersely put it, " eneuch to fricht
the verra whaups frae their haunts." fhese
men came from nobody knew where, and after
a short sojourn disappeared as suddenly as
they came. During the brief interval, how-
ever, they bridged the glens and cut ways
through the hills, bringing many advantages
and facilities to the district, but they left be-
hind them a spirit of unrest that had hitherto
been unknown.

The first locomotive, "Puffing Billy*' by
name, was brought from Carlisle by road
mounted on a great broad- wheeled timber
waggon. " Billy " had a most eventful jour-
ney. At intervals during several weeks news
reached Upper Liddesdale of the approaching
monster, and everybody was on the tip-toe of
expectation. Progress would be reported
good, and his arrival might be expected daily.
Then came news of the waggon having sunk*
to the axles, and it was doubtful if he could
ever be brought. After a week or so he got again
on the move, only to capsize a couple of miles
below " The Holm." Unfortunately, poor Bill
Smith, who was engaged in the removal, lost
his life on this occasion, the engine falling on
top of him. After a struggle with men and
horses lasting close on a month, " Billy " was
eventually brought to his destination near to
Saughtree school, where for several months he
was utilised in working a. sawmill.

When his services in that capacity were no
longer required, he was once more placed on
the waggon and taken a few miles further up
the valley. Just beside the remains of a

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Roman camp, where the Caldron Burn joins
the Liddel, a temporary railway was laid from
the turnpike road along the hillside to the
Border Counties Railway which was under con-
struction. " Billy '* by some means was trans-
ferred from the waggon to this temporary
line, along which he was drawn to the per-
manent way, where for a time he lent a hluid
in removing mountains. It was said this was
the only occasion he had been removed by
road without loss of life. Though far short of
our present-day locomotive in size and weight,
" BiUy " was an uncouth customer to handle,
being quite as big as a traction engine, and
had a chimney quite six feet high.

(To be continued.)

The Border Bookcase.

HAWICK ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
TRANSACTIONS.

Those who are privileged to be members of
the Hawick Archaeological Society look for-
ward with pleasure to the annual issue of the
Society's transactions, as the publication al-
ways contains a large mass of interesting
matter by writers who are specially qualified
to deal with the various topics discussed. This
year the issue is the fiftieth, and contains, in
addition to a large number of valuable papers,
an official account of the jubilee of the Society,
held last autimin. The indefatigable secre-
tary, Mr J. J. Vernon, in his Historical Sketch,
and complete indexes of all the papers contri-
buted since 1856, with the names of the writ-
ers, arranged both chronologically and alpha-
betically, has added very much to the Society's
indebtedness to him for his painstaking lab-
ours. A very fine portrait of Dr James A. H.
Murray, by Mr J. M*Nairn, and other illustra-
^tions add to the attractiveness of the book.

« • •

JEDBURGH RAMBLERS' CLUB ANNUAL

REPORT.

Though modestly styled "Reports of Meet-
ings," this publication is fully entitled to the
more expressive name ^' Transactions," as it
contains many valuable additions to Border
literature. The energetic secretary, Mr J.
Lindsay Hilson, leaves no stone unturned to
make the Jedburgh Ramblers a success, and
the book now before us shows conclusively that
his efforts are not in vain. The accounts of
the various visits to historic spots in the Bor-
derland are most interesting, and the local lore

gathered together and thus preserved will be
of much use to writers in the future. The
numerous finely-printed illustrations are a fea-
ture of the publication, and add very much to
its value. With such a land 'as the Border-
land wherein to ramble, such clubs should be
multiplied an hundredfold, for the outings, in
addition to strengthening the physical frames,
improve the intellects of the members.
« « « *

THE WALLS OF BERWICK.

Those who know the town of Berwick-on-
Tweed must be aware of the number of por-
tions of old fortifications which exist, but only
those who have given any study to the subject
are aware of the great historical value of these
fragments of the mode of defence in former
times. The Berwick Historic Monuments
Committee have issued the " Official Guide to
the Fortifications with Explanatory Dia-
grams." The author is Francis Martin Nor-
man, Commander R.N., J. P., and Hon. Free-
man of Berwick. Those who know the deep
interest Commander Norman takes in such
subjects will understand that the information
he has here brought together is of a most re-
liable character. The booklet is published at
sixpence by George C. Grieve; 5 Church Street,
Berwick-on-Tweed, and we would advise those
who intend to visit the famous Border town
this season to send the necessary seven stamps
for a copy, so that it can be studied previous
to the closer inspection of the brave old ram-
parts.

* • « »

"BETTY."

The sub-title of this new Border publication
is " A Journal of Systematic Nonsense," and
while the author — ^that well-known humorist,
Mr W. M. Adamson, Ettrickbridge — ^keeps
faithfully to this special characteristic, he suc-
ceeds in making " Betty Blether " speak some
good common-sense. In these days of rush and
unrestfulness, we are grateful for all the laugh-
ter we can get, and so we trust that this new
venture into the world of wit and humour will
be very successful. The man who can cause a
smile to pass over a sad face is a public bene-
factor. The new monthly is issued at the
price of one penny, and is printed and pub-
lished by Messrs A. Walker & Son, Galashiels.

♦ » ♦ #

"SCOTIA."
The second issue of this excellent Scottish
quarterly is now before us, and we have much

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135

pleasure in recommending the publication to
all patriotic Scots. The magazine is the or-
gan of the St Andrew Society, and is issued
from the well-known press of R. & R. Clark,
Limited. The first article in the present is-
sue is a most important one, the subject be-
ing "The Teaching of Scottish History — Its
importance as a scientific study, and its place
in the curriculum of Scottish schools." The
author is Mr John S. Samuel, F.R.S.E., and
is a powerful indictment of the present school
histories. Those who have any doubts on this
subject should read the article, and they will
get their eyes opened very wide indeed. For-
tunately the publishing firms are alarmed,
and are preparing new and correct Scottish
history books. The article in question is fol-
lowed by a fine patriotic poem by Will H.
Ogilvie, that exhilarating Border poet who
has contributed so frequently to our columns.
Some very important questions are opened up
in the article, "Are England and Scotland
Territorial or Racial Terms?" The author,
Mr T. D. Wanless, Ballarat, Australia — a
patriotic Scot of the first water — shakes up
not a few preconceived notions, and should set
the Anglicisers a-thinking as to the advisabil-
ity of trying to obliterate such a virile race as
the Scottish section of the great British Em-
pire. " Scotia," which is well illustrated,
should be welcomed by every lover of his
country.

A Border Valley*

^UR beloved Borderland has many
secluded pastoral valleys. Some of
these are more accessible, soipe, like
the Ettrick and Yarrow, have by
reason of their associations become more wide-
ly known, but there is not one more sweetly
beautiful than the little valley of the Ewes,
that stretches for twelve miles north-east from
the town of Langholm in the highlands of
Dumfriesshire.

In the old coaching days — still within the
compass of living memory — ^the Edinburgh to
Carlisle road, that traverses the length of the
valley, formed a section of one of the main
arteries of traffic between Scotland and Eng-
land. Those responsible for the formation of
the railway, however, avoided this route by a
long detour into Liddesdale, and the Ewes has
now no visible association with the noise and
bustle of the world. It would indeed be diffi-
cult to imagine a cultivated region more peace-

ful and secluded. On a fine summer's day one
can feel and enjoy the silence — a silence only
intensified by the sweet sounds of nature —
the plash and ripple of the bums — ^the far-
away bleating of the sheep on the upland pas-
tures, and the weird cries of the whaups in the
more distant solitudes of the hills.

The river Ewes itself is a typical Border
stream. Its waters, limpid and clear, un-
frozen even in the hardest winter, ripple be-
tween grassy willow-clad banks over a bed of
the whitest and smoothest gravel. At inter-
vals in its progress it is joined by little bums
that come tumbling down picturesque glens,
with numberless cascades and little rocky
pools. On either side of the river a belt of
rich arable land, never at any part very ex-
tensive, leads up to the bases of the hills, and
forms the floor of the valley. It is the hills
that constitute the chief charm of the Ewes,
and they are in every way characteristic of the
Southern Highlands. Dotted with broom and
bracken, and not destitute of heather, their
general aspect is on the whole smooth and fresh
and green. As they reach the sky-line they
break into softly rounded outlines, most rest-
ful to the eye, and one can trace on their sides
and summits long reaches of dry-stone dyke
marking the march lines between adjoining
farms.

The valley is nicely wooded along the road-
way and river banks, chiefly with pine, whose
dark clumps form a pleasing contrast to the
softer green of the landscape.

Proceeding up from Langholm, the traveller
will first notice, almost at the boundary of the
parish, a level plateau — ^Arkinholm — ^now
somewhat appropriately used as a shooting
range by the local Volunteers. Here in his-
toric times a sanguineous encounter took place
between two old Border clans — ^the Douglases
and Maxwells. On the roadside a little above
this is a place called Wrea, where in more re-
cent times dwelt one who was in his day some-
what of a celebrity — ^the poet Knox, author of
"The Songs of Zion." On a hillside above
Wrea a small dump of trees is visible, sur-
rounded by the remains of a stone wall. They
were planted, as tiny saplings, by one who ex-
pressed the wish that he would live long enough
for his coffin to be made from the wood. I do
not know whether his wish was ever realised,
but the special interest lies in the fact that
that man was the father of Henry Scott Rid-
dell. He was at that time shepherd at the
farm of Sorbie, a little further up the val-
ley, and it was at that place that bis famous

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THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

son was bom. The ''Mountain Clump of
Trees " forms the subject of a long poem in
the poet's published collection.

At Sorbie a picturesque road — Sorbie Hass
— Pleads over into Westerkirk, and at the angle
formed by it and the Ewes road there grew
till quite recently a fine old hawthorn tree.
This tree, whose age must have nm into cen-
turies formed of old the trysting spot at
which the monks of Melrose in their pilgrim-
ages were accustomed to meet their faithful
local adherents.

A little above Sorbie, by the roadside, is the

tiying period. Both are forgotten, but they
rest very peacefully side by side in this quiet
little churchyard, and their dust has long
since intermingled. There are no differences,
ecclesiastical or political, in the grave.

Opposite the church, and across the river,
is Upper Glendevon, where once lived (Jeorge
Easton. He was then working as a road-
man, but he became eventually an agent in
Edinburgh of the Scottish Temperance Lea-
gue, and is well remembered by many all over
Scotland as a most noteworthy pioneer in the
great cause of temperance reform.

THE EWES VALLEY FROM ABOVE SORBIE.

Parish Church, a very pretty and somewhat
modern edifice, surrounded by its little
churchyard, and with an old tree as a belfry.
There are some quaint inscriptions on some of
the tombstones, to which space forbids allu-
sion. There is one dated 1747 to the memory
of the Rev. Robert Darling, locally known as
"the malignant" — ^the hated incumbent
doubtless in the days of the persecution.
Quite close to it is another, equally old, to the
memory of another local minister, but one
who suffered for conscience sake at that same

About a quarter of a mile above Glendevon,
and about half a mile from the public road,
is the mansion-house of Arkleton — ^the ances-
tral home of the Scott-Elliots. The valley
here is at its broadest and loveliest. The
parish school stands by the roadside, on an
eminence facing Arkleton. Away in the dis-
tance behind the mansion-house towers Arkle-
ton Crags, from whose lofty summit on a clear
day one can look along the whole estuary of
the Solway, and can trace on the horizon the
hills of the Isle of Man, and even, it is said,

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»37

the distant shores of Ireland. Here, too,
looking down the valley is Sandyhaugh, the
home for seventy years of Matthew Welsh,
the poet of the Ewes, whose sonnet adorns the
end of this contribution, and whose poems
were conmiended to the readers of the Bordbr
Maqazinb in a recent issue.

About two miles above Arkleton, at a little
distance from the road, is Unthank Church-
yard, seldom used now as a burying-ground,
but marking what was at one time the site
of a Roman Catholic Church.

A mile or so above Unthank a road
branches from the Ewes road, and leads, by
Carwoodridge, through wild — almost alpine —
scenery, past Hermitage Castle into Liddes-
dale. Beyond this the valley narrows, and
the hills come cloiter together, and become
steeper, until, aa the waterhead is i-eached,
there is only room for the river, now dwindled
to a mere rivulet, and the public road. This
part of the valley forms one of the finest hill
passes in the south of Scotland, and extends
for about two miles, until, in the neigh-
bourhood of Mosspaul, the traveller becomefe
conscious that he has crossed the watershed,
and realises tliat the burn, now flowing in the
opposite direction, must be the head waters
of the Teviot.

I can recollect nothing that left such a weird
impression on my childish fancy, as my first
sight, in this lonely spot, of the extensive and
roofless ruins of the famous old hostelry of
Mosspaul. It must have been a place of im-
portance in its day, for even in its decay it
was impressive on account of its size, but with
the stage-coach its usefulness and glory de-
parted for ever, and the ruins have now dis-
appeared to make room for a much smaller
and more modern edifice. There is still some-
thing left, however, to remind the present
generation of times gone by, for in this neigh-
bourhood, where, for a considerable distance,
the road is not bordered by hedges, there are
still standing at intervals one or two of the
stout wooden poles that served to guide the
coach through the trackless snowdrift in the
depths of winter.

There is little of interest to the historian
about the Ewes. No ruined castle exists to
tell of times that were less peaceful, and there
is little in history or tradition to indicate
that life in the valley has not always been as
uneventful as it is to-day. It is highly pro-
bable, however, that if the hills could speak
they could tell of some stirring episodes. Our
freebooting forefathers doubtless knew weU

the passes from the Ewes into Westerkirk and
Liddesdale, and the rough path over the hills
into the security of Tarras Moss. It must
have been up the Ewes valley, too, that the
greatest of them all — ^the notorious Johnnie
Armstrong of Gilnockie — marched with his
followers, on that historic journey, which
proved to be his last, and which ended for
all of them on the gallows at Carlawrigg.

The successive generations of the historic
period have not left in the Ewes any visible
memorial of the times in which they lived and
moved.

It is curious, however, that the valley has,
through all the centuries, preserved the foot-
prints — fitill plainly distinguishable — of a
people who flourishcii before the origin of his-
tory, and before the dawn of civilsiation —
the Picts or early Britons.

Probably nowhere else are there so many of
the well-known rounded camps of these hardy
warriors within so small a radius. In a
stretch of about seven miles there are at least
fourteen of them, all within half a mile of
the public road, and many in excellent pre-
servation — truly a rich field for the archieo- '
logist.

Such then is the Ewes. It is, of course, to
natives like myself that it appeals the most,
for to us it is filled with reminiscences of
those youthful joys that never return, and for
whose loss life perhaps never brings to any
one sufficient compensation. Independent of
all such associations, however, I believe that
even the passing stranger could not fail to be
struck with its beauty, which I have imper-
fectly attempted to describe.

" SequeHtered vale ! m.v loved, my native Ewes,
Thy beauty's worthy of a nobler song;
Nor can these broker notes exoress the strong
Unuttered thoughts that thrill my rustic muse.
Nor can she the congenial task refuse
To sing thy limpid streams that wind among
Thy stately hills, whose outlines sweep along
The azure sky in peaceful lines profuse.
And when the shady eve distils its dews.
The swell and cadence of thy gushing rills.
Murmuring soft music to the listening hills,
Can o'er the soul a soothing bliss diffuse.
Vale of the Ewes! no fairer gem, I trow,

Is in the crown that circles Scotia's brow."

G. Dickson.

Nay, dally not with time, the wise man's treas-
ure,
Though fools are lavish on't — the fatal Fisher
Hooks souls, while we waste moments.

Motto ('Tlie Monastery.")

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THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

The Literature of the Scottish
Border.

HE limited space at our disposal pre-
vents us from giving notes of the
annual gatherings of the various
Border Associations, except in so far
as to quote any outstanding speech delivered
thereat. The annual gathering of the Lon-
don Border Scottish Counties Association was
held on the 16th of May last, and as usual,
thanks to the energy and tact of the hon. sec-
retary, Mr W. B. Thomson, there was a splen-
did assembly of prominent Borderers. Dr
Robertson Nicoll, the editor of the "Britisli.
Weekly," writing as " Claudius Clear " in that
widely circulated journal, says : —

I had the pleasure of attending the annual din-
ner of the London Scottish Border Counties Asso-
ciation. The gathering renewed many memories-
pleasant and painful. There was about it the
true spirit of the Border. The Lord Advocate,
who was in the chair, could hardly claim to be n
Borderer in the full sense any more than I could,
but he had the qualification of a real knowledge
and a real affection, and as every one is beginning
to know, he has the gift of pawky and sometimes
tender speech. There were many others, among
them Sir Edward Tenuant, of whose position as a
newspaper proprietor we have heard a great deal
of late. Sir Edward is an unpretending and en-
tertaining speaker. There was also Mark Napier,
once well known as the Liberal Member for Rox-
burghshire, a facetious speaker of the best type,
and very much at home in proposing the toast of
the ladies. But I cannot complete the list. It
vas a good list, with sound Border names, like
Haig and Douglas, in harmonious association with
others.

To me fell the honourable duty of proposing the
Literature of the Scottish Borders. I have var-
ious claims to be a Borderer, and in particular a
true love for the Border streams. That, as
Thomas Tod Stoddart used to say, is the final
test. To a real Borderer the river must seem
hallowed water. He must revere its banks and
channels, its tributaries from this very source,
and all belonging to it. When you think of it you
perceive that this is the Border passion. No
doubt it is greatly strengthened by love of angling,
but it is independent of that. Scott styled himself

No fisher.

But a well-wisher

To the gaine!

It may be that the greatest days of fishing are
over. Stoddart, who was my close neighbour dur-
ing the last three years of his life, belonged to
the generation of giants. He was the friend of
Christopher North, of whom it is told that he
once walked fourteen miles to the place where he
meant to begin angling, discovered that he had
left his book of flies at home, walked back, re-
turned again to the loch side, and made his way
home in the evening with two stone weight in the
creel on his back. He tells us in one of his
angling reminiscences about twilight fishing in

the summer, and leads us to believe that night
fishing, when it is so dark that you cannot see
the flies or the line, is often very successful in the
' Tweedy though the angler is gxuded only by the
senses of touch and hearing. Four champions
had a match on one occasion, and the two former
captured sixty-eight pounds of trout, while the lat-
ter scored flfty-one. But Thomas Davidson, the
Scottish probationer, and many others did little
or nothing at angling, and yet loved Tweed and
Teviot as dearly as Stoddart loved them.

Whenever you begin to think of the literature
of the Border, it is the name of Scott that comes
up. Dr Hake, in his reminiscences, tells of an
old lady who suffered from the decay of memory.
She could remember, however, the next word, and
so when repeating Lord Lytton's earlier names.
Sir Edward Lytton Bulwer Lytton, could never
stop, because after Lytton she was forced to say
Bulwer, after Bulwer, Lytton again, and so on for
ever. In the same way one might go on saying
Scott Border, Border Scott, without end. Not
that Sir Walter Scott began the literature of the
Border. As an eloquent critic tells us, the Bor-
der rivers are the ancient homes of poetry, since
True Thomas left Leader Water for the streams
of fairyland, since the Bard of Bule was slain by
a minstrel's sword, since the dying knight's blood
reddened the Douglas Burn, and Cockburn's widow
bewailed her outlawed lord, and a slain lover was
sought by his lady in vain near the Dowie Dens of
Yarrow. It was Scott who interpreted to the
whole world and to all time the romance of the
Border. It was fit that he should begin his
career by collecting the Border Ballads. No one
could have done that so well, even though he did
not satisfy the old peasant mother of James Hc^g,
the Ettrick Shepherd. It was from her he re-
ceived many of his pieces, and she told him that
there was never one of her songs printed until
he had printed them, and that in so doing he had
entirely spoiled them. "They were made for
singing an' no for reading; but ye hae broken the
charm now, an' they'll never be sung mair. An'
the worst thing o' a'," she added, "they're nouther
right spell'd nor right setten down." Who shall
speak worthily of Scott? Mr Lang has spoken as
well as any. " We scarcely need a word (it would
be seldom in use) for a character so rare, or
rather so lonely in its nobility and charm, as
that of Walter Scott. Here in the heart of your
own country, among your own grey, round-
shouldered hills (each so like the other that the
shadow of one falling on its neighbour exactly
outlines that neighbour's shape), it is of you and
of your works that a native of the forest is most
frequently brought in mind. All the spirits of
the river and the hill, all the dying refrains of
ballad and the fading echoes of story, all the
memory of the wild past, each legend of burn and
loch seem to have combined to inform your spirit,
and to secure themselves an immortal life in
your song. It is through you that we remember
them, and in recalling them as in treading each
hillside in this land, we again remember yon and
bless you."

Sir Walter's life was at the end too sad, but
it is good to think how much happiness he en-
joyed. It is good to think of the way in which his
least writings moved his contemporaries. It is
told that when "Bokeby" (to be pronounced

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139

"Kookby/' I believe) appeared only one copy
reached Cambridge, and the happy student who
secured that was followed by an eager crowd de-
manding that the poem should be read aloud to
them. Yet " Rokeby *' was by no means one of
Scott's chief achievements. We read that when
" Marmion " was sent out to the Peninsular, -
parties of officers were made up nightly in the
lines of Torres Vedras to hear and revel in the
new wonder. Sir Adam Fergusson and his com-
pany of men were sheltered in a hollow at the
battle of Talavera. Sir Adam read the battle
scenes from " Marmion " aloud to pass away the
time, and the reclining men cheered lustily,
though at intervals the screech of the French
shells sounded overhead. Scott had perhaps as
many acquaintances as any one, but he was not
merely a man of acquaintanceships, and his true
friends were of all classes, from Tom Purdie and
Willie Laidlaw to the Duke of Buccleuch, Morit
of Rokeby, Qeorge Ellis, Mr Skene, Joanna Bail-
lie Erskine, the Ettrick Shepherd— the list might
b?. indefinitely lengthened. True it is that the
reverent memory of the Border is always inex-
plicably blended with the memory and the love
of Scott.

Then there was James Hogg, the Ettrick Shep-
herd, in his own way the possessor of a genius as
marvellous and as lonely as that of Scott himself.
Indeed, one is sometimes disposed to think that no
achievements in literature are more inexplicable
than those of James Hogg. He was comparatively
advanced in life before he could read and write
easily. He never sat down to commit a song to
paper without first removing his coat and waist-
coat, as if for some unusual exertion, while the
rapid cramping of his wrist prevented his writ-
ing more than some four to six lines at a time.
Things went against him, but he said, " I was
generally more cheerful when most unfortunate.'*
He managed, with great labour, to become a far-
mer, but he failed, and was sold up and cold-
shouldered. He tells us himself that after he had
appeared as a poet, and had broken down as a.
farmer, he could find no one willing to engage
him as a shepherd. Sir George Douglas, his bio-
grapher, most happily recalls the parallel case of
Gabriel Oak in Mr Hardy's story, who remains
unhired in the market place of Casterbridge, when
to the inquiries of successful farmers as to whose
farm he had worked on last, he was compelled
. to reply, " My own." Yet what a heart the Shep-
herd kept ap ! He wrapped his plaid about him
and set out for Edinburgh, determined to push
his fortunes as a literary man. Four years after
he wrote to a friend, "It pleased God to take
away by death all my ewes and my lambs, and my
long-horned cow, and my spotted bull, for if they
had lived and I had kept the farm of Corfadin,
I had been a lost man to the world and man-
kind, and never have known the half that was
in me." It was in 1815 that he wrote the incom-
parable " Kilmeny." If one had to choose that in
all Scottish literature which could least be spared,
he might say that the rarest, if not the greatest,
of all its jewels is this very poem : —

" When many a lang day had come and fled..
When grief grew calm, and hope was dead.
When mass for TCilmeny's soul had been sung,
When the bedesman had pray'd, and the dead
bell rung;

Late, late in a gloamin' when all was still,
When the fringe was red on the westlin hill.
The wood was 'sere, the moon i' the wane,
The reek o' the cot hung o'er the plain.
Like a little wee cloud in the world its lane;
When the ingle lowed wi' an eiry leme
Late, late in the gloamin' Kilmeny came hame !"

Few will ever know all there was in Hogg; few,
indeed, will go through the many volumes of his
stories, well worth reading as they are, and fewer
still will search the periodicals where much of his
writing is buried for ever. Thomas Tod Stod-
dart was not on the same level as Scott and Hogg,
but he had a touch of genius notwithstanding,
and his love for the Tweed was as devout and
faithful as that of Scott himself. Forty' years be-
fore his death he wrote :—

" And I, when to breathe is a burden, and joy
Forgets me, and the life is no longer the boy.
On the labouring staff and the tremulous knee.

Will wander, bright river to thee!
And the hymn of the furze, when the dew-pearls

are shed.
And the old sacred tones of thy musical bed,
Will cicse, as the last mortal moments depart
The golden gates of the heart!"

This was a note which Stoddart prolonged to
the last. 1 remember him writing almost every
week verses in the "Kelso Mail" expressing his
devotion to the Tweed, and his joy in the thought
of being buried beside it.

" My resting-place by thee would have.
And thy song at the ear of my grave."

But the most beautiful and finished form in which
he rendered this aspiration is to be found in the
memorable lines : —

•* Sorrow, sorrow, speed away

To our angler's quiet mound.
With the old pilgrim, twilight grey.

Enter thou the holy ground;
There ne sleeps, whose heart was twined

With wild stream and wandering burn.
Wooer ot the western wind.

Watcher of the April morn!"

With these lines may go those of another be-
loved Borderer, Thomas Davidson, the Scottish
probationer : —

•* I've been happy above ground,
1 can ne'er be hi^ppy under;
Out of Teviot's gentle sound.
Part us then not far asunder."

So dearly have the Borderers loved their rivers.

The daisy's flower
Again shall paint your Bummer bower
Again the hawthorn shall supply
The garlands you delight to tie ;
.The lambs upon the lea shall bound,
The wild birds carol to the round,
And while you frolic light as they,
Too short shall seem the summer day.

**Marmion."

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140

THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

Brockie's Hole.

{By EiCHABD WAuae, Winnipeg).

I have read with special pleasure the paper by
A. L. A. Sudden on "Dookin' in Tweed," which
appeared in the February issue of the Boeder
Magazine. He is a trifle short, however, in his
information about Brockie's Hole. A century ago
Willie Brockie was a farmer at Blackdykes, away
behind Broiherstone Hill, and occasionally visited
our vil'age to spend a few hours with old cronies.
Leaderfoot Bridge was a long way round, and he
usually forded the 1 iver at Will Gray's, the Earl's
gardener, just a few yards above the Gullet. One
day the risk of crossing at such a dangerous ford
as that was, and is now, if the river is in heavy
flood, was 80 obvious that his cronies very ear-
nestly dissuaded him trom making the attempt.
Even he would not venture it on horseback, but
there was still another alternative. He led the
horse up to the corner of the Sker and pushed it
into the stream, catching on to the tail, and got
safely across. "Brockie winna droon" was his
triumphant vindication of the perilous venture,
and the whisky inside kept the s<)aking from do-
ing him any harm. '

I am pretty certain it was the same Willie
Brockie who, as a retired farmer, lived 70 years
ago in a cottage just east of John Hamilton's
little thatched grocery and public-house at the
west end of the village, Jcfhn Younger owning an-
other thatched house east of him. Jenny the
Laird and her husband, James Jeffreys, afterwards
lived in the same house. It was built by Tam
Faton. And down the close, behind Jenny tne
Laird, also lived Jenny and Tam Lumsden during
my boyish days. My mother in those days had al-
ways two, and sometimes three, cows, and Willie—
we called him Maister Brockie — came every night
for a pennyworth of milk, of which his cats got
nearly all". The cows dried up in winter, and my
mother divided it as far as it would go among
such customers as had small bairns, cutting down
Willie's share to an odd bawbee's worth if there
was any to spare. I can well recollect his earnest
protestations against this unequitable division,
but she was inexorable, though her own brood
had to put up with a very scanty allowance so as
to give him a small share.

One of Brdbkie's half tipsy freaks was to take
home a pound of tea, then six or %even shillings
a pound, and, giving a brew of it to the brood
sow, she did not relish it as he expected, and he
declared "she was far ower nice to refuse what his
mistress likit sae we^."

I have, for the last few weeks, been making
holiday at the west coast, and had friendly cracks
with several Borderers there. Thomas A. Bry-
don, a successful builder and fruit grower at Vic-
toria, B C, is a son of Brydon of Kedfordgreen,
end grandson of the Ramsaycleuch Brydon of a
century ago. Wattie Scott, another resident of
Victoria, is the last of a family that has farmed
in Ashkirk parish for perhaps a century. A
brother died at Ladhope there about two years
ago. I might nr.m^ some others from the Border
side, one the widow of one of the Woods of Bank
head, St Boswells, where I built a he use for his
father f fty years ago. She has two sons in Vic-
toria.

A fortnight ago I looked up the captain of
H.M.S. "Egeria," then lying in port preparatory

to another season's surveying along that wild and
roclLy coast, and tound, as 1 expected, that he is
n son of Col. Ijearmonth, who rented the Pavil-
ion, near Melrose, tnirty years ago. We had a
very iiearty 'i*weeaside talk together, going over
all tne iiattonside worthies, 'i'bm Fox and otner
ancients.

some months ago I visited the eighty-tive year
oia son of Uaptain tiibbald of Benrig, who was
witti iNelson at Tratalgar and afterwards a haU-
pay captain at lienrig J^irth and iikllnburgh. Sib-
Daia, tne younger, nas been married titty-five
years, and ne ana his Wife are still hale and
hearty 150 miles west of Winnipeg. His sister
over eignty, is an occasional correspondent of
mine, bne also was at school with me seventy
years ago, and twice my age then. She lives now
in Alabama

By the Tweed.

There is a dell where the primrose blows
With a grace no other primrose knows.
Where the blackbird pours out a richer note
Than falls from another blackbird's throat.
Where the trees proudly seek to kiss the sky.
And Tweed sweetly croons as he wanders by.

There is a dell where the bluebell waves
On a fair green bank which a brown burn laves.
Where the brown rat bathes with a hurried plop.
And the dry twigs rustle and softly drop.
Where the rabbit and field mouse venture out.
Like phantoms of dreamland to flit about.

There is a dell .where the whispering breeze
Speaks gently of peace to the listening trees.
Where a tattered hedge skirts the mossy sward.
And the close set graves of an old churchyard.
Where a time-stained church from its lone retreat
Keeps watch o'er the sleepers at its feet.

There is a dell where the dew still wets

At noonday the blue forget-me-nots.

Where none but the truant sunbeams play

On a path that follows Tweed's winding way,

Where Nature showers with a loving hand

The wealth that she yields not to man's demand.

There is a dell where the wanderer turns
In dreams, and his lonely heart still yearns
Through the flight of years for the cool deep shade
And the soothing silence of that green glade,
Wheie in youth's spring the throb of his heart's

unrest
Found its tumult stilled— found one short hour

blest.

Maboabst Fltfchbb.

W^e know not when we sleep nor when we wake,
Visions distinct and perfect cross our eye,
Which to the shimberer seem realities ;
And while £hey waked, some men have seen

such sights
As set at nought the evidence of sense,
And left them well persuaded they were dream*

ing.

Motto C'Anne of Geierstein.")

Printed and Published by A. Walker k Son, Galashiels.

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SUPPLEMENT TO THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

VOL. XII.. NO. iAO,

THE LATE MR JOHN McGALL OF HALLYDOWN,

1826-1003.

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HALLYOOWN FROM THC WC8T.

COLOiNQHAM FROM THC CAST.

S.-C. View COLOINGHAM PRIORY. A.O. 1789.

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THE EAST PART OF BERWICKSHIRE IN THE YEAR 1771.

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AM ILLUSfaATEa moHthlv

DEVOTED TO

Border Biography, History, Literature, and
Folklore.

Edited by William Sanderson.

THE LATE MR JOHN McQALL, OF HALLYDOWN.

By W. M. S.

NOTARIAL instrument, dated at
Coldingham 6/2/1597, narrates that
"John Hoppar, John Maling, John

Cosar in Coldingham, Gavin Renton,

Robert Maltman, Thomas Johnestone, Patrick
Purvis, James King, John Arneil, Thomas
Sandersone, John Macgall, John Blak, Mungo
Hoppar, Mungo Vobstar, John Polwart, John
Cosar younger in Rikilsyde and Thomas
Lumsdeane in Boganegreen, obliged them-
selves not to send any of their corn to any
mills save those of Coldingham and Eyemouth,
providing the millers there grind them within
forty-eight hours of their going to the mill and
conveying the corn to and from their houses,
giving the neighbours no cause to complain of
their service; or otherwise they protest that
they will be free to go to whatsoever other mill
they please until such fault is amended. If
they do otherwise, they consent to pay a pen-
alty of 20s for the first fault, 40s for the sec-
ond and so on, doubling the penalty on every
subsequent transgression thereof."

Truly, "The way of the transgressor is hard."

The great preponderance of the name of

John amongst these old-time worthies is a

curious circumstance ; more interesting still to

find a resident in this neighbourhood three
hundred years ago who probably was an ances-
tor, but any way a farmer and a namesake of
the late Mr John McGall, the subject of this
sketch. No need to study theories about the
derivation of Hallydown, his home for half a
century and more, where boyish visitors to its
ever-kindly resident received a never-failing
welcome with many an hour's amusement and
instruction in the folklore of the district, the
episodes of farming life, the topics of pre-
railway days. Old manuscripts and maps re-
fer indifferently to Halydeane, Hallyden, and
Halydoun, which, from an elevation of three
hundred feet above sea-level, overlooks the
vale of Coldingham, with Priory Church and
antiquated village, St Andrew's Well and
Scape Burn.

Unlike its namesake (Halidon Hill, some
seven miles neai-er Berwick), Hally-
down is not associated with a sanguinary
battle scene, though doubtless many a forayer
has hurried o'er its crest, where Royalty in
olden times has scanned "ye fay re ai^d plea-
saunte prospecte o' riche land is and rolling
waters" there revecded.

Nor' westerly the Lammermoors tail

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142

THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

eastward to the eea, terniii)at^ingj two
miles beyond our vision at Fast Castle
or "Wolfs Crag." Our only loch of
Coldingham lies hidden in that moorish ridge
near Earnsheugh, said to be the highest cliff
(five hundred feet) 'twixt Flamboro' Head and
Aberdeen for Berwickshire to plmne itself
upon. Alas, the Ernes no longer plume them-
selves upon that mighty precipice ; the lurid
language of the scarlet-coated golfer, the whizz
of gutta-percha balls adown its dizzy face have
driven the self-respecting falcons from their
ancient solitudes. The rugged camps
remain, however, and a waterfall by
Westerside, dropping abruptly fifty feet

bouring bay can show a small peninsula where-
on stands what some wise folk say is a relic of
kelp-burning days, others again a Druid's
altar ; wiser folk are silent on that burning
point. The North Sea billows break against
the ruddy banks of Hallydown, and traces of
a British fort are visible by Linkim shore. A
so-called Snmggler's Cave lies further east be-
tween the Crinnells and the Killiedraught* —
far too conspicuous, too wet we think, for
harbouring illicit goods which were invariably
concealed in — Tuts ! tuts ! 'twould be unfair to
tell tales of our kindly fisher folk, for in the
east their deep-sea boats pursue a nobler in-
dustrv^

VIEW FROM AVTOUN HILL, LOOKING NORTHWARD TO ST. ABBS.

to the lonesome beach below. We may
not plume ourselves too much upon our
only cataract unless 'tis raining heavily md
the mill sluice-gate wide open.

LfOok northerly, St Ebba landed in
that bay whose rugged headland reared
its holy cell to seabirds' wondering
scream, and orisons from nunnery walls
arose in Saxon Coldinghame. Neai-er at
hand, the village of St Abb's ; why did the
residents discard its ancient designation of The
Shore? Alas! so-called improveiiieiits have
effaced the quaintness of the fishing hamlet of
a generation back. The Sands are being simi-
larly marred, but, by the way, their neigh-

From Killielaw you look right down on the
historic Fort and "Barefits" battleground; on
Eyemouth also and, beyond its bay, on Guns-
green where auld Tjogan o' Kestalrig was "airt
and pairf' in the Gowrie Plot, you know.

Inland, spanning the water Eye but out of
sight, is the very first suspension bridge in-
stalled in Scotland ; proud we are about it too,
but pride in Berwickshire is quite excusable.

Southerly, the trees aiul tower of Highlaws
hide old Lintliill house, where Norman Ross
stabbed Lady Home and fled for shelter by a
rock which bears his name near Buckorlands
by the Alemill road. He was the last —
Feather in Berwickshire's cap? Ah, no — man

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THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

143

pilloried in Scotland, hand lopped of!, then
executed, tarred and hung in chainsi on the
Figgate Whins at Leith. Look southerly
upon that mighty tableland of Lamberton,
where Hindohester and Habchester or "hie
Drumau " are crowned with prehistoric forts
and — See! ye catch a distant glimpse of
"Cheviot mountains blue.** T^en in the west,
from Ayton on to Earlston, erfends the match-
less Merse through what undoubtedly — so
every Merseman thinks, no matter what the«e
jealous bodies *'wast o' Lauder'' say — is the
"braidest, bonniest'* county in the Scottish ,
Borderland.

Amid this pleasing blend of sea and land-
.scape scenery, of peaceful industry and vestiges
of ancient warfare, John McGall was bom in
1826 at Coldingham and educated in the par-
ish school presided over by John Gray; a stem
upholder of the tawse for teaching purposes, a
•dealer out of knowledge with a most imspar-
ing hand. Leaving that place of learning at
the age of fourteen years, the more congenial
study of farming was commenced and followed
out for five years at the Law, then tenanted by
Mr Glen. Another year was spent sheep-farm-
ing with a Mr Chimside at Hoprig, followed
by a course of chemistry and veterinary sur-
gery at the University of Edinburgh.

Thus practically and scientifically trained in
agriculture, Mr McGall betook himself to
Huntingdonshire, travelling on the Great
North Road by stage coach, startmg from the
White Hart Hostel, Edinburgh, chang-
ing horses at the Bell Inn, Haddington, George
and St Andrew at Dunbar, Press Inn (at which
our traveller would secure his seat), Red^Lion
at Berwick, the Post House, Belford, Swan at
Alnwick, Phoenix at Morpeth, finally arriving
at the Black Bull Inn, Newcastle, whence an
early type of "Puffing Billy'* locomotive
gave the jaded passenger a reasonably
rapid means of transit to his destination. A
-sojourn in the south for seven years was not
deroid of interest ; agrarian troubles of a ser-
ious nature rose within the district where he
acted as farm manager or bailiff in two sit-
uations. He often told in after years about
midnight alarms and scenes of actual violence,
to which wo, of -4 later generation, list-
ened with a kind of fearful glee.

Returning north to Berwickshire in 1852, for
fifty-one years subsequently the cares and
burdens of the extensive Border farm of
Hallydown devolved upon him. Married to
Miss Jane Wilson Renton of Coldingham,
Tie lost his only son in infancy, and
then his wife a quarter of a century ago. His

only daughter married Thomas Purves, Esq.,
Berwick, and when, through failing health, Mr
McGall relinquished active outdoor work at
Hallydown, his chief delight was having his
grandchildren grouped around him. During
all these long, long years in Berwickshire, a
familiar figure at &e weekly Berwick market,
he unweariedly, ungrudgingly devoted time
and thought to everything connected with the
public weal. Chairman for the first and second
trienniitl periods of the Coldingham School
Board, as well as of some other public insti-
tutions, no better, more respected, nor more
useful resident in the county could be named.

His great ability as an authority in agri-
culture was often utilised for valuations and
arbitrations of a complex character.

Being an original member of the
East Coast Disaster Fund, he freely gave
his services and sympathy to the widow
and the fatherless, stricken by the
dreadful storm which devastated our
coast line and so frightfully depleted our sea-
going population on the 14th of October,
1881. Mr McGall was a witness of the vio-
lence of that hurricane, fighting his way with
difficulty to the verge of the sea-banks bor-
dering his farm, where he, though strong and
heavily built, was, to quote his own expres-
sion, "blown about like a pair of mittens.'*

Well versed in all the bygone features of
our countryside, it is but fitting to record his
interest by giving a reprint of an old map of
the eastem section of our coimty, whereon is
shown the former Great North Road, and
mention made 01 many farms whose very sites
are scarcely now discernible. Comparison may
be instituted between this curious map of 1771
and its predecessor of 1645, reproduced in the
BoRDBB Magazdjh for January, 1901.

Reluctantly compelled by the infirmities of
age to finally retire from public life, this wor-
thy gentleman was the guest at a dinner given
in his honour in Coldingham, and presided
over by another worthy Borderer — ^the late
Col. Milne Home — ^at which he was the re-
cipient of a handsome tea and coffee service,
with a silver salver bearing this inscrip-
tion : —

"Presented, along with a solid silver
tea and coffee service,- to John McGall,
Esq., farmer, Hallydown, by the Heritors and
Ratepayers of the Parish of Coldingham, and
Other Friends, in recognition of his long and
faithful services as a member and Chairman
of the Heritors, Parochial Board, School Board,
and Parish Council of Coldingham.

18th March, 11597."

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THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

At the good old age of seven tynseven this
useful and unselfish life of one esteemed by
everybody came to a close on the 10th of
August, 1903, and rest was found within the
holy ground of the Priory Church of Colding-
ham, leaving a blank not easily filled.

His friends — and all who knew him were his
friends — who pass along the now more solitary
road on Killielaw, perchance at sunset when
St Abb's Head Lighthouse sends

"A ruddy gleam of changeful light.
Bound on the dusky brow of night,"

across the "hollow sounding and mysterious
main," aye miss the hearty handshake, kindly
voice of John McGall of Halltdown.

« « «

Thfe portrait in the supplement is from a
photograph by Mr W. Green, of Berwick, and
the views of Hallydown and Coldingham were
photographed by Mr Flett, of Eyemouth.

The Border Bookcase.

THE GREY-WALLED TOWN.

So many Borderers visit Berwick-upon-Tweed
during the summer and autumn months, that
we feel we are doing them a service by drawing
their attention to the excellent book " A Grey-
Walled Town : Stray Notes on Berwick-upon-
Tweed," pubUshed at One Shilling by the
" Advertiser " Printing Works there. Intending
visitors should procure the book and ** read up "
the history, &c., of the famous town before they
go there. The author is Mr John Jarvie, who
has done his work well. In a short preface he
says that his book is

"An attempt— how far successful the reader must
judge — to embody in a popular form something of
the spirit which prompted Principal Cairne on
one occasion to exclaim to an Audience he was
addressing from the Town Hall steps* 'I love
every stone of Berwick.' No one can remain long
in or know much of the little Border town, whose
every corner has some reminder of a glorious
past, without feeling some stirrings of that emo-
tion, and, therefore, I am not without hope that
this' book may find at any rate a few appreciative
readers."

The author may be correct in saying that his
book " does not covet the ambitious place of a
history of Berwick," but the following opening
paragraphs will show how qualified he is to
make the past live again.

"Many years ago the youthful Lavengro, on a
glorious morning of spring, found himself looking

down from the southern eminence which over-
looks Berwick, this grey town of the past, and the
goodly scene called from him a noble tribute, and
*I had unconsciously laid myself down/ he de-
clares, 'on haunted ground.' We take with him
our stand on that Elvir Hill, and thus the sorcery
of the place comes over us.

"The mists of the age* roll back. Before our
eyes for a moment flits a glimpse of the beginnings-
of this old town. See from the northward those
savage hordes of Picts and Scots, sweeping down,
from their mountains and moorlands, hear their
barbaric cries as success in their savage warfare
opens up to them vistas of plunder. Jind across
those white-crested waters of the restless North
Sea mark the approach of the hardy Norsemen
and Banes, their piratical craft urged on with
sail and oar towards this devoted little group of
primitive dwellings, where already are laid the
foundations of future greatness, ihus in slaugh-
ter and pillage, harryings and sudden descents by
sea and land, begins the fateful history of that
Berwick which shall in later years be Known to
men as the most distressful city of three king'
doms.

"Again the mists divide, and once more the-
elfic denisens of Elvir Hill unroll the panorama
of the past before our eyes. Years have gone by,
and the little hamlet has grown to a town whose
interests are already widespread. To its harbour
sail argosies from afar, bringing and taking ricii
merchandise; to its gates ride couriers, and in
the council room of its castle sit statesmen and
courtiers. Under the shelter of that castle is the
royal residence of David the First, 'ane sair sanct
for the crown,' whose reign marks the end «f
Celtic Scotland and the real beginning of its nat-
ional life, and who raised Berwick to the dig-
nity of chief of the four royal burghs, and first
built its great stronghold. But again the storm-
clouds gather over the" fair and prosperous scene.
The armies of William the Lion march south-
ward with all the pomp and circumstance of war,
but the Conquerors who march back bear other
banners, and Berwick for the first time becomes
an English possession. A few years pass, and
Richard of the Lion Heart takes his hansom while
the King of Scots resumes his fortress. Then the-
panorama moves on and scenes of ruthless war
are again brought oefore our eyes. Tlie flames
leap up to the crimson sky, and as the retreat-
ing army of the merciless King John marches
south, behind them thunders down the bridge
which connects England and Scotland, and in
smoke and fire the devoted city is once more swept
from its proud pre-eminence.

"Yet again the mist of ages rolls back. Again
We see a fair and prosperous city which has risen
phoBuiz-like from the ashes of that other. Only^
a year or two have flown in the interval, but in
that short period Berwick has regained its former
proud place among towns — nay, more, for favour-
ed by a breathing space of peace it has grown
in size, in appearance, and in importance, till
now it can proudly write itself the commercial
capital of Scotland, 'a city so populous and of such
trade that it might justly bf called another Alex-
andria, whose riches were the sea and the water
its walls.' Its customs are a welcome contribu-
tion to the exchequer of kings, excelling those of
almost every other port, equalling indeed in one
year one fourth of the total of all England. For
over half a century its star is in the ascendantr

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THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

145

and in peace and prosperity its merchants ply
their lucrative callings; the rich produce of the
Tweed valley finds here its natural outlet, and its
ships sail the northern sea laden with their mer-
chandise. But again the clouds begin to lower
over the fair scene. There in the great hall of
Berwick Castle, on that fateful 17th of Novem-
ber, 1292, Edward the First, 'the hammer of the
Scots,' gives his momentous decision ' as to the
destiny of the Scottish crown — a decision which
ere long again results in the sounding of the war
trumpet. Again before ns rises the scene of a
hostile army moving on the unfortunate town.
At its head rides the great Plantagenet on his
huge charger Bayard, and he it is who is first to
leap the earth work defences and enter the town.
It is the same dread tale again. Hear the shock
of arms, the cries of attacked and attackers; see
the. streets running red with the life-blood of
brave men slain in defence of home and kin; .
mark once more how the mad flames leap and soar
as the deadly firebrand completes the work of de-
struction. Amid the lurid scene one act of heroic
bravery stands out across the centuries. Tliere
in the centre of the town is the famous Red Hall
of Commerce, Eialto of those Flemish traders
who have made its name known throughout bar-
gaining Europe. Here have they done as they
shall do this day of blood and slaughter. Men
they are to whom a bargain is sacred, and their
bargain is that 'at all times as a condition of their
tenure of this Red Hall they shall defend it
against the King of England. True to their bond,
thirty of these brave men hold it till the even-
ing, through all that fearful day, against an other-
wise unchecked army, and as the darkness of
night comes down, there, amid the flames and the
falling rains, they perish, fighting to the last.
And with them passes for all time Berwick's hope
of commercial greatness."

AN OLD-TIME FISfflNG VILLAGE—
EYEMOUTH. .

When speaking of the Borderland we are too
apt to think only of the hills and valleys more
particularly associated with the name of Sir
Walter Scott, and to forget that we have a sea-
board, and that not a few of the hardy sons of
the Border " go down to the sea in ships " and
dare the dangers of the North Sea. That these
dangers are sometimes of a terrible character
will be brought home to those who can recall the
fearful storm which swept over Scotland on
14th October, 1881, and brought such an appal-
ling disaster to Eyemouth, Coldingham, &c.
That sad event was fast becoming a memory
only when the Rev. Duncan M'lver of Eye-
mouth took the matter in hand and produced a
handsome memorial volume on the twenty-fifth
anniversary of the day of " dule and sorrow."
The desire of the author is that some permanent
Memorial of the disaster should be got up, and
as a means to this end, he intends to devote the
profits derived from the sale of this " Special

Memorial Edition" of his volume for that
worthy object. The book which is sold at 5/
net is handsomely got up, and contains over
twenty fine illustrations, one of which we re-
produce at the head of this article. The
volume, which is published by Messrs Jamea
McKelvie & Sons, Limited, Greenock, has met
witti a ready sale, at which we are not surprised,
for the author has done his work exceedingly
well, as the quotations we are privileged to
make will show. Though the story of the
Great Disaster is the prominent theme of the
first portion of the volume, fully two-thirds of
the letterpress is taken up with the history of
Eyemouth, and graphic sketches of the life and
character of the fisher-folk. We commend the
book to all true Borderers, alike for the worthy
object for which it has been issued and for the
intrinsic merit of its pages. The introduction
is from the pen of Annie S. Swan, who thus
refers to Mr Mclver's labour of love : —

"It is written by one who has had every oppor-
tunity of judging how much there is to interest
in such a community; he has come constantly
into contact with the whole web of their lives, ho
knows what faith and courage and endurance are
hidden under quiet and sometimes gruff exteriors,
he has been with them in their homes, and shared
all their anxieties.

"He has heard, too, the oft-repeated tale of the
great storm, of that terrible day and night which
swept that wind-bitten and desolate coast with
devastating fury. Almost, it seemed, as if the
mercy of God had failed."

In his Foreword the author says : —

"The story of Eyemouth, particularly in rela-
tion to the Disaster, is worth being told, and the
need for such a book is the only apology which
the writer can put forward for its publication. •
That the book has no claim to be acknowledged as
literature, the writer is conscious; but he trusts
that an unaffected descrij^tioo of the inner life
of fisher-folk will, in some way, compensate for
whatever weakness it may show in this respect."

We feel sure that the readers will differ from
the author in his opinion as to the literary value
of his work, from which we make the following
quotations : —

"That ever-to-be-remembered Friday morning
dawned with a glorious combination of sun and
calm. Not a whisper of wind was heard, and the
sky was one cloudless arch of blue. Overhead were
seagulls flying through the ethereal purity, now
rising with shriek of joy. and again falling with a
swoop upon the glassy waters. The sea was a
great expanse of almost restful water. But for
the gentle roll, which is always to be seen even
on a restless day, the bosom of the North Sea
may be said to have lain calm and peaceful, thus
assisting, to finish off, with its clear mirror-like
surface. Nature's picture of sea-beauty.

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"It was a morning for song. The mothers and
wives and daughters of the fishermen were up at
four of the clock, after resting for only four or
five hours from their labours of the previous day,
and, with music-filled souls and tune-filled lips,
they set-to to the work of 'sheelin' th' mussels'—
i.e., removing the body of the mussel— and bait-
ing the hooks of the fishing line. It was an ard-
uous and a tedious work, which, with the ordiu-
ary household duties, kept the women-folk afoot
for about eighteen hours a day. But it was a
work of love, and the thousand hooks of every
man's haddock-line were baited to the accompani-
ment of psalm or hymn or Scottish song. All ne-
cessary gear was ready for going on board the
craft, which lay in the harbour with a gentle
rolling suggestive of impatience. 'What a graun'
day!' said the women-folk, to which the fisher-

others must attempt to follow her. The lead hav-
ing been taken, no man held back who was able
to sail. Young and old, the fishermen proceeded
aboard their several vessels, some with their bag
of provisions and sea-boots slung over their shoul-
ders; others with the latter drawn up over their
thickly-stockinged legs, ready for the 'lee' water
which might, possibly wash their limbs.

"It was a hearty sight to see the boats set sail.
As one by one they passed the pier-head, jokes
were exchanged with the wives and lassies, who
never failed to give the courageous fishermen a
hearty send-off. The young wife and the aged
mother, the betrothed maiden and the newly-
wedded bride— they were all there; for had not
each a life-interest in the men whose smiling
faces were turned towards the pierhead? For
lack of wind the brown sails hung loosely from

Photo by

EYEMOUTH IN A STORM.

/?. A. Mclvor.

lads invariably replied: 'Aye! but the gless never
was sae low.' And so it was. Each fisher lad,
before he put foot aboard his boat, had walked
round by the public weather-glass, which was
hung up near to the pier-end, for here was his
guide regarding the weather for the coming hours.
The needle had swung round to the extremest
point, and the barometer read something ap-
proaching to 28.451 inches, having dropped an
inch during the night. On a morning of so ex-
quisite beauty these circumstances boded ill for
those who would venture out to sea. Many hesi-
tated on this account; but, as the boats had been
kept ashore for about a week previous to this,
some of the younger men especially were eager
to be off again. It is something approaching to
a point of honour that if one boat should sail.

the masts and yards of the fishing-boats, while the
hands of each vessel steadily pulled their aixteen-
feet bars. Slow but certain progress was made,
some boats making for the ocean by the east road-
stead, and others pulling their way through the
west entrance; for at a distance of half-a-mile
from the town there is a natural breakwater,
known as the Hurcar Bocks. The position of
these rocks, although a source of danger to sea-
men unacquainted with the coast, is nevertheless
a safe-guard to Eyemouth itself. Because of this
natural breakwater the sea cannot claim so much
of the land as it, no doubt, would do were there
no check to the in-coming waves. When the boats
were safely got beyond Hurcar, the fleet began
gradually to spread out like an unfolding fan,
the picture calling for expressions of admiration

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THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

from those on shore. 'How beautifully close to-
gether!' said a landsman, but the reply of an
old retired fisherman, in view of what afterwards
happened, was significant: 'Aye! but they'll no be
sae elose thegither whan they come hame/

"At eight a.m. the fishing-fleet had sailed from
the harbour, and for three hours and a half,
beneath a brilliant sun, and sailing over a still
sea, the boats made their way to the fishing
grounds* at a distance of about eight or nine
miles from the land. The lines had just been
shot by some, and were just being shot by others^
when, as a St Abb's lady wrote in a letter to
a friend at the time, 'a horrible sort of stillness
fell over everything.' What wind there was had
passed away, and a dead calm succeeded it. But
it was the calm before the storm ! Without any
visible warning from outside conditions, the sky
suddenly thickened with dark, heavy clouds; a
fierce wind arose which was as wild in its fury as
the calm was quiet; the sea began to heave its
threatening bosom, like a man in whose heart
passion was rising, and what between sudden
darknessr-it was then between eleven and twelve
of the day—the shrieking of the hurricane as it
drove at the creaking masts and ripping sails,
and the thunderous roar of a boiling ocean, the
poor fishermen thought that the Judgment Day
had come. So quickly did the elements change
their aspect, and so violent was the change— from
a bright peaceful day to a dismal night of hurri-
cane—that almost all effort was paralysed, and
many of the fishermen lost heart immediately.
To fight against the storm was like trying to stay
the progress of an express engine by the power of
a man's hand. Boats were lifted clean out of the
water; some had masts torn from their sockets;
others had sails utterly blown away like pieces of
stray paper; while all were helpless, so far as
human assistance was concerned, in that dread-
ful hour. One by one some vessels turned turtle;
one by one others were broken up with the pres-
sure of the raging waters.'*

"Late in the day news was brought from Burn-
mouth and Berwick to Eyemouth that lives and
boats had been lost at these places also, and, with
the worst fears confirmed in many hearts, 'the
evening fell on a weeping town, from which hope
had all but fled for those still at sea.' The sun and
the moon and the stars had been blotted out of
Eyemouth's sky by the thickening shadows of
a great grief, the extent of which was not yet
known. With Eyemouth it was night. And such
a night! All the emotions of a lifetime were
crowded into it, and, in not a few cases, working
upon frail, very frail, humanity, wrought such
havoc that joy never again entered their lives."
"The sea had claimed its toll, and the dues
were paid in the coin of human flesh and human
blood — 189 fishermen being lost off the East coast,
of whom 129 belonged to Eyemouth. That Fri-
day morning which dawned with such brilliance
and beauty became the morning of disaster; for,
out of 45 fishing boats that sailed from Eyemouth
harbour, only 26 lived through the storm. The
morning song of praise was changed to weeping
and mourning; for 78 women were made widows,
and 263 children were left fatherless.

'"There was weeping on every side, there was na
a home unbereft;
Fathers, and brothers, and lovers— there was
hardly a man of them left!*"

MORE SCOTT LETTERS.

The letters in this case, with one exception, are
not by Sir Walter himself, but by members of his
family. The simple, direct style of the epistles,
written to the old. family governess, throws a
fresh light on the family life of which the "Wis-
ard" was the centre. The letters have been
brought together in a volume which bears the
following title and description : —"Letters Hither-
to Unpublished, Written by Members of Sir Wal-
ter Scott's Family to their old Governess," Edit-
ed with an Introduction and Notes by the Warden
of Walha^ College, Oxford, and published by £.
Grant Richards at 5s net. All lovers of Scott
should possess this volume, which is a decided
addition to what we might term the, "Waverley
Library." In reviewing the volume the "West-
minster Gaaette" says:— "The Warden of Wal-
ham was well advised in giving to the world these
letters, written, most of them, by the daughters
of Sir Walter Scott to their governess. Miss Millar.
It is true that the letters contain nothing very
important, and yet, as a whole, they give a charm-
ing picture of the family circle at Abbotsford.
The letters number forty-seven, and extend from
1814 to 1837. Twenty-eight of them were written
by Scott's eldest daughter, Charlotte Sophia, who
became the wife of Lockhart, and twelve by her
sister, Anne Scott. The correspondence as pub-
lished is broken by long intervals, many of the let-
ters no doubt having been lost, but even so it will
be found of considerable interest by all lovers of
the great romancer. The letters refer mainly to
incidents of the day in the life of the sisters. In
one of th^m, written by Charlotte in 1817, we are
told of the visit of Wilkie the painter to Abbots-
ford, when he made 'a capital picture of the
whole family': —

"We are all drawn in character, Anne and I
as two milkmaids with pails upon our heads, Papa
sitting, and Captain Ferguson standing, looking
for all the world like an old poacher who under-
stands his trade. *

"Lady Byron about the same time had been
spending a day at Abbotsford, and Charlotte
describes her as 'very pretty and very melan-
choly.' In 1818 Miss Millar is invited to Abbots-
ford to have 'the supreme felicity of t*eeing your
elegant pupil Walter in his yeomanry dress, which
I assure you he is not a little vain of.' Walter,
Charlotte's brother, was at that time a boy of
seventeen, and had even then 'declared that he
would be nothing but a soldier; so a soldier he is
to be.' Later it is stated that he is likely to ex-
perience no inconvenience or delay in getting into
the Army, as 'the Duke of York says that he will
get over anything for Mr Scott.' So loved was
Sir Walter even at that time of day. There are
several references to the financial disaster which
ruined Scott's life. Charlotte Scott, by this time
Mrs Lockhart, in a letter written probably in
February, 1826. tells of the failure, and is sure
Miss Millar 'will grieve to hear that papa has
lost the greater part of his hard-worked-for for-
tune.'
"And later in the same letter we are told: —
"Papa, Mamma, and Anne are in the very beet
possible spirits. Papa nothing can shake, and he
looks forward with the greatest confidence to what
must be a future life of study and labour to make
up what is gone of his fortune, and he has the
sympathy of the whole kingdom.

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"In the closing letters there is much of sad-
ness; the illness and death of both Lady and Sir
Walter Scott are topics of several of them; then
Charles Scott writes telling Miss Millar of Anne's
death — she never recovered the shock of her fath-
er's decease— and in 1837 the old governess is in-
formed of the death of Mrs Lockhart."
« » * *

OLD, BUT EVER NEW.

There have been few more fascinating life stor-
ies than that of Mary Queen of Scots, and the
volumes published about our ill-starred Queen bid
fair to form a very large library. Much of the
fascination lies in the complex character of the
woman herself, combined with the unsettled con-
dition of the country over which she reigned. The
lack of positive information as to certain events
in her career has provided subjects of strife for
the historians during many generations, and, un-
less our own Andrew Lang, or some other patient
digger^ gets down to the bedrock of truth, the
strife will go on for generations to come. Messrs
Methuen, of London, have issued at 66 one of the
best books on the subject we have seen. The style
of the authoress is most pleasing, for she presents
the facts of history with all the attractiveness of
a novel. The illustrations are a prominent feat-
ure of the work, and are beautifully reproduced.
They number over forty, and include a very fine
reproduction of Queen Mary's house at Jedburgh,
deferring to the book, an evening paper says: —

"Although an oft-told tale, that of Mary Queen
of Scots never loses its interest and is never likely
to. We seem to have epitomised there so much
of that which is most pitiful and tragic in human
Tiistory. This new edition in a cheaper form of
Florence MacCunn's noteworthy book is therefore
likely to have wide acceptance. The strange sad
story of Queen Mary is told with a fullness, and
at times with a dramatic intensity, that rivets
the reader. The author succeeds to a remarkable
degree not only in picturing to the life Mary
herself, but in reproducing the atmosphere of her
day. Whatever conclusion the reader may still re-
tain as to the part Mary played in ihe circum-
stances in which she was placed, whatever the his-
torical judgment he may pass, he will assuredly
be in a better position so to do after having read
this well-contrived and well-written book. There
are numerous illustrations— forty-four in all— and
the book altogether is very well got up."
* * * «

THE SCOTTISH CHAUCER.

There is a strong movement at preft»nt in the
direction of seriously studying our beautiful Scot-
tish language, which many ignorantly imagine to
be a dialect of the English, and the day' has gone
when it is looked upon as vulgar to speak the
Doric. When we desire to add pithy expressions
to the English language we draw upon the French
or German vocabularies, while there is a mine
of untranslateable words lying ready to our hand
in the mither tongue of Scotland. Mcst people
have heard of Burns as a master of Doric, but
many are ignorant of even the name of William
Dunbar, who ranks in many respects with the
English Chaucer. Strange to say, the greatest
authority on Dunbar's poems has hitherto been
a German, Professor Schipper, whose "William
Dunbar," sein "Leben und seine Gedichte (Ber-
lin, Oppenheim, 1884), has been the standard work

on the subject. Dr Mackay, one of the editors of
the Scottish Text Society's edition of "Dunbar,"
says of Professor Schipper's work:— "This is the
best book that has been written on Dunbar, and
the German translations of his poems are exe-
cuted with a skill and fidelity which Dunbar him-
self would have admired."

A new volume has just been issued, which we
would commend to our readers. It is thus refer-
red to by the "Bookseller," in the "Glasgow
Evening News": —

"Among the thousands of highly-excitable per-
sons who in the early part of the year pay hom-
age to the memory of Robert Burns, how few can
read with intelligence the works of that poet in
the doric? And the number is growing lees each
year. Is it a sign that our mother-tongue is dis-
placed by the encroachment of the English speech ?
Arid if we are unable to read Burns, what are we
to say regarding William Dunbar, who ranks with
him head and shoulders above any other Scottish
poet. We rarely hear Dunbar's works mention-
ed, and more seldom do we see him quoted, save
for a few stray pieces in our best anthologies. He
forms the connecting link between Chaucer and
Spenser, and was certainly the greatest poet in
either Scotland or England during that period.
These three great poets are relegated to the top
shelves of our libraries, and are approached only
by students. In the case of Dunbar there has
been lacking until now an edition of his works
which could be purchased at a moderate price,
but this want has been supplied by the Cam-
bridge Press in a handy volume at six shillings.
It is well known that Scott seemed to class Dun-
bar above Burns. His work is characterised by
that spirit of independence and virile expression
which constitute so much of the charm of Burns.
Though the reader may experience some difficulty
at first in grasping Dunbar's archaic "^language,
he will find all he requires in Mr Bail don's ex-
cellent glossary. This piiblication, which was so
urgently needed, and which is so splendidly sup-
plied by the Cambridge Press, Fetter Lane, Lon-
don, will be welcomed by those who already know
Dunbar, and should introduce him to many a
household which has so far been in ignorance of
his existence.'*

* * « «

THE UNION OF 1907.
At the time of the bi-centenary of the great
event which is supposed to have made two
peoples one, though some "hae their doots," there
appeared in the columns of the "Glasgew Herald"
a valuable series of papers on the subject of the
Union. These articles are by various writers of
eminence, including two Borderers, Mr Andrew
Lang and Mr Robert Renwick. The former con-
tributed two articles on "A Romantic Plot against
the Union" and one on "The End of an Auld
Sang," while the latter, who is probably the best
living authority on the history of our Western
Metropolis, wrote a most interesting paper on
"Glasgow and the Union." The articles have been
brought together into a volume, and the varioiis
chapters, with the able introduction by Mr P.
Hume Brown, M.A., LL.D., combine to form a
work of considerable historical value. The writ-
ers have treated the subject from very divergent
points of view, but they all agree that the Union
was a good thing. Many will consider this the
last word upon the subject, and the volume is

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THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

149

convincing, yet it might have been well to have
added a chapter by one who believes that Scot-
land would have developed as well as she has
done without the Union of the Parliaments. Be
that as it may, this book, "The Union of 1707—
A Survey of Events/' issued from the "Glasgow
Herald" office, is a most valuable addition to our
historical books.

HEB OF THE HOLLOWS

as the title of a new story of Border life in the
time of Queen Mary, which is now running in the
"Glasgow Weekly Herald." The story is from
the pen of Agnes March banks, a laay i^ho is the
author of a well-known work on Border Scenes
.and Legends, and who has frequently contributed
±0 the "B. M." There is much stir and bustle
in the scenes depicted in the almost lawless times,
.and character sketches of the bearers of notable
names in the history of the period are given. The
story is of great interest to Scots in general, but
will be specially so to those who jeuow and love the
romantic Boraer Lana between the Soiway and
the Tweed.

The Battle of Biddings.

(OW few travellers, when changing at
Biddings Junction for the muckle
toon, the merry city, or Satan's
Seat, for that matter, ever reflect
on the historical association of the place.
Biddings, however, frequently comes to the
Iroot, even in the earliest of histories.

Agricola, after he had reduced the whole
•of the North of England to submission, turned
his attention, about 79, to the country this
side the Border. He is supposed to have come
by way of Biddings, camping near by.

In the "Annals Cumbriae," and also in the
^Four Ancient Books," Biddings is cited as
the ground of a great and important battle.
"The struggle is said to have changed the fate
— ^the moral and social conditions — of both
countries.

The contest took place between the uphold-
ers of advancing Christianity and departing
Paganism. The old resisted stoutly the in-
roads of the new. The triumph of the former
marked a new era. Civilisation ut once took

freat strides in the land. Merlin, one of
^nnyson's romantic characters, named the
locality Erydon, which is said to retain the
name Biddings.

In some old records the place is described as
a camp between the Liddel and Carewhinelow
bum. Here, again, the above battle comes
into view. It is sometimes described as the
Moat of Liddel, and in some quarters as the
Boman Camp.

It would appear as if the above-named bum,
running into the Esk, got its name from one
of the pagan leaders who fell in the battle.
Caer means a city, and Gwenddolew, one of its
citizens who was slain in the conflict.

Some imagine that Arthuret, near Long-
town, was the headquaiters of the opposing
army and where Arthur held his council of
war; that the level groi'nd from thence into
Canonbie was the plain upon which the enemy
manoeuvred in attacking the strong position
on the eminence below Biddings Junction.

Taking our stand, says a writer, on the
eminence of that old earthen rampart, can you
imagine that we gaze on an ancient battle
plain, where the paganism of our ancestors
was driven back a step, and where a victory
was won for the first elements of civilisatioiv —
the moral improvement, the uplifting of the
people, and the purifying of their social life?
To look from the eminence on a summer even-
ing now, the aspect is one of weird and magio
beauty ; but an imaginary transfer back 1 300
years enables us to think, as we view the Eng-
lish Skiddaw on the left, and Scottish CriffS
in front, closing the horizon so near as to sug-
gest that the silvery Soiway is land-locked,
and may be the Western Lake or Sea into
which the reluctant messenger cast Excaliber
after the battle, and out of which the mythical
hand rose, caught it, and held it aJoft as the
svmbol of hope and ultimate triumph for the
Celts,

It was at Biddings, on the 9th of Novem-
ber, '45, that Prince Charlie camped and pass-
ed the night. TVhen the Highlanders set foot
on English soil they drew their claymores,
and, flourishing them in the air, set up a great
shout. Their exultation, however, was sud-
denly damped by a trifling incident. Lochiel,
in drawing his sword, out his hand, which was
looked upon by his superstitious followers as
an omen of disaster.

These are but a few of the many historical
incidents which are associated with the Junc-
tion. From the days of knight tournaments
and chivalry to the union of the Kingdoms this
part of the Border has been the theatre of
many memorable exploits. Not a few of these
adorn the lays of bards and, as indicated,
stand on the pages of history.

Biddings has other attractions. The ro-
mantic scenery of the whole neighbourhood
has often attracted the tourist and taxed the
powers of poets and painters.

G. M. B,

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TO C0RRB8P0NDENTS, TO ADVERTJSSRS.

AUc(mmuniea«4oTurelating to LiUraryjnatUrs should AU BumiMU maUers, Advertiaing Bates, dfo., shtmUt

he addressed to the Editor, Mr William Sandkbson, he referred to the Publishers^ A. Walkib ft SoVr

8t Bwans, Butherglen, near Glasgow. High Street, Galashiels

THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

AUGUST, 1907.
LIST OF CONTENTS. ^^a.

The Late Mr John McGall, of Hallydown. Doable Supplement. One Illustration. - - - 141

The Border Bookcase. One Illustration - - - - 144

The Battle OF RiDDiKGS. By G.M.R. 149

The Border Keep. By Dominie Sampson. 150

Reminiscences of Liddesdale in Pee-Railway Days. Part III. By Jock Elliot. - - - 15^

The Author op ** Waverlby" on the South Side of the Border. Part III. Two Illustrations.

By Walter Soott, Gainford. 154

Border Notes and Queries. 167

A Walk from Moffat to Hawick. 16^

EDITORIAL NOTES.

We have time and again pointed out the great advantages to be gained to the heart and mind, and often
the body as well, by keeping in close touch with the homeland. To city dwellers who are worried with the
oares and anxieties of business, or the Borderers io far distant lands, what can be more refreshing than to hear
or read something which reminds them of the scenes and faces of youth. Next to religion, the love of the home-
land is the purest feeling which can thrill the human heart, and to foster such feelings is the mission of the
Border Magazine. We cannot carry out the work alone, however; we require the assistance of our readers.
Say a good word for the B. M. whenever you can.

The Border Keep

(In which are preserved paragraphs from various publications, to the authors and editors of which

we express our indebtedness).

In connection with Mark Twain's recent visit Deans/' with Miss Eate Clinton and
to England it might be noted that there is a cer- Mr Edward Tearle in the leading parts,
tain parallel between Mark and our own Sir Wal- It is claimed in certain quarters Chat thi»
ter. Everybody knows how Scott practically will be the first production in London of a drama-
killed himself in order to pay the debts of the tised version of the "Heart of Midlothian" since
unfortunate publishing house of Ballantyne, in the days of Sir Walter Scott, but the claim is
which he was financially interested. Mark Twain incorrect, Mrs Boucicault having staged a play
was a partner in the firm of Charles L. Webster with the same title as the novel in Scott* e time.
& Co.» and when that firm went smash he volun- His novels were produced as plays within forty-
tarily assumed the burden of paying its debts, eight hours of their appearance. Dibdin (the sea
amounting to some JE40,000. He was sixty years song writer), Pocock, and Terry were among those
old when he set out on this undertaking, but he who waited at the publisher's door and then got
carried it through. "The law," he said, "recog- to work with the shears and the paste pot. The
nises no mortgage on a man's brain, and a mer- present version of "Rob Roy" was a thing made in
chant who has given up all he has may take ad- Fleet Street in this summary fashion. Scott saw
vantage of the laws of insolvency, and start free the melange in Edinburgh, and it entertained him
again for himself. But I am not a business man, Qoing behind the scenes, he was insistent on only
and honour is a harder master than the law. It one thing — namely, that Mattie, when going to
cannot compromise for less than 100 cents on the the Tolbooth with the Bailie, should carry a
dollar, and its debts never outlaw." Mark Twain really old-fashioned lantern. Sir Walter's wishes^
paid every cent of his indebtedness. Yet the be it said to the credit of Edinburgh enterprise^
world insists on regarding him solely as a funny were carried out.
man ! So the world regarded Qrimaldi, who (ac- ♦ ♦ ♦
cording to the anecdote) consulted a "specialist" it was said of Scott by a famous critic that,
for hypochondria, and was advised to "Go and whereas most men were vainer of authorship than
see Gnmaldi ' ' of any other distinction, to the author of ''Waver-

ley" the position of a country gentleman was an

There was recently produced at the object of keener ambition than literary fame.

Marlborough Theatre, London, " Jeanie Few men have combined these two objects of am-

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THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

151

bitjon with greater sticcess than Mr Bider Hag-
gard, and. if twenty years ago his name was on all
tongues as an ingenious romancer to-day pro-
bably he occupies the attention of tne thoughtful
more as the country gentleman who has devoted
much patient and disinterested inquiry into the
present position of the agricultural problem. He
is only fifty-one years of age» and the world ex-
pects much good work from him yet in both direc-
tions.

During the recent Common Riding festivities at
Hawick the famous local war-cry, "Teri Bus,"
had almost to take second place. Quite as fre-
quently heard was the mysterious cry, "Keelah!"
the origin and meaning of which not even those
who used it could explain. Perhaps it will be
better understood in Glasgow, since it was taken
indirectly to the Borders by a Glasgow man.
It appears that while a Scottish Bugby fifteen
were on their way to Wales a few years ago a
well-known Glasgow -internationalist repeated the
mysterious word several times during the journey.
One of the fifteen was W. E. Kyle, the well-known
Hawick Rugby player, who subsequently became
Cornet, the highest honour that can be conferred
on a Teri. He introduced "Keelah" to Hawick,
and ever since, whether on the football field 01
carrying the flag at the Common Riding, his ears
have been deafened by multitudes of young Ter-
ies shouting "Keelah!" at the pitch of their voices.
It may be added that the horse ridden by ex-
Cornet Kyle at the last three Common Ridings
was named Keelah.

Besides the long list of imposing legal lumin-
aries the late Lord Young was associated with
during his long career on the Bench, his earlier
history was identified with great personalities, the
mention of whose names seem to suggest some
far distant age. In his boyhood days his Lord-
ship knew Jean Armour, the widow of Robert
Burns. Often he had tea with the old lady in her
«irT» hon«H- ^11 Dumfries, and he always 6t>oke witl-
affection -of her extreme kindness to children. He
knew all the Burns family, and remembered Rob-
ert, junior, to have a peculiar habit of nervous-
ly thrusting his hands into his pockets as he
walked the streets of Dumfries. This the villag-
ers accounted for on the ground that young Rob-
ert had had his pocket picked when in London.
Dr Maxwell, who attended the poet in his last
illness, was also known to Lord Young. He also
knew Channing, and one day in his father's house
at Dumfries he wsm introduced to Thomas Car-
lyle, then unknown to fame. Lord Young's father
must have been a man of considerable foresight,
for he remarked at the moment of introducing
his son. "Take my word for it, this Mr Carlyle
will be a great man in this country."
♦ * •

Reverence for the past may be, as Emerson re-
marked, a treacherous sentiment, and if the plea
made by the Rev. Walter Walsh, jn his fine speech
at Bannockburn, for a return to the strenuous
simple life of our forefathers were to be taken
literally, it could hardly be endorsed by many who
realise how much more of interest and possibility
is offered bv modern life than there was in that
of our "rude forefathers." Within common-sense

limits, however, it is doubtless a good thing that
we should cultivate the memory of those great
historic deeds, such as Bannockburn and Both-
well Brig, which established or vindicated our
Scottish nationality. Even in this year, when the
remembrance of our final union witii England is
being celebrated, there is still room for the other
recollection that what took place in 1707 was a
union and not an absorption. That recollection^
indeed, is one of our great safeguards againsge warrior and call for help to
secure him. Bertram, at first astounded,
soon shakes him off, and then plungee his
Bword into his breast. But the real Morthan^i
appears and bids him begone. He fled and
found refuge in a robber's cave in Brignal
Woods. Here is another instance of Scott's
observant eye and memory. "NAlitn his friend
Morrit was showing him the place in Brignal
Wood he "observed him noting the particular
little wild flowers and herbs that accidentally
grew around and on the side of a bold ora^
near his intended cave of Guy Denzil, ana
oould not help saying that, as he was not on
oath in his, work, daisies, violets, and prim-
roses would be as poetical as any of the hum-
ble herbs he was examining. He replied that
in Nature herself no tvN'o scenes are exactly
alike, and whoever copied truly what was
t efore his eyes would possess the same var-
iety in his description and pre«ent an imaginar
tion as boundless as the range of nature with-
in the scene he recorded."

The description of the robbers' cave and its
surroundings is wonderfully true to nature,
and to-day a visitor to Brignal Woods would
say: —

"O Brig:nall banks are wild and fair

And Greta woods are green,
And you may gather garlands there
Would grace a summer queen."

That is the chorus of a song sung in the revels
of those robbers in Brignal Cave, where Ber-
tram took refuge, by a youth referred to as

"Yon pale stripling, when a boy,
A mother's pride, a father's joy!

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Now 'gainst the vault's rude walls reclined.

An early image Mis his mind;

The cottage once his sire's he sees

Embowered upon the banks of Tees;

He views sweet Winston's woodlands scene

And shares the dance on Oainford Green."
Bowever, the sadness is momentary, and he
joins the revelry and sings the song of Brig-
nal Woods. But to-day Winston is the same
quiet, tree-surrounded village, with its old
church sending its spire high above the grand
old trees, and its still and peaceful "Grod's
Acre" surrounding it And even here an eye
like Scott's, with imaginative genius; would
find something to found romance upon. It
would find a modest tombstone erected in
xnemory of one whose Celtic name proclaims
his northern birth ; one who had climbed the

century. Hie present church, of Norman
architecture, contains many stones built into
ita porch evidently belonging to a 9|axon
building which preceded it In front of Gain-
ford BLall, which, however, dates only from
1600, stands an old dovecote of much earlier
date. It is similar to the one on the soutJi
side of the Tees, near the ruins of the church
dedicated to Saint Lawrence. These were
common to the inhabitants of the villages. The
hall is a fine specimen of the building of that
date — I6OO1 — and has some beautiful carved
wood panelling inside. It is at present the
residence of Mr (reorge Harrison, tiie king of
shorthorn breeders. To the west of the Hall
is a paddock with many irregularities on its
surface. Here, tradition says, stood the old

I.-

'^r::^^^?^^^'''^^ <

^ J

^^j^^

• 4.\

VicMngr, Gfttuforl

GAINFORD, TWO MILES DOWN THE RIVER FROM WINSTON.

fiteep road of University learning and obtain-
ed a good degree; was tutor in an Academy
in Gainford, and was ''taken" while quite
young. And a very sweet old lady lives who
has been true to his memory all these years
and never forgets her engagement to that
brilliant Scottish laddie.

Gainford, two miles below Winston, on the
banks of the Tees, with its wide expanse of
^reen, its square-towered church embosomed
amid trees and close to the river, well deserves
its title of. "Queen of Teesside vill^es.*' It
is a very ancient place. The church stands
where a brotherhood raised it and dedicated it
1» Our Lady, having received a grant of ita
isiite and various clmrters from the Yarl of
l^orthumbria some time in the eighth or ninth

castle of the Lords of Gainford, who dwelt
there up to the time when, as before -mention-
ed, Barnard Baliol built Barnard Castle. Even
now, in some legal documents, Barnard Castle
is described aa "in the parish of Gainford."

Another song the boy sings is that of AUan-
a-dale : —

''Allan-a-dale has no faggot for bnrning,
Allan-a-dale has no farrow for tnrning," &c.
"The Baron of Bavensworth prances in pride
And he views his domains npon Arkinggarth side.
The mere for his net and the land for his game.
The chase for the wild and the park for the tame ;
Tet the fish of the lake and the deer of the vale
A^e less free to Lord Dacre than Allan-a-dale.''

Ravensworth is near to Richmond, in York-
shire. It has a largfe church, whose square
tower is visible for many miles around. Here

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also is a fine old endowed Grammar School, so
rich that recently a neighbouring Educational
Authority attempted — thank goodness, unsuc-
cessfully — to get hold of its money.

And so the tale moves on; but we must
leave the story and glance at the places de-
scribed.

The fourth canto begins with another refer-
ence to the Norsemen's nomenclature found in
the district. He tells how

"Denmark's raven soared on high,
Triumphant, through Northumbria's Sky,
And the broad shadow of her wing
Blackened eAch cataract and spring.
Where Tees in tumult leaves her source,
Thundering o'er Cauldron (Snout) and High
Force."

The beautiful Marwood Chase is now in
cultivation as farms, and Toller Hill is still
the same rising round, where splendid views
of Barnard Castle and its surroundings may
be had.

These are many of the places, some in Dur-
ham, some in Yorkshire, named in the poem.
Readers of Scott know that the poem ends,
like a good old-fashioned taJe, with peace, joy,
and wedding rejoicings. Those who have not
read Rokeby could not do better than employ
the winter nights in its study, and, if they
can, a part of next summer in viewing the
lovely spots in Teesdale referred to in it.

Darlington, the home of railway enterprise,
on the North-Eastern main line, is easily

WINSTON BRIDGE OVER TEES, FOUR MILES EAST OF ROKEBY.

And enumerates the instances of Balder, Wod-
en's Croft, Thorsgill, and other placd-names.
The Tees rises in the skirts of Cross Fell, and,
in its course between York and Durham coun-
ties, falls over the two cataracts of Cauldron
Snout and High Force. The former is a nar-
row gorge with rough rocks in its declivity,
and amongst which the Tees rushes with tu-
multuous rapidity. The latter is nearer the
town of Middleton-in-Teesdale. The precipice
over which the Tees falls is eighty feet higu ;
and in continued rainy weather the river
sometimes con.es down in flood, so sudden that
it appears like a wall of water three, four, and
even five feet high. A little further on in the
poem the author tells how

"The summer flowers grow wild at will
On Marwood Chase and Toller Hill."

reached from anywhere. Eight miles west,,
on the Barnard Castle and Tobay Branch, is
Gainford, and between that and Barnard Cas-
tle most of the action of the poem is laid —
another eight miles.

The illustrations are from views taken by
the well-known photo artist, Mr Yeoman of
Barnard Castle, by whose kind permission we
are enabled to reproduce them.

Simprin Church, the ruins of which only now exist in
a very much dilapidated and neglected graveyard, is
one of the most ancient in the Merse, dating back to the
time of David I. and the Monks of Kelso. DoubtleM
hundreds of your readers will recognise the place in
Berwickshire that is meant, but there may be many
others who would like to know the correct spelling of the
name of the parish where the eminent divine lived and
laboured from 1699 to 1707. Simprin is surrounded by
the'parishes of Swinton, Ladykirk, and Coldstream.

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157

Border Notes and Queries.

"THE HAWICK GILL."
With his usual felicity in giving appropriate
designationi^ to persons, places, and things, Sir
Walter Scott, in his romance "Waverley" (chap-
ter xxix.), applies the above term to a tavern.
Waver ley and his companion are returning on the
Sabbath day from the Highlands, and at a north-
ern village they endeavour to get admittance into
the "Seven-branched . Golden Candlestick," the
keeper of which inn, taking into consideration
that it is the Day of Rest, is reluctant to admit
them. "Reflecting, however, in all probability,
that he had the power of mulcting them fdr this
irregularity, a penalty which they might escape
by passing into Gr«gor Luncanson's at the Bign
of the 'Highlander and the Hawick Gill,' Mr
Ebenezer Cruickshanks condescended to admit
them into his dwelling" (etc.).

This event is dated 1745. but the name "Hawick
Gill" does not appear in literature (so far as my
knowledge goes) until fully twenty years after that
date; nor does it seem to have travelled so far
north as the scene of this incident. In vol. ii.
p. 18) of Herd's "Collection of Songs" (1767) thefe
occurs the verse: —

"Byth. blyth. blyth was she,
Blyth was she but an' ben ;
And weel she lo'e^l a Hawick pill.
And leugh to see a tappit hen."

The glossary states that "a Hawick gill is a
double gill, so named from the town of Hawick."
Of the "tappit hen" Sir Walter Scott says:— "I
h^ve seen oDe of these formidable measures at
Provost Haswell's, at Jedburgh, in the days of
yore. It was a pewter measure, the claret being
in ancient days served from the tap, and had
the figure of a hen upon the lid. In later times
the name was given to a glass bottle of the same
dimensions."

In connection with the phrase the following
quotations from Wright's "Dialect Dictionary"
may prove interesting. In Bruce's "Poems," the
date of which is 1813, it is seen that the term
wag known in Leith at that date: —

"Come, hostess, bring's a Hawick gill.
An' to his health a glass I'll fill"

(vol. ii., p. 183). That the phrase was known in
Edinburgh about that time is evident from Lid-
die's "Poems" (p. 29), in the quotation: —

"If her ye'd gien a Hawick gill.
She might been leal."

It also occurs in Watson's "Bards" (1859), where
is found (on p. 121) the following flattering coup-
let:—

"firing's a Hawick gill.
An' here's to Hawick's bonnie lassies!"

Another passage in Scott's works which the
waders for Wright's "English Dialect Diction-
ary" have not noticed is contained in Part II. of
his "Carle, Now the King's Come"— written in
1822: —

"A Hawick gill of mountain dew,

Heised up Auld Reikie's heart, I trow.
It minded her of Waterloo-
Carle, now the King's come."

On making inquiry I discover that there is not
a specimen of the Hawick gill preserved in Haw-
ick ArcheeologicAl Society's Museum, nor do I
learn that it is extant elsewhere. Perhaps it is
a measure which has existence only in literature? *
It would be gratifying to learn if any readers of
the "Border Magazine" can throw any clearer
light upon the subject.

G. Watson. •
♦ * ♦ ♦

JOCK O' HAZELDEAN. ,

Readers of the "Border Magazine" are under a
debt to "A. G., S.," for the large amount of infor-
mation he has brought to bear upon this subject
in these columns. In that connection the follow-
ing has some interest:— In Hawick Archeeological
Society's transactions for 1904 there appeared a
paper contributed by Mr James Sinton, Eastfield,.
Joppa, and entitled "Campbell's Third Journey
to the Borders" (in 1816). This contains Camp-
bell's account of his tour, and shows that he was
at Jedburgh in October of that year. "Here,"
he says, "I waited upon my ingenious and valued
friends, Mr Thomas Pringle's sisters, who are in
business as confectioners in Jedburgh, the eldest
of whom communicated the admirable and now-
popular air of 'Jock of Hazelgreen' of Hazeldean,
for which Walter Scott has written words or ad-
ditional stanzas" (transactions, p. 16). Reference
seems to be made here to the music, not to the
words, as is borne out by the additional state-
ment that this lady gave Campbell "eight Border

melodies taken down (as sung by Hunter, the

resident fiddler or violer), a stocking-weaver in
Jedburgh."

It is the question whether or not "Jock o' Haz-
eldean" belonged to Hassendean, in Roxburgh-
shire, that has special interest to Borderers. A
consideration of the histories of these names, and
also that of Hazelgreen, seems to prove that he
did not. In his "Scenes of Infancy" (written in
1802), part ii., stanza 8, John Leyden refers to
"the spires of Hazeldean," when treating of Has-
sendean. Probably influenced by this line, Scott
also, in his "Lay of the Last Minstrel" (1803-5),
canto i., stanza 25, makes allusion to "the tower of
Hazeldean," and explains the name in a note as
"the estate of Hazeldean, corruptly Hassendean"
(etc.).

With reference to the name in the song: — In '
Professor Child's admirable work five different
versions of the ballad are supplied, and of two
of these there is a duplicate rendering given —
showing that evidence had been obtained from
seven different sources. In not one of these
versions is the name given as "Hazeldean," or
any other place-name ending with "dean." The
variants of the name in these are "Hasilgreen,"
"Hasillgreen," "Haselgreen," and "Hazelgreen."
In the version taken down from the recitation of
Jenny Watson at Lanark in 1826, moreover, there
is mention of "Hazelyetts," in the locality of the
poem. When Scott reconstructed the ballad in
1816 it would be a natural consequence for him
to substitute fpr "Hazelgreen" the word "Hazel-
dean" (which, many years before. Leyden and he
had used by poetical licence instead of Hassen«
dean), and thus gave the ballad or song "a local
habitation and a name." In the quotation given
above from his account of his Journey, Campbell
himself gives preference to the old name of the
ballad, and that given by Scott he inserts after it,.

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probably in order that those who did not know
of the existence of the older ballad might not be
misled.

It need scarcely be pointed out again that Scott
was in error in stating tlint Hassendean is a cor-
ruption of Haseldean. The reverse is undoubtedly
the case, as can be showa beyond disputation by
the history of the place-name.

G. Watson.
'♦ ♦ ♦

THE THISTLE EMBLEM.
In Volume II. of the Bobdbb Magazinb I have
been perusing with the greatest pleasure the
absorbing articles on Selkirkshire buildings by
Mr Wm. Anderson, and I hope you will forgive
my troubling you with a query.

One of the illustrations of Newark Castle sets
iorth the Eoyal ^ield surmounted by the crown.
Immediately above there is a symbol suggesting
.a weather-worn sculptured thistle head with flank-
ing leaves.

In so far as I can ascertain, the first authenti-
■cated appearance of the thistle in connection with
Scotland or her kings lies in the inheritance of
James IV. from his father (among a vast number
of things) of a purple covering embroidered with
"thistles and a unicorn," included in the invent-
ory of 1488.

The thistle, therefore, evidently existed as a
Eoyal badge of more or less importance prior to
that date. The succeeding link, Dunbar's epithal-
amium, "The Thrissill and the Hois," on the oc-
casion of James IV. and Margaret Tudor's mar-
riage in 1503, seems to give it paramount place as
an ensign of Scotland or the Stewarts.

It occured to me on seeing the sketch that,
were the Royal Arms on the west side contempor-
ary with Newark Tower— built with the structure
ln^l46e~-and presuming that the "symbol dear" is
really represented, this would prove the earliest
instance extant in knowledge of the adoption of
the thistle as an emblem of the Stewart kings,
antedating the inventory of 1488 (and, moreover,
in titu).

Might I venture to ask if my tentative conject-
ure is correct, and that this is a representation
of " the thrissill" ; also, in addition, whether the
panel could be positively pronounced to form part of
the original edifice of 1466, not a later insertion.
y the date is uncertain, perhaps an authority
might be commended.

• Tlie first actual representation of the thistle
hitherto unearthed is found on the coins of James
V. Though this suppositive discovery at Newark
pushes the earliest appearance of the emblem back
only a score years, it places a remainin{f example
more than half a century.

This question of the thistle is interesting princi-
pally to Stewarts, but historians and others have
repeatedly endeavoured to discover the origin of
its adoption as the symbol of Scotland. Pinker-
ton even thought that Dunbar's marriage ode was
the responsible factor. It is, of course, indubit-
ably the badge of the Stewarts. Why, or when,
they chose the prickly plant is unknown, a mys-
terious circumstance extending to the Order of the
Thistle. If the panel on Newark is contemporary,
the thistle seems to occupy a position of unde-
niable importance either in the estimation of the
Stewart kings or of the rulers of Scotland. The
legendary explanation is sometimes that a bare-
footed Dane aroused the sleeping Scots by tread-

ing inadvertently, doubtless, on a thistle, his stoic-
ism proving unequal to the strain; or that a sim-
ilar warning was vouchsafed Bruce by an equally
negligent or obliging Southron. Legend, however,
is tolerated only until disproved. A member of
the Stewart Society, I am much interested.
Gateehead-on-Tyne. Robebt Stewabt

• « •

THE MONKS OF MELROSE AND THE FRIARS
OF FAIL.
"At the time of the Reformation," says Scott
in a note to the "Lay," "they (i.e., the monks)
shared in the general reproach of sensuality and
irregularity thrown upon the Roman churchmen.
The old words of '(Galashiels,' a favourite Scottish
air, ran thus: —

'O the monks of Melrose made fat kail

On Fridays when they fasted.
Nor wanted they gude beef and ale

So lang's their neighbours' lasted.'"

Dr Robert Chambers, in his "Popular Rhymes
of Scotland," p. 244, speaking of the monastery
of Fail, says "it was a small establishment near
Mauchline; hardly a fragment of its walls now
remain. The following is a traditionary saying
respecting the inmates, which used to be called
up when a complaint of either hard eggs or thin
broth was made: —

'The Friars of Fail

Gat never owre hard eggs or owre thin kail ;

For they made their eggs thin wi' butter.

And their kail thick wi' bread.

And the Friars of Faill, they made guid kale

On Fridays when they fasted;
They never wanted gear eneuch

As lang as their neighbours' lasted.'"

The Fail and its neighbourhood— Coilsfield, the
Castle of Montgomery, Mauchline, etc.— are inti-
mately associated with the history of Burns.
"On the Fail, too, is all that is left of the monas-
tery (in which Thomas the Rhymer was once a
guest), the home of the jovial monks, who will
long be remembered by the rhyme in Ramsay's
'Evergreen,' quoted by Scott in 'The Abbot': —

'The Friars of Fail drank berry-brown ale.

The best that e'er was tasted ;
The monks of Melrose made gude kale

On Fridays, when they fasted.'"

Could any of the readers of the "B. M." throw
some further light on these old rhymes F The two
versions as given by Scott and Chambers seem to
be virtually the same, but in the latter version
some farm hand, probably dissatisfied with his
"rations," seems to have inserted the first four
lines by way of interpolation and as a specimen
of rustic "wut."

These old monks and friars, according to all
accounts, had a good time of it. and seem to have
been not altogether ignorant of the rules of good
living and the principles of practical gastronomy.
Chaucer, in his Prologue to the "Canterbury
Tales," has sketched for us a specimen of each.
The Reformation in Scotland must have brought
with it a great revolution in manners. "The
change," says Sir Walter Scott, "must indeed
have been terrific; but it doee not seem to have

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159

been felt very severely by a certain Boniface of St
Andrews, for when somebody asked him, on the
snbsidence of the storm, what he thonght of all
that had occurred, 'Why/ answered mine host,
'it comes to this, that the Moderantor sits in my
meikle chair, where the Dean sat before, and, in
place of calling for the third stonp of Bordeaux,
bids Jenny bring ben anither bowl of toddy.' "

A. G. S.
♦ * ♦

LESSXJDDEN NOTES.

In the "B. M." I note a correspondence about
. Lessndden, Willie Brockie, John Younger, Ac.
Nearly sixty years ago— 1848, I think— I lived
with my uncle, the late Mr Lamb, for a few weeks
in the pleasant village referred to. Mr Lamb
was the well-known musician and singing master
whose pupils were to be found in the Border
Counties, the Lothians, and the Kingdom of Fife.
He was a subject of "the Kingdom," as he was
born there when George III. had reigned half his
time.

In Lessudden we lodged with Mr and Mrs Ham-
ilton, the parents of that Mr Hamilton who occu-
pied the Abbey Hotel in Melrose for many years.
The elder Mr Hamilton was a weaver, and I re-
member his wife making mats, and very fine
ones, of the thrums from the end of the web.
He wove in the ben end of the house.

One day we went to call on John Younger, the
poet, philosopher, and shoemaker, whose work
could be carried on to the accompaniment of a
crack.

"What d'ye think 0' this, Mr Lamb?" queried
John.

" 'The Lord works wonders noo an* than—
Sometimes a gentleman's an honest man!'"
John said the lines occurred to him that morn-
ing before he left his bed. Of course, John's "gen-
tleman" meant a man of the upper classes.

Peace be with him, if that is not a sinful and
ritualistic prayer for the dead. He was kind to
the laddie who sat and listened to the wisdom
of two kind-hearted and kindred spirits.

Would the Willie Brockie referred to by your
correspondents be any relation to that other
Willie Brockie, the son of a Border farmer, who
began life as a clerk in Haldane's Brewery, Gala-
shiels, and ended a long literary career in Sun-
derland, in which town and in South Shields he
for many years edited papers. W. S.

A Walk from Moffat to Hawick.

!?'>S

jBOUT seven o^clock in the morning of a
Saturday in May some years ago, I left
Aberdeen for Carlisle per Caledonian Rail-
way, provided with an excursion return
ticket costing the remarkably small sum of
16/1, and which was available for return up to Monday
night following. I was all alone, and at time of starting
had not quite decided whether I should go right on to
Carlisle, or stop at some plai>e en raute. As a provision
for eventualities, however, 1 had before leaving home
donned a good serviceable suit and a heavy pair of
boots. It was a lovely spring morning, all nature
seemed to be astir, and, grudging the time spent in the
train, I ultimately made up my mind to stop at Beat-
took, and go on from there to Moffat. To do this, I had
to leave the express at Carstairs, get the slow train for

Beattock, and there join the train for Moffat» and alter
a short run of about five minutes' duration through
some beautiful pastoral and woodland scenery, I arrived
at the pretty little village of Moffat at noon.

As I had breakfasted between five and six a.m., one
can easily understand that my first enquiry was for a
refreshment room. After having done justice to the
claims of the inner man, I had a stroll around the village,
and thereafter, having read and heard a good deal a^"*
the Deirs Beef Tub, I determined to visit it. The
distance was only about five miles, and my intention
was, after seemg the Tub, to walk across the hills in a
north-easterly direction, and get to Tibbie Shiels in the
evening, and then tramp across to Hawick on the
Sunday. But as proved to be the case " the best laid
schemes o' mice and men gang aft agley." (^"^®^
with a compass and guide book, I thought that all
would be plain saiUng, and that I should just have
time to walk on with an occasional glance at either.

About an hour and a quarter after I left Moffat, I
arrived at the so-called Beef Tub. As those who have
visited it know, it is an immense hollow formed within
the hills at the head of the Annan, and is only open at
a narrow gorge on the south side. The bottom is
tolerably smooth and level, the sides are steep and high,
and in some places bare and rocky and overlaid with
shingle. It is here that the Annan takes its rise, and
as a smaU rivulet winds its way through the gorge on the
south side. As we all know, this Tub plays a promment
part in Border story ; and according to tradition, it
was in this capacious hollow that the cattle reivers con-
cealed the animals carried off by them in their pre-
datory excursions — hence the name of Beef luL-
Why it should be called the Doil's Beef Tub I have
never been able to ascertain.

After examining this curiosity of nature, I restarted
in an easterly direction, it being about three p.m.

The road was now left behind, and I was fairly

. amongst the heather,* and for a little all went well— but

only for a little. /. j *u

Previously I had followed a fairly well defined patn,
but as it, to my idea, diverged in a northerly direction,
r, much to my subsequent regret, left it and held more
to the east. The ground soon got very marshy, render-
ing walking a very tedious process : and to crown my
misfortunes, my compass and I disagreed — what I
thought to be north, it called south, and vice versa— 90
giving up hape of getting my bearings by the aid of the
needle, I plodded on in what I considered to be the
right direction. Later on 1 ascertained that the soil
on which I had been walking contained a goodly pro-
portion of iron, thus accounting for the vagaries of my
compass. By this time I had lost sight of any of the
hills that I knew, and after tramping on for about a
couple of hours in solitary silence, and seeing no sign of
Hartfell, the highest hill in Dumfriesshire, I began to
think that I was, to Tise a colonial phrase, " up a gum
tree." Not a soul or habitation of any kind was to be
seen, so I sat down to try and puzzle out my where-
abouts with the aid of my Guide Book. Hardly, how-
ever, had I seated myself, when a collie dog hove in
sight driving .some sheep. I immediately got up and
followed the collie, and after about fifteen minutes of
stiff walking, came upon the shepherd. On getting
into talk with him, he informed me that I was eleven
miles north of Moffat and five miles from Elvanf oot, the
nearest station. Instead of walking north-east, I had
been going north-west. But as I had made up my

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mind to see St Mary's Looh, I set out for Elvanfoot
Station, passing on my way the source of the Clyde,
and the Summit, i.e. the name given to the highest
point on the Caledonian Railway. On arrival at the
station I was lucky enough tp get a train in a few
minutes, and about 7 p.m. again landed in MofFat,
my previous 8t>arting-place. Having appeased the
pangs of hunger, I started to walk to St Mary*s, making
sure that I took the right road this time. The Lqch is
about sixteen miles distant from Moffat, and I cal-
culated on arriving at Tibbie Shiels about half past
eleven, where I would get some supper and a bed. It
was a beautiful evening, and although only the begin-
ning of May, the air was quite mild and balmy, and the
glorious view I had of the sun setting behind the hills
amply repaid me for my enforced tramp.

A few miles from Moffat I perceived the farm of
Bodesbeck nestling at the foot of the grass-covered
hills, and looking in the gloaming the very picture of
peace and tranquility. About 8.30 p.m. I had nearly
done six miles, and thinking I would have a few minutes
rest, I sat down on the road-side, and promptly fell
asleep. When I awoke, feeling as stiff as a poker, I
was surprised to find it pitch dark, and on striking a
match foimd it to be 11 p.m. The beauties of nature
hardly appealed to me now, and I would have given
something to have, been between the blai)[ketis in Tibbie
Shiels* hostel. As I could not possibly reach the Inn
before 2 a.m., I made up my mind to spen'S the rest of
the night also in open, and accordingly restarted walk-
ing, paying a good deal of attention to my feet, as, with
the exceptionof a few stars, it was quite dark.

About 2 a.m. I arrived at the Loch of the Lowes,
and here I again laid myself down and made a futile
attempt to get some more sleep ; but no, now that I
really wanted to sleep, the goddess of slumber would
not be wooed.

Continuing my lonely way, I reached St Mary's Looh
about half-an-hour later.

The dawn was now beginning to break and I could
perceive the statue of the Ettrick Shepherd looking
erey and ghostly in the dim, cold light of the morning.
Feeling slightly cold, I had a smart walk along the
Loch, and then stripped and had a paddle in the water.
I did not waste any time in the water, as one can easily
guess — the water of St Mary's Loch at 3 a.m. on an
early May morning is not particularly warm, and I
was not very long in getting out and thinking about
drying myself. Unfortunately the programme I had
mapped out before leaving Aberdeen did not include a
swim, and accordingly I found that I was minus the
necessary towel wherewith to dry myself, and an
ordinary handkerchief is not a satirfactory substitute.
Luckily I had provided myself with some biscuits
before leaving Moffat the previous evening, and after
disposing of them, I felt in better trim for the rest of
my journey.

1 retraced my steps to the road between the two
Lochs, and on the guide post there I could make out
that Hawick was some twenty-two miles distant. It
was now 4 a.m., and a lovely morning ; gradually the
sun had lit up the hills in succession, and with a better
view of my sjlorious surroundings I began to be recon-
ciled to the loss of a night in bed. A few miles from
Tibbie Shiels I passed Tushielaw Inn. Between these
two Inns the road is not particularly level nor smooth,
and I did not envy the lot of the drivers who have to
guide the coaches from the Ettrick to St Mary's.
JvL%t at Tushielaw the roid for Hawick crosses the

Ettrick, and then shortly after another stiff climb I
saw on my left hand Hellsmuir and Alesmuir Lochs.
The high watershed between the Ettrick and Teviot
valleys having now been surmounted, the road was
considerably easier, and without further adventures I
reached Hawick about eleven 11 on Sunday forenoon.

Since the afternoon of the previous day I had walked
over fifty-five miles, and had traversed part of three of
the Border counties, viz., Dumfries, Selkirk and Rox-
burgh, and had been favoured during the whole time
with beautiful weather.

As I had eaten nothing but a few biscuits since leav-
ing Moffat, and not caring to ask anything at the
passing farms on the Sunday morning, it can easily be
understood that by the time I reached Ten Town I
was troubled with an aching void. I entered the
town by way of the Wilton Park, and in the little
refreshment room there satisfied the cravings of the
inner man, for the moment, with bread and milk.
Shortly afterwards I visited some friends in Hawick,
and spent the rest of Sunday and part of Monday there.

There is no getting over the fart that I was very
tired on reaching Hawick, but a bath and a good dinner
worked wonders, and in the course of the afternoon
I had a walk down by Appletree Ha'.

On the Monday afternoon I left Hawick by the after-
noon express, and reached Carlisle about 5 p.m. I
spent about three hours in the Cathedral City, then
caught the night train for the north, and early on
Tuesday morning found myself once more in the
Granite City.

Although my week-end was not what the average
person would probably call pleasure, yet I derived a
considerable amount of enjoyment and benefit from
the walk, and look forward to some future time when I
may be able to repeat it, possibly with the sleeping-out
part of the programme omitted. " ROVER."

** I've seen the forest
Adorned the foremost,
Wi* the flowers o' the fairest
Both pleasant and gay.

But now they are withered
And a' wede away."

DEATH OF A NEWCASTLE JOURNALIST.
The death took place last month of Mr Alex-
ander Davidson Muiray, a well-known north-
country journalist, and for thirty-seven years
editor of the "Newcastle Daily Journal." Mr
Murray had been in poor health for some time,
but was at his post as recently as Thursday,
18th July, and on the following day left for a
summer vacation in Scotland. His death took
place suddenly at St Fillans, Perthshire, at the
residence of his brother-in-law. He w^as sixty-
eight years of age, and was born at Hawick,
where his journalistic career was begun. At
the age of twenty-nine he e<lite<l the "Peeblee-
sliire Advertiser," and took up the editorship of
the "Newcastle Daily Journal" in 1870. Mr
Murray was a brother of Dr Murray, of Oxford
Dictionary fame, and of Mr C. 0. Marray, the
etcher.

Printed and Published by A. Walker k Son, Galaahiftls.

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SUPPLEMENT to the "BORDER MAGAZINE/' Vol. XII., No 141.

DAVID BROWN ANDERSON.

ESSAYIST.

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DEVOTED TO

Border Biography, History, Literature, and
Folklore.

Edited by WNiiam Sancferson.

DAVID BROWN ANDERSON,

ESSAYIST.

I HERE can be no doubt that David
Brown Anderson was intended by
Nature to be a Peeblesshire laird,
and she fashioned him accordingly ;
but by some curious freak of upbringing
or of education he is entitled to call himself
a Writer to the Signet I A writer he certainly
is, but not of legal parchments. Four beauti-
ful volumes stand at present (1907) to nis
credit: — (1) "The Vale of Anwoth and other
Essays;" (2) "Notes of a Rambler;" (3)
"Essays;" (4) "Reminiscences, with occa-
sional Essays ;" these are their names, and the
series enshrines upon lustrous surface in lux-
urious type reminiscences of his cultured lei-
sure, anecdotes of his literary circle, and idylls
of his beloved county of Peebles. And yet Mr
Anderson is an exile. His body may be found
for the greater part of the year at Caris-
brooke in the Isle of Wight, but his spirit,
that " alter ego " which ofttimes is the best
part of a man, flies ever back to the haunted
Hopes and mysterious mountains of his life-
long love.

To the listening shepherds of Manor Valley,
the liquid call of the cuckoo is the first har-

binger of summer. But more, it is a remin-
der that David Brown Anderson is making for
the north. Ere long he appears without fur-
ther notice on the High Street of Peebles, or
by the verdant haug^s of Manor Water. If
on foot, then Tom Forrest or Walter Irvine are
not far off. But if Mrs Anderson accompanies
him, you can tell that it is he only by the
sonorously hearty laugh and the smell of
petrol as their motor dashes past.

Hallyards Mansion-house, close to Manor
Kirk, was his father's country-house ; Hender-
land and Crosscleugh by lone St Mary's was
the ancestral fatherland; but Mr Anderson
himself is a citizen of no mean city, being a
native of Edinburgh. His mother was a
daughter of David Brown, of Greenknowe,
Stirlingshire, hence the name Brown Ander-
son.

The House of Hallyards has considerable
literary interest and great beauty of situation,
with umbrageous lawns extending to Manor
Water. Sir Walter Scott, Professor Fergus-
son, Mungo Park, have all been associated with
the place; and 'a weird statue of the Black
Dwarf guards the avenue. There are many

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interesting relics of Bowed Davie within the
walls ; there may also be seen the bookboard
of the family pew taken from old Manor Kirk,
on which has been engraved with penknife
the inscription, "W. S., 1799," which the
members of the family attribute to Walter
Scott, done, no doubt, to wile away the ted-
i\un of some weary sermon two years after
his visit to the cottage of the Dwarf. As
King James VI. said that he had a natural
and salmon-like affection for the place of his
breeding, so is it with Mr Anderson ; hence
his imperishable affinity for the Border coun-
ties of Selkirk and Peebles, the cradle of his
race. He has well proved himself to be a
loyal son of the Borders, and he has utilised
his great gifts of intellect, observation, and
descriptive faculty in revealing to others the
beauties, the associations and charms of the
Scottish Lowlands. Always *i great reader,
he early came under the spell of such men as
Professors Aytoun, Masson, and Veitoh, all of
whom stimulated his zeal for a further know-
ledge of literature ; while the author of " A
Summer in Skye," the late Alexander Smith,
by his graphic literary power fostered in the
growing youth the desire not only to read, but
to become one of the band of literati also. To
Mr Anderson has been furnished the full real-
isation of this ambition, endued as he was
with "the vision and the faculty divine," he
has for many years occupied a learned leisure
in the cultivation and development of his lit-
erary tastes. In addition, he possesses the
means to gratify them, and to have their re-
sults brought to the notice of an ever-appre-
ciative public. Hence Mr Anderson's vol-
umes are sumptuous. They are alike the ad-
miration and also the despair of his less for-
tunate brethren of the pen. All that fine
paper, beautiful type and elegant binding can
do, is lavished upon the caskets that contain
our author's materialised thoughts. Take,
for instance, his latest work first. It consists
largely of reminiscences of his early days at
school in Edinburgh, where the future histor-
ian found that the most severe of his school-
masters were usually "the lame and the red-
haired onesl" His Sabbaths were the days
of three attendances at church, and the Shorter
Catechism. Among the clergymen of his
younger days whom he knew were the Rev. Dr
Guthrie, who founded the Ragged School, the
Rev. Dr Boyd, minister then of St Bernard's,
of whom Mr Anderson has written some de-
lightful essays, Dr Robert Lee, minister of
Old Greyfriars, who re-introduced organs into

the Church of Scotland, and the great and
large-hearted Norman Macleod of the Barony.

David Brown Anderson^was a lad of twelve
when Christopher North died, then came Aytoun
and Masson ; and among the Doctors, Simpson,
Christison and Maclagan ; in fact, his youth was
spent amid much of what was noblest and
brightest in the Scottish Capital of the day..

William and Robert Chambers by their
successful Uves stimulated the mental energies
of the young student, partly also because they
too came from the Borders, being Peebles lads.
Of Bench and Bar ; of music and the drama,
there are to be found among the reminiscences
many amusing recollections and anecdotes of a
race of professionals now passing, and of a
condition of society now vanished. But it is
perhaps not so much in his personal sketches
so much as in his Essays that Mr Anderson
reveals his originality. The range through
which his fancy has roamed is very extensive.
Traquair, Nithsdale, the Isle of Wight, Sussex,
Peeblesshire, Dawyck, St Eilda, Chichester,
Oxford, Broughton, are but a few of the places
described in the latest volume. Among the
men whom he has known in addition to those
already named are — Dr Cameron Lees, Blackie,
Lord Napier, Principal Caird, Sir Graham
Montgomery, Sir William Fergusson and many
others. One need not enumerate further ; the
few items already given may suffice to incUcate
the range of subject dealt with by Mr Anderson.
In the four volumes there are two hundred and
fifteen separate articles from his pen. Every one
is interesting and readable, although of varying
quality.

In endeavouring to analyse the elements that
have gone to create and foster Mr Anderson's
literary genius, one would place first his unusual
bodily and mental energy. This stiis within
him the desire to see things and compels hini to
go to the places where they are to be found.
Having arrived at his goal, the faculty of obser-
vation comes into play ; nothing escapes him,
be it the early feathered songster, the rare
botanical specimen, some feature in the land-
scape, some effect of light and shade. ^
- Next comes memory ; apparently no notes are
made ; all is silently and intuitively treasured up
in the memory, a most retentive one, and as
surely brought forth again in the silence and
privacy of the study. Lastly, there are the
many and diverse qualities of imagination,
poetry, mental perception, due sense of pro-
portion, with a properly balanced hero-worship^
all of which unite in forming that combination of

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THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

163

gifts that constitate the true essayist and natural
poet. Hr Anderson possesses all the foregoing
in proper degree. And the result is those
touching yet true word-pictures of men and
places that present the subject real and living
before the reader. When one lias visited any
of the places described by Mr Anderson, one
goes to his books with expected pleasure which
is never disappointed, because he finds there
^he materialisation and crystallising of those
thoughts and ideas which one himseU may have
experienced but been imable to find words for.
There is a lightness of touch in the studies that
render them always interesting and never prosy.
There is much humour which even a Southron
might imdeistand; and there is that pathos
and that tragedy which are so seldom absent
in real life, but are never overdone by our author.
Bonhomie and benevolence are the two
leading characteristics of Mr Anderson in private.
His brain and his heart are aUke big. He cannot
lielp reveahng himself in his books. As one
reads them, one forgets for the moment, and
imagines that their author is sitting at the head
of his hospitable board, relating the anecdotes
and jokes that make him such a jolly host.
And thus the season^ come and go. Spring,
summer and autumn reveal their treasures to
this burly MAkAR. He is making himself all
the time. He is imbibing all that is sweetest, all
that is the truest poetry, all that is noblest in
mankind, all that has gone to make the Kingdom
of Scotland what it is. He does not confine his
meditations to one class of literature as some
writers do. AU that he comes across in his
daily experiences is grist to his mill — some anec-
dote he has heard, some landscape he has
•descried, a summer sunset or a spring morning,
an eloquent minister, a meditative shepherd.
*^ A chiel's amang ye taldn' notes, and faith
le'll prent them," is true of the company where
David Brown Anderson is ; but he looks ilpon
nature and human nature with a kindly eye.
Only the best in man and in nature is described.
Hence it is that after perusing any of Mr
Anderson's writings, one rises refreshed and
ready for more, gratified that one's lot has been
pitched among the blessed valleys and beside
the still waters, and nigh the mjnsterious hiUs,
-of these essays ; and that one even yet may be
in the way of meeting reincarnations of the noble
"heart of Scott, of the giant intellect of Veitch,
of the gentle but imdaunted courage of Park ;
and living, as the Borderers do, amid such
.splendid potentialities, they feel grateful to
David Brown Anderson, whose loyal soul in

exile yet feels delight in sojourning for a space
amid the Highland of the south, whose graceful
pen finds pleasure in perpetuating the scenes and
thoughts of his inspired vision.

C. B. G.

The Author of " Waverley " on the •
South Side of the Border.

Bt Walthr Scott, Gainfobd.

Pakt IV.

•TWIXT WEAR AND TYNE.

AROLD THE DAUNTLESS" is
another poem having north of
England scenes for its develop-
ment. It is an eerie story of life
in Weardale and the country between that
and the valley of the Tyne in early Saxon
times. Harold was the son of a Danish sea-,
rover, who had won lands and possessions im-
der the See of Durham. The father had ac-
cepted Christianity and died a son of the
Church, but Harold was as wild a heathen as
any berserker from Scandinavia. He defied
the Bishop and despised the priests, but was
won over by the smiles of a beautiful maiden,
Eivir, whose gentle tones and pure life were
all-powerful to tame his wild spirit. There
are witches, ghosts, incantations, and demons
to strive against, but Harold, • having for
Eivir's sake become penitent, defies them all,
and to his love says —

"Eivir, since thoti for many a day
Hast followed Harold's wayward way.
It is but meet that in the line
Of after life I follow thine.
To-morrow is Saint Cnthbert's tide,
And we will grace his altar's side,
A Christian knight and Christian bride;
And of Witikin's son shall the marvel be said
That on the same morn he was christen'^d and
wed."

The story roams over the country from
Monkwearmouth to Tyneside. Several times
the scene is laid in Durham Cathedral, and
Harold's story was known

"By merry Tyne, both on moor and lea,
Throngh Weardale's wooded glens so free.
Well beside Stanhope's wildwood tree.
And well on Gannless river."

Weardale's glens are known locally as 'liopes,"
the dales through which flow the tributaries
of the Wear from north and south, " Ireshope,
Bollihope, Kellhope, Wellhope, Rookhope,
Eastenhope, Westenhope, and Stonehope i'
Wardale " beipg a local enumeration of them.

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The Bishops of Durham, being up to the first
half of last century Princes Palantine of the
county, had immense power and wealth, in
ancient times, the right to coin money being
one of their privileges. Many a hunting they
had in their forest of Weardale. Stanhope is
now a small town with many remnants of its
'* wild woods *' around it still. The Gaunless
is a tributary of the Wear rising in Langley-
dale, in the south-west of the county, of which
mention is made in the lines, as may be re-
membered.

"Young Frank is chief of Errington
And lord of Langleydale."

of chivalry, the scenes of which are in south-
west Northumberland, Cumberland^ and Weat-
moreland. It is

"A tale of Britain's isle and Arthur's days»
When midnight fairies danced the

It opens with a splendid description of the
qualities that should adorn the bride fit to be
mated with Sir Roland de Vaux, lord of Trier-
main/ She should, in fact, have nn angelic
disposition and a form of perfect beauty. Sir
Roland sees such a lady in a vision of the
night and hears her sing. He makes enquiry
of his entourage as to what they had seen and

-^^^^^^B

W^"^'

•^ ^^^^HOfc

* ""^^^Bir n[HP

w^ ,...

GILSLAND.

However, some say the Northumberland place
is meant. In a book on angling, published
early last century, occurs the sentence, " In the
north of England are two of the best trout
fishing streams in England, the Coquet in
Northumberland and the Gaunless in Durham
County." For the first half of the century it
was true of both. It is now of the Coquet.
But the adjacent coUeries and the villages
around them have made the Gaunless a magni-
fied sewer. Sad, isn't it? And tradition in
the neighbourhood further torments folk by
asserting that to Tennyson, who was on a visit
to Auckland Castle, the Bishop's dwelling-
place on its banks, it suggested "The Brook."
The " Bridal of Triermain " is purely a tale

heard. They had neither seen nor heard any-
thing out of the common. He sends to Lord
Lyulph,

"That sage of power, sprnng from Drnid sires
And British bards that tuned their lyres
To Arthur and Pendragon's praise
And his who sleeps at Dunmail raise.'*

Triermain Castle, from which the messenger
starts, is now a ruin, about two miles to the
east of Gilsland, a fief of the barony of Gils-
land. Dunmailraise is a pass between Cum-
berland and Westmoreland where a king of the
ancient Britons was buried. The page hastens
with his lord's greeting and question to-
Lyulph.

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TH£ BORDER MAGAZINE.

"And soon he crossed green Irthing's mead.
Dashed o'er Kirkoswald's verdant plain.
And Eden barr'd his conrse in vain.
He passed red Penrith's Table Round,
For feats of chivalry renowned;
Left Maybnrgh's monnd and stones of power.
By Drnids raised in magic honr;
And traced the Eamont's winding way
Till XJlpho's lake beneath him lay."

The Irthing is a stream rising to the east
of Triermain Castle, and flows westward past
Gilsland and the Roman camp of Borcovicus,
commonly called Birdoswald, through the mea-
dows of Eirkoswald, and on to its junction
with the Eden. The Eden, which enters the

and Cumberland, is another mound, Mayburgh,
which is somewhat like that of Penrith, oEiiy
covered on the top by a collection of stones.
In the plain near it stands a monolith, twelve
feet high, evidently a survival of Druid times.
Ulpho'^ Lake is the old and poetic name of
Ullswater, near Penrith.

The page meets the old sage, Lyulph, and
gives him his master's message. To him the
old seer tells a wondrous story. He relates the
story of King Arthur, the chief of the Round
Table, riding out of Merry Carlisle in search
of adventure. To many Scots Carlisle was
anything but merry, many being hung there.

MUMPS ha'.

sea by way of Silloth past Carlisle, takes its
rise near Eirkby Stephen, close to the boun-
dary between Westmoreland and Durham, and
not very far from the small rivulet's rise, the
Yore, ^ich flows through Yorkshire and joins
the Ouse, which enters the sea by way of Hull,
having in its course gathered the waters of
many tributaries and become a mighty river.
The Eden flows through much beautiful scen-
ery. Penrith is described as red on account of
the colour of the stone of which its houses are
built. The Mound or Round Table is about
half a mile from Penrith, and tradition says
that it was the scene of much jousting at many
tournaments in ancient days. Further up, the
Eamont river, which s^arates Westmoreland

from the first Border raids to the time of the
failure of the 1745 Rebellion. There was one
exception, however, when the laugh was on
the side of the Scots. It was in 1596, at a
time of truce the wardens met, one from each
side of the Border, made their enquiries and
settled all affairs, and were riding home when
the Laird of Kinmont, " Kinmont Willie " of
the ballad, was seen on the right bank of the
Liddell by the English, who were on the left or
English side. He was almost alone, and they
crossed over, surrounded him, and took him a
prisoner to Carlisle. Scott of Buccleuch hear-
ing of the matter wrote to Lord Scrope, whose
deputy had committed the breach of truce, de-
manding the release of Willie. Getting no

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THE BORDfeR Magazine.

satisfaction in a reasonable time, Buocleuch
took the law into his own hand, entered Car-
lisle Castle by scaling the walls one dark
night in April, took Willie out, and marched
safely back to Scotland. The affair incensed
good Queen Bess mightily, and when, some
time after, Buccleuch was presented to her, she
roughly demanded, " How he dared to under-
take an enterprise so desperate and presump-
tuous!" Buccleuch boldly answered, "What
is it t)iat a man dares not do?" So the Scots
were merry at the expense of Carlisle.

But King Arthur's ride was centuries before
that. In the course of his ride he passed under
Glaramara, or the mountain now called Saddle-
back, and the description of the scenery around
him is splendid and worthy of the poet's best
efforts. At last he came to a castle all silent ;
and seemingly "nor banner nor warder " was
there. He rode round thrice, and then blew
his horn, at which the gates flew open. Here
he was received by a queenly dame, who cour-
teously invited him to parta'Se of her hospital-
ity. For weeks of gay dalliance he stayed
under the spell of the siren. At last duty
claimed his return, and he prepared to depart.
At first she objected, but at last agreed to his
going. She stood at the gate, and as he rode
out drank to their friendly parting, and of-
fered him the cup which he was about to quaff,
when

"A idrop escaped the goblet's brink.
As he lifted the cup in act to drink."

It fell on the charger's neck, and with agony
and fright he bolted full twenty feet upright.
However, the monarch kept his seat and got
safely back to Carlisle.

Fifteen years and more elapsed, and at Whit-
suntide he held his court for redress of wrongs
and such like. As usual a tournament was
held, at which the flower of chivalry appeared.
When all was joy and revelry, at trumpet sound
a maiden on a white palfrey appeared, alighted
and knelt before the king. He saw the linea-
ments and beauty of the siren of the castle,
and knew she was his daughter Gyneth. He
then proclaimed a joust at arms, the prize to
be the hand of Gyneth, and she to be judge of
the fray.

At first it was a tournament, but gradually
the fiery blood of the knights warmed, and it
became deadly earnest, and

"The spears drew blood, the swords struck flame,
And horse and man to ground then came.
Knights who shall rise no moje."

"Already gasping on the ground
Lie twenty of the Table Hound,
Of chivalry the prime."

But heedless Gyneth looks on and gives no sign
to forbear. But suddenly, midst noise of
whirlwind and eathquake, the awful form of
Merlin the Wizard appears. He condenms
Gyneth to punishment for her heartlessness
and contempt of life, but

"Punishment is blent with grace.
Thou shalt bea^ thy penance lone
In the valley of St John.
And this weird shall overtake thee —
Sleep until a knight shall wake thee
For feats of arms as far renown'd
As warrior of the Table Eound."

And so she sleeps in the enchanted castle
whither the brave Sir Ralph de Vaux of Trier-
main proceeds. After various experiences of
misty clouds enveloping the mountains, anon
swept off by breezes chill, he finds the castle,
where centuries before Arthur had so nearly
come to grief. And on the castle gate he finds
a curious inscription —

"Patience waits the destined day.
Strength can clear the cumbered way.
Warrior who hast waited long
It is given to thee to gaze
On the pile of ancient days.
View it o'er and pace it round
Rampart, turret, battled mound.
Dare no more! To cross the gate
Were to tamper with thy fate;
Strength and fortitude were vain.
View it o'er — and turn again."

Sir Ralph would take no such advice. He
shakes the wicket, it gives way, the rusty bolts
withdraw, and he enters in. No sooner was he
in than these bolts slid into their places, and
he was a prisoner. Undismayed he goes for-
ward in his search, muttering

"Now closed is the gin and the prey within.

By the Rood of Lanerkost !
But he that would win the war wolf's skin
May rue him of his boast."

Lancercost Priory is now a beautiful ruin,
situated in a very attractive valley near
Naworth Castle, the seat of the celebrated
Belted Will Howard, of the old ballads, and
now of his successor, the Earl of Carlisle. Sir
Ralph goes bravely on till he is met by four
maidens "whom Afric bore," whose stranjpe
apparel, naked arms and knees were of jet, and
threatening words still did not deter De Vaux
from his search. Ultimately
"Deep slumbering in the fated chair
He saw King Arthur's child.
And as her lips so sweetly smil'd
It seemed that the repentant seer
Her sleep of many a hundred year
With gentle dreams beguiled."

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Softly he touches her lovely hands, but he quite
suddenly desista^ for

"Lightning flashes, rolls the thunder,
Qyneth startles from her sleep.
Totter towers, and trembles Iceep,
Burst the castle walls asunder."

But out of it all De Vaux comes safely with
the lovely Gyneth in his arms. Needless to
add that she becomes "The Bride of Trier-
main," and the mother of a warlike race, still
noted in the fields of war and adventure.

Border Notes and Queries.

LESSUDDEN QUERIES.

I want through the medium of the Bobbeb Maqa-
siNB to convey luy thanks to Mr Richard Waugh
for the very interesting letter which appeared in
yeur last issue.

Gratitude, they say, is a lively sense of favours to
come, and my gratitude to Mr Waugh is to take
the form of asking him to share a little more of
his knowledge of the Borderland with us;

First. — There is a very interesting old manuscript
hook in the possession of the Inspector of Poor of
St Boswells Parish which speaks of a flood which
changed the course of the river Tweed. This took
place 200 or 250 years ago. Formerly the river
flowed nearer St Boswells than it does now. The
pools in the Haugh— "The Puils"— are in the old
hed of the river, and the old channel from
"Brockie's Hole" downwards can still he traced.
At that time the dwellers on the St Boswells side
had the right to cut whins and brushwood on their
side of the liver for firewood; an(^ the dwellers
on the other side had the same right on their side.
After the river changed its course there was a law-
suit about the rights of the folks on either side.
TOie Lessudden people claimed all the new space
which w^as on their side, and the Dry burgh folks
said that their rights still extended as far south
as they had ever done, and that the river having
changed its course was no reason why their fires
should be smaller than before. I don't know how
the case was settled, but I wonder if Mr Waugh
in his boyhood days ever heard any rumour of
this change of the river's course and of the dis-
pute which arose in consequence?

Second. — Some years ago when a man wanted to
build he went to the Scaurs— "The Skers"— and
quarried his material there. Earlier still, I sus-
pect he went to Dryburgh Abbey, and perhaps Mr
Waugh can tell us something about that too, for in
one of the houses which he built there is a stone
with a face carved on it. I remember quarrying
operations being carried on a little below the
"Burnfit.'' On the last occasion on which I xe-
member this being done the stones were drawn
up the "Sker face" by a wire rope, a traction
engine being the motive power. This was a great
attraction to us boys, and to a good many more
who oould scarcely be called boys; and once when
I was there the wire rope broke, and the stones,
which were more than half-way tip, thundered
down into the river again. The men at the foot
ran for their lives, and fortunately no one was
hurt. Now, can Mr Waugh tell us anjrthing about

the old quarrying rights of the proprietors in. St
Boswells Parish ?

Third.—What is the history of the Undivided
Qreen?

Fourth.— The mention of the Qreen suggests an-
other question. I believe it is a fact that the Fair
used to be held on the Haugh near Maxton Cot-
tage and Benrig. Why was the stance changed,
and when? Tradition says that the old village of
Alasudden used to stand somewhere near where
the Parish Church is now. Is that the reason why
the Fair was in that neighbourhood? Spe$iking of
the old village reminds me that on one of my last
visits I was informed that when the foundations of
that great hulk of a house, which spoils one of the
fairest views to the south from the Braeheads,
were being dug, the foundations of a number of old
houses were laid bare. Are these likely to be the
remains of some of the castellated houses which
Alasudden used^o possess, and which I suppose
would be of a later date than the village houses
near the Parish Church?

Fifth. — I shall only ask one more question, Ur
Editor, for I do not want to take up too much
space, seeing that you have so many manuscripts
in store waiting for publication. Everybody in
Lessudden knows the *'Webri Well" — I spell its
name phonetically— but everybody does not know
that its waters used to be regarded as having heal-
ing properties. I have heard an old residenter
say that when he was a boy it was quite comm >n
for people to go there with bottles in which to
carry away the water so that they might have a
remedy at hand for any ailments. My informant
had done so many a time. But the Webri Well
is now shut up and access to it denied to the gen-
eral public. Can Mr Waugh tell us anything
about the Well and its history, and the rights of
public access to it? I am afraid I have given Mr
Waugh material for a few letters, and I know he
is a busy man, but perhaps his known love of his
" calf grund " will induce him to tell us something^
about the questions I have asked. Thanking him
in anticipation.

^ A. L. A. Sudden.

THE SCOTS THISTLE.

I'm afraid your correspondent, Mr Robert Stew-
art, has been misled as to the emblem surmount-
ing the Royal Arms in Newark Tower. What
have been taken as suggesting the flower and
leaves of a thistle are really the head and wings
of a cherub. Mr Stewart may satisfy himself as
to this by looking at the drawing of this stone in
"The Scotts of Buccleuch," by Sir Wm. Fraser.—
I am Ac, T. Ceaig-Brqwn.

Selkirk, 25th August, 1907.

* « «

THE HAWICK GILL AND THE TAPPIT HEN-

"The Hawick gill" and '*the tappit hen" appear
to have been much in evidence, at least as early
as the beginning of the 18th century. The former,
as Mr G. Watson points out in his interesting
note, was a double gill, and reminds one of "Mof-
fat measure— fu' and rinnin' owre," but how it
came by the name I am unable to say. It natur-
ally suggests that the good folks of Hawick may
have been, in days gone by, somewhat liberal in
their potations, and' the phrase may have locally
arisen in connection with some "merrie meeting"

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wlien they w«re "gettin' fon and unco happy."
Doubtless there is some history or story to ac-
coniit for tfie origin of the expression, if only it
could be expiscated.

The lines, howerer, which Mr Watson quotes
from "Herd's Collection"—

"Blythe, blythe, and merry was she,

Blythe was she but and ben;
Aud weel she lo'ed a Hawick gill.
And leugh to see a tappit-hen"—

are considerably older than he supposes, for they
form the beginning of a song, "Andro wi' his
Cutty Gun," given in Allan Ramsay's "Tea-Table
Miscellany," which appeared as early aa 1724.
Herd's "Collection" first appeared, I believe, in 1769,
and the second edition in 2 vols, in 1776. It thus
appears that the "Hawick gill" was known some
fifty years before it appeared in "Herd's Collec-
tion." The author's name of the^ song is not given
by Ramsay,* but it was to the tune of this old song
that Burns composed his lines, beginning,

"Blithe, blithe, and merry was she.
Blithe was she but and ben,"

in honour of Miss Euphemia Murray, "the Flower
of Strathmore," niece of Sir William Murray of
Ochtertyre.

With regard to the "tappit-hen," which, liter-
ally, means a hen with a tuft of feathers (a "tap-
pin") on its head— rather a "wan-chancie" sort of
fowl, I should think— the following stanza by
"honest" Allan, to whom the "hen" seems to have
been familiar, may be given by way of illustra-
tion:—

"Then fling on coals and ripe the ribs.
And beek the house baith but and ben;

That mutchkin stoup it hands but dribs.
Then let's get in the tappit-hen."

Lockhart, in his "Life of Burns," tells us that
the poet, on one occasion, wrote some lines on a
tumbler which was in possession of Sir Walter
Scott. The tumbler is still to be seen in the Lib-
rary at Abbotsford. The lines are as follow: —

"Come, bumpers high, express your joy.

The bowl we maun renew it.
The tappit-hen gae bring her ben.
To welcome Willie Stewart."

Hore is another stanza by Charles Gray in "Whis-
tle Binkie": —

"Blithe, blithe, and merry are we.

Pick and wale o' merry men.
What care we though the cock may crow.
We're masters o' the tappit-hen."

Here we have reminiscences of our old friend,
"Andro wi' his Cutty Gun," and a well-known
convivial song of Burns. Opinions seem to differ
as to the capacity of the "tappit-hen." Scott, in
"Waverley." says:— "Their hostess appeared with
a' huge pewter measuring-]x>t, containing at least
three English quarts, familiarly termed a 'tap-
pit-hen,'" while in "Guy Mannering" (chap. 39)
we read:— "I had a fair 'tappit-hen' under my
belt." Jamieson tells us that in Aberdeen the
term denoted a large bottle of claret, holding
three magnums, or Scots pints. Whatever its ca-
pacity may have been, the "tappit-hen" evidently
contained a considerable number of "Hawick
grills."

•Tappit-hens" have now beconve "fashionable,"
and are held in considerable esteem as curiosities.

A. G., 8.

• Mr T. F. Henderson, in his "Scottish Vernac-
ular Literature," p. 8^, thinks that this sonj; and
several others which appeared in "The Tea-Table
Miscellany" were probably written long before
the days of Ramsay, though it would be rash to
hazard an opinion as to their date.

A Border Maiden.

The sunlight lay on flood and fell.

On moorland and on meadow;
The wild bee sought the foxglove's cell^

The kine the hUl's deep shadow;
Across lone Bowerhope's grassy breast

The whaup his flight was winging.
And to the sedgy banks it kissed.

The stream was softly singing.

All Nature breathed a tender hymn.

No cloud, no shadow, even.
No single speck was there to dim

The royal blue of heaven;
With many a merry tale and jest,

A merrv band together.
We roved o'er fields in verdure dressed.

And leagues of purpling heather.

And when we through lone Yarrow's vale

Our careless steps were bending.
We found the maiden of my tale.

Her father's flock attending.
Her soft cheek blushing brightly fair

Beneath the sun's caresses.
She bloomed the loveliest flow' ret there

In all those wildernesses.

Her tones fell softly on the ear

Like sun^mer night winds sighing.
And in her eyes so darkly clear

A world of truth was ]ying;
A maid with Nature's charms replete.

Without art or beguiling.
Nor knew we which to deem more sweet.

Her sighing or her smiling.

She sang a song of long ago.

Of battle and of foray.
She told in accents sweet and low

An old, old Border story;
And long we lingered listening there

As she the tale related.
So much her quaint and old-world air

Our fancy captivated.

An old, old tale of passion deep, ,

Of hate and dool and sorrow.
Of lovers twain who soundly sleep

By sad, song-haunted Yarrow,
Most brave of knights, most true of wives.

By love and honour guided>
And who were lovely in their lives,

And in death not divided.

Held by the glamour of the scene.

The tale, the song, the singer.
By Yarrow's banks so fair and green

What could we do but linger;
And when the sun sank o'er the hill.

And the cool breeze, scent-laden.
Sighed through the glen, against our will.

We left the Border maiden. Rbx«

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169

Death of Dr William Jacks.

[AST month a very wide circle of Bor-
derers received with sadness the in-
telligence that Dr William Jacks
had passed away at his residence,
The Gart, Callander. As he was only ill for
A short time, and few knew of it, the news
"Was a sad surprise to all. Dr Jacks was one
-of the most prominent Borderers in the West,
And his influence was felt far and wide. In
tl^e BoRDBB Magazine for March, 1898, we
wrote a sketch of the departed gentleman, and
it is not necessary to repeat what we then
«aid. From being the son of a Tweedside
shepherd, he rose by gradual steps to occupy a
prominent position in the engineering and
oommercial world. Although a most success-
ful man, and occupying a prominent position
in society, he never forgot that he was a Scots-
man and a Borderer. In Parliament he was
almost the only Scottish M.P. who objected to
the glaring misuse of the national names in
Parliamentary debates and speeches.

In all the activities of his public career, Dr
Jacks continued his literary studies. It has
been told, and it was characteristic of the
man, that during the intervals of dreary de-
bate in the House of Commons he employed
himself in translating Lessing's " Nathan the
Wise,*' a work which was well received in
critical circles. His remarkable linguistic
faculty and his knowledge of foreign literature
was shown in his " Robert Burns in other Ton-
gues,'* a work published during the centenary
celebrations of the death of the poet. It was
s, review of translations of the poems into no
fewer than sixteen languages, with discrim-
inating literary criticisms. He furnished
proof of his extensive and accurate acquaint-
ance with the literature and history of Ger-
many by his "Life of Prince Bismarck,"
w^hich brought him letters of warm apprecia-
tion from both the son of the famous Chan-
cellor and from the Emperor William. Con-
tinuing his study of German history, Dr Jacks
published in 1904 "The Life of His Majesty
William II., German Emperor, with a Sketch
of his HohenzoUem Ancestors." This work
will remain probably the standard history in
this country of the Imperial family. The
Kaiser testified his sense of the value of the
work by the gift to Dr Jacks of a signed por-
trait, now at Gart House. Other works from
the pen of Dr Jacks were " Singles from Life's
Gatherings," a book for young men, for which
hit f fiend Dr Farrar wrote a preface ; a " Life

of James Watt," published on the occasioi) of
the ninth jubilee of Glasgow University; and
he made numerous contributions to scientific,
technical, and other periodicals. In reoogni-
tiffon of his " successful cultivation of litera-
ture amidst the engrossing occupations of a
busy conmiercial and public life," and the
conspicuous evidence he had given "that he
valued culture as highly as wealth," he was
enrolled in April, 1899, as an honorary grad-
uate of the University of Glasgow. Dr Jacks
was widely known as a lecturer, particularly
on patriotic subjects.

Dr Jacks was a wealthy man, and the muni-
ficence of his bequests for educational and
philanthropic purposes shows that he under-
stood the responsibilities as well as the privi-
leges of riches. The Border Associations in
Edinburgh and Glasgow by his will receive
£1000 each for the purpose of establishing
scholarships, while no less than £20,000 has
been left to the University of Glasgow to found
a Chair of Modern Languages. We have no'
doubt the Borderers in the East and West will
do their best to carry out the wishes of tlie
generous giver.

Lines to Ferniehirst.

Among the woods at FemieMrst

'Tie bonny i' the spring.
When tha south wind's softly sighing

And the wee birds sweetly sing.
When Flora in her bonnty

Bedecks each sylvan glade.
And the cnshat, softly cooing.

Nests 'midst the leafy shade.

Oh, who wonld think these waving woods

And that old castle grey
Had been the scene of many a fight

And many a Border fray;
These woods, 'mong which the blackbird chants

His dulcet roundelay.
That men should there each other meet

And could each other slay.

And sweet it is by Jeddart

When comes the leafy May,
And sweet when comes the gloaming

By murmuring Jed to stray.
When Jeddart lads and lasses

Do wander through the vale.
And. meeting 'neath the capon tree,

Kepeat the oft-told tale.

Oh, fair it is, by thee, brown Jed,

When Cynthia holds her sway,
And when the fleeting shadows

Fill all the valley grey;
You'd almost think some warlock then

Did hold you in his power.
Oh, Queen Titania, cast a spell.

And lead ye to her bower.

John Scott.

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TO C0RRB8P0NDSNTS. TO ADVSRTI8BRS.

All communieatitmareloHng to IMeraryniaUera should AU Bunneu maUen, AdverUHng RaUs, Sc, ahcuUf

be addressed to (he Editor, Mr William Sakdkbson, be re/erred to the Publishers, A. Walkxb A, SoUr

tit B^nanSf HtUJiergUit, near Qlasgow, High Street, Galashiels

THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

SEPTEMBER, 1907.
LIST OF CONTENTS. PAor

David Brown Andeeson. Portrait Supplement, 16*

The Author of " Waverley '' on the South Side of the Border. Part IV. Two Illustrations.

By W.Scott, 16*

Border Notes and Queries, 167

Poetry— A Border Maiden. By Rex, 16S

The Border Keep. By Dominie Sampson. 170

Scx)tt AND Leyden. 172

The Border Bookcase. One Illustration, 174

The Le<}End of a Haunted House, Dumfriesshire. By Jessie Hay Stephenson, - 17ft

The Kames of Dooden Moss. By David Anderson, - - - 17lJ

Poetry— To a Maid of the Marches, By Will. H. Ogilvie, ISO

EDITORIAL NOTES.

Now that the long nights are once more upon us, and the attractions of out-door life present themselves
less fre<iuently, the general public turn attention to the pure delights of reading. This is the age of magazine
literature, and it is the aim of the Border Magazine to secure one small comer in the bookshelf of current
magazines. That portion of Scotland which has such a wealth of legendary, historical, and poetical lore should
have at least one representative among the magazines of the country, and it is the duty of every Borderer who
has the slightest desire to be " Leal to the Border" to be a subscriber to the Border Magazine, and extend its
circulation by recommending it to others. During the coming winter, then, we hope our readers will assist us
in extending the influence of their own particular magazine.

The Border Keep

(In which are preserved paragraphs from various publications, to the authors and editors of which

we express our indebtedness).

In the July iwue of "Blackwood's Magazine" a few weeks ago destroyed the historic nansion of

Mr J. G. A. Baird, ex-M.P. for the Central Divis- Colstoun.

ion of Glasgow, tells the story of the Colstoun ♦ ♦ ♦

Pear. This famous heirloom, which now presents HOGG 4lND THE NOCTES.
a somewhat shrivelled appearance, is said to have

been presented to a member of the Colstoun fam- J. H. Wells, writing from Bridge of Earn, in the
ily by Hugo de Gifford of Yester, the warlock, " Scotsman " on the above subject, says :— Mr
who figures in Scott's "Marmion." In a seven- Jamen Hogg, the poet's only son, with whom I had
teenth century poem written by Robert, second much intercourse when for some years he lived
son of Sir Patrick Broune of Colstoun, the relic here, told me that his father considered that Wil-
is thus alluded to:— son in the Noctes had given a fair representation

of his style of talking in his brighter moments.

Come thither, my friends, and here you shall see He was too genial a man to be offended with any

A relic rare of old antiquitie, apparent ridicule of himself, especially when that

If fame be true I'll say no more, was balanced by the richness and splendour of

It has endured these twelve years and more, language which was attributed to i him. Exag*

This truth I write my friend to thee, geration was obvious, but the actual power and

Being one of seven in seventy-three. manner of Hogg had been hit. The son was a

great reader, especially of books of travel, havinip
To this verse the following explanation is append- himself travelled in Australia and other parts of
ed:— "These six lines were made by Bobert the world. Indeed, as a gold-digger, he met ¥rith
Broune of Colstoun, when he first saw the famous adventures, but was not communicative about de-
pear. In the year of God one thousand six hun- tails. He was tall and good-looking, and had in
drod and seventy-three, being then about seven his features some resemblance of his father. He
years of age, and then presented by him to his lived to the age of seventv. He told me that irhenh
father." It may be recalled that, but for the he was a boy of ten. Sir Walter (then Mr) Scott
presence of mind of Mrs J. G. A. Baird, who is visited his father and tried to make him speak.
a daughter of the late Sir James Fergusson. the "You need not try," said his father. "I'll make
pear would have been consumed by the fire that him speak," gaily said Sir Walter, and pnlliiqr

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171

out a knife with several blades and wondrous
little machinery for doing lots of things that
boys like^ presented it to James. " Oh/' said he
to me, "I did speak. I was co^ifounded and en- '
chanted with such a specimen of a knife. They
could not stop me praising it !" He said his fath-
er's mother believed in the actual existence of
fairies, but not his father. His father, and Scott
also, could spear a salmon by moonlight from a
boat in the Tweed. This was beyond his own
power, though he could do it by daylight. He
lamented much that the letters to his father from
Scott, which were in the possession of the family,
and he had often seen, had been (in his opinion)
stolen. He told me that beneath all his father's
eccentricities there was a solid basis of good senser-
and he remembered him as a usual practice con-
ducting family worship and attending to the re-
ligious education of his children. The son was a
gentleman of vei^ fine feelings, high strung nerves,
good judgment, out inveterate shyness and want
of decision. He enjoyed the peaceful beauty of
this pleasant district.

"At Russell Hotel, Stow, on the 18th July, by
the Bev. W. Workman, Robert M. B. Adamson,
Symington (great-grandson of Wm. Symington,
first inventor of the steam-boat), to Jane Thom-
son, daughter of Wm. Thomson, Cathpair, Stow."
In connection with this notice it may be remem-
bered that Burns made a trip in Symington's
steam-boat on Dalswinton Loch, along with Nay-
smith the painter. Dr Smiles states this fact in
hifl Life of Naysmith, the inventor of the steam-
hammer.

Recently Mr Robert Douglas Thomson, a hale
and hearty old maU in his ninetieth year, was
present at the annual dinner of the Edinburgh
and Leith Licensed Qrocers' Association, and on
the suggestion of one of the company gave a few
reminiscences of his boyhood, and in particular
told of an occasion, memorable to him, when he
spoke with Sir Walter Scott. "I was," he said,
"a boy at school at Selkirk. Of course, every-
body knew the 'Shirra' in those days. We saw him
frequently, and on one occasion, when setting out
on a fishing expedition, I was running 'along the
road when his carriage passed. He suddenly stop-
ped where I was, and Mr Scott Raeburn, whom
I knew very well, told Sir Walter who I was. Sir
Walter spoke to me, and clapped me on the shoul-
der, and said he hoped I would be a good boy and
be a credit to my ancestors. My grandfather, Br
Douglas, Mr Thomson explained, sold the first
'bit' of Abbotsford to Sir Walter. I went home
and told my old aunt, but I didn't think much
of the incident, except that it wae a very grand
carriage. My aunt, however, said— 'Aye remember
that, laddie. It will be something to tell when
ye're an auld man.* " The health of Mr Thomson
was drunk with enthusiasm.

"Borderer," writing in the "Scotsman" of 17th
August, says:— Mr James Drnmmond, in a recent
lettel* to the "Scotsman," is in error in supposing
that -James Hogg identified himself with the Shep-
herd of the "Noctes Ambrosianss," and in assum-
ing that Wilson was their sole author. In "Re-
mifiiscences of Some of His Contemporaries,"

Hogg, relating several pranks played on the read'
ing public by Lockhart and the Blackwood coterie,
complains of the treatment he experienced him-
self. "I soon found - out," he writes, "that my
literary associates had made it up to act on
O'Dogherty's principle never to deny a thing they
had not written, and never to acknowledge one
that they had. On which I determined that, in
future, I would sign my name and design&tion to
everything I published, that I might be answer-
able to the world only for my own offences. But
as soon as the rascals perceived this, they signed
my name as fast as I could. They then contrived the
incomparable 'Noctes Ambrosianas' for the sole
purpose of putting all the sentiments into the
Shepherd's mouth which they durst not avowedly
say themselves."

♦ • , ♦

Behind this pleasantry, always good-natured,
there evidently existed a very sincere regard for
Hogg, and appreciation of his genius, especially
on the part of Wilson, and although the Shepherd
appears ridiculous in the "Noctes," there are pass-
ages of descriptive Scots allotted him which are
Wilson at his best, and gave Hogg no reason for
complaint.

* * «

A few years since, over a discussion in the
"Scotsman" on the authorship of the poem, "A
CanadiajL Boat Song," which appeared in No. 46
of the "Noctes," it transpired that the number
in question had been written by Lockhart, and,
even to an uncritical reader, there seems to be
occasional evidence, notably in the political num-
bers, of a more concise style than that of Wilson,
who is usually diffuse and discursive. I do not
wish to revive the question, but perhaps I may
be permitted to point out that the article being
undoubtedly. Lockhart's work, the presumption is
strong that the poem is his. It is not an acci-
dental accretion to the article, but a part of it,
and reflects a splenetic tone, the result of the
support of Peel on Catholic emancipation by Scot-
tish peers and commoners. Lockhart was a writer
of varied powers, and the poem is more in keep-
ing with him— the cadence somewhat recalls "The
Lament for Captain Paton"— than Wilson or oth.-
ers of the Blackwood group, while the reference
to the Canadian correspondent and translation
from the Gaelic— the original unknown— in the
article may be supposed, with traditional ascrip'
tion to other authors, to be simply the quizzing
indulged in, to which Hogg alludes. That Lock-
hart did not retrieve the poem may be accounted,
for by the prominent position he occupied as a
political writer in defence of Conservatism. He
may or even must have preferred to ignore it. In
others of the "Noctes" Peel and his supporters are
savagely attacked— in No. 45 a tranidation froin
Beranger, "Monsieur Judas"— "Hush ! Iscariot's
here," is used— but upon the entrance of a Whig
Ministry and the Reform Bill on the scene. Cath-
olic Emancipation is forgotten, and the quarrel
with Peel made up. A careful, comparative ex*
amination of Lockhart's poems would probably
authenticate his authorship, but that must be left
to the critics. The poems in the number— thi&re
is another, a song for the Shepherd, jocular at his
expense— are quite within Lockharfs capacity, and
in his way, and may be ascribed to him as the
author of the article.

DOICINIB SA.]CPftOir.

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THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

Seott and

BoRM August 15, 1771.
Died September SI, 1832.

"Love thou thy land," the poet says;
Her pilgrim-shrines forget thou not.
The Borderland to memory dear!
The land of Leyden and of Scott!

One sang of Flodden's fatal field,
And Border lore and chivalry;

And one of bonnie Teviotdale,
And haunts and "Scenes of Infancy."

The Eildon Hills and Rhymer's Glen
Were dear unto the eyes of Scott;

Bark Ruberslaw and Dena's vale
By Leyden never were forgot.

Both loved their own, their native land.
Its hills and dales to them were dear ;

And silver Tweed and Teviot's streams
Made flowing music to their ear.

Ah, Leyden! brief was thy career.
The Minstrel with us tarried long;

And both undying glory gained
In ballad lore and Border song.

And both now rest, life's warfare o'er.
One by Tweed's gently-flowing wave;

And one in a far-distant land.
Alone in an untimely grave.

The mighty Minstrel calmly sleeps

In lone St Mary'g ruined pile;
And Leyden, far from Teviot's streams,

A grave hath found in Java's isle.

And yet, though severed far apart,
Their names for ever joined shall be,

So long as Tweed and Teviot flow
To sing their poets' elegy.

By Abbotsford and Ashiestiel
The pilgrim often yet shall stray;

While Ruberslaw and Minto Hills
Shall point and guide him on his way.

EVENTY-FIVE years ago, ''about
half -past one p.m., on the 2l8t of
September, Sir Walter breathed his
last, in the presence of all Lis
children. It was a beautiful day — so warm,
that every window was wide open — and so
perfectly still that the sound of all others
most delicious to his ear, the gentle ripple
of the Tweed over its pebbles, was distinctly
audible a« we knelt around the bed, and his
eldest son kissed and closed his eyes." So
the curtain fell, and the great minstrel passed
to his rest. ** When he departed - says Car-
lyle, " he took a man's life along with him
No sounder piece of British manhood was put
together in the eighteenth century o Time."
But of Scott it is unnecessary to say
anything to-day — '*' the glory dies not, and the
grief is past;" a few words, however, about

Leyden.

Born dBPTEMBSR 8, 1776.
Died August 28, 1811.

"Thifl is my own, my natire Und."

Ilia early friend, Dr John Leyden, whose name
is not so widely known as it might be, may,
perhaps, be not out of place.

John Leyden was a native of Denholm, a
pretty little village on the Teviot, about five
miles from Hawick, where he was born in
1775. At first he studied for the Church,
and was duly licensed in 1798, but gave up the
clerical profession and devoted himself .to lit-
erature. He became a very intimate friend
of Sir Walter Scott, whom he assisted in the
compilation and arrangement of the " Border
Ministrelsy" (1802-3), to which he contri-
buted several original pieces of his own. In
1802 he published his edition of " The Com-
playnt of Scotland," with a preliminary dis-
sertation and glossary — a work which, cur-
iously enough, has also been edited by another
distinguished native of Denholm, Dr J. A. H.
Murray, the learned editor of the Oxford New
English Dictionary. In 1803 Leyden went
out to India, and rapidly rose to position
and distinction under the friendship and pat-
ronage of the Governor-General, the first Earl
of Minto, whose great-grandson worthily holds
the same post to-day. In a few years he ac-
quired for himself, for he "toiled hugely," a
high reputation for Oriental scholarship, his
great ambition being to rival, or even to sur-
pass. Sir William Jones in Eastern learn-
ing (1), but died " in the midst of the proud-
est hopes, at the same age with Bums and
Byron, in 1811." In this year he accom-
panied the Grovernor-General on his expedition
against the island of Java, but unfortunately
he caught fever near Batavia, which termin-
ated his promising but brief career, at the
early age of thirty-six. And so he sleeps, far
from " Scenes of Infancy," and his " sacred
natal clime, in an untimely grave " — a fate
which he had himself more than once antici-
pated (2). The following appreciation of Ley-
den is from the pen of Professor Veitch : —
"John Leyden," says the Professor, "was a
typical Scotsman — we may say a typical Bor-
derer. His career from his birth in 1775, in
the lowly cottage at Denholm, under the slopes
of the rugged Ruberslaw, then darkly clothed
with heather, to his death, in 1811, in Java,
at the early age of thirty-six, is one of the
most self-dependent, manly, and energetic on
record. His was one of those ' broken lives, '
with lofty promise and purpose unfulfilled.

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173

which add to the mysteries and un vailing re-
grets incidental to our present state. The
muse of Scottish poetry and the muse of East-
era learning might equally mourn his un-
timely fate.

"Scarba's isle, whose tortured shore
Still ringa to Corrievreckan's roar.

And lonely Colonsay—
Scenes snng by him who sings no more;
His bright and brief career is o'er.

And mute his txinefnl strains;
Quenched is his lamp of varied lore
That loved the light of song to pour;
A distant and a deadly shore

Has Leyden's cold remains/'

Or, as Hogg has finely, said of him : —

"Sweet rung the harp to Logan's hand;
Then Leyden came from Border land.
With dauntless heart and ardour high.
And wild impatience in his eye.
Though false his tones at times might be,
l*hongh wild notes marr'd the symphony
Between, the flowing measure stole
That spoke the Bard's inspired soul."

" Leyden's chief poem is * The Scenes of In-
fancy," laid mainly in Teviotdale, his native
valley. Its references and descriptions are
not, however, confined to the vale of the Tev-
iot itself — some thirty miles of varied and pic-
turesque country. . . . The poem was
finally revised for publication on the eve of his
departure for India. It is deficient in connec-
tion and unity, but is, at the same time, of
remarkable merit. The feelings and impres-
sions of early boyhood, the story and tradi-
tions he had learat in youth, are fused with
passages of local description of great vivid-
ness and power. He has an intensity of feel-
ing which reminds one of Burns, and we see in
him those influences of story and locality at
^ work which subsequently nourished and devel-
oped to greater perfection the genius of his
more fortunate compeer and' friend, Walter
Scott.

" Of the three greatest names in modem
Border poetry — Leyden, Hogg, and Scott —
Ley den is the earliest of the three, and he has
made to it an iipportant and characteristic
contribution. He was the first fully to feel
and to depict the power of the scenery of the
Borders, whether the soft and tender, or the
wild and grand, such as he found it in the
haughs and hills, in the summer gleams and
the winter storms of his native Teviotdale.
He was faithful to what he saw around him ;
he was bold enough to treat it as a self-suffi-
cient object of poetic art. If the " Scenes of
Infancy ** be not a very finished or consecutive

poem — ^rather a series of pictures and allus-
ions, art working, too, upon a certain tumul-
tuous feeling, of which it did not quite obtain
the mastery — the poem is at least the cour-
ageous expression of a pure heart, a faithful
observation, and a fine fancy revelling in a
new and fresh field, which was rich in wealth
and blessing for the future." ("History and
Poetry of the Scottish Border.")

(1)"I may die in the attempt," he wrote
to a friend, " but if I die without surpassing
Sir William Jones a hundredfold in Oriented
learning, let never a tear for me profane the
eye of a Borderer."

(2) For example, in his " Ode to an Indian
Gold Coin," he writes: —

"Far from my sacred natal clime,
I haste to an untimely grave;
The daring thoughts that soared sublime
Are sunk in ocean's southern wave."

(3) The reference here is to a ballad by Ley-
den entitled "The Mermaid," the scene of
which is laid at Corrievreckan. It appeared
in the "Border Minstrelsy." The opening
lines are exquisitely musical and were much
admired by Scott: —

"On Jura's heath how sweetly swell

The murmurs of the mountain bee!
How softly mourns the writhed shell
Of Jura's shore, its parent sea!"

(4) From "The Lord of the Isles," c. iv. 11,
written some three years (1814) after Ley-
den's death, which deeply affected Scott.
Scott's last letter to Leyden — a very interest-
ing one — is to be found in Lockhart's " Life."
It is dated " Ashestiel, 25th August, 1811,"
and on the 28th, just three days after. the
letter was penned, John Leyden died in Java.
The letter was returned to Scott unopened.
Leyden himself had thus written of Scott: —

"O Scott! with whom in youth's serenest prime
I wove, with careless hand, the fairy rhyme.
Bade chivalry's barbaric pomp return.
And heroes wake from every mouldering urn!

When, half-deceased, with half the world between.
My name shall be unmentioned on the ^reen.
When years combine with distance, let me be
By all forgot, remembered yet by thee!"

Truly, they were lovely and pleasant in their
lives, though in their death, alas ! far divided.
Leyden's name is not " unmentioned on the
green," for on it stands a handsome monu-
ment to his memory, erected in 1861, while the
cottage where he first saw the light is still
standing in the village of Denholni.

A. G. S.

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174

THE PORTER MAGAZINE,

The Border Bookcase.

The well-known saying, "Peebles for Pleasure,"
still holds good, but the two P's may now stand
also for "Peebles for Progress/' The auld burgh
toun whose stagnation gave rise to the other
well-known phrase, ''Peebles and the grave," which
has no point now, has long since wakened up,
and it is now one of the most progressive of our
Border towns. The enlightened policy of the Town
Council, which has been long presided over by Sir
Henry Ballantyne, is backed up by public opinion,
and hence the great advancement which is a credit
to all concerned and to the Borderland.

Peebles, in addition to the great beauty of its
surroundings, is full of historic interest, and its
records are full of the stirring events of the past.
Many guide books to the town and district have
been published at various prices, but the latest,
which costs only one penny, is a credit alike to the

up the Itfanor Water. The road to the lef{ leads
over th^ SVare to I^eebles. Proceeding, the Stand-
ing Stone of Bellanridge is seen on the side of the^
highway, buUt into the wall. Further on, the
entrance to Barns Tower is reached. Barns is the
scene of John Buchan's novel, 'John Burnett of
Barns." The estate belonged for centuries to the
family of Burnett: —

A long descended line.
Forbears that stood with early Scottish Kings,
That knew The Bruce and bled at Bannockbum,
Saw Flodden, Pinkie, and the Douglas day.
And eager eyed Tweed's beckoning cresset fires.

The tower near the mansion-house was one of the
principal beacon towers of the Border, and is one
of the best preserved. The cresset, where the
Bale-fire burned, is now to be seen in the Cham-
bers Institution. Manor Church and Church-
yard are on the left, after passing the entrance

MKt^.

PEEBLES FROM THE SOUTH.

town and to the publisher, Mr John A. Anderson,
65 High Street, Peebles. The book is neatly print-
ed on good paper, and contains nine full page
illustrations, one of which we reproduce.

The letterpress is concise and yet full of inter-
est, as the following specimen will show: —

"This delightful vale lies to the south-west of
Peebles, and can be reached by the route to Cade-
muir (on page 2i6) or by the road to Neidpath
Castle. Taking the latter, we leave the main
road by diverging to the left at a fingerpost near-
ly a mile beyond Neidpath. The bridge over the
Tweed is crossed, and the road leads straight on

to Barns avenue. The present Church (Rev, J. W.
Murray, B.A., Oxon.), which was erected in 1874,
occupies the site of a much older building. The
bell is the most ancient in use in Scotland. Close
to the gate is the grave of David Ritchie of Wood-
house (the Black Dwarf). In the grounds of Hall-
yards, in the immediate neighbourhood, a statue
of this curious figure is erected. The cottage which
he occupied is at Woodhonse, a little further on.
For paiticulars of thie strange character the read-
er is referred to Dr Robert Chambers's "Sketch of
the Black Dwarf," and Dr Brown's "Horn Sub-
sicevee." Glenternie mansion-house stands on the
right, and at the top of the hill is Castlehill, an-
ciently belonging to the family of Lewis, or Lowsi.

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175

The representatives of this family have long re-
s»ided in Bussia, but though naturalised Bussians,
they still retain the ancient territorial designa*
xion of the family, Lewis of Mennar. Posso Craigs,
famous for its hawks, and St Gordian's Cross,
the site of an ancient church, are further up the
jglen."

* « * »

THE BOOK OF STOBO CHUBCH.

Time and again we have expressed in these col-
umns our high appreciation of our patient anti-
quarian and archaeological researchers, who bring
to light the hidden things of the past and make
the men of the olden time pass before us as if
they were very flesh and blood. Prominent among
these researches is Dr Clement Gunn, of Peebles,
who, for twenty year*, has devoted much of his
leisure time in the most disinterested manner to
deciphering, translating, and compiling all that
is worthy of preservation in the Church Becords
of Peeblesshire. The work will extend to many
volumes, and their issue will probably be spread
over several years, but the first volume— that deal-
ing with Stpbo Church, will be issued this month
by Mr John A. Anderson, the printing being exe-
-cuted by Mr James A. Kerr of the "Peebles Press."
The book will contain 28 illustrations and will be
«old at 10s 6d. I)r Gunn, in his preface, thus re-
fers to the work: —"The Book of Stobo Church is
the first volume of a series of similar 'Books of
the Church,' dealing with all the churches and
parishes within the bounds of the Presbytery of
Peebles, each of which is finished and ready for
the press. They comprise the f ollowing : — Drum-
elaier. Manor. Eddlestone, West Linton, Lyne,
Innerleithen, Traquair, Tweedsmuir, Newlands,
Xirkurd, Walkerburn, Kailzie, Dawyck, Megget,
and Peebles. There is also a volume of fragment-
ary references to parishes no longer within the
Presbytery of Peebles, such as— Broughton, Glen-
holm, Kilbucho, Biggar, Skirling, Ac. Each vol-
ume is original, containing all the information
available,, and never before published, derived in
the first place from the Records of the Presbytery
of Peebles (1596), from the Kirk-session Becords
of the various parishes, from monastic documents
preserved among the Archives of Peebles, and
from other sources. These histories are intended
to serve as an index to the contents of the Presby-
tery and Kirk-session Becords; also as a cata-
logue of the posseesions of each benefice; they
deecribe the creation and development of every
church and parish ' both in its spirituality and
temporality; the past, with its experience, mis-
takes, and struggles, is recorded; and the present
18 fully described for the information of the read-
er of the future; finally, the great aim of the
series has been, firstly: to inform every minister
and parishioner how he came to have his parish
church at all; and secondly, to assist with infor-
mation all those who are working toward one
United Church of Scotland.'"

♦ ♦ ♦

ANGLING SONGS FBOM BOEDBB STREAMS.
The very name of this book is attractive, but
when we know that the author is Mr Duncan
Praeer, author of "Riverside Rjtmbles," "The
Passing of the Precentor," &c., we are at once as-
sured that the contents will be delightful. The
nea% got-ut> .volume comes from the well-known
press of Mr James Lewis, Selkirk, and this in

itself is a guarantee as to the style of production.
The twelve illuatrations which embelish the vol-
ume are beautiful reproductions, principally of
scenes in the Yarrow and Meggat districts, where
the author's name is a household word. In his
songs Mr Eraser has caught the lilt of our up-
land burns, and as we read his freely flowing
verse we seem to be carried away to the familiar
scenes of the Borderland. The author is a musi-
cian as well as a poet, and the easy grace of his
lines shows that he, like Burns, "had a tune in
his head " when he wrote most of his pieces. Mr
Eraser is so well known and so deservedly popu-
lar that we feel sure his latest volume will be
much in demand. It is "par excellence" an
angler's book, and the swish of "the supple ash-
wand" runs through it all, but even those who
never tried angling will be refreshed and de-
hghted by a perusal of its pages. Of Yarrow, Mr
Eraser says:— "He is a poor angler who follows
his pastime merely to catch fish. To him who
yearns to know the secret of nature, Yarrow is
ideal."

Along the Bhine stand castles old.
And towns renowned in art and song;
While vines, now gleaming red or gold.
The southland slopes and valleys throng.
Yet these but bring to mind the vale
Where gently glides the peaceful river;
And where from hill and glen, the gale
Blends thought with sounds that echo ever.

And later on he thus refers to the same theme :—

Like beacon lights across the hills of time.
Gleam omens of faternal joy and rest;
And rolling surges from heaven's peaceful clime,
U er-flood the land with hope's rose-tinted crest-
Broad charity, heart's ease, and faith's deep
things *^

Are what the magic charm of lonely Yarrow
brings.

But the author is practical as well as poetical,
and at the end of his volume he has a short chap-
ter, m which he gives some valuable hints to
young anglers, which will doubtless inspire not a
few to seek the joys to be found by upland burns
or in lonely vales of streams. Mr Eraser has no
patience with the closing of the river banks, and
says in his "Appeal from Meggat":—

'^^v ^YV^ ^^^^ P*^^*^y sign-boards.

Why defy a people's sense?
Acts like these frae best o' landlords
To leal sportsmen give offence.
Class dissension's no' to covet.
That we should oor brither thraw-
Signs are rife that ilk ane's needed'
To defend oor hames an' a'.
The book is in several divisions, each of which
la introduced by the author in ci;ar ter^ pro«
We recommend the volume to all Borderers at
hame and awa'.

Of a ccMnely oountenajice and grace waa she.
And by birth and parentage of high degree.
—Count Robwi.

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THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

The Legend of a Haunted House,
Dumfpiesshipe.

" Th.e .silver moon's enamoured beam
Steals softly through the night.
To wanton with the winding stream.
And kiss reflected light."

HE sun set an hour ago in a splendour
of purple and gold, which irradiated
both earth and sky. The lovely
hues have melted insensibly into
the ether above, and nought breaJcs upon the
tranquility of the sweet June evening save the
soft swish, swish, a« the waters of the lake
ripple gently amid the reeds and sedge grassee
on its margin as the cool evening breeze comes
stealing to the shore.

Listen ! 'tis the breeze rustling amid the
tender green leaves that deck the knarled
boughs of the old elm-trees that overshadow
the sodnewhat gloomy-looking manor house
nigh unto the ruins of the old abbey. Harken
to the plaintive sighing of the zephyrs through
the broken archways and along the deserted
corridors! What bodes the mournful cad-
ence? -

"Does it tell of coming sorrow?
Would it warn them of the morrow?"

Alag, who can say ? The future is hid from
mortal view !

The ring-doves, which were cooing plaintive-
ly to their feathered babies in the darkly green
fir-wood, ere sunset are hushed to repose, and
only the low, sweet lullaby of the brook is
audible as it sings to the wild flowers and ferns
that fringe its banks as it meanders onwards
to the lake. See that grey haze, like unto a
filmy veil, that gathers o'er the woods and the
stream, and, silently, arises from out the dell
and steals, phantom like, up the Diamond Hill,
as if to ''keep tryst" with the pale moonbeams
that kiss the mountain's brow with their cold,
weird light.

Concealed from view by the snowy boughs
of a blossom-laden hawthorn tree, a pair of
youthful lovers linger, loath to part, by the
postern leading from the trimly-kept grounds
of the manor house to the wilderness surround-
ing the ivy-clad ruins of the old abbey.

"I know not wherefore it is, Rodger, but my
heart feels sorely oppressed this night," says
the fair girl, as she gazes wistfully skywards
to where the pale, crescent moon is emerging
from behind the hill. "Dost thou believe in
present iments, dear heart?"

"Nay, Anna, darling! Neither in presenti-
ments, dreams, ghosts, nor goblins I Come,
cheer up, my pretty one ; thou must not allow

silly *fad»' to find a footing within thy little
head." At this moment aome one throws open
the casement of a window overlooking the ter-
race>walk and calls : —
"Anna! Anna r

"Coming! coming this moment, grand-
father," responds Anna promptly. Some min-
utes elapse, however, and the old gentleman
murnaurs to himself: "I cannot understand
why it is that these children always find so
much to say at parting — I'm sure Rodger is
here half the day, aad more, and 'tis quite time
that he were set forth upon his homeward way,
for 'tis a lonesome glen,, and these are un-
settled times, ay, and, moreover, I cannot have
my Anna catch her death through lingwing
there in the night dew." Raising his voice,
he calls once more: —

"Anna! Anna! hasten thee hither, mv
chiW!"

"I am here, dear grandfather!" responds
Anna, in sweet, musical tones, as she trips
lightly o'er the dewy lawn.

"Oh, gracious, come off the damp grass,
child! You will most surely get your death
from your heedless ways," cries he, quite irate.
Anna, who is a slight and graceful girl of scarce
seventeen, gathers up her dainty cambric skirts
and springs nimbly over the rose-border which
separated the lawn from the gravel walk ;
then, raising her fresh, flower-like face, with
its great, trustful, gazelle-like eyes, to the
casement, she says sweetly : —

"Forgive me, dear grandfather! I did not
intend to tarry so long. Ah, no ; but 'twas sa
cool and sweet — so refreshing after the heat
of the day."

"Ah, doubtless, pretty one!" says he, smil-
ing down upon her, much mollified, "but 'twas
more than time that young scamp, Rodger,
were homeward bound, yes, and now hasten
thee in, little one, out of the night dew.'^
Anna requires no second bidding this time,
but flits swiftly along the terrace and enters
the house Her grandfather pauses ere clos-
ing the window and murmurs to himself : "Ah,
mel how like her dear grandmother the child
grows. Ay, and they love to linger in the
gloaming just as we did full fifty years ago!*'
Then he raises his handsome face to where "the
silvery, leddy moon" is to be seen sailing
serenely in the blue vault of heaven, and his
eyefi gaze into vacancy as if he would fain
pierce the veil — the veil beyond which our dear
departed ones are awaiting us on the shores of
Eternity.

Meanwhile a great brown owl that has slum-
bered amid the dense ivy-growth on the ruins

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177

throughout the bright hours of day awakens,
jawns, blinks his sleepy eyee once or twice,
tihen siddles along the ivy spray on which he
has been roosting, peers cautiously forth, and,
finding that the shades of night have envelop-
ed the ruins, he spreads his g^at, beautifully-
marked wings and floats noiselessly forth into
the gloom. As he emerges into the moon-
light on the lawn he uplifts his solemn, round
eyes to "the queen of night" and greets her
with a dirge-like "tawit-ta-woo-oo-o" that
awakens the echoes, which answer back
in ghostly whispers, "woo-oo-ol"

"Plague take that screeching devil !*' cries
Sir Phillip Tressillian, thus rudely recalled
from his reverie. Closing the casement, he
crosses the room and seats himself in his great
arm-chair, nigh unto the wood fire which
smoulders on the wide stone heath. He makes
a fine picture as he reclines there, his tall form
enveloped in a rich, dark crimson robe, lined
with costly fur, his silvery locks and flowing
beard giving the finishing touch, so to say.

"Shall I play on the harp, dear grandfath-
er?" inquires Anna, as she enters.

"Ay, presently, pretty one; but I would
fain talk with thee, my child. Come, seat thy-
self on this stool by my knee. Thou knowest,
Anna, that we have a belief in our ^family that
the last to cross the dark river of Death re-
turns to warn the next ere his turn comes to
toOowV

'Tes, grandfather," responds Anna, becom-
ing deadly pale, and fixing great, sorrowful
eyes upon his face.

"Well, dear heart, methought that my son,
thy father, stood by my bed last
night as the bell tolled midnight. Weep
not, my child, 'twas a strangely pleasing vis-
ion *, SLj, for thy father gazed upon me with
a calm and saintly smile as he murmured the
warning word "Prepare I" ay, and his voice was
low and sweet — ^like the whisper of the wind
sighing through the old trees before rain.
Then thy grandmother stood beside thy father
and gazed upon me with such wistful tender-
ness that I held out my arms and cried "Leave
me not, my beloved 1" as the vision faded from
my view,- and I heard them singing 8(rftly,
'God be with you until we meet again.' So I
am well assured that I shall soon go hence.
Ah, weep not so bitterly, my child ; remember,
dear one, I am a frail and aged man who must
needs soon rest. What I would say to thee is
this, I would fain give thee into Rodger's safe
keeping ere I am removed — ay, for he is a
good man and true. Now, kiss me, Anna, and
dry thy tears, for we will dwell no more on

suoh matters as parting by death, but rather
bethink us of a gay bridal ere the fall of the
leaf in autumn. Bring hither thy harp now
and sing to me the^ songs of David ?"

The shadows • of the night fell darkly, and
the pale "leddy moon" floated on, serenely
calm and cold, until she could view her own
fair image reflected in the waters of the lake.
One by one the stars shone out overhead, ajad
the glow-worms lit their tiny lanterns amid
the grasses and March flowers in the meadow,
whei^ the landrail chants his monotonous
"crake I crake I crake 1" and, ever and anon^
the weird cry of the brown owl was heard a»
he Dwooped down upon s<Hne luckless littlo
field-mouse. Then would the mother-bird
thrush start from her sleep and spread her
gentle wings yet more tenderly o'er her caJlow
brood in the cosie nest, hid away amid the
blossom-laden boughs of the hawthorn tree,
nigh to the postern leading to the ruins of the
old abbey, where, in the pale moonlight, the
night-bats were wheeling eerily in ghostly cir-
cles — ^suggestive of being the spirits of defunct
mice — (wicked ones !)— Escaped from Purga-
tory for a brief space, to cool themselves in
the upper air.

Midnight had tolled from St Mary's steeple.
The moon was about to be obscured by great
masses of dark clouds which came slowly drift-
ing athwart the sky. What caused Anna
Tressillian to start from her slumber in pale
af right?

Ah, God! 'twas a bitter cry as of one in
mortal agony.

Hastily slipping on a loose white dressing-
robe, the young girl hurried, in wild alarm,
along the passage to her grandfather's room.
The door stood op«Q, and, by the light fromi
the shaded reading-lamp, she saw that he had
not as yet retired to rest. Lifting the lamp,
she hurried down the staircase. There — ^in the-
hall — ^lies Hetor, the noble stag-hound, dead.
For a moment the girl quails in terror, then
she nerves herself and advances towards the
open door of the room where she so recently
left her beloved grandfather. She raises tho^
lamp so that its light falls within the room —
ah, God in Heaven! what a sight meets her
eye! The noble old man lies murdered on
the floor in a pool of blood, which dyes his^
silvery locks!

The tragic end of good Sir Phillip remained
shrouded in mystery, and the shock his grand-^
daughter sustained on that awesome night nigh
deprived her of her reason for a short time.
After a time she and Rodger were wed, and
they lived long in the Castle up the GleOr

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THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

which has now become an interesting ruin,
mantled o'er with ivy. The children of their
descendants come there in the blithe spring-
time to gather the pink-tipped gowans ''that
bloom so early and so fair" on the green
plateau, while she and her ''guidman" slumber
peacefully, side by side, nigh to good Sir
Phillip in the kirkyard by the lake.

" Oh what are the bugles of Dreamland calling,
There where the dews of the gloaming are fall-
ing?
Come away from this weary old world of tears.
Come away, come away to where one never

hears.
The slow, weary drip of the slow, weary years,
But peace and deep rest till the white deWs

are falling.
And the blithe bugle-laughter through Dream-
land are calling.

F. M.

'Tis said that the old manor house is haunt-
ed, and eerie tales are told of ghostly lights
seen, and blood-curdling cries heard, at mid-
night. The owls and the bats, however, do
not seem scared, and "the leddy moon" comes,
aa of old, to admire her own fair image mir-
rored in the waters of the lake, just as she did
on the night of the murder long, long ago.
Jbssib Hat Stefubnbon.

The Karnes of Dogden Moss.

^F the "breath and finer spirit" of thf>
peculiar mass of thought, feeling, and
emotion represented in the literature of
the Border, Berwickshire has probably
contributed lesa than have some of the
neighbouring counties in that famous district.
The Whitadder, the Blackadder, the Leader, and
the Eye are no match in voicefulness for the Yar-
row and the Ettrick. Still, the Lammermuirs
have their "Bride," and of her tragic fame the
county on the southern side of the watershSed may
duly claim its share; the Leader, too, possesses
her complement of ballads; and hasn't the Min-
strelsy of the Merse had the distinction of being
collected into a separate volume ? But there is
one tale of diablerie belonging to Berwickshire,
and that, too, very near the centre of the county,
which, so far as I know, almost stands unique.

Between Longformacus, the capital of the Lam-
mermuirs, and what used to be the county town
of Greenlaw, stretches an expanse of moorland
traversed by a little-frequented road. About mid-
way between these two places, and a little to the
south of the Duns and Lauder road, the moor
path crosses a small burn by a ford, and with
this ford is associated the tragic story of the
Neils of Longformacus. A little to the north of
the burn stands a solitary stone, five or six feet
in height, and this has the reputation of marking
the spot at which took place the weird encoun-
ter, lie story is well known in the district, and
the following, I take it, conveys the main outlines
of it:-
The elder Neil was passing the ford early one

morning— a Sunday morning, I think it was —
when something ascended from the stream in hia
direction. This turned out to be a hearse, the
driver of which was no other than his satanical
majesty himself. From this sombre apparition the
demand was no less than that Neil shoujd become
his possession. Neil, however, got off by promis-
ing that the first of his family, or the first of his
sons, who should cross the ford after sunset
should be taken in his stead. Some time after-
wards the younger Neil had been attending a fun-
eral about Greenlaw, and on his way homeward
. had expressed the fear lest the sun should have
gone down before he had crossed the fatal ford.
But this was just what did take, place, and the
dead body of the hapless man was found later
stretched upon the moor!

Now the scene of this tale of dule and sorrow
lies quite close to the strange natural feature
which I have called above the Eames of Dogden
Moss, otherwise also known as the Eames of Cat-
tleshiel. The moor road from the ford to Green-
law lies for part of its course along their south-
east side, at no great distance from them. Away
on the north-west, at a distance of three miles or
so, rise the heights of Langton Edge. . To the
north, or perhaps slightly to the west of north,
project the two eminences known as the Dirring-
ton Laws, the more northern and loftier of which
reaches a height of 1309 feet. These prominences
are due to the more resisting igneous recks which
represent the funnels through which molten ma-
terial ascended at a period as remote in the abys-
mal past, it seems, as at least what is known
geologically as the time of the Lower Old Red,
Sandstone. Still further round to the west is the
ridge on which stand two conical heaps of stones,
and which is designated the hill of the Twinlaw
Oairns. This is even higher than Dirrington
Law, and is marked at an altitude of 1466 feet.
These cairns, tradition has it, indicate the spot
where two brothers named Edgar fell, the one
fighting as the champion of Anglo-Saxon foes
froxp the south, and the other as the repreHent-
ative of the "Scottish Warriors." The pathos of
the incident lies in the circumstance that the
champions fought unconscious of their relation-
ship, and it was only after one had been slain
that the other become aware of who his opponent
had been, tore the bandages from his wounds, and
died also. The death of the brothers in this trag-
ic manner involved also that of their aged father.
The ballad which tells of this fight has been de-
scribed as perhaps the worst that ever was writ-
ten, but this, I should think, is to place the esti-
mate too low. Then away to the south-west from
the locality with which we are now dealing, though
at a much greater distance than that of any of
the heights we have just referred to, can be seen
the triple cones of the Eildons. These, owing to
the direction of the line of vision, appear not
detached, but closely grouped together. The work
of Michael Scott, when he uttered "the words that
cleft Eildon Hills in three," would appear, from
this point of view, to have been less than the
actual situation of the hills would suggest!

Now, what are these curious things to which
people have given the names of "Kames?"— for
curious they really are, though few of the pass-
ers-by on theii way from Westruther to Duns,
though their eyes may have fallen for a moment
upon them, probably ever thought of asking or
giving any account of them. Well, the Eames

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179

consist of a long mound» or heap, or rampart— in
places somewhat resembling the embankment of
a railway— made up of vast piles of sand and
gravel, and extending in all to a distance across
the country of probably not less than three miles.
The general direction is from north-east to south-
west, though the ridge is not unbroken, and in it
there is one large, well-marked, angular turn.
At the base this gravelly formation may easily,
I should say, spread to a width of 180 feet, while
the height of it may reach 40 feet or occasionally
more. It narrows towards the summit, but not
sharply, the contour being rather that of a curve.
It is overgrown with grass, in some parts very
green grass, except where here and there the rab-
bits and the sheep have made an exposure, which
enables one to see of what sort of material the
hillock is composed. There are other mounds of
a similar kind in the south of Scotland, but this
one has the reputation of being peculiarly dis-
tinct. They are also found in Ireland, where
they bear the name of "eskars.'' Now, the Cattle-
shiel Kames, and this, I understand, is charac-
teristic, rise in sharp relief from the approxi-
mately level moor over which they stretch, just
as a railway embankment may be seen to rise
abruptly out of the fields through which it has
been artificially constructed. And here we have a
clu« to the name.

The word "Kame" (otherwise spelt Kaim) is
just the Scotch dialectic form for the English
word "comb." And this Scotch form has passed
into the English of science. One can see how the
appellation originated. In that huge 'repertoire
of all kinds of information called the "Century
Dictionary" one meaning of the word "comb" is
given thus : —"The fleshy crest or caruncle grow-
ing, in one of several forms, on the head of the
domestic fowl, and particularly developed in the
male bird: so called from the serrated indent-
ures in the typical form, or single comb which
resembles the teeth of a comb."

Now, if we can imagine a projection or protub- *
erance of this kind so enormously magnified as to
stretch across a country in the manner I have
tried to indicate, we shall have arrived at some
such structure as a "Kame,^' the latter consist-
ing, of course, not of flesh and blood, but of
sand and gravel! On the other hand, the kame
is not necessarily connected with any marked pro-
jection in the configuration of a country, as is
the comb of a fowl with the fowl's head. Still,
the mental impression made by a comb, a car-
uncle, and a kame, being similar, the same word
has been thrown out at all three.

But now arises the interesting, but difficult,
question : —How and when did these kames come
to be where they are? One cannot speak of any
feature of the earth's surface at all as being per-
manent, but the kames, though in one sense enor-
mously old, are, relatively speaking, recent feat-
ures in the landscape. They have been "dumped"
upon a surface which already existed at the time
of their own origin. And to tell, even approxi-
mately, how this dumping took place, we must
try to recede into a strange world in the "back-
ward and abysm" of a remote past.

But, in the first place, it will be interesting by
way of comparison to recall an attempt which
has already been made in this direction. I do
not, of course, refer to that aspect of things re-
presented in picturesque legends, in which such
demands are made upon the wonder-working pow-

ers of fairy and warlock, or even of the devil
himself. My intelligence is taken from the "New
Statistical Account," a store-house containing
more interesting informatibn than many people
are aware of, and the author of it was the Bev.
Abraham Home, minister of Greenlaw, who wrote
the article on the parish of the same name. It
will be well to give the reverend author's view
of things in this connection just in his own words.
He has just described the kames very shortly, and
he then goes on to assign a cause, thus:— "The
ground on the north side is bo^gy, and on the
south side is an extensive moss, called Dugden
Moss. The kaimes are evidently a natural pro-
duction, and in endeavouring to account for their
formation it is to be observed that the stones
scattered over the fields towards the Tweed con-
sist principally of greywacke, which must have
been detached and carried thither from the rocks
of Lammermuir hills by the agency of a current
of water setting in from the north towards the
south; and as the kaimes are composed of similar
materials, reduced to a very moderate size, its for-
mation is to be ascribed to the same cause. It
is generally allowed that mosses are produced
from decayed vegetable matter, such as wood,
furze, fern, etc. Now, if it be admitted that
Dugden Moss was at one time an extensive wood,
the waters subsiding at the universal deluge, or
some more partial inundation, and rushing with
great impetuosity from the Dirringtdn Laws,
which are about two miles north-west from the
kaimes, would carry with them all the wood and
underwood to a considerable distance, till the col-
lected materials would form a kind of dam or
wier, through which the waters could not pene-
trate, and would force up against this dam or wier
the gravel and sand which form the ridge, in the
same manner as is frequently done by rivers in
certain parts of their courses during groat floods.
The materials of which the ridge is composed, and
its shape, which is somewhat like a horse-shoe
with the hollow towards the hills, favour this ex-
planation."

Now, it is true, the Bev. Abraham Home does
not tell us whence the waters of this flood, "uni-
versal" or "more partial," came, nor yet whither
they were going, and objection could also be taken
to details of the scheme. Still, though the ex-
planation fails, it is not to be laughed at. The
author of it does, to some extent at least, cedl
to his assistance what the scientist would regard
as "verso caus»." Every one has seen sand and
gravel held up and banked by an obstacle stand-
ing in the way of a stream charged with such
material. And, then, much interest and instruc-
tion lies in noting the date at which this article
on the Parish of Greenlaw in the "New Statisti-
cal Account" was written. Although the volume
in which it appears bears the date 1845, the ar-
ticle itself was written as early as March, 1834.
At that time, therefore, in this country^ the path-
way had not been entered upon which was to
lead to the establishment of a doctrine which
has transformed men's views of the history of the
earth. This is the doctrine of the Glacial Theory
or of the Great Ice Age, and the#man who orient-
ed British scientists for the investigation of this
subject was the famous Swiss glacialist, Louis
Agassiz, the father of the distinguished living
American man of science, Alexander Agassiz. Af-
ter having studied the glaciers of Switzerland, he
came to this country in the year 1840 with the

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THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

conTiction that hero, too, he should flad pheno-
mena indicative of a phase of earth history sim-
ilar to that for which he believed he had found
evidence among the Alps. But, like any other
doctrine of far-reaching consequences, the doct-
rine of a great extension of ice where none now
existed did not find ready credence. Of this state
of things we have an indication in what Agassiz,
in speaking of this visit of 1840, wrote more than
twenty years afterwards.

"Inexperienced as I then was," he says, "and
ignorant of the modes by which new views, if
founded on truth, commend themselves gradually
to general acceptance, I was often deeply depress-
ed by the scepticism of men whose scientific posi-
tion gave them, a right to condemn ihe views of
younger students. I can now smile at the diffi-
culties with which men beset my path, but at the
time they seemed serious enough."

Yes, the smile is now on the side of Agassis.
For during the last seventy years the evidence
has accumulated to such an extent that there can
no longer be any reasonable doubt tnat at a per-
iod, recent geologically, though very remote when
measured by ordinary standards, the 'whole of
our British Islands, as far south as about the
estuaries of the Severn and the Thames, the whole
of the north of Europe, and the northern part of
North America, lay for an enormous period bur-
ied unider a vast covering of ice. It is not ne-
cessary here to say anything about re-
cessions and extensions of the ice, other-
wise spoken of as glacial and inter-
gracial periods; but it is to this Greenland-
like state of that part of the earth above indi-
cated that the term Great Ice Age, or Glacial
Period, has been applied. Just think of Scot-
land, Ireland, and all except a small part of the
south of England, lying for ages wrapt in a man-
tle of snow and ice! It is hardly to be wondered
that a doctrine like this should at first have met
with an amount of determined scepticism even
among scientific men. And the fact that it is now
universally admitted shows how strong the evi-
dence must be. And it is here, in connection with
this great extension of snow and ice over our
island, that we approach an answer to the ques-
tion: How came into existence the Kames of Dog-
den Moss? TTiere can be little doubt that they
are of glacial origin, belonging, in all probabil-
ity, to the dying phases of the Ice Age, and repre-
sent a deposit or accumulation left behind by
melting ice. The exact how of the process is not
so easy of exact determination. But the gravel
of which the Eames are composed was no doubt
rolled by englacial, or perhaps subglacial, streams,
and this material may then have been dumped
over the edge of a wide street of ice — in the pre-
sent case, a sheet as wide as the length of the
Kamee in question. Such a sheet may easily
have lingered in the last stages of the Glacial Per-
iod in the neighbourhood of the high ground in-
dicated by the hills which have already been
mentioned.

And if this explanation be true, what a world
of suggestion it contains. We are thereby not
only carried back an enormous distance into the
past, but are led also to think of what may have
taken place on the surface of the earth since the
Kames themselves became a feature thereon. In
dealing with time in the geological sense, only the
roughest approximations can be arrived at in a
case of this kind. But even if we push back the

civilisation of Babylonia to "a period, now as re-
mote as B.o. 8000," that civilisation is young com-
pared with the Kames of Dogden Moss. What,
then, shall we say of the civilisation of our own
small island! To throw back the last phase of
the Glacial Period to a time as remote as thirty
or fifty thousand ye&Ts ago would probably in-
volve no exaggeration; and it is held by some that
man, in a phrase of his development, may have had
an interglacial existence. If so, then these Kames
may have existed throughout the whole, or nearly
the whole, period during which man has been
moving slowly towards his present political, soc-
ial, and intellectual status. But vast as is the
vista, both these Kames and man are young com-
pared with the entire history of the earth. And
the suggestivenees holds all through. In propor-
tion as we become better and better acquainted
with that stupendous history, the mpre interest-
ing and instructive will the present configuration
of the earth and that which lives upon it become.
If we only sufficiently enlarge our vision, we shall
find that the earth, instead of being the death-
fully same thing that it is to most people, be-
comes simply the embodiment of a gigantic ser-
ies of change. And then, too, when we look upon
a landscape from this stand-point, "the things
that are seen" will become clothed upon with a
meaning vivified, deepened, and intsnnfied by
"the things that are unseen."

David Andebaon.

Tammy Wliite's Pool, Jedburgh.

Reading out of the Magazine to a Border friend
who spent part of his young days in Jedburgh, he
suggests that it may not be Tammy White but
Tanny White. I pass on the opinion to your
readers, who may be able to say if a tanner had
his work near. — Yours truly,

DUNUN.

To a Maid of the Marches.

A-blush on the Border the heath-bells shine.

But you are the fairest of all fair flowers I
Is there ever a beauty to match with thine?

Is there ever a love to be named with oursP
Soft is your smile as the Cheviot mist,

White are your arms as the Solway foam.
And a memory clings to your lips unkissed

Of the wild-rose buds by your Border home!

Ah! For only one hour of the raiding days!—

I would batter the door of your Border keep,
I would leave your father's stacks ablaxe,

I would waken you out of your beauty sleep,
On the saddle before me your form I'd set.

And ne'er should a bridle-rein be drawn
Till the morning dew on our hoofs was wet

And the crest of the Carter was red with dawn !

Will H. Goilvib.

Now all ye ladiee of fair Scotland,

And ladies of England that happy ^rould
prove,
Marry never for houses, nor marry for land,
Nor marry for nothing hut only lova

Motto (The Betrothed.)

Printed and Published by A. Walker k Son, GaUahisU.

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SUPPLEMENT to the "BORDER MAGAZINE," Vol. XII., No 143.

A. T. HUTCHINSON. Esq.

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A. T. HUTCHINSON, Esq.

I KITING of a small town named
Fresuaye, on the Swiss frontier,
which is entirely peopled by
worki:rs in wood, M. Andouin
Dumazet, who in French literature holds a
position similar to that occupied by Arthur
Young in the literature of England, thus de-
scribes the condition of the people : —

" There is not one house in which wooden
" goods are not fabricated. Some years ago
" there was little variety in their produce ;
** spoons, salt-boxes, shepherd's boxes, scales,
"various wooden pieces for weavers, flutes
" and hautboys, spindles, wooden measures,
" funnels and wooden bowls were only made.
" But Paris wanted to have a thousand
*' things in which wood was combined with
" iron ; mouse-traps, cloak-pegs, spoons for
" jam, brooms. . . . And now every
" house has a workshop containing either a
" a turning-lathe, or some machine tools for
" chopping wood, for making lattice-work
"and so on. . . . Quite anew industry
" was born, and the most coquettish things
"are now fabricated. Owing to this Indus-
"try the population is happy. The earn-
" ings are not high, but each worker owns

" his own house and garden, and occasiou-
"ally a bit of field."

Thus we see from small beginnings, from even-
ings industriously spent in the homes ; a great
industry in the making, and tlie whole popu-
lation of a rural township rendered happy.

To bring alx)ut in Scotland the felicitous
conditions, so graphically described in the
above ^piotation from M. Dumazet's book, no
man has done so much nor w-orked so hard as
the subject of the present sketch. Mr Hut-
chinson has devoted his life to the encourage-
ment of Home Industry, and with what success
must be seen in the forthcoming exhibition,
which is to be opened in the Waverley Mar-
ket, Edinburgh, on 17th October by Mr An-
drew Carnegie. It is peculiarly appropriate
that Mr Carnegie should perform the ceremony
on this occasion, as the exhibition, being the
eleventh, constitutes the first of a new decade.

Those who remember the first of
these exhibitions winnot fail to be
stnick by the enormous progress^ which
has been made during the past
ten years, not only as regards the number of
exhibitors and exhibits, but also in respect to
the vast improvement in organisation and faci-

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THE BORDER MAGAZINE

lities which have been made for the public
convenience. For these the credit is due to
Mr Hutchinson alone. When the idea was
first promulgated, and was likely to show a
financial deficit, he was allowed to stand en-
tirely alone ; now, when prosperity is shining
upon him, there are many who, formerly sneer-
ing at ilie project, would to-day gladly enter
into a partnership with him, but he can now
afford to make his own terms, and it is no
discredit to a man who has risked so much as
he has done to walk warily in his dealings with
too "friendly'' oompany-promotors and schem-
ers.

Mr Hutchinson first saw the light on 17th
July, 1867, within a stone's throw of the Tweed
at Pinnacle Hill, Kelso, and he is a Borderer
to the core ; he has all the Borderer's charac-
teristic patriotism and esprit de cot^s, and
believes there never could, and never can be
such a town as Kelso, in Scotland or out of it.
His father was the son of Thomas Hutchinson,
farmer and innkeeper, Greenhead, Northum-
berland, and at the time of the birth of our
hero was a locomotive engine-driver in the ser-
vice of the North British Railway Company.
Through his mother, Mr Hutchinson claims re-
lationship with James Oliver, of plough-mak-
ing fame, who left Roxburghshire for America
alwut the year 1832. Through the Olivers he
is also connected with an American family of
Hatelys, with whom, however, he has lost trace,
and should the Border Magazine come into
the hands of any of these, or of any one who
should happen to know of their whereabouts,
Mr Hutchinson would be glad to hear of them .
In 1864y when the great railway strike oc-
curred, Mr Hutchinson, senr., severed his con-
nection with the North British Railway Co.
and went over to the North-Eastern Railway.
This necessitated the family's removal to
Gateshead-on-Tyne, where young Hutchinson
spent his early days. He had very little
. schooling, and his father having, in 1869,
been struck down by that dreadful scourge
smallpox, he resolved to start work, and at the
age of thirteen he commenced his career, like
his father, in the locomotive department of
the North-Eastern Railway Co. He was up-
wards of thirteen years, five of
which were passed on the footplate
as a fireman, and part of the
time in the oflfices of the Company, in their
service. B\it the all-absorbing interests which
at this time occupied his mind were the kin-
dred subjects of farming, stock-raising, and
poultry-keeping, and he became secretary of

the Gateshoad and Tyneside Poultry Society.
While acting in this capacity he resolved to
leave the Railway Company and davote him-
self to more congenial work. He had from his
earliest days felt an attraction towards adver-
tising and organising, and in 1884 an open-
ing occurred which enabled him to Join the
staff of the " Tyneside Echo," the property of
Samuel Story, Esq., late M.P. for Sunderland.
For three years he retained that position, and
at the end of this period again made a
change, this time to the Scottish capital, where
he became chief outside representative for
Messrs John Ritchie & Co., proprietors of the
"Scotsman." In 1893 he entered into busi-
ness on his own account as an advertising con-
tractor, which business has since become one
of the largest concerns of the kind in the city.
In a speech which Mr Hutchinson recently
delivered in Leeds, he has in the following
terms admirably related how the thought of
founding this great idea of an Industrial Ex-
hibition first occurred to him: — "Some fif-
teen years ago, while driving through tne
towns and country villages of Scotland, I was
struck by the large numbers of young men i-ud
women frittering away in frivolity what might
have been well-spent time, so I asked myself
the question, * Can nothing be done to find
an incentive for those young people to work?'
With this desire in view, the idea of offering
prizes occurred to me, and I founded the
Home-workers' C(mipctitive Industrial Exhibi-
tion." It is this venture which has brought
Mr Hutchinson prominently before the public,
and which is likely to keep him there. As
already hinted, uix)n its inception, he received
innumerable discouragements, not only
from influential men and bodies, but even
from the Press ; yet in spite of all he perse-
vered with the business, and he is to-day reap-
ing a golden harvest of praise and encourage-
ment from every part of the British Empire.
But what is most gratifying of all, he is
now being followed by a yearly increasing
immber of imitators ; there is scarcely a town
ot village in the country which does not aspire
to something of the kind, and the happiness
and pleasure, which by suoh meaaaa are being
introduced into hundreds of formerly rather
joyleee homes, can never be even approximately
estimated. But there is still a vast field upon
which to operate, as any one passing through
a Border town at the hour when day is just
passing into night, may realise. Dozens of
able-bodied lads and lusty young lasses wander
or loiter about in an aimless and indifferent

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183

manner, and instead, as they might be, of do-
ing something useful, either for themselves or
for their friends, they, if they are not degen-
erating into actual' fiooliganism, are at the
best mere drones in the hive. The number of
lives which are positively wasted in this way
is absolutely appalling to contemplate, and if
even a tithe are snatched from such decadency
an enormous stride has been made towards
bringing about that millenirtm of which Soc-
ialists so glibly talk. It is undoubtedly in
such a measure of self-help that true Social-
ism lies, and all honour, I say, to the man who
has been able so effectively to set the wheels
agoing. The Borders have good reason for
pride in having produced such a man, and it is
only just and right that the Border Magazine
should be amongst the first to make his work
more widely known than it has ever been be-
fore.

Mr Hutchinson has, however, done other or-
ganising work besides his great annual show,
though none of his other ventures have rea-
ched such dimensions as the exhi-
bition has attained. Yet thev also,
even when they had to be abandoned for
want of financial support, have served no
small purpose in the development and econ-
omy of modern life. In 1894, for instance, he
foimded that well-known English paper, the
" British Fancier," but was unablp himself to
carry it on for lack of funds. He also in 1899
and 1904 organised two large poultry shows,
on the working of which he lost over £600.
His great cmip, however, was the Corona-
tion Floral Fete and Gala of 1902, which he
intended to make an annual event in Edin-
burgh, but this also was abandoned, princi-
pally as a result of the imexpected and imto-
ward events which occurred at the time of the
Coronation. AU this will show, however, that
Mr Hutchinson is a thoroughly up-to-date man,
and one who must be reckoned with in an es-
timate of the development of the social con-
ditions of our time.

The photograph which accompanies this ar-
ticle has been reproduced by the kind permis-
sion of Messrs E. R. Yerbury & Son, photo-
graphers, Hanover Street and Churchill, Edin-
burgh, to whom I desire to express thanks.

W. Saunders.

Wo do that in our zeal,
Our calmer moments are afraid to answer
Motto ('Woodstock.'*)

The Ba.*

^HE 12th of March was — I do not know
what it is now — one of the red
figured days in the Lessudden school
laddies' calendar, for that was " The
Ba' Day " and therefore a holiday.

" The Ba' " is a custom, hke " Barrin' oot,"
peculiar to the Borders, and as Easter, time
approaches you see in the local papers that in
this village or town, or in that " The Ba' " was
played on " Fastern's e'en."

We knew nothing about " Fastern's e'en "
at Bosells. It was just the " Ba' Day." I
suppose the " Ba' Day " is a survival from the
time when the Roman Catholic Church was
supreme m the land. According to Chamber's
Dictionary the word Fastern's has some as-
sociation with fasting, and " Fastern's e'en "
falls about the beginning of Lent. " The Ba' "
may have been a preliminary to a 40 days'
fasting and quietness, a final fling before
Lent.

Be that as it may, Bosells has its " Ba' Day "
— a day looked forward to with glee by the
school laddies and young men — even by men who
are no longer young — and dreaded by careful
mothers, sisters and wives, for though an old
suit of clothes may be sacrificed to the " Ba' "
one has no old bones to put on or in for the
occasion. Accidents have happened, and a
broken bone, or a sprain, or even a heavy bruise
means a weary, anxious time for the women of
the house.

"The Ba' "—or, to be accurate, "The Baas,"
for there are usually more than one, — are paid
for by subscription, and tradition has it that it
is the duty of the youngest apprentice in the
village to gather in the money.

The money is got or promised ; the " baas "
are madeland paid for, or got on credit and
"The laddies' ba * " is flung up first, early in the
afternoon.

^ It is called " The laddie's ba' '• by courtesy
only, for as a rule, many, who by no stretch can
be called " Jaddies " take a hand in that game.
But the real interest of the day centres round
the " Men's Ba' ". Steadily from noon on-
wards the men from the surrounding neighbour-
hood and villages — ^Ancrum, Mertoun, Maxton,
Bowden, Newtown — troop in to the Green
where the game is played.

On " The Ba' Day '' " the green " is " com-
mon " just as it is at " the Fair." ^

The weather may be all that is undesired ;
the ground may be hard with frost, or the mud

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may squelch up under foot, a stinging wind
may blow, or a heavy rain fall, still the players
come with all the countryman's calm disregard
of such things as weather conditions, and in the
same spirit they begin to play. Sides are
traditional ; but it always seemed to me that it
was Lessudden against all comers. The Ba,'
decorated with streamers of ribbons, is flung up,
and at once a furious struggle begins ; one side
trying to hale " The ba' " at " Merwick gate,"
the other trying to carry it down to " Jenny
Moor's road."

The ribbon streamers are speedily torn off,
and floating in the breeze are snatched at by
those standing around. They are trophies of
the day.

It is " hand ba' " that is played, and you can
fling it or run with it just as you choose, and as
you are permitted by your opponents. First
one and then another gets ** The Ba' " and
makes a dash for the goal, the opposite side
meanwhile, trying to catch the runner or trip
him up. Or three or four or more of one side
get into . something resembling " a maul " at
Rugby football, and try to smuggle " The Ba' "
away. The warning cry is raised "Aw yea side,"
and others of the opposite side rush in to spoil
the conspiracy.

To " smuggle " a ba' was reckoned as good
as a hale, and stories of the specially clever
ruses employed were told and retold.

In one smuggle " The ba' " was by agreement
slipped into one man's hand by a friend of his,
knd he, having it hidden about him, backed out
of the smuggle bending double and groaning;.
He received much sympathy from those stand-
ing around " Ay, it's sair. It was a twist aw got.
Aw'U be better the now, juist watch " The ba'."
Thae Ancrum yins hev't."

His smuggle was successful.

So far as I can remember, Bosells was always
successful. She always had the greater number
of hales and smuggled baas ; but I suppose that
the players against Bosells would have another
story to tell, Bosells men and laddies alike were
so keen on ** The Ba' " and so patriotic that no
other version of the day's proceedings would
have been received.

" The Ba " was usually played by young un-
married men, though there were some enthusi-
asts whose spirit years could not crush.

Usually when a man married, one could pre-
dict that he would soon pass from the struggling
ranks of the players to the more sedate lines of
the onlookers. »But he did not pass at once, nor
all at once. The old playing instinct and the

old desire for victory for his side' were too strong
for that.

" Na ! na ! " he would say, in answer to his-
wife's reminder that he was a married man now,
and therefore should not take needless risks,
" Na ! na ! Aw'U no play, aum juist gaun up-
tae se'd."

Sometimes she would go with him, to see it
too and to act as a sort of a restraint upon hinu
Then when a wave' of the play surged near, she
would retire hastily, and on gaining a place of
safety and looking round for her husband, she
would discover that the wave from which she
had fled had carried hor charge away into the-
thick of the storm. She would see him there
tossed to and fro, and later on he would retun^
covered with apologies, explanations and mad.
Even marriage cannot break the habits of a
lifetime all at once.

It was almost a recognised part of the day's-
play that one of the final waves of the contest
should nish through the village street, and when,
the noise of its coming was heard from afar,
shopkeepers rushed out, and put on the shutters-
so that their windows might be safe : and even
those who disapproved most of the game would
rush to doors or windows to see. Thus they
were able to get fresh matter for condemnatory^
judgments.

There is much talk of the physical deteriora-
tion of the race, and of. means to be taken to
avert it ; but as yet there is sign neither of the
decadence of " Bosell's Ba' " nor of the spirit
of the players.

On one of my last visits to the village I heard
the incidents of the day's play described and
discussed with all the ancient keenness and by
those who had borne in their persons the maiks-
of the frav.

A. L. A. SUDDEN.

Exiled.

Tweed's silver stream, Tweed's silver streanir
It gars me greet to see your gleam,
As aft I do iu mony a dream
In this far country sleeping.

And whiles I sorrow when I think
My bairnies winna get a blink
O' silver Tweed. Sweet silver Tweed
I mauna fa' to weeping.

It's aft I dream o' my ain conn trie.
And aft I sigh for hame;
But I canna see how it's to be —
Tweed kens nane o' my name.

Gates head-on-Tyne.

R. S,

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THE BORDER MAGAZINE

185

The Sir Walter Scott of America.

JAMES FENIMOBE COOPER.

fHE Border Keep ha« gathered in a
store of valued information relat-
ing to Sir Walter Scott; its inci-
dental references to Prof. Louns-
bury and J. Fenimore Cooper, in February and
May last year, recall to my memory the
numerous but not always Mattering, allusioaos
to Sir Walter which appear in Lounsbury's
work on Cooper, published at Boston, Mass.,

to term him the American Scott. This fact waa
triumphantly paraded at a later period by a
writer in Blackwood, presamably Wilson, as one
of the convincing proofs of the untruthfulness of
the charge made by Barry Cornwall, that authors
from this country were treated with systematic
unfairness in English reviews. "Were we ever tin-

i'ust to Cooper?" he asked. "Why, people call
lim the American Scott." This sort of patting
on the back was thought a proud illustration of
the generosity of the British character and as
putting the recipient of it under obligations of
everlasting gratitude. Without mentioning num-
erous other evidences, the conspicuous position he
held is evident from the way Scott speaks of him
in his diary. He mentions meeting him one even-

J. FENIMORE COOPER.

in 1883 (one of a series entitled ''American
Men of Letters*'). This work is probably but
little known in Scotland, and patriotic Bor-
derers may possibly feel resentment with its
author after a perusal of certain of the follow-
ing extracts ; —

Cooper, in a sense, belonged to the school of
Scott ; and he was so far from denying it that in
one place he speaks of himself as being nothing
more than a chip from the former's block. The
success which he (Cooper) won in Great Britain
was not due in the slightest to the professional
critics. These men fancied they had exhausted
the power of panegyric when they went so far as

ing at the Princess Qalitzin's in November, 1826.
"Cooper was there," said he, "and so the Scotch
and American lions took the field together.

To call Cooper the American Scott in compliment
in the days of his popularity, and in derision in
the days of his unpopularity, was a method of
criticism which enabled men to praise or under-
value without taking the trotible to think. Stor-
ies were invented and set in circulation of how he
himself rejoiced in being so designated. Great,
accordingly, was the indignation felt and express-
ed by those gentry at the presumption of the
American author, when, at a later period, he
asserted that so far from taking any pride in
the title, it merely gave him just as much grati-
fication as any nickname could give a gentleman.

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At a dinner party in New York in 1622, at which
Cooper was present, the authorship of the VVaver-
ley Novels, still a matter of some uncertainty,
tame up for discussion. In December of the pre-
vious year '*The Pirate" had been published.
The incidents in this story were brought forward
as a proof of the thorough familiarity with sea
life of him, whoever he was, that had written it
Such familiarity Scott had never had the oppor-
tunity to gain in the only way it could be gained.
It followed, therefore, that the tale was not of his
composition. Cooper, who had never doubted the
authorship of those novels, did not at all share in
this view. The very reasons that made others
feel uncertain led him to be confident. To one

The pilot, though never named, we know to be
the extraordinary and daring adventurer, John
Paul Jones, and the period is, of course, the Amer-
ican Revolution. The literature of the sea pre-
sents no more thrilling chapter than that which,
describing the passage of the great frigate through
the narrow channel, gives every detail with such
vividness and power that the most unimaginative
cannot merely see ship shore, and foaming water,
but almost hear the roaring of the wind, tue
creaking of the cordage and the dashing of the
waves against the breakers.

In 1837 Lockharfs "Life of Sir Walter Scott"
was appearing. In the diary of that novelist were
some references to the American author, "'liug

glen's falls — UNDER THE ARCH.

like him, whose early life had been spent on top-
gallant yards and in becketing royals, it was per-
fectly clear that "The Pirate" was the work of a
landsman and not of a sailor. Not that he denied
the accuracy of the descriptions as far as they
went. The point thjit he made was that with the
same materials far greater effects could am
would have been produced had the author possess-
ed that intimate familiarity with ocean-life which
can be his alone whose home for yciir^ has been
upon the waves. He could not convince his op-
ponents by argument. II« consequontly determin-
©.1 to convince them by writing a sea-story.

In this way originated ''The Pilot," a tale
^»f the Northumbrian coast.

man," he said, describing his first interview, "wno
has shown so much genius, has a good deal of the
manners, or want of manners, peculiar to His
countrymen." Cooper's personal acquaintance
with Scott had begun in 1826, just after the latter
had set about his gigantic effort to pay off the
load of debt in which he had involved himself.
The American novelist had made then an attempt
to secure for the man he regarded as his master
some adequate return from the vast sale of ms
works in the United States. In this he had been
foiled. In the "Knickerbocker Magazine" for
-April, 18 '8, he gave an account of these fruitlesB
negotiations. In a later number of the same year
he reviewed Lockharfs biography. This work is
well known as one of the most entertaining in

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187

our literature. But on its appearance it gave a
painful shock to the admirers of the great author
by the revelations it made of practices which sav-
oured more of the proverbial canniness of the
Scotchman than of the lofty spirit of the man of
honour. Equally surprising was the unconscious-
ness of the biographer that there was anything
discreditable in what he disclosed. Cooper criti-
cised Scott's conduct in certain matters with a
good deal of severity. In regard to eome points he
took extreme and what might fairly be deemed
quixotic, ground. Yet the general justice of his
article will hardly be denied now by any one who
is fxdly cognisant of the facts. Nor, indeed, was
it then. "I have just read," wrote Charles Sum-
ner from London to Hillard, in January, 1839,
"an article on Lockh art's 'Scott,' written by Coop-
er in the 'Knickerbocker,' which was lent me by
^Barry Cornwall. I think it capital. I see none
of Cooper's faults and I think a proper casii-

of his relations to the British novelist he had
given many times; and indirectly at that very
time in his account in the first "Knickerbocker"
article of his interview with Sir Walter Scott.
The latter had been so obliging, he observed, as
to mak^ him a number of flattering speeches,
gratification or delight at being termed "tne
American Scott." He had then been assured
again and again that there was no danger of the
title being applied to him in future; that in ten
years their names would never be coupled togeth-
er and that he himself would be totally forgotten.
It could hardly have been deemed a compliment
in a land where scarcely a petty district can exist
peacefully and creditably, with a hill three thou-
sand feet in height, which is not in time rendered
disreputable by being saddled with the pretentious
name of "The American Switsserland." Personal
malice alone, however, could impute his disclaim-
er either to malice or to envy. His own estimate

cooper's cave, made famous by incidents in **L.\ST of the MOHICANS."

gation is applied to the vulgar minds of Scott and
Lockhart. Indeed, the nearer I approach the cir-
cle of these men the less disposed do I find myself
to like them." Sumner subsequently wrote that
Proctor fully concurred in the conclusions au-
yanced in the review. But these were not the
prevalent opinions, in this country at least. Great
was the outcry against Cooper for writing this
article; great the outcry against the "Knicker-
bocker" for printing it. The latter was severely
censured for its willingness to prostitute its col-
umns to the service of the former in his slander-
ous "attempts to vilify the object of his impotent
and contemptible hatred." Americans who were
averse to Scott's being honestly paid proved par-
ticularly solicitous that he should not be honestly
criticised. They showed themselves as little
scrupulous in defending him after he was dead as
they had been in plundering him while he was
living. Cooper had previously aroused the resent-
ment of many because he had failed to express

which he, however, did not repay in kina. £Ljt»
reserve he thought Scott did not altogether like.
In this he was probably mistaken, but the reason
he gave of his own conduct savoured little of feel-
ings of envy or rivalry. "As Johnson," he wrote,
"said of his interview with Ckorge the Third, it
was not for me to bandy compliments with my
sovereign."

From alUthe petty tricks to which literary van-
ity resorts h-^ was absolutely free. He utterly
disclaimed anjrthing that savoured of manoeuv-
ring for reputation. ... It would not have
been possible for him to offer to review his own
works, as Scott both offered to do, and did, of the
"Tales of My Landlord" in the "Quarterly."

Cooper occasionally committed curious mis-
takes in his writings ; Prof. Lounsbury enum-
erates them, but, oddly enough, neither the
novelist nor his biographer noticed two pal-
pable errors in "The Last of the Mexicans."

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This tale centres round the massacre of
Fort William Henry in 1757, and one of the
most thrilling incidents takes place at the
npot where the Hudson River plunges head-
long on either side of a caverned island ; in its
recesses, the famous scout, Hawkeve, with his ^
Indian allies, Chingachgook and Uncas, shelter
some travellers, who, through the treachery- of

PHOTO OF STATUE ON THE SUMMIT OF THE COOPER*
MONUMENT IN LAKEWOOD CEMETERY, NEAR COOPERS-
TOWN, ON LAKE OTSEGO, N.V., SCENE OF
"THE PIONEERS."

an Indian guide from Fort Edward, are beset
by the bloodthirsty Hurons. Hawkeve calls
the cataract "Glenn's Falls," but Cooper clearly
overlooks its not being thus designated until
several years after the above massacre, when
Col. Johannes Glenn purchased milling rights
and settled in the locality.

Still more surprising is his oversight when
depicting the travellers, now captives in the
hands of Magna, as being led from the south
bank of the Hudson a weary journey to the
vioinit[y of the celebrated mineral spring,
known now as Ballston Spa and thereafter,
under Hawkeye's guidance, re-traversing their
way northward until F<Mt William Henry is

reached at etirly dawn. The Hudson River
lies right across the track so minutely de-
scribed ; but Cooper makes not the slightest
mention of any re-crossing of that most for-
midable obstacle in the path indicated.

Recently a chance visit to that neighbour-
hood gave me an opportunity of smoking the
pipe of peace in the cavern immortalised by
Cooper ; the impressive falls are still thunder-
ing as of yore, but the banks on either side ait?
sadly defaced by unsightly paper and lumber
mills. A massive steel bridge spans the cat-
aract, its central pier resting on the island
and electric cars add their rumble to the roar
of the waters. From Ballston the ti*olley car
now traverses Fort Edward, Glenn's Falls,
French Mountain Pass and, skirting the his-
toric "bloody pond,*' reaches the site of Fort
William Henry at a speed that Uncas, *1e cerf
agile,'* would have wondered at. Long may
the hands of the spoiler (American or British)
be withheld from the scenery of our own Bor-
der novelist.

Wm. M, Sandison.

Border Notes and Queries.

THE HAWICK GILL.

It is g:ratifying to notice that the interest in
the question of the " Hawick Gill " is ably main-
tained by the contribution from the pen of
"A. G. S." in the September number. His carry-
ing back the date of ray first reference to tho
measure is not only of interest, but also of prac-
tical utility. When I was on holiday in Hawick
recently, Adam Laing, Esq., Burgh Chamberlain,
kindly showed me an entry in one of Hawick
Treasurer's books, which bei rs that on 29th Oc-'
tober, 1732, there was "Mor payed at traying ye
wine— 2 double gilles, 128." (Spots, i.e., only One
shilling in all).

From this it will be seen that the double-gill
measure was actually ip use in Hawick two cen-
turies ago. Proof that this half-pint capacity
was widely recognised by the name of the "Haw-
ick Gill" is yet wanting, however, as the quota-
tion from "Andro wi* his Cutty Gun"
doubtless influenced later literature. That it was
not 80 termed locally seems to be indicated by the
absence of the name in the above extract, and by
the dearth of reference to it in local literature.
It would be interesting to learn if the name ever
appeared in early local print.

G. Watson.
« « « *

THB FRIARS OF FAIL.
In your August number I notice under " Border
Notes and Queries " an article by A. G. S. on " The
Monks of Melrose and the Friars of Fail/' and
the qu:e8tion is asked, "Could any of the readera
of the BoBDiB Magaiiiii throw some further light
on these old rhymes?" I venture to refer readers
to Dr David Irving's " History of Scottish Poetry/'
ehap. xvii. p. 862., et seq., for some more informa*

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189

tion on this matter. Br Irving, on page 384, re-
fers to a singular collection of poems entitled
""Ane Compendious Booke of Godly and Spiritual
Songs'' (Edin., 1621). In this volume, a copy of
which is in the Advocates' Library, there are
metrical versions of various psalms, and a larger
number of original compositions mainly consist-
ing of ridiculous and obscene songs, which Bishop
Percy refers to in his Beliques as having been
"composed to be sung by the labble to the tnnee
of the most favourite hymns in the Latin service."
Dr Irving has many witty and pertinent remarks
on the songs and ballads in this collection. He
takes special note, however, of one which he char-
Aoterises as a song against the Pope and his re-
tainers. Notwithstanding what he calls "the ex-
•cessive plainness of language," he quotes the poem,
which consists of five stanzas. The last one con-
tains a reference to the Friars as follows :—
Of Scotland well the friers of Faill

The limmery lang has lastit :
The monks of Melros made gude kaill,
On Fryday qnhen they fastit.
In a note, Dr Irving says, "Faill, in the district
of Kyle, was a priory dependent on the abbey of
Paisley." Henry the Minstrel, perhaps better
known by the familiar appelation of "Blind
Harry," refers in his Wallace to Thomas of Ercil-
<doune, whose proper name was Thomas Learmont.
He also mentions The Faile as a favourite resort
of Thomas of Ercildoune in the following lines :-—
" Thomas Rimour in-to the Faile was than
With the Mynystir, quhilk was a worthi man,
He wsyt offt to that religiouss place,"

J. C. GOODFKLLOW.

« « »

-'SIR WALTER SCOTT AND HIS LITERARY
FRIENDS AT ABBOTSFORD."
I have a copy of this well-known engraving by
Faed, and as one of the original subscribers to
the BoBDiB Magazine I shall be much obliged if
you will kindly give me the names of the distin-
guished company. Scott, Hogg, Wilson, and Lock-
hart are easily recognised, but who are the others?
Are they heroes of the "NoctesP" (See vol. xii..
page 171.)

BOBDBBBR No. 3.

« « «

SATCHELL'S TRUE HISTORY.
Can any reader give me some particulars of a
rhyming history of the prominent Border families
of Bozbnrgh and Selkirk shires, which was pub-
lished by Captain Scott of Satchell's in 1688. I
helieve the book is very rare, and some account of
it might be of general interest to the readers of
the BoBDBB Maoazinb. In this connection I might
here say that your " Notes and Queries " column
miirht be made use of frequently by those who
•deeire information about rare Border bboks.

BooK-woaM.
« « « «

[This rare Border book, " exerted much influence
over the juvenile mind of Sir Walter Scott, and its
wild and uncouth doggerel was on his lips to ^hie
latMt day," to quote Mr Winning, who wrote the
preface afid edited the last reprint. On page 219
of Tolvme vi. of the BoaDia Magazine we gave a
^eeoription of the book, and on the following page
reproduced the quaint title page of the original
volume. The first edition is very rare, there be-

ing no copy in the British Museum or the Advo-
cates' Library, but there is a very fine copy in the
possesstidn of the Duke of Buccleuch. This latter
was used as the copy for the faithful transcript
which was issued in the form of a handsome vol-
ume, printed on hand-made paper, and contain-
ing copiou.s notes of local and general interest.
This edition was limited, like Captain Scott's
original seventeenth century edition, to 240 copies,
and even these are now very ^arce. The lowest
price at which this valuable book can now be got
is one guinea, but the Editor of the Border Maga-
zine is in a position to send, carriage paid, at no
profit to himself, a perfect copy at twelve shillings
to anv reader who may desire to possess it. Ed.
" B.M\"]

[An esteemed correspondent, who is not unknown
in the literary world, writes: — "I am greatly in-
tereete<l in the growing value of your 'Notes' and
other articles," and this kind reference to this
part of our magazine gives us an opportunity of
once more pointing out the excellent opportunities
our "Notes and Queries" column presents for
gaining information . on obscure topics. — Ed.,
"B. M."]

By the Logan Burn, Glencorse, in
the Pentlands.

'T)o you know that the dearest burn to me in
the world is that which drums and pours in cun-
ning wimples in that glen of yours behind Old
Glencorse Kirk."— R. L. Stevenson.

Tlion brawling brooklet, o'er thy stony bed.
Where, rushiug through the soft and sandy loam

Which tints thy sullen bosom, dully red,
You wander bounding to thy last, long home;

In the sweet springtide of thy boasted might.

Swollen by the melted snows from yonder height.

Till summer comes, and with warm sunshine .
quells

Thy turbid floods, when, fed by gentler showers, '
Thy placid bosom now no longer swells.

But, rippling, roams amid the buddiug flowers;
Refreshing all the meadows in its way.
Would that you thus could always sparkling play I

But Autumn, with its seared and withered hand»
Ushered in russet hues, with swelling rains.

Swells up thy turbid tide across the land.
Once more rolls deep thy torrent o'er the plains;

And the full force of summer's treasured horde

Across the smiling meads is freely poured.

Then, in thy growing strength, when gaining
force.

The iron grasp of winter grips thee fast,
And deep beneath your ice you rumble hoarse,

The sound grows weaker and it dies at last.
And in the time when ether nature dies
The brawling brook in solemn stillness lies.

And thus it is with mortals. In their youth
They brawling boast, yet know not what they
say*
Till, more mature, they, silent,* hear the truth.

And, ageing, blosom forth— bat to decay;
For, while they learn, ebbs out life's lingering

sand.
And, when they know, they reach the Promised
Land.

A. 8. Robertson.

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I90 THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

TO GORRESPONDENTS, TO ADVERTISERS.

All communications reUUing to Literary rnatters should All Business matters^ Advertising RateSf dbe., should

be addressed to the Editor, Mr William Sakdkbsok, be re/erred to the Publishers, A. Walkkb & Sov,

St Rvna/ns, Rutherglen, near Glasgow, High Street, Galashiels

THE B ORDER MA GAZINE.

OCTOBER, 1907.

LIST OF CONTENTS. paqb

A . T. Hutchinson, Esq. Portrait Supplement. By W. Saunders, 181

T HE Ba'. By A. L. A. Sudden, 183

PoETBY— Exiled, ^- 184

The Sir Walter Fcott of America : James Fenimore Cooper. Four Illustnitions. By Wm. M.

Sandison, 185

Border Notes and Queries, 188

Poetry— By Logan Burn. By A. S. Robertson, 18^

The Border Keep. By Dominie Sampson, IW

Provand's Lordship, - 1^

The Author of *' Waverley " on the South Side of the Border. Part V. Two Illustrations.

By W. Scoirr, -. 193

A Tramp Poet: A Romance of the Open Road, 1^

The Last of the Border Raids. By O. Watson, 187

The Galashiels Centenarian, - 1^

Poetry— Queen Bess and the Border Chief. By Elizabeth M. Macinnes, IW

The Late Mr Walter (jOuinlock, J. P., ^OO

The Border Bookcase, 200

EDITORIAL NOTES.
An esteemed correspondent, who has an intimate connection with the Literary and 1 hilosophical Society
of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, thus writes : — "It may prove some encouragement to learn that since the set of volume*
(of B. M.) were added to our large library, the Bordeb Magazine is one of the most difficult books to obtain.
(This institution is, I believe, almost the oldest in the oountrv ; considerably over a century.) If
all libraries took the annual volume it would help a little. The B. M. possesaes distinct educational ^nilue,
dealing with unquestionably the most interesting part of the British Isles. Perhaps our readers could assist in
this important matter.

The Border Keep

(In which are preserved paragraphs from various publications, to the authors and editors of which

we express our indebtedness).

The "Peeblesshire Advertiser," in re-publishing a shilling per day, the appearance of this local

some of its news items of sixty years ago, quotes militia does not impress the beholders with any-

from its issue of 5th October, 1847. The reference thing of "the pomp and circumstance'' of arms,

is to the trial of Mr Dickson of Peebles, who erect- The want of a uniform, and the garniture of dirty

ed the hustings which, some of our older readers cross-belts, added to old muskets and rusty bayon-

may remember, fell when occupied by the elect- ets, make tlje corps to savour of the burlesque

ors. It was proved that Mr Dickson had taken rather than to appear as an aid to the dignity of

all reasonable precautions, so he was acquitted of the judicial establishment. With the exceptioB

the charge. The "Advertiser's" remarks about of the captain of the guard, the men seem to look

certain Jethart matters are too good to be lost:— upon it as a good practical joke, which enables

"Peeblesshire contributed its share this season to them to pocket a shilling or two without hard

a very heavy calendar at Jedburgh circuit. One work. The tum-ont of the Crailing guard, so

of the cases remitted from this quarter had, from called from a neighbouring village, usually affords

the novelty of the charge, and the respectability also much amusement to the boys, who find a

of the accused, excited considerable interest. We ready subject for ridicule in their inexpertness in

allude to the charge against Mr Dickson arising presentimg arms."
from the accident of the fall of the hustings. The ♦ ♦ ♦

Court met on Wednesday, 15th ult., and was open-
ed with the usual formalities. Lord Moncrieff pre- The famous Kelso bell is to be a leading attrac-

uding. The guard which turned out upon the tion at the Provand's Lordship Exhibition in the

occasion is a remnant of an ancient service which. Trades' House this month, llie story that this

we believe, dates back to the institution of the fine old Celtic bell may have been the veritable

Justice Ayre itself. The most of the lands in the bell of St Kentigern frill be investigated. It was

vicinity of Jedburgh are burdened with the duty examined by the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club

of furnishing their quota to the quasi-military in 1882. One thing self-evident about the bell is

guard at the circuit, and as the proprietors usually that it has been a garret relic and has never at

serve by substitute, who are paid at the rate of any time been buried underground. It has not

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THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

191

the BHiall tinkle tliat one would suppose it to hare
— it gives forth a soft melodibus sound. Notwith-
standing the fact that this Kelso relic is supposed
to be the finest example of ancient Celtic bells, it
will take the proverbial Philadelphia lawyer and
New York detective to prove that it once belonged
to Glasgow's patron saint. The lenders are the
directors of Kelso Museum.

• « «

Sir Walter Scott, after the seiiure which was
permanently to cripple him, was sent, in the cus-
tody of a young girl, into the country. This girl
had a sweetheart in Edinburgh, and hated the
life in the country which kept her from him.
More still, she hated the child who was the cause
of her being so detained. The passion, of dislike
for the child grew upon her, until one day she
rushed away with him to the top of the craigs at
Sandy-Knowe, fully intending to cut his throat
with her scissors, and bury him in the moss. The
life of the one whom thereafter millions were al-
most to worship trembled that moment in the
balance. Her project was at the last too awful
for the girl, and she crept back to confess the fell
purpose which she had cherished.

• « •

An interesting find was recently made on the
Stewartry farm of Dunmuck, near Dalbeattie, the
ploughman turning up a stone hammer weighing
4 lbs. in a field at the foot of Bedbank Hill, on
which hill there are the remains of several an-
cient dwellings. The hole for the handle is about
one inch in diameter, and, judging from the shape
of the stone, one enjd may have been used as an
axe, and the other as a hammer.
« • »

There has recently been discovered an unpub-
lished letter of Sir Walter Scott's which contains
an interesting reference to Traquair. It proves
conclusively, I think, that Sir Walter was in Tra-
quair House. The epistle was addressed to a for-
mer Provost of Arbroath, Mr James Marnie of
Deuchar. Mrs Thomson of Deuchar, a grand-
daughter of Provost Marnie, found the letter while
examining some old family papers, and it is not
improbable that the interesting document will be
presented to Arbroath Museum. The letter is as
follows:— Sir,— I am much obliged to you for your
legend respect the sword which I will probably
avail myself of should be called on for another edi-
tion of the work in question. I am glad to hear
the sword is safe and in the hands of my acquaint-
ance and brother antiquary, Mr Deuchar. My
information was taken from Doctor Jamieson, who
from his general habits, and having been a Forfar
man, ought to have been more correct as to the
county. I am sorry the rhyming couplet does not
seem to be a correct date. I have seen another
sword belonging to the Earl of Traquair having
the date a.d. 1000, but I own I always thought it
an addition put on the blade black especially as
the Arabian numerals were used in expressing it.
I will study when I am in Edinburgh again, which
is no speedy prospect to obtain a sight of the
weapon. We have a Deuchar in Selkirkshire on
Yarrow and a family of some antiquity lairds de
eodem. But I think their name latterly was Scott,
which is the clan which prevails in the district. —
I am, sir, your obliged humble servant, Walter
SooTT. Abbotsford, 31st Deer., 1890. It is really
astonishing how much new matter relating to Sir

Walter is being found, and it j ust shows that all
who haVe old papers and letters in their possess-
ion should go over them very carefully before de-
stroying them.

« * »

To have conversed with people who knew the
Buchanites constitutes a distinction to which few
now living can lay claim. The somewhat unique
link with the past is, however, established in the
person of Mrs Thomas Black, the Kilmarnock cen-
tenarian. Mrs Black was born in the Dumfriee-
shire parish of Closeburn, within a few miles of
the building locally known as Buchan Ha'. The
sect that made this edifice their headquarters was
one of the most fanatical Scotland has ever known.
Its distinctive tenets were derived from a Banff-
shire ale-wife named Luckie Buchan. Expelled
from the town of Irvine, Luckie and her devoted
followers elected to settle in Dumfriesshire. In
the course of the journey southwards, the little
band was met by the poet Burns, who has record-
ed his impressions of the body in several of his
published letters. In this connection it may be
recalled that Jean Gardner, who is supposed by
many Burnsites to be "the "Darling Jean" of the
poet's "epistle to Davie," was for many years an
enthusiastic Buchanite.

• » •

A few lively reminiscences are recalled by the
recent decision of Bridge Street TJ.F. congregation,
Alexandria, to make an important addition to the
ecclesiastical architecture of the Vale of Leven,
and to their own history, by building a new
church. Not the least interesting is the incident
that used to be told with great glee by the late
venerable Dr .Alexander Wallace, of East Camp-
bell Street Church, Glasgow, who from 1846 to
1849 was the minister of Bridge Street TJ.F.
Churchi Alexandria. Dr Wallace, then a young
man, was called to Alexandria and Langholm at
the same time, and his reason for choosing the
former charge was as follows: — The latf minister
at Langholm had a dog, Juba, which had been in
the habit of accompanying his late master to the
pulpit and lying at his feet during the service.
On the Sabbath Dr Wallace preached, he was sur- .
prised to find that Juba had reached the pulpit be-
fore him. As it was a warm summer day, the
doors of the church were open, and during the
service a terrier walked in and began to bark.
Juba quickly descended the pulpit stair, and, seuE-
ing the intruder by the back of the neck, he drag-
ged him to the door and shook him over the kerb-
stone. But Juba's crowning feat in the pulpit
was on the last Sabbath Dr Wallace preached at
Langholm. The congregation was largely compos-
ed of shepherds, who brought their dogs with them
to the church, the animals lying beneath the
pews during the service. Near the close of the
discourse the young preacher, growing warm over
his theme, tramped on Juba's tail. The animal
suddenly sprang up from the floor, and, placing
his fore paws on the desk, barked with all his
might at the congregation. This set all the other
dogs in the church a-howling, and, though some
degree of calm was at length restored, the affair
was an unexpecte<l shock to the young minister,
who could not brook the idea of becoming minis-
ter of the Langholm congregation with such riiki
to encounter.

Dominie Sampson.

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Provand's Lordship.

AN APPEAL ON BEHALF OF AN INTER-
ESTING GLASGOW SCHEME.

' OME of our Glasgow Border friends
are busy with a most commendable
scheme which we should like to do
our best to assist. There are many
historical links to bind together the Border-
land and Glasgow, and we have no doubt the
leaders in this new movement will do much
to preserve the story of these links. The
''Jedburgh Gazette '' thus refers to the sub-
ject : —

The Borderer, wherever it may be his lot to do
his work, is usually a student of the history and
archaeology of the place. This direction of in-
terest he gets, as a rule, in his native town or
village. To be seen there, in all probability, is
some edifice or spot that hgs a place of honour in
the country's annals, and whose beauty or fame
is enshrined in the poetry and romance of the
countryside. When the Borderer leaves his native
district he carries with him an interest in and
veneration for the things of bygone times, and he
is often to be found actively at work among those
who are seeking to preserve ancient landmarks,
memorials, and relics. An example of this is
manifested in the help that Borderers are render-
ing to the cause of preserving Provand's Lordship
in Glasgow. The subject is dealt with in an ar-
ticle in another column of this issue of the " Jed-
burgh Gazette." The writer of the article ro-
niarks on the growing evidence of the connection
between Glasgow and the Borders in times past.
Jedburgh affords some important illustrations of
this. Jedburgh was within the See of Glasgow,
and William Turnbull, Bishop of Glasgow— a
native of this district and a member of the Bed-
rule family— assisted in repairing Jedburgh Ab-
bey. Mrs Gordon in her "Life of Sir David
Brewster " says that Bishop Turnbull founded
and endowed the Grammar School of Jedburgh,
A bull's head, the crest of the Turnbulls, appears
on a butti;e8s in the Abbey. Robert Blackader,
Archbishop of Glasgow, was commendator of Jed-
burgh Abbey in 1504. His arms have been traced
on the north-west corner of the tower and also on
a displaced stone which has been built into the
wall inside the north transept. It is believed that
Blackader, who built some portions of Glasgow
Cathedral, contributed towards the rebuilding of
the tower of Jedburgh Abbey about the year J 500.
He was made Bishop of Glasgow in 1484. Other
old relationships might be cited; and in the visit
of Queen Mary to Glasgow and her stay in Pro-
vand's Lordship in 1567, there is an incident that
cannot but interest the people of a place that
possesses a, ^ouse made famous by the ill-fat^d
Queen's residence in it for some weeks, only a
month or two before her journey to Glasgow and
four months before the death of Darnley.

The article above referred to gives some
interesting notes on the old building, and we
have much pleasure in now quoting it : —

The present High Street and Castle Street of
Glasgow, by way of which the visitor reaches
Saint Mungo's venerable Cathedral, is a busy thor-
oughfare lined with modern tenements and sur-
rounded by extensive works, but long ago on the
then pleasant braeside stood many of the town
houses of notable Scottish families aud residences
of the great ecclesiastics of the time. Alone to-
day, bearing the numbers 3 to 7 Castle street,
stands "Provand's Lordship," the last of these
l)roud edifices, a silent witness of these stirring
days when round about the ancient Cathedral was
waged so much political and ecclesiastical -.trife.
The history of the building is given in an e.\cel-
lently written brochure published by the Pro-
vand's Lordship Literary Club, an association
that was formed for the purpose of saving the
house from being swept away in a proposed build-
ing reconstruction scheme. Built by Bishop Muir-
head (1455-73), "Provand's Lordship" is thorough-
ly typical of fifteenth century domestic architec-
ture, large fireplaces, stone window seats, stair-
case tower, and doorways with elaborate moulded
jambs and lintels. Tradition well authenticated
has it that Queen Mary's " ludgings " when visit-
ing Glasgow in 1567 was none other than "Tro-
vand's Lordship," then the town house of Wil-
liam Baillie of Provand, a gentleman high in
Court favour at that time, and within a stone's
throw stood "The Place of Stable Green." Lord
Lennox's house, where the Queen visited Lord
Barnley. Another important historical associa-
tion is the fact that Provand's Lordship was part
of the property of James IV. when one of the
secular Canpns of the Cathedral, and when officiat-
ing as Prebendary of Provand there i^ little doubt
that he would occupy the commodious quarters of
his own house across the Square. The object of
the club who now have possession of the building
is to lay the house open to visitors in the same
way as John Kr ox's House in Edinburgh, Much
remains to be done in the way of clearing off the
purchase debt and restoring the interior to the
simple manner of these early days, and an in-
teresting Exhibition on this behalf has been ar-
ranged to take place in the Trades Hall from
22nd to 26th October. This Exhibition should ap-
peal to every lover of history, embracing as it will
notable relics in connection with Old Glasgow and
its Cathedral, and rare and beautiful examples
of early Scottish art and manufactures. Lectures
aud ballad concerts will also be given, and an
Old Glasgow dinner and an eighteenth century
assembly will be held on two separate evenings.
The assistance of possessors of antique articles is
.=»arne8tly solicited. It is felt that throughout
the country must be many relics of rare worth
that have never yet been exhibited in public, and
which would be an invaluable help towards mak-
ing the Exhibition the success it deserves. As re-
search goes on the very close connection between
Glasgow and the Borders in bygone days gets
the more evident, and anything historically con-
nected with Glasgow or with the times when
" Provand's Lordship " was fit dwelling for the
proudest of the land, will be welcomed by the
club. A selection committee has been appointed,
and articles accepted for exhibition will be care-
fully looked after. Communications addressed to
Kfr Jas. M'Dougall, Convener Exhibits, Provand's
Lordship, Cathedral Square, Glasgow, will have
every attention.

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The Author of " Waverley " on the
South Side of the Border.

By Waltbb Scott, Gainpord.
Part Y.

MARMION.— YORKSHIRE, DURHAM, AND
NORTHUMBERLAND.

I HE story of "Marmion" is too well
known to need repetition. It also
c«.»iitains the most niinule and poetic
description of tne scenery along the
north-east coast of England, from Whitby to
and past Northiunberland, showing the inti-
mate knowledge Sir Walter had of these parts.
Beginning with Whitby's cloistered pile, he
brings the reader along that treacherous north-
east coast, detailing in his stirring words the
places of old renown. Whitby Abbey is one
of the most striking objects on that romantic
coast. Standing on a bleak cliff high above
the German Ocean, it is a landmark at sea for
many miles ; and it is unique in its situation,
as most religious houses of ancient days were,
in snug and sheltered valleys. Long before
the Abbey was built another house, possibly
of wood, stood there, named Streonshall. Here
lived and sung the father of Elnglish poetry,
the Cowman Caedmon, to whom a monument
was erected only a year or two ago. Here,
also, the celebrated Council took place under
King Oswy to decide between the customs of
the monks from lona and those from Rome.
The result is well known. Being against the
monks from lona, they, in the words of Monta-
lambest in his " Monks of the West," retired
to their "Northern Mist«," where they still
carried on their work amongst the wild in-
habitants of Albyn.

Even at this day a curious relict of ancient
times is observed. A thorn hedge is planted
on Ascension Day in the sands at low- water by
the ajgents of certain land-owners, whose pre-
decessors were ordered to do this as penance or
the I088 of their lands would follow for some
sin against Holy Church many centuries ago.

The poet takes the mother superior and some
sisters, with a culprit lady, on a voyage to Lin-
disfame, off the coast of Northumiierland. In
their progress they pass the mouth of the
Wear, and this is the occasion of the story be-
ing told of the wanderings of the body of
holy Saint Cuthbert, when his monks were ex-
pelled from the Holy Isle by the wild Danes.
How his body was taken to Chester-le-Street,
Hexham, to Ripon, and how, lasrtly, a resting-

place was found at Durham, where that stately
pile, the Cathedral, was erected, in which his
body is laid. So late as 1827 the grave was
opened and the splendid vestments enwrapping
the body were examined, and the fact ascer-
tained that this was indeed the body of the
Saint, whose early days are said to' have been
spent in the neighbourhood of Melrose. They
passed the birthplace of the venerable Bede,
Monkwearmouth. In the old cliurch here the
first glass used in England was placed. Next
came Tynemouth Priory, a stately ruin now.
Then the mouths of the Blyth Burn and Wans-
beck were passed. The former is now an im-
portant coal-shipping port, while the latter
still glides down in rural peace, through Cress-
well woods, to the sea. Then Widdrington,
whose famous lord laid such doleful dumps at
Chevy Chase and fought upon his stumps.
They passed Coquet Isle, 'off the mouth of the
river of the same name, and below Warkworth,
famous for its hermitage and castle. In the
near neighbourhood of this little town a native
of Galashiels lived for some years attempting
to introduce the weaving of woollen cloth.
Apparently he did not succeed, for he came
back to the banks of the Gala. Here he died,
but before the end came, he desired to be car-
ried to Warkworth for burial, as " It wad be
graund to lie yonder an' hear the boom in' an'
swishin' o* the sea oot by Coquet Isle."

"Proud Bamburgh's Tower " was next pass-
ed, the seat of the great Bishop, Lord Crewe,
and for many years in the possession of the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners, who lived in it
in turns. It is now the property of Lord Arm-
strong, having been purchased and wonderfully
improved in antique taste by the great en-
gineer and armour manufacturer.

Then they came to Holy Isle, which is only
an island twice in every twenty -four hours ac-
cording to the flow of the tide. Volumes could
be written about this lovely place, with its
ancient castle and the ruins of its monastery.
The abbey was built in Saxon times, and is of
great strength ; and it was of necessity that it
should, as it was in the fair way of the Scan-
dinavian sea rovers. Several times the good
monks were driven forth by these northerners,
and on one occasion they took with them the
vellum manuscript, known now as the Lindis-
fame Gospels, a beautifully illuminated and
bound book, showing the tender care and skill
of these good fathers. In their hurry to dis-
embark it was dropped overboard and appa)*-
ently lost. Years after it was recovered, *'and
not even the smell or colouring of sea-water

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194

THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

on it.'* It is now in one of the University
Libraries, Oxford.

What was done in the abbey by the abbess-
and the hermit of Holy Isle is told in won-
drous verse; how Marmion had proved

"What a tangled web we weave
When first we practice to deceive,"

and how his victim was here to suffer for his
misdeeds. But his time was coming, and
Flodden was the scene.

celebrated in the ballad of Chevy Chase, was
fought in 1388 on a rising spur of the Cheviots
a little nearer the Scottish Border than tlie
village of Otterburn. This is now a quiet,
beautiful place thirty-two miles on the road
from Newcastle to Jedburgh. Near it runs the
Reid water, where another celebrated fight
took place, at first going badly for the Scots,
but ultimately a victory, won by the appear-
ance of the "Jethart lads" shouting " Jeth-

^<.yv .

WHITBY ABBEY.

The description of James' Court and the
gathering of the Scottish forces on Burgh
Muir, with the scenes in which Marmion,
King James, Lady Heron, and Sir David Lind-
say of the Mount appear, is superb, but we
hasten to the Border, though it is hard to pass
that magnificent passage between Marmion
ai-J old *Bell-the-Cat at Tantallon Castle.
Here is the passing reference to Otterburn, so
glorious a victory to the dying Douglas of
that day, rather more than a hundred years
before Flodden. Tlie Battle of Otterburn,

art's here." This fight is commonly known
as, and is the subject of the ballad, the '' Raid
of the Reid Swire."

On the morning of the 9th day of Septem-
ber, 1513, the English under Lord Surrey
crossed the Till at Twizell Bridge, thus plac-
ing themselves between King James and the
Scottish forces and their own country. James
held an impregnable position on the Ridge of
Flodden, a low sloping spur on the southern
side of the Cheviots. Not sloth nor indiffer^
ence, but a high and chivalcic sense of fair-

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195

play caused the Scottish king to allow this pas-
sage, so fatal to his army and himself. The
poet's story of the battle is one of the finest
pieces of such writing in any language by any
author. One one stanza shall be quoted, but
it cannot be kept out.

"And why stands Scotland idly now.
Dark Flodden, on thine airy browP
Since England gains the pass the while
And struggles through the deep defile?
What clouds the fiery soul of James?
"Why sits the champion of the dames

Inactive on his steed?
"What 'vaUs the vain k nigh t-er rant's brand?
O, Douglas, for thy leading wand,

Fierce Randolph, for thy speed!

and Surrey withdraws his forces. And thus it
can be claimed that, though
"The Flo'ers o' the Forest were a' wede away/'

and Scotland's best and bravest were gone, it
was not such a cuuiplete victory for England
as some have supposed. Next day the Scots
who survived went, unmolested by the English,
northwards

"To tell red Flodden's dismal tale
And raise the universal wail
Of the stern strife and carnage drear

Of Flodden's fatal field.
Where shiver'd was fair Scotland's spear

And broken was her shield/'

'And so ended the battle of Flodden.

LINDISFARNE PRIORY.

O! for one hour of Wallace wight.
Or well-skilled Bruce, to lead the fight.
And pry "Saint Andrew and our right!"
Another sight had seen that morn.
And Flodden had been Bannockburn^ —
The precious hour has pass'd in vain
And England's host has gain'd the plain.
Wheeling their march and circling still
Around the base of Flodden Hill."

From that, on through a dozen noble stanzas,
unhalting and free-flowing, goes the tale, in
words that must move the blood of the most
lethargic, till,

"Till utter darkness closed her wing
O'er the slain host and wounded king,"

Twizell Bridge, named in the poem, is built
over the slow-flowing and muddy Till in the
extreme north of Northumberland, just under
Twizell Castle, not far from the junction of the
Till with the Tweed. The Castle was built in
the early part of last century by Sir Wm.
Blake on a most magnificent scale — " as-many-
windows-as-day s-in-the-y ear" style — and after
his death stood empty for many years. Flod-
den is, as already stated, a ridge or rising
ground on the southern slope of the Cheviot
Hills, and not far from the village of Wooler,
now accessible by the branch of the North-
Eastem Railway that runs from Alnwicfc to
the Kelso branch of the same railway.

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A Tramp Poet.

THE ROMANCE OF THE OPEN KOAD.

nM that cleverly conducted journal,
*'T. P.'s Weekly," we reproduce the fol-
lowing, knowing that it will be much
appreciated by all true Borderers: —
_ "There is a merrj'-hearted tramp in

Scotland who writes remarkably good verse. By
name Roger Quin, he is a direct descendant of the
Faas, the noted gipsy family whose headquarters
are still at Yetholm, near Kelso. His grand-
father, a travelling tinker and an Irishman mar-
ried one of the Faa-Blyths, an aunt of Esther
Faa-Blyth, Queen of the Gipsies, who was visited
by Queen Victoria on one of her visits to the
Border Country. Roger's father, also an itine-
rant tinker, tiring of the nomadic gipsy life,
settled in Dumfries in the early forties, and
there our poet tramp was born. In May, 1857, on
the interment of'Burns's eldest son in the Maus-
oleum, young Roger was permitted to hold the
poet's skull in his hand before its replacement
in the grave. He says that the enclosing casket
of lead was filled with pitch to secure the preser-
vation of the relic.

"He had an excellent education at Dumfries
Academy and Glasgow University, and afterwards
held several goo<l appointments; but he could
never settle in any place longer than a f^w
months. The Romany blood and the wandering
instinct of his race being proof unequal against
the environment of education and the surround-
ings of hig youthful days. He has lived a roving
life for many years, tramping the country. Sleep-
ing in the open (under a haystack or anywhere
else) he earns a few coppers by playing the flute,
and he is not a teetotaller, though very temper-
ate. His love for Nature is intense, and he has
the poetic fancy in a marked degree. He is a
beautiful penman, and a descriptive writer of no
mean power.

"On a recent Sunday Roger wrote from Gala a
letter in which he stated, 'I did not Iciive Edin-
burgh until nearly midnight, on Shanks's naigie,
of course; and after clearing out from Penicuik
early on Tuesday morning I encounter'»d a very
respectable Scottish blizzard ere I reached Peeb-
les. I left there on Friday morning daund'rin'
along down the Tweed at my leisure, and feeling
at every turn of the road how futile it is for
the human pen or pencil to depict the beauty of
the scenery. And here I am this afternoon lying
at full length on the 'Spur of the Gala Hill,' un-
der conditions which are atmospherically perfect,
and trying hard to withdraw my eyes from the
bewitching landscape sufficiently long to scribble
you this. By heavens, it is lovely— it is glorious.
I am simply revelling in it— the air is so pure —
there is so much of that quality in the atmos^
phere which photographers call 'actinity' that
I can almost imagine I see the grey dial of the
old clock on the wall of Meliose Abbey. And the
freshness, and the sunshine— oh, sir, it is 'a treat
to be alive.' ... I think I shall pass the night
in the wood here on Gala Hill, and slip away in
the morning to Yarrow via Selkirk. The dreamy
spell of that ballad-haunted valley may hold me
there all next week— afterwards Moffat, and round
by Dumfries to the Solway shore, where there is
a tricky^ little cave I wot of.' And this is how
Roger takes his eternal holiday, with seldom a

house roof above hia head.

"Here is one of the poetical results, verses
which as yet have never been 'wedded to tjrpe.*
Neither have they been 'edited.* but are given
as they left his hand, written in pencil, as every-
thing he* writes is written : —

THE BORDERLAND.

*^From the moorland and the meadows
To this City of the Shadows,
Where I wander old and lonely, comes the call I
understand ;
In clear, soft tones enthralling.
It is calling, calling, calling —
'Tis the Spirit of the Open from the dear old
Borderland.

"Ah! that call, who can gainsay itP
To hear is to obey it;
I must leave the bustling City to the busy City
men;
Leave behind its feverish madness,
Its scenes of sordid sadness;
And drink the unpolluted air of Yarrow once
again !

"For the grim, huge City daunts me.
Its wail of sorrow haunts me —
A nameless Atom tossed amidst the human surf
that beats! ^

For ever and for ever.
In a frenzy of endeavour.
Along the cruel barriers of its never-ending:
streets !

"I shall quit them in the morning—
Just slip out without a warning,
Save a hand-clasp to the friend who knows the-
call that lures me en;
In the City's clang and clatter
One old man the less won't matter;
And no one here will sa/ me nay, or care that
I am gone.

"What tho* my wallet's meagre?
That won't quell my spirit eager —
Like careless-hearted Goldsmith as he wandered
by the Po.
Whichever way I turn me.
My simple flute will earn me.
In the kindly Border country, food and shelter'
as I go.

"I shall see old Neidpath hoary.
Scene of dim, romantic story.
And soon have glimpses through the trees of
ghostly grey Traquair;
And in my happy wand'ring
Adown the Tweed's meand'ring
Shall note the Peel, and Ashiestiel, and onward'
to the Yair.

"By Caddonfoot I'll linger—
It has charms to stay the singer—
And from the brIQge a painter's dream of beauty
then I'll see;
But I'll leave it there behind me.
Ere the eveningf shadows find me
Passing the vines at Clovenfords to ancient Tor-
woodlee.

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197

"Gala water shall not hold me—
Tho' its mesn'ries fair enfold me—
Nor many-gabled Abbot»ford, so stately and so
still ;
For I'd fain behold the vision
Of a valley fair, Elysian,
Ind gaze on Scotland's £den from the Spur of
Qala Hill.

''Ah' me ! shall I recapture
The early joyous rapture
Which shook my being's pulses when that scene
first met my eye?
Steeped in early Border story
It stretched in radiant glory.
To where the filmy Cheviots hung along the
southern sky!

"Fair Dryburgh and Melrose
Touched by the Wizard's spell rose,
^nd Bemersyde, and Leaderfoot, and Elwand's
Fairy Dene:
The Tweed serenely gliding,
Now seeh— now coyly hiding.
While Eildon raised his triple crest, and sentin-
elled the scene!

"The trance— th© dream is over—
I awake but to discover
The City's rush— the jostling crowds— the din on
every hand;
But, on my ear soft falling,
I can hear the curlews calling.
And I know that soon I'll see them in the dear
old Borderland!

"And these lines were written by happy Boger
Quin, tramp, poet, and musician-^and the most
modest and unassuming of men, to boot— in *a
lodging for the night' in the vicinity of Glasgow.
The *op^n-air treatment' bas certainly done Roger
no harm— he thrives on it every day and every
night of his life; and if he can discourse on his
fitite and his concertina as effectively as he dis-
courses with his pencil, the notes he' produces
will be well worth hearing."

The lea^ned and poetical tramp is known to
not a few in the Borderland, who doubtless wish
him well.

The Last of the Border Raids.

T is generally believed that the Bor-
der raids terminated with the
Union of the Crowns, when Scot-
land and England, after a long end
rough wooing, were united into one kingdom.
But even the strenuous efforts of the first
monarch of the united realms to extinguish the
hereditary animosity of the two nations and to
uproot the innate craving in the Borderer for
thieving were not altogether successful, as
these propensities were in evidence long after
the Union of the Crowns and even after that
of the Parliaments. " Long after the Union
of the Crowns," says Sir Walter Scott (note to
" Lay of the Last Minstrel," canto 1, st. 19),
" the moss-troopers, although sunk in reputa-
tion, and no longer enjoying the pretext of

national hostility, continued to pursue their
calling."

The last of the Border raids transpired a
century and a half after the time that it is
popularly believed these forays ceased. It
was made by Thomas Shortreed (the father of
Robert Shortreed, the esteemed Sheriff-Substi-
tute of Roxburghshire and friend of Sir Walter
Scott), who, bom in the year 1733, died m
1798. He was tenant of Lustruther, West-
shiels, Hyndlees, and Jedheads, and was at
one time the most extensive farmer in Jed-
Forest. Like those of many others, however^
his affairs became seriously involved in con-
sequence of the disastrdlis effects on British
commerce caused by the American War vi
Independence, and at its close he found hini-
self upon the verge of ruin. This disaster
seriously affected his health, and materially
hastened his end. While he was still a pros-
perous farmer on the northern slopes of the
Carter, some English Borderers radde their
last foray into Scotland and carried off a part
of Shortreed's forest hirsel. Without troub-
ling the courts of justice regarding the cir-
cumstance — which is usually an expensive and
troublesome procedure — Shortreed took the
law into his own hands. He adopted the cus-
toms of our ancestors, I am informed; lie
crossed over the Border, secured his own, and
returned triumphantly home with his recov-
ered property. One might reasonably suspect
that he would desire to be compensated for his
trouble, and that like Jamie Telfer of the Fair
Dodhead's cattle, Shortreed's stock also would
return with augmented ranks : birt the source
of our information does not state so, and upon
that point I must therefore be content to pro-
serve silence. G. Watson.

Apropos the recent announcement that the Earl
of Home has been appointed a Captain of the
Royal Company of Archers in place of the late
Sir James Fergusson, it may be recalled that this
is the oldest society of the kind in the United
Kingdom. The records of the brotherhood date
back to 1676, and there is reason to believe that
it is still more deeply rooted in the past. Dnr*
ing the eighteenth o^ntnry the Royal Archers were
not unjustly suspected of Jacobite sympathies.
For this they won the admiration of Allan Ram-
say, Dr Pitcairn, and other cavalier poets, who
celebrated their achievements at the "butts" in
more or less elegant verse. By the terms of a stat-
ute granted in 1708, the Archers enjoy the privi-
lege of presenting three barbed arrows to the Sov-
ereign when Holyrood is the seat of Court Though
now rejyarded as little more than a picturesque
survival of medi»valism, the Royal Company
claims importance from the fact that its mem-
bers still constitute the King's Bodyguard for
Scotland.

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198

THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

The Galashiels Centenarian.

DEATH OF MR JAMES BELL.

i)ROM time to time it falls to our lot to
notice the death of aged residents of
Galashiels, men and women who have
readied considerably over che allotted
span of threescore years and ten, and
to-day we record the death of the most venerable
of thoin all in tlie person of Mr James Bell, which
occurred at his residence in Iligh Street on Wed-
nesday, 4th September, 1907. The Gala centenar-
ian, as he was popularly called, was in his 103rd
year, his hundredth birthday having been cele-
brated two and a half years ago. Up to about a
year ago, when he met with an accident by falling
down the stairs of his house, Mr Bell showed re-
markable vitality, and^^as able to take his daily
walk in the streets of the town, where his vener-
flble figure was well known. Although he

THE LATE MR JAMES BELL.

made a marvellous recovery from the accident, he
was never again the same. He was, however, able
until a short time ago to be out in his garden on
fine days, but latterly he had been confined to
bed, and the end came as stated on Wednesday
night.

To Earlston belongs the honour of being Mr
Bell's birthplace, he having been born in that
little Berwickshire town on the 12th March, 1805.
His forebears belonged to Earlston, his grand-
father having died in the Thorn House there.
Mr Bell's father was a millwright, and when the
future centenarian was only a year old he re-
moved to Galashiels. Three years later he re-
moved to the vicinity of Selkiik, and it was in
the beautiful and romantic Yarrow district that
James Bell's boyhood was spent. He lived for
some years at Broadmeadows, and all the school-
ing he received was pot at the school on the Duke
of Buccleuch's Bowhill estate. He appears to have
been an exemplary pupil, as even after he haJ

reached his hundredth year he was wont to speak
with pride of a prize gifted by one of tlie Buc-
olonch ladies and " awarded to James Bell for
jfood conduct." At the age of fifteen he was, on
the recommendation of an " auld Waterloo man,"
engaged to attend three horses at the farm of
Tinnis, further up the Yarrow valley, and irt
this situation he remained for a year and a half.
In 1821 he came to Galashiels to learn the
tailoring trade, and in Galashiels he passed the
remainder of his long life. After working for a
while. as a journeyman tailor he started business
on his own account, and this he carried on for
the long period of fifty-five years in one house —
that in which he died.

Mr Bell possessed a very retentive memory, and,
like many aged people, he remembered best the
things furthest back. A talk with him was at all
times interesting. The Selkirk of his boyhood
days he described as "the dullest, deidest place"
that could be imagined. The fame of Yarrow had
not at that time gone forth to all the earth, and
visitors to the valley were few and far between.
There was only one gig in the whole valley, and
this belonged to Captain Ballantyne, Bell's master
at Tinnis, who was an officer in the Yeomanry.
Travelling in those days was accomplished mostly
on horseback, and walking was an accomplish-
ment which was indulged in to an extent un-
dreamt of nowadays. When a boy he frequently
walked from Selkirk to Edinburgh, and once when
only thirteen years of age he was in the month of
January dispatched to Edinburgh by his employer
with a parcel which had missed the coach. The
journey of thirty-five miles each way was thought
little of in those days. He had also assist'ed to
drive cattle to the capital.

One of his most interesting recollections in re-
gard to his early life was in connection with the
great Carterhaugh handba' contest in 1815, in
which James Hogg, the "Ettrick Shepherd," took
part, and at which Sir Walter Scott, then Sheriff
of Selkirkshire, was present. Young Bell, then
but a boy, was along with the party who prepared
the ground for the famous struggle. When speak-
ing of the tournament Mr Bell was wont to say —
"It was an awfu' gatherings-men o' the Merse,
the Souters o' Selkirk, the Teries o' Hawick, the
lads o' Gala, the Kelsonians and Eers, an' men
frae a' pairts of the Borders were there."

Mr Bell had also memories of having seen Sir
Walter Soott at other times and at other func-
tions, one of these being the layi&g of the founda-
tion stone of the bridge over the Tweed midway
between Galashieb and Selkirk in 1831. "Aw
mind fine o' seeing Scott," he would say, "when
aw was a boy aboot Selkirk," and then he ^ould
add, with a quiet laugh, "he wasna thocht sae
muckle o' at that time." Hogg he had also seen
on several occasions, and had held his stirrups for
him when he mounted his horse.

When Mr Bell came to Galashiels eighty-six
years ago it was little more than a village. A
print of the time terms it "an industrious vil-
lage." The population in 1825 was only 1600. The
houses were all unpretentious-looking single storey
structures, with thatched roofs. Now there is
not a single thatched roof in the town. There
were no carriages; there was neither jail nor
policeman. There were "eight mills on the dam,"
but these were all small affairs and differed vastly

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THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

199

from the large concerns with which the town is
now identified. Factory workers' wages were only
about £2 a month. According to Mr Bell, one set of
machines was allotted in weekly turns to four
masters for the making of their "sowans." Even
at that early stage of the town's development,
however, the "Galashiels Grey" had attained a
much more than loc§l name. Weaving was car-
ried on to a considerable extent in the dwellings
of the people, the looms usually being fitted up
in one end of the house. There were only a few
houses on the north side of the Gala, and the
road to Melrose crossed the stream by a ford at
Langhaugh. The post from Melrose was con-
vened to Clovenfords to meet the mail coach
there, the Galashiels letters being picked up en
route. With the opening of the road between
Galashiels and Selkirk, however, Galashiels was
brought into more direct contact with the capital,
and this enabled the mail-coach to travel by Gala-
shiels from Selkirk instead of going by Cloven-
fords. It passed through night and morning,
carrying four inside passengers. A four-horse
coach also ran between Newcastle and Edinburgh,
and on this the journey to the capital could be
made from Galashiels at the sum of six shillings.
A letter to Edinburgh cost sevenpence. The first
letter-carrier was appointed in 1833. Previous to
this the addressees of letters which reached the
town received their correspondence the first time
they called at the grocer's shop which did duty as
a post office, or if they happened to be intimately
acquainted with the postmaster, that worthy might
slip the letter into his pocket and take it to its
owner in the evening or the next day.

Mr Bell had also many interesting recollections
of the social life of the town eighty years ago. As
a journeyman tailor he was working in 1826 for
one shilling a day with his meat and bed. White
bread was seldom seen, and the living*was frugal
compared with what it is nowadays in the poorest
working-class house. During two years that he
worked in one place where his meat and bed was
supplied he never saw white bread. Until he
had reached the age of twenty-two he had not
tasted tea ; porridge and milk for breakfast, broth
and beef for dinner, and potatoes for supper form-
ed the staple diet of the working people.

The deceased had many other interesting rem-
iniscences of the rise and progress of the town
and its industry, also the the introduction of rail-
ways, and the local celebrations of British victor-
ies on the field of battle, such as Waterloo, &c.

Mr Bell, it need hardly be said, possessed a very
strong constitution. Whether this was due to the
simpleness of his diet in early life we do not
aver, but the old man, drawing his own deduc-
tions, was wont to say, "There were fewer doc-
tor's bills to be met in ma young days." Even
after he was ninety years of age he boasted that
he could walk from Galashiels to Selkirk and
back on one day — no mean feat for a man of his
age. He carried his years well, oven after he had
passed the three figures. In his latter years, how-
ever, he felt "lonesome," as all his compeers
had passed into the unseen, and there was some-
thing pathetic about his oft-repeated expression,
"I juist move aboot in a warld o' my ain." Mr
Bell came of a long-lived family. His grandfather
died at 85, his father at 81, one sister reached her
88th year» and another sister and brother both

lived ten years and more over the allotted span.
His descendants numbered three sons, two daugh-
ters, nineteen grandchildren, twenty-six great-
grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild. It
will be remembered that a copy of a photo of
Mr Bell with his great-great-grandchild on his
knee, which was taken by Mr Clapperton, photo-
grapher, Galashiels, about a year ago, was pre-
sented to the King, and graciously accepted by
His Majesty. A copy of it appeared in the
" Telegraph " at the time.

Mr Bell in early life was an active member of
the Baptist body in Galashiels, but afterwards
identified himself with the Christadelphian sect,
in whose work he took a deep interest. — Bobdbb
Tblbobaph.

Queen Bess and the Border Chief.

A BoBDEB Ballad.

'Twas in the days of " good Queen Bess,"

Four hundred years ago.
The Border chiefs were aye at war.

Each with his mortal foe.

The English they have ta'en a man.

Who served the bold Buccleuoh,
And in the Castle of Carlisle

Kept him in prison, too.

Buccleuch has pleaded all in vain

With England's haughty Queen;
And James of Scotland will not try

The prisoner to redeem.

So Walter Scott, laird of Buccleuch,

Has had a midnight ride,
And o'er the Border to Carlisle,

Where his man still did bide.

They stormed the Castle not in vain.

The prisoner brought away;
And happy men they have returned.

Just at the break of day !

But James soon sent the Border chief

To answer for his deed.
And to be punished by Queen Bess,

As English laws decreed.

He stands before the English Queen,

With anger on her brow;
"You dared to storm my Castle, sir.

What can you answer now?"

The courtiers trembled, for they feared

A prison was his lot,
A dungeon — where he soon would die.

His bravery forgot!

Buccleuch, he showed no sign of fear

Upon his manly face;
"What is there that a man won't dare,

Madam, that's no disgrace?"

But strange, his answer 'seemed to please.

And fall in with her view;
The Queen of England looked on him

With admiration, too!

She frowned, she smiled, and then she laughed.

And bade the chief " Go free,"
"For one who dares so much," she said,

"Deserves his liberty."

EusAHgn M. MacIhhib.

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200

THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

The Late Mr Walter Gbulnlock, J. P.

lY the death of Mr Walter Grouinlock,
J.P., Traquair Knowe, Innerleithen,
which occurred on Sunday, 25th Au-
gust, 1907, the valley of the Tweed
has been deprived of a typical Border farmer
who held a warm place in the hearts ol all
who knew him. His circle of friends and ao-
quaintances was large, as he was well known
and much respected in the various markets he
attended. Mr Gouinlock was born at Ashkirk,
Boxburghshire, in 1865, and was educated at
the Grammar School, Selkirk. His father, the
late John Gouinlock, came to Traquair Knowe
in 1869, and the farm has in a large measure
been managed by Mr Walter during the paat
twenty years. The fann is a dairy, arable, and
stock one, and Mr Gouinlock was also a dealer
in cattle. * Ti'aquair Knowe is celebrated in

THE LATE MR WALTER GOUINLOCK.

literature by the fact that one of Mr Gouin-
lock's predecessors in the farm was the gentle
Willie Laidlaw, the friend and amanuensis of
Sir Walter Soott. Deceased took a great in-
terest in Parish Council work, and was for a
long time a member of the School Beard. He
was a deacon of St John's U.F. Church, Inner-
leithen, and took a ^reat interest in all the
affairs of the church. He was known as a gen-
erous friend, and his death will be felt by many
who in tinies of stress and trouble always found
a true friend in him. A gentleman in a letter
to the bereaved family said of him: —

" He was the poor man's friend.
And the rich man's guide."

Mr Gouinlock took a prominent part in poli-
tics, and helped greatly at the elections in
support of the Unionist cause. He leaves a
widow and one daughter; an only son died a
few years ago. Thus there is no representative
of this old family in the male line to succeed
him. Great sympathy is felt for the members
of his family, one of the oldest and most high-
ly respected in the locality. Deceased was 52
years of age.

The Border Bookcase.

COLDINGHAM PARISH AND PRIORY.

. Those who are aware of the historical and anti-
quarian importance of Coldingham will be pleased
to learn that there is in the press a most im-
portant work on the subject. The author is Mr
A. Thomson, F.S.A. (Scot.), whose "Lauder and
Lauderdale" gave him a high place among our
Border historians and archeeologists. The present
work will consist of 450 quarto pages, and con-
tain over 40 illustrations — maps, plans, &c. As
we hope to refer to the volume more fully when
it is issued from the press, we content ourselves
at present by quoting the author's note : —

**Thi§ work which, by express permission, is
dedicated to the Right Hon. The Earl of Home,
K.T., &c., &c., whose ancestors have held high
place for centuries in the ancient and famous
halidom of Coldingham, is the result of laborious
investigation and study. It claims to be much
more exhaustive than any previous history of the
parish and priory — not excepting Carr's excellent
book written in the beginning of last century.
The 'Historical MSS. Commission Reports' have
been carefully examined; the Parish 'Records'
throw considerable light on the manners of the
people, especially in the end of the seventeenth
century; and valuable information as to writs,
inventories, &c., from private sources appears for
the first time. Several gentlemen have inter-
ested themselves in the issue of this work, and
the numerous not'is contributed by Mr C. S.
Romanes, C.A., and others, are of much historic
value. The information regarding ownership of
lands has been compiled either from the titles or
the 'Sasine Registers,* and references are noted.
Coats-of-arms, genealogical trees, &c., have been
prepared by means of careful research, and un-
nece8.sary detail has been avoided. Chanter IX.
contains a full account of the lives ancT labours
of the Priors of Coldingham, so far as njay be
obtained from Raine's Charters, ' Surtees Society
Publications,' &c. No ■ such complete history of
this * old roligious house ' has hitherto b^en pub-
lished."

When going to press we have received a finely-
bound volume of poems by Mr John Inglis. Haw-
ick, and the souvenir of the Ter-Jubilee celebra-
tions of the Boston U.F. Church, Jedburgh, both
of which publications we hope to refer to more
fully in onr next issue.

Printed and Pablished by A. Walker Jt Son, QaUshiels.

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SUPPLEMENT to the "BORDER MAGAZINE," Vol. XII, No. 143.

MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS.

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QUEEN HARY'S HOUSE, JEDBURGH.

PART I.

COlliAND'S ilUtarred Queeen is reputed
to have been in so many parts of the
country and lodged in so many castles
and mansions that it would seem as if
she had kept up a continual itinerary
throughout her rather unsettled domains. Some
of the claims to her presence are rather doubtful,
but her visits to Peebles, Traquair, and Jedburgh
cannot come under that category, as there is
abundant historical evidence on the subject. The
well-known Queen Mary's House in Jedburgh is
for sale at present, and offers are being invited
for some valuable tapestry which has been re-
moved from the house for the purpose of being
sold. Offers are to be sent to Mr Charles S.
Romanes, C.A., Edinburgh, trustee on the seques-
trated estate of Mr Alexander Scott, ladies' tailor
and habit-maker, Jedburgh and London. The tap-
estry consists of an old panel of the fifteenth or
sixteenth century, 15 feet by 6 feet, representing
the meeting of Jacob and Esau, removed from the
Jedburgh house, and believed to have been her
property. There is also another old panel of the
same period, 11 feet by 11 feet, representing Jacob
being wakened by Laban, which is also in the
market. Mr Romanes has prepared a historical
statement on the house and tapestry, which
contains so much matter of interest to feorderers
that we quote it entire, having received his per-
mission to do so.

Mr Scott purchased Queen Mary's house and grounds,
Jedburgh, from Colonel Armstrong, a Rujwian gentle-
man, son of General Armstrong. Master of the Mint,
St Petersburg, who had left Jedburgh more than 100

years ago, and whose ancestors had been the owners of
Queen Mary's house. The house had once been oc-
cupied by Dr lindsay, father of Bums' '* Sweet Isa-
bella Lindsay,'* mother of General Armstrong.

In 1882 Mr T. S. Smail, of Jedburgh, wrote thus of the
house : —

" A kind of old Hobgoblin Hall,
Now somewhat fallen to decay, ^

With weather-stains upon the wall.
And stairways worn, and crazy doors,
And creaking and uneven floors.
And chimneys huge, and thatch'd and tall."

" Next in importaiice to the Abbey, as regards hia
torical interest, we must place the old and antique
dwelling-house in which the ill-fated Queen Mary
lodged for some time while holding courts of justice here
in 1566. The house is situated in a back street, exactly
opposite Smith's Wynd, and is at present occupied by
Mr Mounsoy, rector of the Grammar School. The
house is three storeys in height, and is roofed with
thateh. The walls are very thick, and a spiral stone
staircase leads to the different apartments. In front ia
seen an arched doorway, now built up, surmounted by
a cross and arms. On the dexter side are the combined
arms of AVigmore of that Ilk, motto--" Avis la fin " ;
and on the other are those of Scott of Thirlston, Buc-
cleuch, or Hownaisly, not Harden, motto —" Solum deo
confido." Attached to the house is a large and valuable
orchard, in which are several very old fruit trees.
•* With its screen of dull trees in front," says Dr R.
Chambers, the author of the '* Picture of Scotland,"
the ** house has a somewhat lugubrious appearance, as

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if conscious of connection with the most melancholy
tale that ever occupied the pago of history."

Besides this building and garden, Mr Scott acquired
a miscellaneous lot of articles, including a piece of
tapestry which seems to be of Flemish manufacture
of the sixteenth century.

After careful enquiry, the trustee is of opinion that
the tapestry is genuine, and appears to have been
Queen Mary's property when residing in the house.
For very many years the tapestry has been exhibited to
visitors. The lower edge has been injured by pieces
being cut off as mementos of their visits, but this
border can be easily repaired by a purchaser.

That Queen Mary resided in this house in Jedburgh
for several weeks during the year 1566 is unquestionable.
• Miss Strickland in her Life of Queen Mary thus
writes of the house and tapestry : —

" Forty pounds were paid by Queen Mary to the Lady
of Famyhurst for the use of the house she occupied
during the thii-ty days she remained at Jedburgh. It
isstill habitable, and is a square turreted house, strongly
built, but roofed with thatch. It has a fine spiral
stone staircase, which ascends to a small apartment in
the turret, said to be that where she slept. The spacious
suite of apartments on the opposite side of the stair-
case, one of which still bears the name of the guard-
room, is more likely to have been occupied by royalty
as ante-room, privy chamber, and bedroom. The only
relic of Mary's abode is a large piece of ancient tapestry
hangings, representing the meeting between Jacob and
Esau. It is soiled and faded, but the figures are well
delineated, and the colours have been very fine, royal
blue being the prevailing tint of the garments of the
principal figures. Rachel holds her little son Joseph by
the hand, while the brothers are embracing. The
border which surrounds the tableau is very rich. The
garden-ground behind the house extends to the banks
of the river Jed, close to the old, picturesque bridge.
The site of this ancient abode gained its present name
of Queen Street in memory of Mary's temporary rasid-
enco. That Her Majesty was occasionally soothed
with music during her sickness appears from the re-
ward of forty shillings being accorded to John Hume,
player on the lute, and four pounds to John Heron,
player on the pipe and quhissil. The sum of three
pounds thirteen shillineis was disbursed by the keeper uf
her priry piirse * for drugs, twenty apples and pome-
granate?', and six citrons brought forth of Edinburgh to
Jedburgh to the Quewn's Grace, Her Majesty being
sick at the time.' " (1)

In the address of John B. Boyd, Esq., of Cherry trees,
to the members of the Berwickshire Naturalists* Club
on 26th September, 1862 (2), is found the following
statement :— -" The first field meeting of the year 1861
was held at Jedburgh, on the 22nd day of May. This
being the first visit of the Club to this old and interesting
Border town, the meeting was well attended. An able
paper on Jedburgh was read by Mr A. Jeffrey, F.S.A.,
author of the * History of Roxburghshire.' The party
then proceeded to an old house in Backgate, which,
through the courtesy of Mis.<» Armstrong, they were
permitted to examine. It is a quaint relic of the
fifteenth century, and is especially interesting as having
afforded an hospital to the unfortunate Queen Mary

(1) Strickland's Life of Queen Mary, Vol. L, p. 346.

(2) Berwickshire Naturalists' Club Transact ionfs.
Vol. IV., p. 3g7a

after her visit to Hermitage Castle. The little bedroom
occupied by her during an illness of six weeks was seen,
but a well-worn piece of tapestry laid on the fioor is all
that remains of the furniture which was in the room
when she was there."

The late Queen Victoria visited Jedburgh on 23rd
Aljgust, 1867, and thus records her visit to Queen
Mary's house in " More Leaves from the Journal of a
Life in the Highlands " : —

" The Duche«»s (of Roxburgh) pointed out to me a
house up a side street in the town where Queen Mary
had lived, and been ilTwith fever."

I makf) the following quotation from a learned article
by Mr Alexander JeSrej, the historian of Roxburgh-
shire, written in 1862. (1) The authorities for his
statement? are found in my o¥m Darrative. " The
burgh was the residence of Que«i Mary in 1566, where
she held a Justice Court and assembled a Parliament.
While Mary resided here, she occupied a hoase in the
Backgate. The room in which tradition .says she slept
is on the third fioor of the back part of the house looking
into a garden. Some old tapestry which, it is said,
covered the walls of the room at the time, is still ex-
hibited. While in this house, Damley visited her after
she became convalescent, and remained one m'ght in
the town. The Queen was attended by a number of
the principal men of the kingdom and by Secretary
Cecil of England. On leaving, she was escorted to
Kelso (where she held a Court) by a thousand of the
Border chivalry."

Again Mr James Tate, writing on the famous Jed-
burgh Pears, says (2) :— " The town itself has many
features of curious interest. It has the ruins of an
abbey, in which lived in other days a colony of monks,
and some of the Jethart pear trees are heUeved to have
stood from a period before the Reformation. It had
a strong castle at the highest part of the town, and some
of the old mansions were in the form of bastile houses,
the defen-^ive character being requisite as a protection
against the English invaders. The most interesting
specimen of these houses'now remaining is one in which
Queen Mary lay sick for some time after her ride of
fifty mil&s over moor and moss to visit Bothwell at
Hermitage Ca.«?tle when he had been wounded by the
banditti of Liddosdale."

The Rev. James Farquharson, M.A., Selkirk, address-
ing the same Society on 11th October 1882 (3), said ;
" Queen Mary's house, with its chambers so narrow
and comfortless, and, to our modern eyes, so unworthy
of royalty, and with its tapestry said to have been
worked by her court ladies while they waited for the
recovery of their Sovereign from the fever, brought
on by her rapid ride to visit Bothwell %t|Hermitage
Castle, received a brief visit."

Mr Walter Laidlaw, F.S.A., Scot., writing upon the
armorial bearings and inscriptions of the town of
Jedburgh (4), says : " The armorial bearings of Qneen
Mary's house are on the front, above an arched doorway
now built up. The arms are those of ' Wigmore '
impaling * Scott ' as wife's arms. Mr Burnett (Lyon
King at Arms) made investigation, and found that a
considerable burgess family of that name flourished in
Edinburgh in the fourteenth century."

(1) Berwickshire Nat. Club Trans., Vol. IV., p. 344

(2) Do, Do. Vol. VIL, p. 193*

(3) Do. Do. Vol. X, p. 43<

(4) i Do. Do. Vol. XI., p. 141

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203

Again, in 1898 (1), Colonel Milne Home of Wedder- house where Sir David Brewster was bom and whe^e
bum, the President of the Club for that year, reports Bums once lodged While he received the freedbm of
that on 28th July the members, after visiting various the city, and another where Wordsworth and his sister

QUEEN MARY S HOUSE, JEDBURGH.

points of historical interest in Jedburgh, including the Dorothy lodged on their tour in 1803, and where Sir

Walter Scott visited them and read to them a part of

(1) Berwickshire Nat. Club Trans.. Vol. XVI., p. 257 the " Lay of the Last Minstrel," and, in particular, one

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THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

known as Queen Mary's House, where her Scottish
Majesty had resided sixlor seven weeks, during which
period she was ill of a fever contracted after a ride of
sixty miles or more across the hills to and from Hermit-
age Castle, where she visited Bothwell.
" The bed which was occupied by Queen Mary when
residing in the house was removed many years ago. and
presented to Sir Walter Scott. li is now at Abbotsford.

To he Continued,

Border Notes and Queries.

"SOUR PLUMS IN GALASHIELS."
A feature of the proceedlTigs at the annual din-
ner of the Galashiels Manufacturers' Corporation
on 10th October was the playing of " Sour Plums in
Galashiels" to the toast of "The Town Council."
The original words were written about 1360, and
have been lost; but the tune, composed about 1700
by the Laird of Gala's piper, remains, and this
was the first time it had been heard at the Cor-
poration's dinner since the days of Sir Walter
Scott.

The journal kept by Alexander Campoell, the
editor of " Albyu's Anthology," when on a Border
tour in 1816 for the purpose of collecting local
tunes, contains notes on the best Border pipers of
the eighteenth century taken down from the con-
versation of Mr Thomas Scott (the uncle of Sir
Walter Scott), who was himself a skilful per-
former on the Lowland or bellows pipe. One of
those was Donald McLean, of Galashiels, " a, capi-
tal piper, and the only one who could play on the
pipe the old popular tune of 'Sour Plums in Gala-
shiels,' it requiring a peculiar art of punching the
backbone of the chanter with the thumb to pro-
duce the higher notes of the melody." Lockhart
states that Thomas Scott, when on his death-bed,
had "a favourite tune played over to him by his
son James, that he might be sure he left him in
full possession of it. After hearing it, he hum-
med it over himself and corrected it in several
of the notes. The air was called ' Sour Plums in
Galashiels.' "

[The above, which is quoted from "Glasgow
Herald," 11th October, 1907, raises several points
which might well be dealt with in this column.
The date of the original verses is disputed by
some, and any evidence for or against will be
welcomed in this column. Now that Galashiels is
waking up in the matter of local patriotism and
has established what, let us hope, will }>e an
annual celebration of the incident which gave rise
to the Burgh Arms, it is well that all the avail-
able information should be gathered together. Al-
though the original words of the ballad ^re said
to be lost, it is not impossible that a few frag-
mentary lines may be hidden somewhere. This is
the day when the literary past is forced to give up
its dead, and we are fast fiiding that no discovery
is impossible. The subject of the Border pipers
might also be dealt with here^ and much valuable
information elicited. We invite our readers to
send us short pointed not«s on these and other
Border subjects.— Editor "B. M."]

The Border Book Case.

BORDERLAND AND OTHER POEMS.

Bearing this attractive title a volume from the
pen of Mr John Inglis, whose verses are well
known to many of our readers, has been issued
by the well-known Hawick firm, Messrs W. & J.
Kennedy. The volume is beautifully printed and
bound, and is a credit to the printers, Messrs
Vair & M'Nairn, Hawick. The whole production
is well w^orthy of the Borders, and we are not
surprised to learn that the edition has been nearly
bought up. Mr Inglis begins his volume with a
poem entitled "Borderland," and all through the
book we have Border touches, which prove that
the author's heart is in the right place. In tht
long poem entitled "A Border Raid" there xb
much dramatic power, and the lines go with a
swing which is admirably suited to the subject.
Mr Inglis is a patriotic Scot, but Hawick, of
course, draws forth his most enthusiastic strains.
Who that has sung or heard sung his "Hawick
among the hills" will not feel grateful for that
stirring song. The admirable introduction 'is
from the pen of Mr R. S. Craig, M.A., LL.B., and
we have pleasure in quoting one or two para-
graphs : —

" In a quaint if not very skilful ode published in
the beginning of the eighteenth century, the Rev.
Mr Cunningham, then parish minister of Hawick,
refers to Hawick as that

* Which for famed poets subject matter yields.'
We need not press too heavily on the rev. gentle-
man for the adjective he has thought fit to attach
to the ' poets,' since, good, bad, or indifferent, their
works have vanished from our ken, and in all
probability have perished. Apparently there ex-
isted about 1710 a body of local verse which, if
now extant, would have linked us on to the bal-
lads and the era of pre-Reformation Scotland,
from which ^e are now separated as by a gulf.
From Mr Cunningham's own time onwards till
now, there has been a steady and continuous, if
now and then an attenuated, stream of verse with
Hawick, Teviot, and Border modern life as its in-
spiration. It is humble verse, and pretends to be no-
thing else. It is not too highly polished ; indeed, could
not be, to be the thing it is. The thoughts, emo-
tions, and affections it seeks to express are those
of the workers and toilers of the Border town, the
shepherds and artisans engaged in daily toil there,
and it reflects as in a mirror the minds of the
more thoughtful and religious among these — ^the
thoughts in them which fly to verse for expres-
sion, their prejudices even, all that is character-
istic of the Border mind."

" Verse such as this of Mr Inglis is int«aded for
the class to which the author himself belongs.
Sometimes, as in the best effort to be found in the
following pages— ' Hawick among the Hills' — he
actually voices the local feeling in the widest
sense : his townsmen's love of their town, their
pride in and gratitude for its beautiful surround-
ings, rising or falling perhaps now and then
into the ' boastfulness ' discerned by its sister
burghs. The author has been gratified by the
general recognition of this fact, and the verses
are among the most popular of the songs of the
people."

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205

SCOTLAND FOR THE BAIRNS.

The training: and educating of the youth of our
land along the lines of true patriotism has not
received the attention which is warranted by the
far-reaching importance of the subject. Evidences,
however, are continually increasing that this re-
grettable state of affairs is about to be put right.
The false and misleading so-called histories of
Scotland are being banished from the schools, and
our children are now having a chance of learning
the wonderful story of our native land, and dis-
covering the- fact that Scotland is still a nation.
Messrs A. & C. Black, the famous publishers, who
were also the pioneers in the production of beau-
tiful colour books, published at a price to suit
ordinary purses, have done a great service to the
young generation by the production of "Peeps at
Many Lands" series. All their books of the ser-
ies, so far as issued, are admirable, and we envy
the young folks who will receive their information
in such an attractive form. The volumes are
neatly bound, and each contains twelve fine pic-
tures in colours, while the type is clearly printed
on strong paper. As the price of each book is only
1/6, most adult readers will exclaim, "How can
it be done at the money ?^' The volume dealing
with Scotland is written by Miss Qrierson, who
has the rare faculty of being able to write down to
children without being childish. We should like
to see this book in every Scottish home, and — to
correct popular errors — ^in every English home
also. A popular evening paper thus refers to the
volume : —

" In their ' Peeps at Many Lands ' series Messrs
A. & C. Black are making the study of history
and geography as interesting as a fairy tale. What
boy could turn away from the Volume on Scot-
land after catching sight of the gallant Scots Grey
soldier.? Miss Elizabeth Grierson has written the
volume on Scotland, and in the twenty chapters
on different subjects she has woven in a great mass
of information, only to be ordinarily garnered as
the result of a long and extensive course of read-
ing and observation. It is a book calculated to
make the rising generation take a truly intelligent
pride in their native land by filling in the numer-
ous blanks due to the conciseness and general char-
acter of the school history manual. Although
primarily intended for children, to lure them into
learning much about their own and other lands
through sheer love of reading, older readers will
also find great delight in them. The twelve full-
page coloured illustrations, in each have been
painted by well-known artists. Mr J. Young Hun-
ter, son of the late Colin Hunter, is responsible
for several of the pictures in the ' Scotland ' vol-
ume."

"SCOTIA."

The Lammas issue of this admirable 1/ quar-
terly is now before us, and we have pleasure in
recommending it to our readers. The varied ar-
ticles deal with subjects which are of great in-
terest to every true Scot, while the illustrations
are above the average, even in these days of fine
reproductions. One of these is a speaking likeness
of the late Rev. David Macrae, the accompanying
article being from the pen of Mr David M'Ritchie,
F.S.A. (Scot.), president of the St Andrew Society.
"Sir Walter Scott as a Patriot" is an important
contribution, and shows how strongly that li^reat
Borderer felt on the violations of the Treaty of

Union by our southern neighbours. The unfortun-
ate thing is that they are still at it, but the
country is even more alive to this matter than it
was in Sir Walter's day. The Borders is one of
the most patriotic portions of Scotland, and bei»ce
we have no hesitation in recommending "Scotia"
to our readers.

MAPS OP THE BORDERLAND.

There are some people in existence who cannot
understand a map, but they are rapidly becoming
few in ni|mber, and the desire for good reliable
maps of the country is daily increasing. Time,
was when we had to be satisfied with outline mapfi-
which gave only the outstanding features and high-
ways of the country, leaving all the byways -^nd
small details unnoticed. Roads, when marked,
were all represented as on a dead level, and there-
fore measurement of distance was anything but a
safe guide as to the time any projected journey
would take. All this has been altered, however,
and map-makers and publishers vie with ebvh
other in supplying as many details as po8<iible.
Foremost among map publishers is the famous
Scottish house of W. & A. K. Johnston, Edin-
burgh, whose maps, atlases, Ac, have a world-
wide reputation. At present Messrs Johnston are
issuing a very fine map of Scotland, of which the
three sections dealing with the Borderland lie
before us. The printing is beautifully executed,
and the details are given with remarkable dis-
tinctness. The map of Scotland comprises sixteen
sheets, each measuring 18 by 23 inches, each sheet
being sold separately at 1/ or mounted on cloth
and in case 1/6, while the whole can be had as an
atlas at various prices.

The geographical features are shown in three
different colours— the black shows all the names
of places, estates, antiquities, and objects of in-
terest to tourists, also outline of roads and rail-
ways; the blue shows all the rivers and canals
with their names, county boundaries, and steamer
routes ; and the brown shows all the names of hills
and glens, the contours for every 500 feet, and the
heights above sea-level, the main roads are also
filled in in this colour, making them prominent
for cyclists. The counties are distinguished by
different colours in the usual manner, and all
water is coloured blue.

TlvB same firm publish admirable Motoring and
Cycling Maps under the name of the World-Wide
series. The map embracing the Lothians and the
Borderland can be had for 1/, and should be in
the hands of every Borderer, even though he is
not a motorist or cyclist— the minuteness of the
details of every part of the country being in*
tensely interesting.

Bopdep Books— L SatchellS.

£^

bEW books possess more interest, especially
to those who are connected with the
Borderland, than Captain Walter Scot of
Satchell's "True History of* Several
Honourable Families of the Right Hon-
ourable Name of Scot." The first or original edi-
tion was printed at Edinburgh in 1688. It con-
sisted of 240 copies, small quarto. The second edi-
tion was published by Balfour & Smellie, Edin-

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burgh, in 1776. It was qnarto size. The third
edition was printed by George Caw, at Hawick,
in 1786. It was a small octavo, and is much scarcer
than even the first edition. The fourth edition,
which consisted of only fifty copies small quarto,
was printed for private circulation by the Scot-
tish Literary Club in 1892. The fifth edition was
published by Messrs W. & J. Kennedy, Hawick,
in 1894. It consisted of 240 copies only. There is
prefixed to this edition fifteen pages of an explan-
«itory introduction by J. Q. Winning, Esq., Branx-
iiolme Knowe, Hawick, whose erudition, ability,
:and learning enhance the interest which attaches
^to the "True History." Captain Walter Scot, of
-Satchells, wa^ born in the year 1613. Robert
Scot, of Satchells, his father, though a gentleman
by parentage and descent, was yet in such strait-
ened circumstances as to be unable to pay for the
education of his children. Walter Scot, the auth-
or of the "True History," "never was an hour at
school." Before he was fourteen year» of age he
was put "to attend beasts in the field." When
not sixteen years old, he left what doubtlessly
seemed to him to be an ignoble occupation, name-
ly, that of herding cattle, and, without telling his
father or his friends, "joined the following of
Walter, first Earl of Biiccleuch. Satchells, as
Captain Scot is more often called, went with the
Earl of Buccleuch's regiment to Holland in 1629.
He must have borne himself well in many a fray,
on which account it is probable he would, by suc-
cessive steps, ultimately gain the rank of captaim.
His retirement from active service took place in
1686, and it was when living on his estate of Satch-
ells, in the Barony of Lilliesleaf and shire of Rox-
burgh, that he composed the "True History,"
which' he otherwise called "Wats Bellanden," and
the other addition to it, to which he gave the title
of "Satchels's Post'ral." According to his own
account, he served as a soldier at home and
abroad for fifty-seven years. The date -f his death
is not known. It is hardly possible to describe
properly the work of Captain Walter Scot of
Satchells. John Gibson Lockhart refers in his
'TLife of Sir Walter Scott" to the influence which
"the rude but enthusiastic clan-po*try of old
Satchells" had on the mind of Sir Walter Scott.
"Clan-poetry" is a very kindly and graceful way
of speaking of the "True History." Mr Winning,
in his remarks on Satchells, seems to feel how
difficult it is to accord to him the status of a poet ;
'for, in truth, were any person to present us now
with matter of similar construction we would hesi-
tate even to call it clan-poetry. Notwithstanding
all this, we feel that much of the "True History"
reveals a very considerable amount of ability,
liere can be no doubt whatever as to the value
and worth of that which Captain Scot sets forth.
In the dedication of the "True History" to John
Lord Tester, Earl of Tweeddale, Satchells relates
with a sort of blunt inveteracy the various reas-
ons which induced him to compose the "True His-
tory." The first thirty pages contain an account
of the capture of Kinnmount Willie by Lord
Scrope, the Governor of Carlisle Castlc,--the re-
lease of Kinnmount Willie by the Lord of Buc-
cleuch,— Buccleuch's visit to Queen Elizabeth,—
and his audience with her, and her commendation
of his spirit and chivalrous action. The relatioa-
ship which the various families of the name of
Scot had then to each other is also clearly and
graphically narrated by Satchells, and he is al-

ways at much trouble to recount their valiant
deeds. In the introduction to the "True History,"
Mr J. G. Winning takes notice of a ballad which
was printed in "The Poetical Museum," publish-
ed at Hawick in 1784 by George Caw, printer.
This ballad, the title of which is "Lines on the
Death of Robert Scot. Esq. of Whitslade. Com-
posed by a Teviotdale shepherd, who could neith-
er read nor write, and here given from an old
MS. copy,'' was also noticed and read by the late
Frank Hogg at a meeting of the Hawick Archaeo-
logical Society in December, 1873. Mr Winning is
of opinion that this ballad ought to be credited to
Captain Walter Scot of Satchefls, the author of
the "True History." The great similarity of the
style of the ballad to that of the "True History"
is remarkable, and, along with the nature of the
subject, and the terse statement that the author
was a Teviotdale shepherd, who could neither read
nor write, raises the probability almost into a
certainty. Satchells' work, which is too little
known, has been described as "wild and uncouth
doggerel." We must, however, bear in mind that
"the old soldier," as the author describes himself
to be, could neither read nor write, and had to
rely on the fidelity of those schoolboys whom he
was compelled to hire to act as amanuenses in the
production of his self-imposed historical and lit-
erary labour. The fifth edition of this book,
which may also be called the second Hawick edi-
tion, contains as an addendum thirty-four pages
of notes by Mr J. G. Winning. Much that to the
average reader may perhaps seem somewhat ob-
scure in the text is in these notes elucidated and
explained. There is scarcely any point in con-
nection with the genealogical or historical lore of
the Borders that is not exhaustively treated and
clearly stated.
Hawiclt. J* C. QooDFELtdw.

The Author of " Waverley " on the
South Side of the Border.

Bt Walter Scott, Gainford.

Part VI.

PLACES VISITED AT DIFFERENT TIMES.

MHE pretty village of Wooler, of course,
lay in the way of Scott's travelling
up to Rokeby. After the publica-
tion of " Marmion,*' the host of the
village inn was very pleased with the addi-
tional patronage brought to his house, and
wanted to have a pictorial representation of
the author's head as a sign for his inn.
Scott persuaded him to be content with the
foaming tankard over his door, but mine host
wanted a motto. This Scott soon supplied in
the following parody on his own lines : —

"Drink, weai'y pilgrim, drink and pray
!For the kind soul of Sybil Grey,"

which he altered as follows : —

"Drink, weary pilgrim, drink and 'pay."*

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which highly delighted the good innkeeper.
On another occasion he was detained at a vil-
lage in Northumberland, said to be Egling-
ham, near Alnwick, where the services of a
doctor were required for one of his servants.
The regular practitioner was absent from
home, and the innkeeper recommended the
"new doctor." Accordingly he was intro-
duced to Sir Walter. When he appeared Scott
was rather shocked to recognise John Lundie,
a farrier, whose clientele were mostly in the
neighbourhood of Ashiestiel. So he addressed
him thus, " You used to be a horse-doctor,
John ; now you seem to be a man-doctor ; how
do you get on here?"

spent a happy morning with him, and accom-
panied him on horseback part of his way south.
Auckland Castle is a fine old building, with a
spacious park, very beautiful, although at its
gates is the large town of Bishop Auckland,
the centre of a very populous mining district.
The Castle chapel was greatly improved and
decorated with many stained-glass windows, il-
lustrative of the saints and scenes of the North-
em Church by the late learned and well-be-
loved Bishop Lightfoot.

Durham City Scott frequently visited, and
rejoiced in its beauty and the splendid propor-
tions and grandeur of its massive pile of a
Cathedral. It is built on the rising ground

AUCKIiAND CASTLE

" Oh, juist extr'ordnar weel ; my practice is
verra sure an' orthodox. I use onlv twa sim-
ples."

"And what may they be, John?"

"Oh, juist iaudamy an' calamy."

" Simples, with a vengeance. But do you
never kill a patient?"

" Kill ! oh ay, maybe ; whiles they dee, an'
whiles they live. It's the wuU o' Providence.
Onyway, it'll be lang ere it mak' up for Flod-
denl"

Pursuing his journey he came to Bishop
Auckland, and while inspecting the castle and
its chapel he was observed by the Bishop,
Shute Barrington, who introduced himself,

in the midst of the old city, with the river
Wear winding romid it, forming, as it were,
a horse-shoe.

He visited Lord Ravensworth at his castle
of Ravensworth in 1827. From thence he
went to Sunderland with a large party to meet
the Duke of Wellington. At that time Sun-
derland was the greatest glass-producing place
in the world, from the cheapness of the flints
brought as ballast in the light colliers re-
turning from the south ; and a great object in
one of the processions was an " inmiense Gib-
raltar gun, implements, and all belongings,"
all composed of glass.

Here he made the acquaintance of the his-

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208

THE BORDER MAGAZINE.

torian of Hartlepool, an eccentric antiquarian,
who was Collector of Customs at that port and
at Sunderland, namely, Sir Cuthbert Sharp.
At the same time Scott visited Seaham Har-
bour, the residence of Lord Londonderry then,
formerly of Sir Ralph Milbank, whose daugh-
ter became the very unhappy Lady Byron. An
old man, who was employed in the gardens in
Sir Ralph's day, used to tell the writer what
" a pleasant young man Lord Byron was." He
knew nothing of his bad temper. A few years

DURHAM CATHEDRAL.

after Scott's visit the Sunderland Port Author-
ities refused to listen to some suggestion of
Lord Londonderry's, which so mortally of-
fended his lordship that he said he would build
a port at his own place, from which he would
ship coals, and he " would make the grass grow
in the streets of Sunderland. His prophecy
has not been fulfilled, but his successors, in-
cluding the present Marquis of Londonderry,
have BO improved Seaham Harbour and its

facilities for ooal shipment tliat quite recently
a meeting of the Sunderland Chamber of Com-
merce was held to consider the dulness of trade
in the Wear port, partly caused by the trade
facilities of Seaham Harbour. That place is
about six miles south from Sunderland.

These and many other places in Durham,
North Yorkshire, Westmoreland, and North-
umberland were all associated with Scott's
name, either as mentioned in his writings or
as having been visited by him. One may be
mentioned again — Gilsland. It was here that
Scott met Miss Carpenter, or in the language
of her country', Mademoiselle Charp^itier. Here
he proposed to her and was accepted by her,
and she became Mrs, ^.fterwards Lady, Scott.
Near the village, in the bed of the Irthing, is
a huge boulder called "The Popping Stone,"
as tradition asserts that here he did the pro-
posing. Near, or rather in, the village now
is a building called "Mump's Ha'," where
"Meg Merrilees" gave "Dandy Dinmont "
the friendly warning.

They are all worth visiting by any one,
especially by admirers of the author of " Wav-
erley."

Bonshaw Tower.

AN ANCIENT BORDER STRONGHOLD.

|HEN the Inings settled on the
Borders cannot now be told, but
they had lands and a stronghold
on the banks of tlie Esk, where
they formed a sort of Jx>rder guard about 1000.

It was by marriage that one of the Eskdale
Ii-vings entered into the possession of the tower
and lands of Bonshaw, about 1020. How much
earlier the tower was built is not known, but
from that time it became the chief residence
of the Irvings.

Pk>n8haw is on the right bank of the Kirtle,
some four and a half miles from Annan, and
a little way from Ecclefechan. It derives its
name from schaw, the Saxon for woodland^ and
bon the Norman for fair.

The tower stands on an almost sheer rocky
precipice about a hundred feet above the water.
The front terrace shows six old guns, and a
burn flows tlirough the deep ravine, from
which it was possible to surround the tower by
water in the olden days. The walU, of red
and white- sandstone, are six feet through in
the thinnest parts. Over the old yett, or door-
way, is the motto in raised Latin letters: —

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209

'''Honour and glory to God only." When King
JameB VI. oanie to the throne in 1 603 he had
aU the iron yetts of the Borders towers de-
stroyed by way of punishing the Border chief-
tains. Those of Bonshaw did not escape.

The following description of the interior of
the historic tower was recently given by the
present head of the clan: —

You first enter a small square hall, about six
feet square, communicating with the old stone
wheel stair on one side, and with the old retainers'
kitchen on the other. Prom the coved roof of this
hall hangs, about eighteen inches or two feet, an
eight-sided stone, like a vast seat. It has on it,
in ancient Hebrew raised letters, I.H.S. in mono-
gram. This is called the Crusader's stone, and,
tradition says, was brought from the walls of the
old temple at Jerusalem by one of the Irvings
who was one of the .first Crusaders (about 1100),
was taken to Rome and blessed by the Pope, and
then fixed there. It is supposed to bless every
one of Irving blood that passes under it. You
pass on into the retainer's kitchen, which has an
arched stone with a hole in the centre, covered
with a stone, for the passing up of ammunition
to the room above. There is also a pig-iron hook
in the apex of the roof— they say, for hanging
any one on the laird had no further use for. In
one corner in the thickness of the wall is a gloomy
•dungeon for prisoners. In the centre of each wall
is a large firing hole. Along one wall is a large
stone bin, probably to hold salt provisions when in
siege. The floor, as well as the walls and ceiling,
are of solid stone. Passing again through the wee
hall, you enter the wheel stair, the stone steps of
which are much worn, though it is in perfect pre-
servation. Up these stairs in 1S06 passed King
Robert the Bruce when flying from Edward Long-
shanks. This was the first dwelling in Scotland
he entered. On the first floor you enter the grand
Hall of the tower, called King Robert the Bruce'a
room. It is how used as a library, but the plain,
solid stone walls are undisturbed. An arched re-
cess in one of the walls forms a small altar, or, in
old Scots, a wambry. In one of the window re-
cesses are two stone holes, or boxes, to hold am-
munition. There is a huge fireplace that would
hold half-a-dosen men. Going on up the same
wheel stair, you come on the next floor to a sim-
ilar room, with window recesses, ammunition box-
es, etc. In one corner is a door, leading into a
small room in the thickness of the wall to, they
say, the head of an underground passa^jie in the
rock leading to Robgill Tower, so that they could
get water, food, ammunition, etc., in time of siege.