114 COUNTRY ESSAYS. 



Better still, let us part in the hearty manner of the country 

 through which we have been wandering, 



"And there's a han', my trusty frien', 



And gie's a hand o' thine ; 

 And we'll tak' a richt gude willie waught, 

 For auld lang syne ! " 



There is no more pleasant land for a walking tour than the 

 Border. Go where the traveller will (as we trust we have shown 

 him), are memorials of a glorious and romantic past. In this 

 part of the country, too, civility and moderate charges repel the 

 accusation of rapacity which is so often urged against the Scotch 

 innkeeper. Indeed, the best receipt for a walking tour in this 

 country of glamour, if a man wishes to learn the kindliness of 

 the natives and to see their land to perfection, is to bid him 

 lose himself as soon as possible and wander from the highways, 

 making friends with every one he meets. A king of the country, 

 " the gaberlunzie man," has ere now set him the example. In 

 this manner only is it possible to pick up legends or local 

 anecdotes, and to discover untrodden but interesting scenes, as 

 yet undreamt of by the guide-books. Such a traveller may yet 

 light on folk-lore and supernatural beings, brownie or warlock, 

 maintaining a precarious and alas ! a short-lived existence 

 against the opposing forces of railroads and post-offices. If he 

 attempts at night to exorcise such an evil spirit from his quarters, 

 let him be sure to speak in Latin, and, above all, to have the 

 last word with the ghost. This is as important as when a man 

 argues with his wife. No sounder cure than such a walking 

 tour as we have sketched, through lands redolent of love and 

 song, can be suggested to a disappointed lover. By a natural 

 process of homeopathy it will soon give him relief, pointing out 

 how many others have loved and lost and lived, before him. 

 If he leaves home, like the swain who was drowned in Annan 

 Water, so sad that 



" The waistcoat bursted off his breast, 

 He was so full of melancholy " 



