1856 FIELD-WORK IN SCOTLAND 247 



a mouldering abbey, a grass-grown encampment, or 

 a lonely cairn. If tradition or song invested any spot 

 with a living interest, he would not consider his 

 geological inspection complete if it had not included a 

 visit to that site. 



In Scotland, where so many ruins are scattered 

 over the southern counties, and where tradition, 

 legend, and ballad have given celebrity to so many 

 localities, there was during the annual visits of inspec 

 tion abundant opportunity afforded to the Local 

 Director to indulge to the full his love of the memorials 

 of a vanished past. His letters, written usually either 

 when more or less wearied after a long day of walking, 

 or when hurried in the morning by the preparations 

 for the start, give only a faint glimpse of the enthusi 

 asm which these old associations kindled in him on 

 the ground, as, indeed, they convey a most imperfect 

 picture of the bright sparkle and vivacious earnestness 

 of his best conversation. The wild lonely tract of 

 Lammermuir which he had partially explored from 

 Dunbar afforded him exhaustless materials for indulg 

 ing in his antiquarian tastes. In some parts of the dis 

 trict every prominent eminence has its circular earthen 

 grass-covered ramparts of ancient Celtic forts, like 

 the Maiden Castle, where Marmion had the nocturnal 

 encounter with the Palmer. Legends still tell of foray 

 and feud, and tradition faithfully points out the scenes 

 of the incidents. After a ramble with the writer 

 through this region, Ramsay wrote to his wife (2 7th 

 September 1859): We have had to drive eighteen 

 miles by a hilly road from Lauder to Duns, and to do 

 as much work as we could upon the hills by the way. 

 We came across a fine wild country growing into 

 cultivation between the southern slopes of the Lammer- 



