i 4 LANDSCAPE IX HISTORY 



annual beating of the bounds or riding of the marches. 

 And even where no such ceremony has tended to 

 perpetuate the remembrance of topographical details, 

 tradition, though it may vary as to historical facts, is 

 often singularly true to locality. I am tempted to give 

 what seems to me a good example of this fidelity of 

 tradition. Many years ago among the uplands of 

 Lammermuir I made the acquaintance of an old maiden 

 lady, Miss Darling of Priestlaw, who with her bachelor 

 brothers tenanted a farm which their family had held 

 for many generations. In the course of her observant 

 and reflective life she had gathered up and treasured in 

 her recollection the traditions and legends of these 

 pastoral solitudes. I well remember, among the tales 

 she delighted to pour into the ear of a sympathetic 

 listener, one that went back to the time of the Battle 

 of Dunbar. We know from his own letters in what 

 straits Cromwell felt himself to be when he found 

 his only practicable line of retreat through the hills 

 barred by the Covenanting army, and how he wrote 

 urgently to the English commander at Newcastle for 

 help in the enemy's rear. It has usually been supposed 

 that his communications with England were kept up 

 only by sea. But the weather was boisterous at the 

 time, and a vessel bound for Berwick or Newcastle 

 might have been driven away from land. There is 

 therefore every probability that Cromwell would try to 

 send a communication by land also. Now the tra- 

 dition of Lammermuir maintains that he did so. The 

 story is told that he sent two soldiers disguised as 

 natives of the district to push their way through the 

 hills and over the border. The men had got as far as 



