CORNUS. 95 



— the elder members only by the road, — and bring in view the vale 

 of Langley-ford running up as far as eye can reach between steep 

 and high hills on each side, and threaded by a water which flows, 

 over its very stony bed, in a quick and troubled stream. The vale is 

 narrow and peaceful, varying in breadth at every reach, and pastured 

 with sheep ; for although the bottom is stony, it is yet mostly covered 

 with a close green herbage of Airae, Dog and Sweet-vernal grasses, a 

 large proportion of moss, much wild Thyme and Bedstraw, Yarrow, 

 and white and yellow Clovers ; and there are patches of heath here and 

 there, with tufts of Broom, where the Blue-bells grow luxuriantly, 

 and some very graceful Airse. Where the bottom is stonier and bare 

 the Digitalis grows in abundance, with some other plants of similar 

 rankness ; and the Teesdalia is found frequently by such as seek for 

 it. There are likewise many plashy spots full of freshness and beauty, 

 blue some of them with the Forget-me-not. The hill on the south 

 side is well wooded with small trees and shrubs, — Alder, Hazel, 

 Birch, Oak, Thorn and Roan-tree, — and is wet and slumpy towards 

 the base, while the line above the wood is dry, carpeted with heather, 

 or with large forests of the Braken. Under the shade of the trees 

 there is a profuse variety of elegant Ferns, and of many herbaceous 

 plants, some of which are rare, but none so eye-pleasing as the com- 

 mon Loosestrife, the Oxalis, and the Narthecium. The northern 

 bank is higher and much steeper, clothed with green herbage partly, 

 more so with heather, and in many places bare and rough with a long 

 and broad stream of loose stones, where the Digitalis finds a footing, 

 and the tufted Parsley-fern; and here and there a stunted Thorn, the 

 remnant surely of an ancient race. The road winds along the base 

 of this northern side, but we scarcely follow it. Sometimes on this 

 side, and then on that of the water ; sometimes in the wood peering 

 for a rare Carex, sometimes climbing the bank opposite just to see 

 what may be there, we get on somehow, and Langley-ford is soon in 

 view. There are now irrigated meadows in the vale, and here and 

 there a curiously cornered field of oats or of barley ; a hirsel of sheep 

 animates the moor above, and a little apart browse a herd of cattle. 

 The shepherd, plaided to the chin, rises from his lair to scan, and his 

 bristling collies advance to warn ofF, the unwonted crowd ; but Moss 

 and Cheviot and Lassie are soon " downed," and friendly, for they 

 have caught the infection of good-nature from the Club. And Langley- 

 ford is — ? Why it is a pleasant onstead with a good farm-house roofed 

 with slates, with houses for servants, with stables and byres, with a 

 small stackyard tenanted with many choice hens, with a shrubbery, 

 and a garden, and a greenhouse ! Did such exist, in a ruder form, in 

 the year 1727? One would conclude not from the English Tourist's 

 silence ; and yet it is known that the present worthy and hospitable 

 tenant is the lineal continuator of a series of favourite retainers of the 

 Haggerstone family, who have lived here for many generations back. 

 The Englishman's fears had blinded him. The vale becomes a ravdne 

 above the settlement, and is almost entirely occupied by the burn that 

 divides the two great hills of Che\iotland from each other, — Hedge- 

 hope and Cheviot proper. We decide on ascending the latter, which 



