28 SCOTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



the master of the castle ; " come ye hither as foes or as friends ?" " As friends, 

 if friend thou be, and only foes when met by foemen — " answered the heir of 

 Wedderburn. " But your purpose ?" resumed the uncle. " Fair and honourable, 

 as thou shalt see ;" pointing at the same time to the two young ladies who were 

 already on horseback, and preparing for their triumphal progress to the Merse. 

 This was a farewell signal ; and the knight wheeKng to the south, and leaving 

 the uncle to reflect how " Love laughs at locksmiths," was soon at the head of the 

 joyous cavalcade, and the master of as fair a prize as ever crossed the Soltra. 



On their arrival at Polwarth the two marriages were celebrated in due form, 

 and the rural dances which succeeded under " the Thorn" — were the first to 

 commemorate an event propitious alike to the houses of Wedderburn and 

 Polwarth. From that date the custom was introduced of holding all marriage 

 festivals at " Polwarth on the Green." 



In the neighbouring and more elevated parish of Westruther there are tliree 

 locahties, each remarkable as having been the site of an ancient rehgious edifice. 

 That at Wedderlie remounts to a period anterior to the thfrteenth century, 

 according to various documents respecting it which have descended to our own 

 day. Almost the only part, however, of the ruins which now remain, is a vault 

 which, according to local tradition, the monks, when alarmed at the progress 

 of the reformation, selected as a stronghold for the reception of their rehques 

 and other treasures, till a more auspicious moment, as they hoped, should 

 summon them back to their deserted shrine. That at Spottiswoode, called 

 Whitechapel, has entirely disappeared, and its holy ground, desecrated by the 

 march of secular improvement, is now occupied by domestic oflices. It dates from 

 the reign of David II., and was founded by the lord of the manor as a place 

 of worship appropriated to his own family and retainers. A baptismal font is 

 the only surviving relic of this rural sanctuary — upon which few can look with 

 indifference who believe in that life-giving influence of which it is the symbol. 



The chapel of Bassendean has been more fortunate than the preceding, by 

 occupying, to a certain extent, its original position ; and stiU ser%'ing as a place 

 of sepulture to the present family, whose ancestor. Sir James Home, of Colden- 

 knows, obtained possession of the church lands and vicarage by a deed of 

 conveyance frorii the last incumbent, wliich was confirmed in 1573 by royal 

 cliarter. Several of those fastnesses, once so frequent in the March districts before 

 the Union, were striking features in the landscape of tliis neighbourhood ; but 

 the stern representatives of that period are now reduced to one soHtary tower — that 

 of Evelaw, or Ively, which is a very fair specimen of the style, and must have 

 been in its day a place of great strength and security. The lower part of these 



