inister. Cessford
Castle, in Eckford parish, was the residence of the redoubtable "Habbie
Ker," ancestor of the Dukes of Roxburghe. Marlefield, "where Kale
wimples clear 'neath the white-blossomed slaes," is a supposed scene
(erroneous) of the "Gentle Shepherd." Yetholm, on the Bowmont, near the
Great Cheviot, has been the headquarters of Scottish gypsydom since the
17th century. Opposite Floors Castle, at the confluence of the Tweed and
Teviot is the green tree-clad mound with a few crumbling walls, all that
remains of the illustrious Castle of Roxburgh, one of the strongest on
the Borders, the birthplace and abode of kings, and parliaments, and
mints, and so often a bone of bitter contention between Scots and
English. The town itself, the most important on the Middle Marches, has
entirely disappeared, its site and environs forming now some of the most
fertile fields in the county:

"Roxburgh! how fallen, since first, in Gothic pride,
Thy frowning battlements the war defied,
Called the bold chief to grace thy blazoned halls,
And bade the rivers gird thy solid walls!
Fallen are thy towers; and where the palace stood,
In gloomy grandeur waves yon hanging wood.
Crushed are thy halls, save where the peasant sees
One moss-clad ruin rise between the trees;
The still green trees, whose mournful branches wave
In solemn cadence o'er the hapless grave.
Proud castle! fancy still beholds thee stand,
The curb, the guardian, of this Border land;
As when the signal flame that blazed afar,
And bloody flag, proclaimed impending war,
While in the lion's place the leopard frowned,
And marshalled armies hemmed thy bulwarks round."

PLATE 21

GOLDILANDS NEAR
HAWICK

FROM A WATER-COLOUR SKETCH

PAINTED BY

JAMES ORROCK, R.I.

(_See pp. 98, 99_)

[Illustration]

V. IN THE BALLAD COUNTRY

To a shepherd in Canada Dr. Norman Macleod is said to have remarked,
"What a glorious country this is!" "Ay," said the man, "it is a very
good country." "And such majestic rivers!" "Oh, ay," was all the reply.
"And such good forests!" "Ay, but there are nae linties in the woods,
and nae braes like Yarrow!" Of course, the answer was from a purely
exile point of view, but even to those of the Old Country the name of
Yarrow wields the most wondrous fascination. Like Tweed, Yarrow is known
everywhere, for who has not heard of its "Dowie Dens," or of its lover