In the churchyard, under the fifth window of the nave, is the tomb of a modern worthy, Sir David Brewster, who lived at Allerly, near Gattonside, and died in 1868. Elsewhere is the grave of faithful Tom Purdie, marked by a monument raised by Scott himself, from whose pen proceeded the inscription. "In grateful remembrance," runs this model epitaph, "of his faithful and attached service of twenty-two years, and in sorrow for the loss of a humble but sincere friend." Poor Tom! he could not have gone about with a prepossessing aspect if he sat for Cristal Nixon in "Redgauntlet." Yet when he was brought before Sir Walter on a charge of poaching, and with mingled pathos and humour set forth his hardships and temptations--a wife and children dependent upon him, work scarce, and grouse abundant--the Sheriff's heart was touched; so Tom, instead of being haled off to prison, was taken on as shepherd, and afterwards made bailiff. Sir Walter was not infallible. He was grossly imposed upon by the Flemish guide at Waterloo. But perhaps no one ever lived who better understood the Lowland peasant; and in this instance he had no reason to question his insight. Purdie identified himself with all Scott's concerns, talked of "our trees" as the plantation at Abbotsford proceeded, and of "our buiks" as the novels came out, and never ceased to amuse his generous master with his quaint humour, or to gratify him by his efficient service. A little above the centre of the town the stream is crossed by a suspension foot-bridge, which connects Melrose with Gattonside, granted to the Abbey by its founder, and still celebrated for its orchards. The footpath which follows the windings of the river, with wooded slopes on either hand, leads past Skirmish Hill, at Darnick, the scene of the "Battle of Melrose," one of many consequences of the disaster at Flodden, which left the realm with a king in long clothes. The gallant attempt made at the king's own suggestion, and in his presence, by Sir Walter Scott of Buccleuch, to cut the leading-strings in which the Douglases insisted upon keeping the high-spirited monarch, was frustrated by the inopportune return of the lairds of Cessford and Fairnyhurst, and Buccleuch and his men had to flee for their lives.