86 THE BORDER ANGLER. 



liberately pulled the boat to the shore, put up the oars, 

 padlocked it, and walked off in the direction of his hut. 

 The Earl, amazed, called to him to come back, as his 

 day's sport was not nearly over ; but Eob replied 

 " Na, na ; them that drink by themsel' can fish by 

 themseiy and left the peer to digest his mortification 

 as best he might.* Rob died leaving a large family 

 of fishermen and gamekeepers behind him about eight 

 or nine years ago ; and Makerstoun-water, than which 

 there are few better in the Tweed, is now let to the 

 Duke of Buccleuch and his brother Lord John Scott. 

 Of course, salmon-fishing in it is accessible only to 

 the friends of the bold Buccleuch. In Rob's time, 

 there was no restriction upon trout-fishing ; but, in 

 imitation of the Duke of Roxburghe's practice, game- 

 keepers are now constantly on the watch to turn off 

 any one who may venture to intrude. 



Floors-water is next in succession, and is held en- 

 tirely in his own hands by the Duke of Roxburghe, 

 who owns the south side of Makers toun- water also, and 

 thence on that side downwards to Carham, a stretch 

 of about ten miles. On the north he possesses about 

 four miles of water, of the most valuable description ; 

 and the three miles of it from Makerstoun to Kelso he 



* In the first edition of this book, the nobleman referred to 

 in this anecdote was stated to have been the late Earl of Home. 

 The Scotsman, in quoting it, declared that the unsocial bibulator 

 who had excited Rob's wrath was the Duke of Leeds. On the 

 authority of Messrs. Kerss, gamekeepers at Bowhill and Mount 

 Teviot, a contradiction of it as relating to either of these noble- 

 men has, however, been conveyed to us ; and we are given to 

 understand that the true actor was a peer whom, to avoid fur- 

 ther trouble, we shall only designate as Earl C . 



