up to recent years it was in the possession of Maxwells, who were associated with the old Celtic family of the Kirkconnels, who settled in Nithsdale in Malcolm Canmore's time. It is now possessed by Sir Edward JohnstonFerguson, Bart.

Having strolled through the policies, and overhanging avenues, steps were turned toward the graveyard of Kirkconnel, on Kirtle's banks. The neighbourhood is rich in historical interest, reminiscent of Border feuds and frays. The glen through which the river flows could tell tales of raids and burnings, of fights and vendettas in days when men of the moss hags rode forth at noon and returned all bloody at nightfall, carrying their dead on litters before a cavalcade of jaded horses.

Singular interest gathers around the little "God's Acre," in that it is the scene of the love story of Helen Irving and Adam Fleming, the young laird of Kirkpatrick, which has been the subject of more than one exquisite and touching ballad. The best known begins:

"I wish I were where Helen lies,
Night and day on me she cries,
And I am weary of the skies

For her sake that died for me."

The story briefly told is as follows:-Fleming, already mentioned, and Dick Bell o' Blackit House sought the hand of "Fair Helen o' Kirkconnel Lee "-an Irving whose family had a long pedigree, and whose proud, haughty manner, usurping powers, and turbulent ways,

when the house was stronger, were known over the land. Bonshaw Tower, not far afield, is still the home of the acknowledged head of this Border clan. Other families were domiciled at Cove, Robgill, Wood House, Stapleton, and places in Eskdale. A sketch of the clan appeared in volume xii. of the "B.M." Helen preferred Adam Fleming, who had met her one day as she was riding over Kirtle Ford and "stown awa' her heart." The disappointed suitor, meditating vengeance on his favoured rival, traced the lovers to their usual trysting place, and by the light of the moon fired his cavatine at Fleming. Fair Helen flung herself before her lover, received the fatal bullet, and died in his arms.

A desperate combat ensued. The two were well matched. Inch by inch the murderer was driven into a corner. Bell's guard was broken down, and in a few moments he was "hacked in pieces sma'."

Fleming fled to foreign lands, fought under the banner of the Cross, and covered himself with glory and wounds. One thought, however, was ever with him. In combat and in strife the beautiful face and form was ever present. He wailed forth his sorrow:

"O Helen, fair beyond compare,
I'll weave a garland o' thy hair,
Shall bind my heart for evermair
Until the day I dee."

Long years after he comes home from the fields of Spain, his heart still torn and bleeding, and finds his way to the sacred spot. In the early dawn he was found dead on Helen Irving's grave.

A stone marks the resting place of the lovers, and a carved sword and cross, with the words "Hie Jacet Adamus Fleming" tells that one lies here who fought against the Infidel in the days of the Holy Wars.

Beyond the sequestered spot the pedestrian finds himself in the heart of a country held by the powerful clans Maxwells, Johnstones, Jardins, and Irvings. Between the two first the wardenship of the middle and west marches tossed for years, and caused bitter and deadly feuds. The Johnstones were incessantly sounding their battle cry "Ready, aye ready." For generations these clans were prominent in the wars of their day

"They knew the battle din afar,
And enjoyed to hear t swell."

Passing through Eaglesfield one is impressed with the air of comfort and cleanliness that is about. It no longer merits the designation

"Poverty Row," given it by one who made a fruitless "cadge within its bounds. Few villages can show such a thriving and enterprising industry, a tailoring and drapery concern, unique for a country district, and a monument to capacity and energy.

Touching at Kirtlebridge amusement was found in the conversation regarding the doings of the Salvation Army. Two ladies were shocked that the child of a Colonel should be "dedicated from its birth to the service and glory of God, to preach the Gospel to the poor and to serve and to save the lost."

The roadway here traversed lead through one of the most interesting parishes in the frontier country. Middlebie, which comprises the ancient parishes of Middlebie, Penersauchs, and Carruthers. Here the Bells mustered so strongly at one time that "the Bells o' Middlebie became a proverbial expression over a wide area. An article dealing with the parish and the Carlyle country appeared in volume x. of the "B.M."

Birrens, Scotsbrig, and other places of note lay away to the right. The quaint churchyard of Penersauchs was found by the wayside. Many of Carlyle's ancestors rest here. An old flat stone marks out their burial ground. An aunt, Aggie, of the famous Dumfriessian, who, for obvious reasons, is never mentioned in his writings, was wont to be carried round the Middlebie farms as a professional beggar. Like Fanny, mentioned in a former paper, this lady had all the Carlyle traits, restless, vehement, and whimsical.

The mode of relieving the poor in these days was of the simplest character. The deserving, who had been three years in the parish, were given permission to beg and wore a distinctive garb, and a badge with the name of their parish. The objects" were carried or "cadged" on a hurdle or hand-barrow from farm to farm.

How Aggie Carlyle came to join the objects" is not clear, but it is certain that she was one of the best known in the district. Her excellent memory, good stories, budget of news, combined with her powers of graphic language, raised her to the top rung of her profession. She was popular about the farm

towns.

Farmers' sons are said to have taken special delight in depositing Aggie, when in a bad key, at the door of those against whom they had a grudge. To such she was a thorn in the flesh, and made things so lively that they were glad to pass her on to the next "pitch."

The late Irving Bell, Dockenflat, informed a

friend of the writer's that he had often assisted in carrying this member of the noted family from his father's house to neighbouring farms. He also described how she was passed along the valley of the Mein towards the village of Ecclefechan, where the Carlyles "were never liked." He also had many of her sayings, droll stories, and interesting reminiscences of her "ongauns."

G. M. R.

DEATH OF THE ETTRICK SHEPHERD'S DAUGHTER.

T will be a surprise to many to read the heading of this paragraph, but to not a few readers it will be the snapping of a link which has bound thein to the now distant days when the Ettrick Shepherd was a living personality among the hills and vales he loved so well.

The death took place recently in Aberdeen of Mrs William Garden, at the age of seventynine. Mrs Garden was the youngest daughter of James Hogg, the "Ettrick Shepherd." Her maiden name was Mary Gray Hogg, and she was one of a family of a son and four daughters. Mrs Garden was the widow of Mr William Garden, Braco Park, a herring merchant in Fraserburgh, who died some years ago. Mrs Garden possessed many relics of her father, including the original MSS. of many of his works, and autograph letters of the many eminent personages with whom he corresponded. One relic of which she was very proud is an oil painting of the Ettrick Shepherd, the work of James Scott, from the London Academy, who had been sent down to Scotland for the express purpose by Allan Cunningham, the friend of Hogg. Mrs Garden edited a volume of the "Memorials of James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd," with preface by the late Professor Veitch, and a new introduction by Sir George Douglas.

The death occurred on 22nd May, 1911, at his residence in Sinclair Terrace, Wick, of Dr Samuel Elliot, one of the best known medical practitioners in Caithness. Dr Elliot was a son of a Border farmer, and graduated at Edinburgh. He went to Wick twenty-five years ago as assistant, and subsequently succeeded to the practice. He was parish doctor for the southern division of Wick, and for Bower and Watten. He had been in ill-health for some years, but at his best he was one of the most successful surgeons in the North of Scotland. He was a Justice of the Peace for the county.

THE BORDER BOOKCASE.

CHILDREN'S GARDENS.

It is a pleasing feature of present-day education that so much attention is being devoted to the great book of Nature. The observing faculties of the bairns are being strengthened, and the softening influences of the flowers of the field are beginning to have the desired effect. In connection with not a few of our Border schools, gardens have been started and small plots set apart for the pupils. To all interested we can recommend "Children's Gardens," by Mrs Mabel Edwards Webb, F.R.H.S. London: Agricultural and Horticultural Association. Price One Penny.

This is one of the series of popular Penny One & All Garden Books edited by Edward Owen Greening, who, in "a few forewords" by way of preface, mentions that "the authoress is an enthusiastic lover of plants, who thoroughly studied horticul ture and made herself proficient in the art of gardening, in the first place from natural bent, for true gardeners, like poets, are born, not made. Her interest in the question of gardens for children was aroused when instructing her own dear little ones in garden lore. Their ready receptivity of instruction, their quick apprehension of all information about plants and flowers, and their overflowing happiness in garden work to which she set them, made her convinced that Nature teaching is, of all kinds of teaching, the best for children. The growth of a plant from a tiny seed to perfect development of flowers and fruit is to children what it ought to be to any of us-a miracle. In such things wisdom dwells with our little ones who have not lost the sense of wonder and delight, or had their powers of appreciation blunted by the wear and tear of life."

Mr Greening adds that the book gives practical garden instruction in language which can be understood by children and renders each lesson interesting without sacrificing accuracy. The illustrations are very numerous and interesting, including pictures of School Gardens at Home and America.

*

*

in

* ANGLING SKETCHES FROM A WAYSIDE INN. In our last issue we briefly noticed Mr Duncan Fraser's new work which bears the above attractive title, and we desire to take this further opportunity of recommending the beautifully got up book to our readers. Although specially interesting to anglers, it is not necessary to be a follower of Izaak Walton to appreciate Mr Fraser's delightful sketches in prose and verse. After a holiday among the hills or valleys of the Borderland we can hardly imagine anything more delightful than to sit down in the cool of the evening and live it all over again while perusing the fine descriptions and racy stories of this anglers' laureate. Handsomely bound, clearly printed on strong paper, and readable from cover to cover, we are not surprised to learn that the volume is meeting with that appreciation it so well deserves. Mr Fraser thus closes the prologue to his book:

These reflections are the natural outcome of many years of angling experiences all over Scotland; but they are focussed in this wayside inn be

cause here we had our keenest early angling joys, and here probably we shall have our last.

Notwithstanding this, each year finds us buoyant and hopeful as ever, ready to greet old friends with song and story, and happy if our circle is enlarged by the advent of new aspirants for the cheering fellowship of the sportsmen of the wayside inn.

"The time of the singing of birds has come.

There is green on the hedge, and rare tints on the moor;

Our very heart's-blood has set off with a run,
At thought of a sight of the old inn!
So, it's pack creels and go, my lads,
Pack creels and go;

The snow's left the hills, and the brown waters flow;

There are new nests round Altrive,
And black-cock fly low;

And each night dies in song at the old inn!

The west wind blows soft from the lake of St Mary's,

And Yarrow flows full near famed Dryhope's lone shore,

The piper's scaur grim, and the craig never varies,

For all are bound up with the old inn! So, it's pack creels and go, my lads, Pack creels and go;

The snow's left the hills, and the brown waters flow;

There are new nests round Altrive,
And black-cock fly low;

And each night dies in song at the old inn!"

We can imagine the happy memories which will be awakened in the minds of not a few readers when they notice the above title. To the genuine Teri Hawick's Hawick, and there's nae place like it," but even to those who, like ourselves, have learned to love the rare old Border town without being natives, there is an attractiveness about everything connected with "Hawick among the hills." When we say, however, that the author of the above named volume, which now lies before us, is Mr John Cumming Goodfellow, the veteran bookseller, archaeologist, &c., we feel sure that we add to the interest of the title. Mr Goodfellow, whom we have known since the rather distant days of youth, is an enthusiast in whatever he puts his hand to, and consequently anything coming from his hand is worthy of attention.

Eighteen years ago Mr Goodfellow published "Occasional Poems and Verses," which was well received by the public, and we have no doubt that the present volume, published by J. C. Goodfellow & Son, Hawick, will meet with even a more hearty reception. The book, which is nicely printed and well bound, contains over eighty poems, the subjects of the pieces being very varied indeed. To many of the poems the author has prefixed most interesting notes, which add considerably to the value of the book. Referring to these notes, Mr Goodfellow says:-" In regard to the mode in which the book appears, I have adopted what I think is a somewhat better way of giving explanatory notes. Thus, instead of giving them at the

end of the book, as has been the usual custom, I have prefixed such before the verses to which they have reference. A friend lately told me, when I asked him why he had bought a book of poems. that he had bought it for the notes, which he said were valuable and worth more than the verses. I shall be pleased if any of those who may buy this book may be of a similar opinion with regard to the prefatory notes. The work of writing them involved a considerable amount of work, which was, however, in every case, a labour of love."

Mr Goodfellow's opinion of poetry is well expressed in the following quotation from his preface: "The poetic is the dominant element in life. It is through the influence of the poetic spirit existing in human nature that sculpture, painting, and music have been loved, studied, and appreciated. Poetry is the uttered embodiment of human feeling and of human passion, in all its truthfulness and in all its intensity. Poetry is our expressed conceptions of the good, the truthful, and the beautiful."

The following poem selected from the volume is a fair sample of Mr Goodfellow's muse:

HAWICK: OUR HERITAGE.

I've often felt when sunny skies o'erhead
Looked down o'er Teviot's fair romantic vale,
When full of beauty were the Summer days,
That gladness, purity and innocence

Were fitting themes to win a poet's praise.
Romance o'er all has cast her wondrous spell,
The softened outline of the rounded hills
Is ever present in the Borderland,
While peaceful vales, that seem to stretch away
In unknown distance, here are close at hand.
Here Hardie's Hills in rugged beauty rise,
With knowes and hollows interspersed between,
Where roam the timid sheep, nor heed the roar
Of frequent trains, that through the rocky gorge
Day after day rush past for evermore.
Beyond the vale in which the town hath place,
The sunny hills, with clustering villas clad,

Look fair and charming to the gazing eye, While Wilton's broad domain, that shuts the view With pleasant blending, skirts the western sky. This is our heritage. Of old it was

A home of heroes, men of high renown,

Who bravely stemmed on many a bloody fiela The southern tide of war, who courted death, Though love of life would fain have made them yield.

Mr William Metcalfe, the composer of the air of the Cumberland hunting_song_and_the_march of the Border Regiment, D'ye ken John Peel?" has retired from the position of bass soloist of Carlisle Cathedral, which he has held for fifty years. He was a native of Norwich, and went to Carlisle in 1851. He was the conductor of the Carlisle Choral Society for many years. In addition to composing the air to "John Peel," which was founded on the old Scotch ballad of "Bonnie Annie,' he also composed a number of songs and concerted pieces. The Dean and Chapter have granted Mr Metcalfe a well-earned pension of £100 a year, and made a present to him of £30.

THE EDINBURGH SCOTT RELICS.

BY DAVID BARNETT.

CHAPTER III.

"EDINBURGH ARMY OF RESERVE."

N 1846 Dr Chalmers laid the foundation stone of the New College, on the site of a most handsome building known as "Tod's House." Mr Thomas Tod, the tanner, was a most successful man in business, and for a number of years Treasurer of the Orphan Hospital. His tanworks were at the south-east corner of the present West Princes Street Gardens, with an entrance from the south end of the Mound. Nothing, therefore, could be more natural than his selection of the above site for a mansionhouse. But the interesting fact remains that he could never muster courage to live in it, on account of the threatened French invasion which alarmed him so much. Indeed, he firmly believed that an invading army, marching up the Mound, was sure to attack an edifice so conspicuous. The house, before its demolition, was occupied by Mr Harry Guthrie, Auditor to the Court of Session, and brother of the eminent physician to the Russian Army, Dr Matthew Guthrie. This digression from our line of research is probably pardonable, as showing the excited state of Edinburgh society at the date in question, when the French invasion was a veritable reality in the mind of the community. whole country became a network of signals, by day and night, in close communication with Edinburgh Castle. A connection by Corstorphine Hill was gained with the west, while the cast depended on the Roman Camp and the Braid Hills. A proclamation with instructions was issued at Edinburgh in November; from it we learn that the occupiers of corn mills were to be prepared to remove or destroy the upper millstones and also their ovens (kilns), all live stock was to be secretly secured except in the parishes of North and South Leith, and St Cuthbert's, whence nothing was to be removed except horses and carriages, which were to be located in such "places of Rendezvous as now are, or may be hereafter directed on the signal being given." Neglect of this duty rendered the owners liable to the pain of having their horses shot and themselves punished. Relative to the crisis, Scott writes Ellis in October from Lasswade Cottage. "A beacon light communicating with that of Edinburgh

The

Castle, is just erecting in front of our quiet cottage. My field equipage is ready, and I want nothing but a pipe and a Schuurbartchen' to convert me into a complete hussar."

Considering the then prevailing tension it is not surprising to find a notice of ballot served on Scott, a notice from which he would have had some little difficulty of exemption had not his name been regularly inserted on the roll of the Volunteer Cavalry. From the Scots Magazine" we learn that the opinions

the present Clerk to the Lieutenancy; and also the circumstance of their having been overlooked by Lockhart. Written from Lasswade Cottage, on the 22nd July, three days after the notice was served, and addressed to Mr James Laing, Clerk to the Lieutenancy, the text is as follows: "Sir,-I observe by the enclosed summons that I am drawn a soldier of the Army Reserve, I beg to inform you it is my intention to claim the exemption provided in favour of Volunteer Cavalry, having been for several years a member of the Edinburgh