SCOTTISH LOWLANDS 91 



ravine, murmuring over gravelly bottoms, winding 

 through flat haughs, and finally finding their way 

 into the Tweed. The watercourses are thus in them- 

 selves full of variety and life, and their charms are 

 enhanced by the alternation of meadow and field, 

 coppice, ferny brake and woodland, through which 

 they wander. Nor are occasional bolder features 

 wanting to enliven these quiet valleys. Here and 

 there knobs of volcanic material rise along the crests 

 of the ridges into prominent hills, which are con- 

 spicuous landmarks all over the Border country. Since 

 Thomson's day the plough has no doubt crept further 

 up the hill sides; more wood has been planted and 

 more ground has been enclosed. But there is still 

 plenty of bare moor and peat-moss, and the pastoral 

 character of the district yet remains. The traditions 

 of Border warfare have grown fainter, but the ruined 

 peel-towers still stand as picturesque relics of the old 

 wild times. The climate, too, has not changed. The 

 winter storms still send down the rivers in full flood, 

 and bury the vales in deep snow; the spring whitens 

 the meadows and hedgerows with flower and blossom, 

 and the short summer gives way to an early autumn. 



Such was the scenery that inspired the * sweet poet 

 of the year,' as Burns called him. Thomson came 

 to London in 1725, when he was twenty-five years 

 of age, and the following year he published his 

 Winter. The poem, though written at Barnet, took 

 its inspiration from the Border. The verse was turgid, 

 full of latinisms, and sadly lacking in the simplicity 

 and directness which the subject required. Never- 

 theless these defects could not conceal the genuine 



