34 SCOTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



forty-one to two thousand and sixty-three — a proof of the increased demand 

 which agricultural improvements and road-making have caused in this district. 



Retracing our steps to Ercildoune, or Earlston, according to modern ortho- 

 graphy, the mind is suddenly roused into \-ivid recollections of the poetry, romance, 

 legendary and antiquarian lore, which have all been employed to embellish, 

 mystify, and illustrate, this celebrated locaUty — the birth-place of Thomas the 

 Rhymer, and the scene of his fatidical history. Independently of this, however, 

 the immediate vicinity of Di-ybui-gh and Melrose had long conferred upon 

 Earlston that distinction which no other circumstance could have bestowed. 

 The banks of the Leader, where it meanders between the hills of Carolside, 

 and through the classic grounds of Cowdenknows, are eminently beautiful, 

 and a well-known theme in Scottish song. The house of Carolside is one of 

 the sweetest rural retirements that peace and philosophy could select. The 

 deep, yet cheerful tranquillity of the surrounding vale — the hills, which in 

 summer afford shade, and in winter shelter, and partly shut out the tourist's 

 too familiar look — the deep shadowy verdure in which it is embosomed, and 

 the classic scenes over which it ranges — all contribute to fascinate the eye, 

 soothe the mind, and recall to memory the emphatic — " lUe terrarum mihi 

 praeter omnes angulus ridet." 



Here the dread bolts that scare a prostrate world 



Thunder unheard : bright on the Leader's wave 

 The sunbeam slumbers ; and the leaves scarce curled 



By the cool breeze, their verdant tresses lave 

 Translucent through its tide. — Here song has breathed 

 Its spell — and peace her halcyon olive Wieathed. — MS. 



Cowdenknows is the seat of Dr. Home, one of the first medical autho- 

 rities living, whose scientific qualifications as a philosopher, have been long 

 familiar to the ears of learned foreigners ; while, to his own immediate circle, 

 he is endeared by a happy union of the social and domestic \drtues. The 

 pastoral melody so long cherished, under the name of " The Broom of the 

 Cowdenknows," has conferred a poetical sanctity on the place, which has 

 lost nothing of its strength by the lapse of many generations. It is still 

 frequented, as of yore, by numerous pilgrims, and receives its due share of 

 homage from all lovers of the minstrel's art. The ancient tower, and its 

 dungeon, belonging to the same estate, are the subject of much legendary 

 matter, which has wound its romantic annals inseparably with the place. 



Not many years since, an ancient thorn-tree, in which, according to tradition, 

 the destinies of the people were involved, was always pointed out to travellers 



