52 EXCUBSION TO E'JTinCK FOBEST. [Nov., 



Scott's MS., circa 1619, in the Advocate's Library, Edinburgh, it is stated 

 that at that dsite ' some places remained well furuished with^ pleasant and 

 profitable woods, especially for building.' At the present day little remains, 

 however, of the venerable woods which made Ettrick Forest so famous in 

 ballad aud the chronicles of venerie, and neither hart nor hynd find their 

 wild haunts in any part of the district, 



' Meek loveliness is round thee spread, 

 A softness still and holy : 

 The grace of forest charms decayed. 

 And pastoral melancholy.' 



But if the higher slopes and the summits of the hills are bare and lonely, 

 by the loving enterprise of the proprietors of the vales of Yarrow and 

 Ettrick, a new forest of varied charms is springing up in graceful beauty 

 in the valleys, aud adorning with a leafy shade the rising grounds which 

 lead up to the heathery mountains. Much, very much, has been done dur- 

 ing the past half century to add to the delights of Yarrow, by planting in 

 accordance with the rules of landscape forestry. With so interesting a 

 past aad so instructive a present history, the Council had done well in 

 selecting Ettrick Forest as the sceue of the autumn excursion of the 

 Scottish Arboricultural Society. 



About thirty members assembled at the early hour of six o'clock on 

 Wednesday morning, at the Waverley Station, Edinburgh. A special 

 carriage was placed at their disposal, and though the morning was grey 

 and not very promising, the party were in the (dythest spirits. Selkirk 

 was reached at half-past eight, aud the party climbed up the steep braes of 

 the ancient llojal burgh to the County Hotel, where breakfast was served 

 aud thoroughly enjoyed. Shortly after ten o'clock, a start was made in 

 two open brakes for a run through Ettrick Forest by way of Philiphaugh, 

 Newark, and Bowhill. Vv inding down the steep hill-side, on which Sel- 

 kirk is built, a graud view is obtained of good part of the vales of Yarrow 

 and Ettrick. On the north are the woods of Philiphaugh, to the west 

 those of Bowhill, and north-eastward yet those of Sunderland Hall. 



To the north and east are the woods of the Eink, Gala, Liudean, 

 Faldonside and Abbotsford, while rising above this wealth of foliage 

 in all its autumn glory, are the lofty rouuded hills which impart such a 

 peculiarly pastoral charm to much of the county. The good burgh of 

 Selkirk is historically iuterestiug. It rose under the shadow of the 

 Eoyal Castle which the kings of Scotland built here as a hunting seat, 

 and was favoured with repeated Royal charters granting privileges to 

 its burgesses. When James IV. made his ill-fated inroad into England, 

 which resulted in the disastrous battle of Flodden, ' the desperate 

 valour of the citizeus of Selkirk was eminently conspicuous to both 

 armies.' Few returned tell the tale, but among them was a 



valiant weaver, who bore with him an English standard which he had 

 captured. This same standard is yet carried aunually by the corporation 

 of weavers at the Common Kidiug. It was in reference to the fall of so 



