76 THE BORDER ANGLER. 



ing instructions to his " ain dear sister's son Sir Hugh 

 Montgomerie." " Heir lyis the race of ye Hous of 

 Zair" is one of the striking inscriptions upon the walls 

 of the abbey ; and there are many other legends 

 graven about the old ruins, which, while they teach 

 the Melrose moralists to die, recall also the pomp and 

 pretensions of Scottish families, many of which are 

 now extinct. The Abbey of Melrose had rich and far- 

 spreading possessions in its palmy days, which were 

 bit by bit gripped by greedy barons, and were finally 

 confiscated at the Reformation. It had piscarial rights 

 in the Tweed adjoining, conferred by the charter of 

 David I. The Duke of Buccleuch is now, we believe, 

 the Abbot ! 



A little rivulet with (as is sometimes the case with 

 Scotch burns) several names, flows into the Tweed 

 through the first haugh above Melrose. It comes from 

 Cauldshiels Loch, on the Abbotsford estate, where 

 Scott and his family used to bob for perch ; but it 

 is chiefly remarkable as associated with Thomas the 

 Rhymer, Huntly bank, where he first saw the Fairy 

 Queen, overlooking it. It is called, we believe, the 

 Bogle-burn, and the Rhymer' s-burn. 



As we have said, the salmon-fishings in the Tweed, 

 above and at Melrose, belong to Lord Somerville, and 

 are rented by Mr. Broadwood. The Cauld-pool, and 

 the stream above it, just above the suspension-bridge 

 that has recently been erected for communication with 

 Gattonside a village on the opposite bank of the 

 Tweed have several noted casts ; and the Battery 

 stream and Cowie's Hole, below the bridge, have also 

 usually a number of grilse in them in summer- time. 



