B E ft 



B E R 



has been levied for the purpose. The first year it amount. .1 

 toiOO/.; 1830,to800/.; 1831, to2iO/.; 1832. to 4iO/. ; 1833, 

 to 'JOO/. ; and in 1834 to 130U/. In the last-mentioned year 

 the expense of rebuilding a wooden bridge over the river 

 Wbiteadder, called Gainslaw Bridge, is included. There are 

 on an average 80 paupers constantly in the workhouse, and 

 100 poor children are educated there. The expense of the 

 whole of this establishment does not much exceed ion/, a 

 year. The total annual value of all the houses, lands, and 

 fisheries within the parish is a little above 3 1 ,000/. 



2. The Expenies of the Borough. "We have already seen 

 that the total annual value of the corporation property is 

 lo, out)/, a year : besides this the corporation is in possession 

 of various charity properties. Of this sum about 6000/. is 

 annually divided among the resident burgesses, and bur- 

 gesaes' widows, whether poor or rich, and of whatever rank 

 of life, according to their seniority, a few of the very youngest 

 being excluded which sum, as will afterwards be seen, is 

 considerably more than the surplus revenue; 30001. are 

 paid in salaries to officers, schoolmasters, &c., and for the 

 maintenance of the prison, repair of the public streets and 

 water-works, and the like ; interest at 4$ per cent, is paid 

 on the permanent debt due by the corporation, and there is 

 also a further item of expenditure called the ' contingent 

 accounts,' for repairs of form buildings, law expenses, &c., 

 which averages upwards of 1500/. The debt, which is 

 borrowed on bond at interest, and on life annuities, calcu- 

 lating the latter at ten years purchase, is 55,41 1/.: the 

 annual amount paid in annuities is 973/. 17*. Gd. The 

 whole of this debt, except 9530/., has been incurred within 

 the present century. It is still gradually and regularly in- 

 creasing. In the year ending 1832, upwards of 2650/. were 

 added to it, and it is apparent that if the same system be 

 persevered in, the property of the corporation will, at no 

 distant date, be entirely consumed. (Fur further account 

 of the history of this debt, see Municipal Corporations' Re- 

 ports, part iii.) 



The liberties of Berwick are divided into two unequal 

 lialves by Halidon Hill, which rises to the height of about 

 44) feet, and runs in a westerly direction. The slope to 

 tlit east is rapid, and between its base and the sea there is a 

 stripe of rich level land, which increases in breadth towards 

 the town, forming what are called the Magdalen Fields. 

 The slope to the south is more gradual, and the ground 

 which lies between its undefined outline and the boundary is 

 very irregular, being a succession of hill and plain: in one of 

 its ravines the VVhitcadder Hows, and terminates its course 

 in the Tweed. At this place the northern banks of the 

 Tweed are Hat and almost level with the water, but towards 

 file town they rise abruptly to a very considerable elevation, 

 forming the Castle Hills, on the flat top of which a great 

 part of the town is built. 



In this small tract of ground there is no natural wood, 

 wufl the only plantations are on the shelving banks of the 

 Tweed, about a mile above the town, and in a deep ravine 

 on the north-eastern side at Marshall Meadows, but both of 

 those are of small extent, and the wood of inferior size. 

 The land, with the exception of the very ridge of Halidon 

 Hill, is in general rich, well fitted for the growth of all 

 kinds of grain, and is in a state of the highest cultivation. 

 Such a district has apparently little to interest the natu- 

 ralist, but the botanist may still find the Sisymbrium Mo 

 on the spot where it wag gathered nearly 20U years ago by 

 the great Ray, and the Picrit echioidet deserves his notice, 

 for it here reaches its most northern limits in our island. 

 Of animals there are none peculiar to the district. The 

 snow-bunting, called the 'cock-of-the-north,' visits Berwick 

 annually in small docks, however mild the winter may be ; 

 and some birds, esteemed for their rarity, have been observed 

 a* stragglers, viz., the sea-eagle, the pied fly-catcher, the 

 Bohemian wax-win-;, bittern, rose-coloured pastor, the grey 

 phalorope, and the black-throated diver. 



That small portion of the Tweed which bounds the 

 liberties affords the principal supply of salmon, for which 

 the river has been so long famous. Gilse, or grilse- (salmon 

 of the first year), salmon-trout, bull-trout, whitings, and 

 iker-white or black-tails, are also abundant; but, with 

 i he exception of the first, are comparatively little esteemed, 

 and of inconsiderable value. Sturgeon occasionally enter 

 the river, appirently to deposit their spawn ; and we may 

 remark that young cod and whitings are taken abundantly 

 with a bait in the river below the bridge, beyond which, 

 sver, we are not aware they ever penetrate. The fry of 



the cod-fish proceed considerably further up, and seem fear- 

 lei* of meeting with fresh water. 



The sea-coast in rocky and bold, though lets so than that 

 of Berwickshire. The rocks belong to the coal formation. 

 Those at the mouth of the river, and for nearly a mile north- 

 wards, are encrinal limestone, composed almost entirely of 

 encriniles, or St. Cuthbert's beads, terebratuto, and various 

 species of productus. This limestone was once worked and 

 burned, but the produce must have been of inferior quality, 

 and the works nave been discontinued for several years. 

 The rocks as we proceed northwards gradually pass into a 

 red softish sandstone, in which the wares have excavuteil 

 numerous recesses or coves ; and the high and perpendi- 

 cular walls of these basin-like excavations sometimes jut 

 out and are broken into picturesque pinnacles, studded with 

 tufts of sea-flowers, and stained with lichens of every hue. 

 Beneath this sandstone, towards Marshall Meadows, there 

 are again strata of limestone, composed of enerinites in 

 such enormous masses that no one can look on them with- 

 out surprise and wonder. 



The bay abounds in fish of the finest quality. Cod, had- 

 dock, whiting, ling, holibut, skate, and two or three species 

 of flat-fish or flounders are those commonly brought to 

 market, where they are sold at the most moderate rate, a 

 large and fine cod costing not more than 1*., and haddocks 

 may generally be bought at Id. or '2d. each. Turbot and 

 soles are rare, the demand for them being insufficient to 

 encourage fishermen to fish for them. Crabs and lobsters 

 also abound, and the greater number of the latter arc sent 

 to the London market. There are no shell-fish, properly so 

 called. 



These are the most useful kinds, but the naturalist may 

 be curious to know the rarities, of which a short list may be 

 given : 



Myxine glutinosa; Galeus vulgaris ; Lamna mono 

 Raiaradiata; Syngnathusaequoreus; Scomberesox Saurus; 

 Liparis Montagui ; Raniceps trifurcatus; Pleuroix 

 punctatus ; Blennius tentacularis ; Labrus maculatus ; 

 Brama marina; Trachinus major; Zeus Faber. 



The character of the inhabitants is marked by a want of 

 enterprise. Without being rich they are contented and 

 happy, nor does poverty appear among them in the frightful 

 form which it assumes in larger towns. They are benevo- 

 lent, little excitable, are not given to intemperance, ami 

 in this character we may find one cause of their remarkable 

 exemption from crime. 



(See Hutchinson's and Wallis's History of Northumber- 

 land; Knl path's Border History; Raine's History of 

 North Durham and Berwick-upon-Tweed ; Fuller's and 

 Johnston's History of Berwick ; Dr. Johnston's Flora of 

 Berwick; Statuta Gildts, inaccurately published by Skene ; 

 Nicholson's Leges Marchiarum : Kymer's Foedera ; Rotuli 

 Scolice ; and the other publications of the Record Commis- 

 sioners; Chamberlain's Accounts, in the Register UHicr. 

 Edinburgh ; Wardrobe Accounts, in the British Museum ; 

 Burrow's Reports, vol. ii. p. 834, et seq. ; Chalmers's Cale- 

 donia; Berwick Harbour Surveyed, by Commander E. J. 

 Johnson and Lieutenant M. A. Slater, 1831.) [Commit ni- 

 cation from Berwick.'] 



BERWICK. JAMES FITZJAMES. DUKE OF, a 

 natural son of James, duke of York, afterwards James II. of 

 England, by Arabella Churchill, sister of the great duke of 

 Marlborough, was born at Moulins in the Bourbonuois, 

 August 21, 1670. He was educated in France, and in 



1686 served in the Austrian army at the siege of Buda. In 



1687 he was created duke of Berwick, and received tin- 

 order of the garter. Having returned to England after the 

 campaign of 1687, he received several important military 

 appointments. 



On the breaking out of the Revolution of 1G88, the duke 

 of Berwick exerted himself to check it.-. i>n>::rc--., ami after- 

 wards accompanied the king on his retirement to France. 

 In 1689 ho served in the expedition to Ireland, undertaken 

 for the restoration of Jauies II., whence he returned I ft 

 France in 1691. Having entered the French service, he 

 was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general in 1C93. 

 In 1696 he was sent to England to negotiate with the 

 Jacobite party in England, but speedily returned without 

 success. In 1703 he was naturalized us a subject of France 

 with the consent of the court of St. Germain's ; and in the 

 beginning of the following year was appointed to the com- 

 mand of the French forces in Spain. After having essen- 

 tially served the cause of Philip V. by his military skill, ho 



