THE NORTH AND SOUTH ESKS. 185 



Crichton ! though now thy miry court 

 But pens the Lazy steer and sheep, 

 Thy turrets rude and tottered keep 



Have been the minstrel's loved resort." 



Winton, Salton, Letliington, Hailes Castle — the hold of 

 the Hepburns — and Tyningham, the seat of the Earl 

 of Haddington, speak of the richness of the valley 

 through which the Tyne flows. 



Pressmennan-loch, within reach of Linton station, 

 is well stocked mth trout, of the celebrated Lochleven 

 breed, we believe ; and while the late Mrs. Ferguson 

 of Biel was alive, permission to angle it was pretty 

 freely granted. Her heir is Mr. R. Dundas Christopher 

 Hamilton-Nisbet, who we hope is equally liberal. The 

 Burn of Biel, which flows partly through the same estate, 

 and partly through that of Mr. Balfour of Whitting- 

 hame, is also said to be populous with good trout. 



While the Tyne is thus almost blotted out from the 

 Scottish Angler's map by encroachments upon ancient 

 rights, other causes have conduced to render both the 

 Esks equally unknown to him, and something very 

 different from trouting-streams. The North Esk is a 

 mere factory drain ; and though the South Esk is not 

 so much polluted, and contains some trouts, it is care- 

 fully shut up from the public. At the meeting of the 

 Commissioners of Supply for the county of Edinburgh 

 in January 1858, we find the newspapers reporting 

 the following discussion : — 



" The Duke of Buccleuch, in reference to the statement in 

 Mr. List's report as to the sanitary condition of the villages, 

 said the state of the rivers, and more especially the North Esk, 

 was rapidly becoming a very serious and was alrelidy a very 



