60 NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 



It seems that the name of this parish was once Upsetthngton, or Upset- 

 tingtown, I forget which, but was changed to Lady Kirk, or the Lady's 

 Church, from the following incident. As James the Fourth of Scot- 

 land 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 could 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 build- 

 ings that survived the desolating fury of the reformation. But Lady 

 Kirk is also deserving of notice by me, from the recollection that the 

 late owner of the Mansion House, Mr. Robertson, v/as 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, con- 

 trasting 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 Marraion 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/' 



Although I have said that Lady Kirk was the fixture for the day, I 

 must stop short in my course before I arrive there. Rather a large 



