is Howgate, at Thornilee, in the parish of Innerleithen, and county of Selkirk. All the while you are coming down from Innerleithen you have the celebrated Ettrick Forest on the south side of the river, which extends from this to the Yarrow, famous in story and in Scottish song; and, no doubt, in anticipating some old feud of the border-one of them runs thus, Sister, sister, I dream'd a dream, I hope it won't breed sorrow; I dream'd that your true love and mine, This is on the estate of Stow, and the lands are farmed by Mr Roxburgh, who can cast a capital line for salmon, for I never saw him descend to trout. Next is Elibank Boat Pool for trout. The old castle, the scene of the story of Muckle Mouth'd Meg, stands just above the house where the late Eagle Henderson lived, and few ever spent an evening with him that soon forgot it, 'Ah! memory, whither art thou straying?' I well remember spending an evening here, and when put ashore, as I supposed, on the bank, I stepped up to the middle in Tweed. Below this, the Island Stream, the Knout Seg, followed by the Steel pool, all of which are good for trout and salmon. Then comes the famous pool of Gleddis Wiel, where Laidlaw, Hogg, and Sir Walter, used to liester salmon, and which is so well and graphically described by Lockhart in his Life of Scott, and also in the Border Angler, page 67, that I must pass it. This sport in Tweed must now, in the words of Pope, only 'Live in description and look green in song;' for, by the new law of the Duke of Roxburghe, it is prohibited; but, as an old fisher, I have been a partaker of its excitement and also of its sport; for, by the old law, it was allowed so to do by night or day; and I well remember when my jolly friend Bryson came out on a geological excursion to the Quarry, being accompanied by him to Clapperton's Haugh, and on throwing a noble shaft at a fish, I was nearly swept away in the flood, having struck it in too deep and rapid water; and, on recovering myself, saw a fine salmon of 25 to 30 lbs. walloping at the end of my liester down stream. It was found next morning by one of the hinds, and a good prize it was. In summer I have seen great sport here with the liester, when the river ran low and clear. This is reckoned one of the best pools on this water. Many a good run I have got myself, and many as capital have I been witness to. The last good one I saw about twelve years ago; I offered the old man 5s. for the fish while on the line, and to take my chance of his landing it. He said little, for I never saw a more exciting run; the whole of his line out, and the fish 'scudding under favouring gales,' many yards sometimes over the very top of the water, and the line meanwhile not being seen; when landed, for I gaffed it myself, I renewed my offer with addition, but the old man resisted, shook his head, and said 'Na, I'll just een tak it hame and let the guidwife see't.' It proved to be a buttoner1 fish of twenty pounds. Where are such fish now? Echo answers, where! The next stream which can be fished from the side, after you pass the Hurl, is immediately opposite the Cottage. This modest dwelling, the scene of many a blythe night of meeting, has been the place of rendezvous of an old fishing club these thirty years bygone; and of all places for a fishing station it is one of 1 These buttoner fish are so called from an exterior mark, like a button, on their throat.-' Grey Schule' fish. the best and most convenient, a good trouting stream being only a rod's length from the door. Moreover, while you take your "ease in your Inn," or rest your head on your pillow, you can behold the state of the water, which, in an unpropitious morning for sport is no doubt very agreeable; for a 'little more sleep a little more slumber,' after a hard day previously at the water is sometimes pleasant. Here have I seen come, with faces blanched like a London baker, those who had been confined for months to the desk or counter, and go away in a few days with the blush of the rose on their cheek. I have seen grief personified, depart smiling and cheerful; and have I not seen also avaricious hearts enter, and go out again resolving for the future to be more beneficent! So much for our Cottage at the Quarry.1 Oh that 1 Here in the spring we are visited by many cuckoos, and Shortrede, the shepherd, told me a curious story about one; it had laid an egg-as they generally do,—in a small bird's nest, on the hill, and when the young cuckoo was hatched along with the rest, by its size and strength of wing, it turned out all the other little ones from the nest. He often put these in again, and the old pair had great difficulty to keep them all in food. But one morning, he found the little brood had been uncere those once so happy here were permitted to revisit this peaceful and humble abode! How pleased would we be to see their happy faces, and to repeat over again many of our curious tales relating to fishing-many a time, and oft, told with great glee and fun. The old poet says somewhere, that the joys we have enjoyed the gods cannot deprive us of; and as I would rather leave melancholy reminiscences, I shall pass downwards to the Caddonlee Water, on the estate of Admiral Pringle, just now no more. The first pool on this water is the Rampling, from the number of ramps, or wild onions, which grow abundantly on the south side. The Ashiestiel boat pool,-on the side of which you see the oak tree (not a huge tree), where, we are informed by Lockhart, Sir Walter Scott sat often while he was composing Marmion-The Gullets at the Bridge, Moss, and Nedpath pools, follow, the last of which is on Fairnilee water, the property of Mrs Pringle of Haining. Near this picturesque bridge is the Nest, where a club moniously turned out by it, and all lay dead on the ground. The young cuckoo was shortly afterwards sent to Edinburgh, in a cage, where, however, it soon after followed them to the grave. |