206 FIELD AND FERN. 



minutesj but Lymecleucli got the turn of the beam^ 

 and won with a pound to spare. In his light-weight 

 days, when " the herds" fought the '^ weaver bodies" 

 of Hawick, and Dandie Dinmont was said to have 

 been quite competent to lifting two of the enemy, 

 smashing their heads together and then dropping 

 them, Lymecleuch was a most able lieutenant. 

 Sheep and cattle dealers at that time were all very 

 handy with their fists, and the muttered menace 

 was common enough between the dances in the ball- 

 room, " You and Pll square up that little bit of busi- 

 ness some day,'' and they invariably did. Lyme- 

 leuch, when occasion served, was as sharp with his 

 tongue as his fists. When Sir Robert Peel's portrait 

 after Lawrence had appeared, one of the leading de- 

 baters rose to address the Club, with his left hand 

 resting majestically like the great statesman's on his 

 hip, and heard Lymey's hoarse whisper inthe midst 

 of his finest passages : " Has that guff gat a sai?^ 

 hench ?'' 



William Aitchison of Linhope, Menzion — 



" Hiin with the nut-brown hair and hollow voice, 

 My kindest, warmest-hearted friend the Borderer,'* 



as sang the Ettrick Shepherd — was one of the chief 

 speakers, and is still the Sellars of the Lowlands, 

 with about twelve thousand Cheviot and blackfaced 

 sheep in the three counties of Selkirkshire, Roxburgh- 

 shire, and Peebles, and hoggs on turnips in Cumber- 

 land as well. Sheep-farming, both in the Highlands 

 and the Lowlands, has been a weary business at times. 



