FALDONSIDE TO DALGIG. 239 



as lie would go thirty miles over the hills when he 

 was courting. One who knew him well says that 

 "^^some called him a sloven, and some called him 

 dressy ; but, at all events, he shaved every day/^ In 

 his manner he was very familiar with every rank, 

 and social, though not a drunkard. "^Twixt the 

 gloamin and the rairkin, when the kye come 

 hame,^^ was a great song of his, and he gave it with 

 ^remarkable spirit about the Gordon Arms and at 

 Selkirk festive meetings. At thirty Sir Walter 

 Scott noticed him, and then Professor Wilson, and 

 ^^he was lionized in London, and never did any 

 good as shepherd or sheep farmer after/^ A pre- 

 sent of £100 from Sir Robert Peel, and £50 a 

 year for giving up his farm of Mount Benger, kept 

 him from want, and then he lived near the Gordon 

 Arms, and "just whistled and sang his life away." 

 Sir John Malcolm presided at the public dinner to 

 him in London, and he only lived till the next sum- 

 mer. He was buried in Ettrick churchyard, and 

 Professor Wilson was at the funeral with two 

 of his sons, and let down one shoulder into the 

 grave. 



Ettrick Eorest, and its old glories when it was a 

 hunting station of the kings of Scotland, are a theme 

 to which his enthusiasm has given an edge. To 

 Henry Duke of Buccleuch he accorded all the 

 honour of improving the Forest ; but still, he never 

 could forgive him for being a catcher of moles, "those 

 innocent and blessed little pioneers who enrich our 



