here you have Galashiels, and Torwoodlee,
and Gala Water; and in that direction you see Teviotdale and
the Braes of Yarrow, and Ettrick stream winding along like a
silver thread, to throw itself into the Tweed.' He went on
thus to call over names celebrated in Scottish song, and
most of which had recently received a romantic interest from
his own pen. In fact, I saw a great part of the Border
country spread out before me, and could trace the scenes of
those poems and romances which had in a manner bewitched the
world.

"I gazed about me for a time with mute surprise, I may
almost say with disappointment. I beheld a mere succession
of gray waving hills, line beyond line, as far as my eye
could reach, monotonous in their aspect, and so destitute of
trees, that one could almost see a stout fly walking along
their profile; and the far-famed Tweed appeared a naked
stream, flowing between bare hills, without a tree or
thicket on its banks; and yet such had been the magic web of
poetry and romance thrown over the whole, that it had a
greater charm for me than the richest scenery I had beheld
in England. I could not help giving utterance to my
thoughts. Scott hummed for a moment to himself, and looked
grave; he had no idea of having his Muse complimented at the
expense of his native hills. 'It may be pertinacity,' said
he at length; 'but to my eye, these gray hills, and all this
wild Border country, have beauties peculiar to themselves. I
like the very nakedness of the land; it has something bold,
and stern, and solitary about it. When I have been for some
time in the rich scenery about Edinburgh, which is like
ornamented garden land, I begin to wish myself back again
among my own honest gray hills; and if I did not see the
heather, at least once a year, _I think I should die!_' The
last words were said with an honest warmth, accompanied by a
thump on the ground with his staff, by way of emphasis, that
showed his heart was in his speech. He vindicated the Tweed,
too, as a beautiful stream in itself; and observed that he
did not dislike it for being bare of trees, probably from
having been much of an angler in his time; and an angler
does not like to have a stream overhung by trees, which
embarrass him in the exercise of his rod and l