126 THE BORDER ANGLER. 



Altrive-burn, in the little valley of which is situated 

 Altrive-farm house, where James Hogg long sat rent- 

 free under the Duke of Buccleuch although, even 

 under that arrangement, with poetical perversity he 

 found himself hardly able to make both ends meet, 

 The farm of Mount- Benger, which he held as a " led- 

 farm," is a few miles farther down. 



Space does not allow us minutely to trace the vale 



" Where Yarrow rows among the rocks, 

 A'nd wheels and boils in many a linn," 



or to dwell further upon the traditions of its " dowie 

 dens." There is no interruption to the freedom of 

 angling until the river bends southward at Yarrow- 

 ford, about five miles above Selkirk, when it is taken 

 under the protection of the Duke of Buccleuch. It 

 here loses its pastoral character in the " pomp of cul- 

 tivated nature," the woods of Newark and Bowhill 

 rising beautifully on its banks. Newark Castle, now 

 in ruins, was an ancient residence of the Buccleuch 

 family, and is the place where Scott makes the last 

 minstrel sing his lay to the widowed Duchess of Mon- 

 mouth and Buccleuch. The Duke is, we believe, 

 something of an angler, and has done a great deal to 

 protect the salmon breeding in this district. Under his 

 Grace's direction we presume, his head gamekeeper, 

 Mr. James Kerss, some years ago instituted some in- 

 teresting experiments as to the growth of salmon 

 smolts in fresh water.* It appeared that, after being 



* It occurs to us, that in describing the Tweed we neglected 

 to notice some experiments in the breeding of salmon that 

 have been made in a burn near Floors Castle and in another at 

 Paxton, near the mouth of the Tweed. Under the direction of 



