146 Rev. Wm. Procter, jun., on Doddington. 



and for more than a week, during the calm and genial 

 weather, they rose in succession from the turnip fields along 

 the valleys of the Till and Glen, till they became almost in- 

 corporated with the air, so intensely crowded they became. 

 They grew very troublesome to those who had to go out. 

 One had almost to breathe them. At night, or during dull 

 days, they stuck to the threshold, to the grass by wall- sides, 

 or gathered upc n hedges or trees. Many fell into the waters, 

 or were swept from the grass on the brink. Beating the 

 bushes for insects at Heathpool, I got my umbrella so filled 

 with the roosting Aphides, that I had to desist. Subse- 

 quently I saw that the flights had extended to Goldscleugh 

 and Langley Ford, among the hills ; several having been 

 drowned in the burns. The " plague of midges," as they 

 were called, was universal. At length came some heavy 

 showers of rain and hail, which cleared the air, and perished 

 and scattered the insects ; and the turnips got up their heads 

 again. 



Doddington. By the Rev. William Procter, Jun. 



The village of Doddington lies at the north-western ex- 

 tremity of the Dod Law, a hill belonging to the sandstone 

 range which runs northwards from Alnwick Moor to the 

 Tweed, and south-westward from Alnwick Moor to the 

 Simonside, at Roth bury. The highest point of the Dod Law 

 is 654 feet above the level of the sea. The present site of 

 the village is low, at the average height of 150 feet above 

 the sea level — while the river Till runs through its wide green 

 haughs to the south and west of Doddington — at the height of 

 100 to 115 feet above the sea level. I believe there is no more 

 healthy spot in the world ; we may attribute this to the fact 

 that the village is so well sheltered from the cold north and 

 east winds, that the soil on which it is built is very dry 

 and sandy, and most of all, to an unfailing supply of the 

 very purest water, in great abundance. 



The Dod Well, a fountain of health and comfort to the in- 

 habitants, seems to claim the attention of the Naturalists' 

 Club. A hundred years ago it issued from the side of a 

 natural rock into a natural basin above the level of the 

 ground. Round the basin were seats, naturally formed by a 

 ledge of the rock ; and above, the rock was crowned by a 



