1904-1905-] Yarrow : Its Literature and Romance. 165 



Eussell, in 1847, who died 1883, — father and son having 

 thus been ministers of the parish for the long period of ninety- 

 two years. 



A curious incident happened in the parish at the Disrup- 

 tion. At that time the shepherds brought their dogs to church 

 with them, and as an old shepherd once remarked to me, 

 " The dogs were desperately fond 0' gau'n to the kirk." An 

 old elder, along with many others, joined the Free Church, 

 but on Sundays he never could get his dog to go past the Auld 

 Kirk ! He tried all kinds of methods, but at last had to give 

 it up. Laughingly I said to the son of this old man one day, 

 when he told me the story, " It must have been a very foolish 

 dog, John." Not noticing the twinkle in my eye, he replied, 

 very seriously, " Na, man, it wasnae that. I think if it hadna 

 been so wise my father would have shot it." Evidently dogs 

 are sometimes very conservative. 



Near Yarrow Kirk there are three druidical stones, or fanes ; 

 and in the fields, which now form part of the glebe, there were 

 at one time some twenty cairns, probably also associated with 

 the druidical worship, as the Celtic word for priest is derived 

 from earn, or cairn. 



But the " standing stone," or rather " inscribed stone," in 

 a field about half a mile from the church, is an object of 

 great interest to the antiquary. It was turned up on the 

 hillside in 1803, and was carefully studied by Sir Walter 

 Scott, Dr John Leyden, Mungo Park, and others, but they 

 did not succeed in making much of the inscription. Scott 

 had a theory of his own, which he published in the second 

 edition of his ' Border Minstrelsy.' The place where the 

 stone was found, and where it now stands, was known as 

 Annan Street, the old Ptoman road to Annan. But Scott said 

 this was a mistake. He was of opinion that the stone com- 

 memorated the tragedy of " The Dowie Dens," and that the 

 place should be known as " Annan's Treat," — a euphemism, 

 I 'suppose, for the dastardly deed which put a period to the 

 life of the hero of the ballad. My predecessor, Dr James 

 Eussell, was really the first to decipher part at least of the 

 inscription, though it is only within the last year or two that 

 the whole inscription has been made intelligible, thanks mainly 

 to Principal Ehys of Oxford. The inscription runs thus : 



