NIMRO&S NORTHERN 7 OUR. 41 



that, which we took this morning, Dorset," said his royal high- 

 ness (about twelve miles!). "It was, sir," leplied his Grace, 

 " but I had ridden from London before I had the honour of at- 

 tending your royal highness in your ride." 



But now once more to business. The fixture for this day was 

 Lady Kirk, eight miles from Dunse, a place of such notoriety in 

 the history of Scotland, that even in a Sporting Tour it cannot 

 be entirely passed over. Although its being close in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the ford, or passage of the Tweed, by which the 

 Scotch and English armies generally invaded each other's coun- 

 try, gives it much notoriety, the cause of its being called Lady 

 Kirk is of higher interest at the present moment, inasmuch as it 

 shows how times are altered since Jocky of Scotland, prayed for 

 bannocks ready baked, and, I believe, ready buttered as well. 

 It seems that the name of this parish was once Upsettlington,or 

 Upsettingtown, I forget which, but was changed to Lady Kirk, 

 or the Lady's Church, from the following incident. As James 

 the Fourth of Scotland was passing this ford, he was in great 

 danger of being carried away by the stream, when, like Jack (the 

 sailor) in the storm, he made a holy promise of what he would 

 do, if he co"uld but get out of the scrape. Jack, we know, did 

 nothing ; but the king kept his word, and built this church, 

 which he dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and thus it bears its 

 name. It is .also singular that it is one of the few Gothic sacred 

 buildings that survived the desolating fury of the Reformation. 

 But Lady Kirk is also deserving of notice by me, from the recol- 

 lection that the late owner of the Mansion House, Mr. Robert- 

 son, was the most spirited breeder of sheep Scotland ever saw, 

 having given the celebrated Mr. Stone seven hundred guineas for 

 two ram sheep. It is also the scene of the poem of the Goblin 

 Groom, descriptive of a run with the Duke of Buccleuch's 

 hounds, and other doings, bordering on the supernatural, to 

 which I may presently allude. The following lines, however, 

 contrasting the meeting of the fox-hounds with deeds of ancient 

 days, may be not inaptly introduced here ; and especially so as 

 it is the truly classic ground on which the poem of Marmion 

 opens : 



" This bank, in former days, has been 

 Sad witness of a different scene : 

 When Norham's border castle rang 

 With England's war-foreboding clang, 

 When threaten'd feud was heard to sound 

 Defiance to the Scottish ground ; 

 When cannon roared from Norham's wall, 

 The English border clans to call." 



