SPOTTISWOODE. — VEITCH. — HOME. 31 



scientific station, he returned in 1562, to enjoy his otium cum dignitate in the 

 retirement of his patrimonial estate. 



As one among numerous instances that might be adduced, in proof of the 

 vast progress that has latterly been made in the cultivation of waste lands in 

 this district, it may be stated on authority already quoted, that on the Spottis- 

 woode estate alone, thirty miles of drains have been dug, variously interspersed 

 from five to seven, and even thirteen feet in depth. Besides these, several 

 thousand roods of open cuts, averaging from ten to twenty feet wide, and from 

 five to seven feet deep, discharge a large body of water on the eastern side into 

 the Blackadder, and on the western side into one of the tributaries of the Leader. 

 The advantages of this extensive system of draining are incalculable ; it has 

 brought into a state of tillage, pasture, and thriving plantation, many hundi-eds 

 of acres which were formerly overflovnng with water — added much beauty to 

 the landscape, greatly improved the salubrity of the climate, and afforded shelter 

 to the cattle. It is but justice to add, that these spirited improvements 

 have been efl^ected under the skilful superintendence of Mr. Black, so favourably 

 known by his Essay on Draining, for which a silver cup was awarded him by 

 the Highland Society. 



The Rev. John Veitch — brother to the justly celebrated minister of that 

 name who has lately found a biographer in one of the most elegant and 

 powerful writers of the day — was the first Presbyterian incumbent of Westruther ; 

 and, by the numerous and excellent qualities of head and heart which here 

 distinguished his ministry, his name forms an important epoch in its parochial 

 history. In consequence of the multitudes who resorted to his preaching from 

 a distance — Edinburgh, and even Fife, many of whom were of the first respect- 

 ability — the charitable collections then made, and afterwards accumulated, were 

 of the greatest service diu'ing the severe dearth and scarcity of 1800, and 

 are still considerable as a fund in reserve for the distressed poor of the place. 

 The Rev. John Home, author of " Douglas," has also, by a temporary residence 

 in this neighbourhood, contributed a pleasing association to its other attractions. 

 It was while wandering in solitary musing in the woods of Flass, sm-rounded 

 by desert heaihs and gloomy morasses, that he composed the greater portion 

 of tliat celebrated tragedy, in which a description of the locality seems to have 

 been embodied in the 'ine soliloquy, beginning — • 



" Vn woods nnd wilds, whose melanclioly gloom 

 Accords with ray soul's sadness," &c. 



