THE EDEN AND LEET. 17 



on the left bank of the stream, we have " one of the most classi- 

 cal and far-famed spots in Scotland — the hill of Cowdenknowes. 

 Of itself it is a very pretty striking hill, starting forward from 

 the adjacent eminences, so as to be prominent in the scene, and 

 rising in a picturesque conical shape. No traveller, however 

 incurious, could possibly pass up or down the valley without 

 putting questions about it/^ 



The next tributary to the Tweed in our district is the Eden, 

 which Sir Thomas Dick Lauder calls a "classic stream." Its 

 source lies in some boggy ground in the parish of Gordon, and 

 its upper portion has a very ditch-like character. The channel, 

 however, has received a sufficiency of water when it enters upon 

 the policy of Newton-Don to make it ornamental there ; and in 

 these grounds " it produces a pretty little romantic scene, by 

 throwing itself over a precipitous rock of considerable height. 

 The spot is called Stitchcll Linn." This is a good locality for 

 the naturalist, and we shall have future occasion to mention it 

 in connection with one of the most melancholy incidents in 

 Border story. From the Linn the Eden runs a gentle race 

 through a vale beautifully wooded and cultivated, " and resem- 

 bling some of our happiest English scenes." In about the middle 

 of it is situated the peaceful village of Ednam*, the birth-place 

 of the author of the " Seasons," and whence the father of Cook, 

 the voyager, migrated southwards to give England the honour of 

 his name. 



The Leet belongs entirely to the Merse, and its sluggish pace 

 and muddy channel prove at once the levelness of the country it 

 drains and the depth of the alluvial soil. Originating in some 

 boggy ground near Hilton, it pursues its way westward, skirt- 

 ing the demesnes of the ancient family of Swinton ; and then, 

 bending southward, it gives a name to Leitholm, when it seeks 

 to hide its stream, choked with sedges, in the plantations of 

 Belchester and of the Hirsell. Mr. Stoddart has given an ex- 

 cellent description of the Leet. " During the summer season," 

 he says, " it is a mere ditch ; in many places not above four or 

 five span in width, and, where broadest, still capable of being 

 leapt across. The run of water is, comparatively speaking, in- 

 significant, not equaling in the average a cubic foot. This, 

 however, as it proceeds, is every now and then expanded over a 

 considerable surface, and forms a pool of some depth ; in fact, 

 the whole stream from head to foot, pursuing as it does a wind- 

 ing course for upwards of twelve miles, is a continued chain of 

 pools, fringed during the summer on both sides with rushes and 



* The " Aednaham " of the olden time, and " a waste " in the 12th cen- 

 tury. There is now no remnant of the chin-ch built there and then in 

 honour of St. Cuthbert. See Quart. Rev. Ixxxv. p. 118. 



VOL. I. C 



