JOHN LEYDEN THE ALE. 153 



The banks of the Teviot are very beautiful in the 

 neighbourhood of Minto, with its wooded grounds, and 

 the picturesque crags " where Barnhill hewed his bed 

 of flint." There is a good deal of wood on the lower 

 part of the Teviot, but not such as to interfere with 

 the angler, who has now a pretty broad river, with 

 alternate pools and streams. There are various places 

 in the district where entertainment may be had, par- 

 ticularly at Ancrum ; but the whole of this part of the 

 Teviot, as well as the neighbouring tributaries, may 

 very conveniently be fished from Jedburgh. 



The Ale is the next accession which the main river 

 receives. It flows in from the west, its sources, as we 



country on this occasion [the false alarm, of invasion in 1804] 

 warmed the hearts of Scottishmen in every corner of the world. 

 It reached the ears of the well-known Dr. Leyden, whose enthu- 

 siastic love of Scotland, and of his own district of Teviotdale, 

 formed a distinguished part of his character. The account, 

 which was read to him on a sick-bed, stated (very truly) that 

 the different corps, on arriving at their alarm posts, announced 

 themselves by their music playing the tunes peculiar to their 

 own districts, many of which have been gathering-signals for 

 centuries. It was particularly remembered that the Liddesdale 

 men entered Kelso playing the lively tune 

 " O wha dare meddle wi' me, 



And wha dare meddle wi' me? 

 My name it is little Jock Elliot, 

 And wha dare meddle wi' me?" 



The patient was so delighted with this display of ancient bor- 

 der spirit, that he sprung up in his bed, and began to sing the 

 old song with such vehemence of action and voice, that his 

 attendants, ignorant of the cause of his excitation, concluded 

 that the fever had taken possession of his brain ; and it was 

 only the entry of another borderer, Sir John Malcolm, and the 

 explanation which he was well qualified to give, that prevented 

 them from resorting to means of medical coercion." 



