MY FIRST TWEED SALMON 53 



other bank of the river ? The autumnal tints are in 

 advance of those farther south, and the beeches glow 

 ruddy from afar. This borderland is admirably wooded, 

 and the Tweed valley is pre-eminent in that respect. 

 The historical associations are so numerous and so 

 interesting that the mind, if you allow it to run riot, 

 will become overburdened with them. For myself, to 

 assist in the development of the ripe fruit of patience, 

 I kept mostly to musings that had Abbotsford for its 

 centre, and re-read Lockhart on the spot with which 

 that ponderous volume is so closely concerned. Thanks 

 to Mr. David Tait, I secured one of the early editions, 

 where are to be found all the references to fishing 

 and other sports which are not included in other 

 editions. 



The Wizard of the North lived awhile at Rosebank, 

 a short distance below Kelso, and the old tree, I believe, 

 was still flourishing in which he used to sit and take 

 pot shots at herons as they flew over the Tweed, which 

 rolled beneath his leafy perch. Driving down to Car- 

 ham, " Tweedside," who was my companion, showed 

 me Rosebank across the broad stream, and, while I 

 was reminding him of Walter Scott's gunnery, we saw 

 in an adjacent ploughed field three herons standing 

 close together, apparently in doleful contemplation. 

 On this drive also we crossed a burn which divides 

 English from Scottish soil, and it was tumbling down 

 in angry mood. Scores of other rivulets on either side 

 were pouring their off-scourings into the vexed river, 

 each precisely as gracefully described in the lines : 



Now murmuring hoarse, and frequent seen, 

 Through bush and briar no longer green, 

 An angry brook, it sweeps the glade, 

 Brawls over rock and wild cascade. 

 And, foaming brown with double speed, 

 Hurries its waters to the Tweed. 



