FEW weeks ago I stood in the pretty little Churchyard of Ewes in Dumfriesshire, where rest the mortal remains of the late John Jardine of Thorlieshope and Arkleton.

A neat obelisk of white Thorlieshope sandstone marks his resting place, and reminds all who read its inscription that it is now well over a quarter of a century since Mr Jardine died.

The stone, by its moss-grown and neglected appearance, further testifies that he who sleeps beneath has not left behind him in this world any very near and dear one to take an interest in his grave, for with the death of his brother Charles, which took place a few years later, the old Border family of the Jardines of Thorlieshope became extinct.

The Jardines were proprietors of Thorlieshope since the beginning of the seventeenth century, if not before it, and representatives of the family succeeded each other in the tenancy of Arkleton for a like period--more than one hundred and fifty years.

Thorlieshope is in Liddesdale, near to Riccarton, and consists merely of a large sheep farm, with a limestone quarry, and another of white sandstone. Arkleton is in the Parish

of Ewes in Dumfriesshire, about six miles from Langholm, and has for centuries been in the possession of the Scott Elliots, who now reside there.

The earliest traces I have been able to discover of the Jardine family are in the Parish of Kirkton, near Hawick. In the Churchyard there, there is an old stone such as one would expect to have been erected by a respectable farmer of the period, with the inscriptions unfortunately partly obliterated.

The first name is indecipherable, but he must have been the patriarch of the family, for the stone sets forth that he died in 1715, aged 88 years.

The further names on this stone are, James Jardine, tenant of Waughope (in Rulewater), who died there aged 71, date obliterated, and his son John who died in 1733.

There is also a flat stone or trough "in memory of James Jardine, Esq., of Thorlieshope, who died at Arkleton in 1808, aged 76," and his wife who died in 1809, aged 71, also their sons, James who died in youth, and John, "tenant of Arkleton, who died there in 1819, aged 41."

Walter, son of the Tast-named, succeeded to the property and the tenancy of Arkleton

on the death of his father. He died at Arkleton in 1826, aged 54, and is buried in Newcastleton Churchyard, as is also his wife, who predeceased him by eighteen years.

The couple had five sons, and on the death of the father the family would be under trustees for a time. James, being the oldest son, eventually remained at Arkleton, where he became very popular, and where he died in 1846 at the early age of 36 years.

John was the second son, and as the chief subject of this sketch, will be referred to later. Thomas emigrated to Australia, and nothing more is known of him, except that, when last heard of, he had not made a fortune.

Walter went to sea, and seems to have been possessed of good ability, for he quickly rose to the rank of Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, and Captain in the East India Company's service. He might probably have risen still higher, but his health failed, and he was forced to return home. After a year or two at home, he wished to return to his ship, but was forbidden by the doctors.

The gallant Captain was, I am afraid, his own worst enemy. He took ill to his life of enforced idleness, and it was this, no doubt, that led him into company for the sake of amusement, where he got play for his wit, but otherwise no good. He was, however, a universal favourite at Arkleton with servants and visitors alike. He was very quick at repartee. On one occasion he returned from Carlisle races, and on entering the room where his brother John and another gentleman were seated, John said, "Well, did you see all the blackguards of the countryside there." "No, I did not see you there" was his ready reply. He died in 1865, aged 51.

Charles, the youngest son, went into business in Manchester in connection with cotton manufacturing. This evidently did not prove a success, for when his elder brother's health failed, Charles came home to manage the farm. It was perhaps inevitable that the servants at Arkleton did not take very kindly to his management at first. The old shepherd, particularly, could ill brook the interference of "the Manchester calico printer," as he termed him. His autocratic manner, the result, no doubt, of his business training, was not quite what the Arkleton operatives had been accustomed to, and they were quick to resent it. For example, during the hay and harvest time, when dinner was carried out to the men, Charles would appear at the close of

the hour of rest, watch in hand, with the brief salutation "Commence."

He is said to have had rather a liking for litigation, and was often in Court, where, like the little boy's mother, he generally managed to prove that he was right whether he was right or not. As a boy he must have been rather tricky. John used to relate of him that once when the hay was being led in he alarmed his father by shouting "Faither, the cairt's coupit." When it became evident that it had not "coupit" he explained "I juist wantit to see my faither rinning." When James died in 1846, John took over the farm, and Charles eventually removed to the farm of Riccarton in Liddesdale, where he died in 1886, aged 68.

By his will he left a sum of money to the Edinburgh University, to found the Jardine of Thorhieshope bursaries "for poor students, natives of the rural parishes of Roxburghshire and Dumfriesshire." He left a further sum to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary to endow a bed, which is named after him.

All the brothers are buried in Newcastleton with the exception of John, and he who went to Australia, and none of them ever married. At the time of James' death John was tenant of Rewcastle, near Jedburgh, and until the Rewcastle lease expired, he farmed both it and Arkleton, residing of course at the latter. It was in 1846 that he returned to the home of his fathers, and it is safe to say, that from that date till the date of his death, there was no one better known, or more highly respected, in the whole Parish of Ewes, than he who came to be known at Arkleton, by every man, woman and child about the place, as "the maister."

There must be many still living who remember him well, but for the benefit of those who do not, the photo supplement, from a lifesized portrait in my possession, and representing him, I think, a good few years before he died, will convey a fairly accurate impression of the "maister's" appearance. He was of medium height, inclined latterly to stoutness of figure, and walked with a slight stoop. When at rest he had a habit of sitting, as we say, "hunkered up," with his stick between his knees, which gave him an oldfashioned look. He always dressed in a loose suit of hodden grey, with a white shirt and black tie, the latter hardly ever properly put on. He was, in fact, very careless about his clothes. His nether garments, which he never, by any chance, turned up in walking.

about the farm, were, in consequence, usually caked with mud round the feet, and his habit of shuffling his ankles together when walking caused them to be often fringed with wear. He wore a square black felt hat, and always carried a stout "nibby." His tastes and habits were in keeping with his homely appearance, and he had a great contempt for all kinds of outward display. He was a nonsmoker, and during the latter part of his life, at least, a total abstainer. I am unable to speak of his earlier years, but when I re

believe, only once lost a course out of twentytwo run in public.

A note in "Field and Fern" of the period says "If the Jardine dogs live through the middle of a course they live to the finish. They are always kept well all summer-a great secret of success in coursing-for there is no more determined man than their owner, or one who succeeds better in everything he takes in hand." Mr Jardine took also a very great interest in his garden, which he laid out and stocked largely at his own expense. In the

world of horticulture the name of Arkleton is well remembered, for it was there that, between 1865 and 1875, there was grown a succession of monster bunches of grapes, culminating, in 1875, with one weighing (when cut) 26 lbs. 8 oz., the largest bunch of grapes on record as having been grown anywhere.

Mr Jardine had become, from life-long experience, a first-class judge of live stock-cattle and sheep. The Arkleton sheep used to be well known all over the Borders, and, I

believe, the high quality of the stock is still maintained

His retiring disposition, no doubt, kept him. from taking that active part in local public affairs to which he was, as it were, entitled by his position, as a country gentleman. I believe, when the railway between Hawick and Carlisle was first under consideration, and it was a disputed point whether it should go through Liddesdale, or through Teviot and Ewes, Mr Jardine, as a strong partisan of the former route, gave evidence before the Commission. "I ken every fit o' the grun'," he told them, I understand, to their great amusement. Those who travel down by the early morning train must often fervently wish that the more direct route had been selected, but those who love the Ewes and Teviot are for ever grateful to the decision that left the pastoral solitude and simplicity of these lovely valleys undisturbed.

I do not think that the "maister" ever went much from home. Hospitable as he was, he was never seen to greater advantage, and never happier, than when entertaining a party of his chosen cronies in his own home, but the honest simplicity of his nature was such that I am sure he would have felt out of place amongst the formalists of society. He was. like all his family, singularly thoughtful and kind to all his employees. There was an old man at Arkleton-James Jackson-who had served there all his life; first as a boy with the "maister's" uncle, then with Walter his father, next with James his brother, and finally with John, with whom he remained latterly as a pensioner, until he died. In this connection it might not be out of place to mention one, who will be remembered by all who remember Mr Jardine-Jeannie Glendinning, the "maister's" old housekeeper-who came with him from Rewcastle, and who remained with him at Arkleton until she died at a ripe old age. It is to be feared that such fidelity, equally creditable to master and servant, is not now so common as it used to be.

The "maister," being looked up to by every one in the parish, was frequently consulted by the inhabitants about merely personal grievances, and displayed much kindly sagacity in dealing with them. On one occasion an old man-Andrew Dryden-complained about his neighbour's hens scratching up his garden. Mr Jardine asked him if he kept hens, and he said that he did. "Then do they not scratch!" "No," said Andrew. "Well," said the "maister," "bring me ten settings of

your eggs, for that is the kind of hens I want."

While possessed of considerable shrewdness, it was perhaps one of the "maister's" failings that he was too unsuspicious, and his good nature was in consequence not infrequently imposed upon. Rather an amusing instance of this may be worth recording. A cow had taken ill, and two of the men were sent to administer to her a soothing draught. The dose consisted of half a bottle of whisky, which was to be mixed with linseed oil before administration. Considering the composition of the medicine, and the frailty of human nature, it was only to be expected that it was not mixed with the oil, and that the poor patient got none of it. The two unfaithful ones had, in fact, just finished it between them, when the "maister" was heard approaching. With great presence of mind, one held open the cow's mouth, and when Mr Jardine opened the door, the other with the bottle pushed well down the animal's throat was saying, "Gie her it a', puir beast, if it's to dae her ony guid.'

Of such a retired life as Mr John Jardine lived, amid quiet surroundings, and shunning all kinds of publicity, there is, of course, little to record beyond the personal impressions of those who were brought into contact with him in his daily life, and perhaps enough has been said to convey the picture of a country gentleman of the old school, whose outstanding qualities were the rare ones of unselfishness and true humility. No sketch of the "maister," however, would be complete that failed to take note of one most marked and pleasing feature in his character, and that was his great fondness for and tactful gentleness with children. I am well qualified to speak of this, for it is this feature that causes him to bulk so largely in the happy fairyland of my childish recollection. Bound up as he is with all the delightful reminiscences of my childhood's days, I can see, as I turn over the pages of memory, many pleasing pictures of him in a great variety of settings.

I can recall his homely figure, sitting in his Stanhope gig, while his old brown mare, "Fanny," rattled him on the homeward journey, along the highway from Langholm, and I can see him yet as "Fanny" turned down the "Path," craftily picked her way through the Ewes at the ford, and raced him up the approach" to his home and her's.

I think of him sometimes, as he would patiently sit, for hours, on a sunny day, at