maternal
great-grandfather, John Rutherford, who was minister of the parish from
1691 to 1710. Scott spoke of Yarrow as the "shrine of his ancestors,"
and himself, like Hogg, and Willie Laidlaw, frequently worshipped within
its old grey walls. Further down the stream, the "shattered front of
Newark's towers" reminds us that here Scott placed the recital of the
"Lay." He would fain have fitted up the ancient fabric as a residence,
had it been possible. Almost opposite, the birthplace of Mungo Park, the
first of the knight-errantry of Africa, attracts attention, and a mile
or two nearer Selkirk, are Philiphaugh, and "sweet Bowhill," the two
finest domains in the Forest. The Covenanters' Monument within
Philiphaugh grounds is worthy of notice, and on the Ettrick side,
Kirkhope and Oakwood, both in fairly good repair, are excellent
specimens of the peel period. At Selkirk, the capital of Ettrickdale,
Scott's statue as "the Shirra"--a most admirable representation--looks
out at scenes upon which his eyes in life must often have feasted. Here
we read the lines that express his heart's deep love for a district
interwoven so closely with all the years of his working life:

"By Yarrow's streams still let me stray,
Though none should guide my feeble way;
Still feel the breeze down Ettrick break,
Although it chill my wither'd cheek."

PLATE 23

VIEW OF NEW ABBEY
AND CRIFFEL

FROM A WATER-COLOUR SKETCH

PAINTED BY

JAMES ORROCK, R.I.

[Illustration]

VI. THE LEADER VALLEY.

To the present writer, the valley of the Leader, or Lauderdale, has
attractions and memories that are second to none in the Border. "Here,
first,"--to use Hogg's lines--

"He saw the rising morn,
Here, first, his infant mind unfurled
To ween the spot where he was born
The very centre of the world."

Lauderdale constitutes one of the "three parts" into which Berwickshire,
like Ancient Gaul, is divided. The others are the Merse, (_i.e._,
March-Land)--often a distinctive designation for the entire county, but
applicable especially to the low-lying lands beside the Tweed;
Lammermoor, so named from the Lammermoor Hills ranging across the county
from Soutra Edge and Lammer Law in the extreme north-west, to the
coastline at Fast Castle and St. Abbs. Lauderdale, the westernmost
division, running due north and south, embraces simply the basin of the
Leader and its tributaries so far as the basin i