THE JED JEDBURGH. 159 



crowd each other? To be an angler, Burns, in his pe- 

 tition for trees to adorn the banks of the Bruar, most 

 unaccountably neglected to stipulate that they should 

 not approach within a dozen yards of the water's edge. 

 Overlooking this unfortunate feature in its sylvan 

 adornment, that it sadly interrupts angling, it must 

 be acknowledged that the Jed for the last few miles 

 of its course is preeminently beautiful. 



JEDBURGH itself is an ancient town, that for centuries 

 had to bide the brunt of southern invasion, which was 

 all the more ruthless in the latter period of the national 

 wars, when Englishmen had begun to lose respect for 

 church property, which had formerly been held sacred 

 even in the most ferocious inroads. After Henry VIII. 

 had let the Southron nobles taste' the blood of the 

 church, as it were, the noble Abbey of Jedburgh began 

 to suffer in the forays until it was entirely reduced to 

 dilapidation in 1545. It is still, however, a fine monu- 

 ment of ecclesiastical art. There are a great number 

 of old fortresses and other antiquities in the neighbour- 

 hood of Jedburgh; and at Hundalee, Lintalee, and 

 Mossburnford, the rocky sides of the Jed are excavated 

 so as to form hiding-places, probably for women, chil- 

 dren, and other valuables, in times of trouble. The 

 burghers of Jedburgh, however, were always ready to 

 give as good as they got ; their peculiarly inverted 

 method of carrying out criminal law has passed into a 

 proverb ; and at the last great border battle, the Eaid 

 of the Keidswire, they came in pretty effectually, and 

 turned the day in favour of the Scotch. The town in 

 its modern character is a " pleasant habitation, " and 

 is the best place from which to fish the Teviot and its 



