MEMOIR OF THOMAS BEWICK. 85 



than I found he was a vapouring fop who was very 

 vain of his great prowess as a pedestrian. I could 

 soon see that he wanted to walk me off my foot; 

 but, having been long practised in that way, he 

 found himself mistaken, and long before we reached 

 Longtown he had called in at several public-houses 

 for refreshment, and invited me to do the same. I, 

 however, was not thirsty, and not being used to 

 drink, I sat on the seats at the doors until he came 

 out. He kept on in this, way till we reached 

 Langholm, when he surveyed me with an attentive 

 eye, but said nothing. 



At Langholm, my landlord, who was a Cumber- 

 land man and knew my relatives there, was very 

 kind to me; and, among many other matters con- 

 cerning them, told me that my cousin who had 

 accompanied me to Carlisle had won nine belts 

 in his wrestling matches in that county. From 

 Langholm, I set off to Hawick and Selkirk, and 

 from the latter place, next morning, by Dalkeith, 

 to Edinburgh. I had been, in this short tramp, 

 particularly charmed with the Border scenery; the 

 roads, in places, twined about the bottoms of the 

 hills, which were beautifully green, like velvet, 

 spotted over with white sheep, which grazed on 

 their sides, w r atched by the peaceful shepherd and 

 his dog. I could not help depicturing in my mind 

 the change which had taken place, and comparing 

 it with the times of old that had passed away, and 

 in inwardly rejoicing at the happy reverse. It is 

 horrid to contemplate the ferocious battles of that 

 day, between men descended from the same stock, 

 and bearing the same names on both sides of the 

 Border, only divided from each other by a river, 

 a rivulet, a burn, or a strip of ground; that they 



