In the Border CountryCrockett, W. S. (William Shillinglaw)
History
In the Border Country
Crockett, W. S. (William Shillinglaw)
Great Britain -- Description and travel
And up the Borthwick, a mile or two, on its steep bank sits Harden, a
place of more than ordinary note to the Scott student. Here Auld Wat,
Sir Walter's grandsire seven times removed, reigned a king among Border
reivers, whose deeds of derring-do have been long shrined by the
balladists, and graven deep on the tablets of memory. Hawick, the
Glasgow of the Borders, comes next in sight,--where Slitrig and Teviot
meet. An ancient town, but possessing few relics of antiquity, except
St. Mary's Church, and the Tower Inn, a dwelling of the Drumlanrig
Douglases, with the mysterious Moat "where Druid shades still flitted
round." The modernity of the place is, however, lost sight of annually
in the "riding of the marches," a custom which prevails also in Selkirk
and Langholm. It is the great public festival of the year, and dates
from time immemorial. Its memories are mostly of Flodden, and the brave
stand at Hornshole in the neighbourhood, the year after. The Flodden
flag, splendidly "bussed," is carried in civic and cornetal procession
with crowds continually singing--as only Teridom can--the rousing
martial air of "Teribus," the Hawick slogan, which expresses more than
any other the wild and defiant strain of the war-trump and the
battle-shout. Hawick, including Wilton, has several elegantly
architectured buildings, over a score of Tweed mills and factories,
seventeen churches, and boasts a population of nearly twenty thousand.
From Hawick to Kelso the distance is 21 miles, with a finely undulating
road all through. The railway journey _via_ St. Boswells is about double
the distance. Our way lies through some of the most storied scenery in
the Lowlands. The names on the map will give us an idea of the
exceedingly romantic character of this second half of the Teviot. Here
we come into touch with such song-haunted tributaries as the Jed and
Oxnam, the Rule and Kale, and Ale, and with many of the great houses
whose history has contributed more than any other to the making of the
Border Country. The names of Scott and Ker, Elliot and Douglas, Turnbull
and Riddell are patent to every parish through which we pass. At Minto,
the home of the Elliots and seat of the present Indian Viceroy, one is
reminded of the distinguished place which that family has held both in
the stormy and in the more peaceful times of Border story. Here Jean
Elliot wrote the "Flowers of the Forest," and Thomas Campbell his
"Lochiel's Warning." From Minto Crags, crowned with Fatlips Castle and
Barnhill's Bed, (729 feet) there is no more pleasing prospect in the
Borderland. The windings of the Teviot are traceable for miles, the
Liddesdale and Dumfriesshire heights hemming in the view on one side,
and the blue Cheviots on the other. Ruberslaw rises immediately in
front, with Denholm Dene on the right, and the narrow bed of the "mining
Rule" on the left, while behind to the north are distinctly seen the
three-coned Eildons, Earlston Black Hill, Scott's Sandyknowe, Hume
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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