xiv INTRODUCTION. 



Lauder — a distance of about 27 miles. From the southern 

 extremity of the latter parish the Leader forms the limit 

 for about six miles, with the exception of a small part of 

 its course at Chapel ; and after watering the beautiful 

 haughs of " Ercildoun and Cowdenknowes," it flows into the 

 Tweed below Drygrange. The windings of this classical 

 stream encircle Bemerside, Dryburgh, and Mertoun, and 

 divide the county from Eoxburgh along a course of ten 

 miles until Makerstoun is reached. Here the line of 

 demarcation becomes artificial, and after passing tortu- 

 ously round Smailholm and Stitchel for about twenty 

 miles, again strikes the Tweed near Birgham, which 

 " fair river," flowing past Coldstream and " Norham's 

 castled steep," separates Berwickshire from Northumber- 

 land for about eighteen miles, until it enters English 

 ground at Paxton. At this point the march runs north- 

 wards for two miles along the Old Bound Eoad as far as 

 Mordington, and thence for the same distance eastwards 

 to the German Ocean. 



Between the Lammermuir Hills and the Tweed a 

 wide undulating plain, known as the Merse, extends to 

 upwards of 100,000 acres. It is rich and highly culti- 

 vated, and is adorned with so many beautiful woods and 

 plantations, that the general landscape of its central 

 district assumes a sylvan aspect in summer, when 

 viewed from some of the surrounding high grounds, such 

 as those in the neighbourhood of Hardens, Foulden, or 

 Mordington. 



Describing the view from the heights above Chirnside, 

 the late Rev. John Edgar of Hutton says : " It is doubt- 

 ful whether in any district of Scotland such an extensive, 

 rich, and well-cultivated rural panorama can be found, or 

 whose external features bear so near a resemblance to some 

 of the fertile plains of ' Merry England.' The Lammermuir 



