58 EXCUBSION TO ETTRICK FOREST. [Nov., 



Wheeling to the left and crossing 'Yarrow's stream' by the General's 

 Bridge, the party soon found themselves in front of the stately ruined pile 

 of Newark Castle, which, says Schetky, in his illustrations of ' The Lay 

 of the Last Minstrel,' — 



' Was built by James II. The Eoyal arms, •with the unicorn, are engraved 

 on a stone in the western side of tlie tower. There was a much more ancient 

 castle in its immediate vicinity, called Auldwark, founded, it is .said, by 

 Alexander III. Both were designed for the Royal residence when the king was 

 disposed to take his pleasure in the extensive forest of Ettrick. Various grants 

 occur in the records of the Privy Seal, bestowing the keeping of the Castle of 

 Newark upon different barons. . . . Upon the marriage of James IV. with 

 Margaret, sister of Henry VIII., the Castle of Newark, with the whole Forest 

 of Ettrick, was assigned to her as a part of her jointure lands. But of this she 

 could make little advantage ; for, after the death of her husband, she is found 



complaining heavily that Buccleuch had seized upon these lands. Indeed, the 

 office of keeper was latterly held by the family of Buccleuch, and with so firm 

 a grasp that, when the Forest of Ettrick was disparked, they obtained a grant of 

 the Castle of Newark in property. . . . The Castle continued to be an occa- 

 sional seat of the Buccleuch family for more than a century ; and here it is said 

 the Duchess of Monmouth and Buccleuch was brought up. For this reason, 

 probably, Sir Walter Scott made it the scene in which the " Lay of the Last 

 Minstrel " was recited in her presence and for her amusement.' 



From Newark a compass was fetched to Bowhill, the modern Yarrow 

 residence of the Duke of Buccleuch— the route taken being by the 

 beautiful road along the hanks of the Yarrow, known as the Duchess's 

 Drive, from Anne, Duchess of Buccleuch and Monmouth. In passing 

 along, many fine tress were noted, and especially some gr.iu i Larches, in a 

 holm near the Yarrow, some of which girth over 10 feet at 5 feet up, 

 with clean straight boles of GO feet or more. Ihrough the kindness of 



