The Family of Mddell, by Thomas Arkle. 327 



price. It was afterwards frequently asserted that the timber on 

 the property was worth all the purchase money. 



The alienation of the estate was a grief to the whole neigh- 

 bourhood, where the last possessor and his amiable lady had been 

 held in the highest esteem ; and Sir Walter Scott, who was 

 perhaps rather inclined to over-estimate the antiquity of the 

 family, pathetically lamented the untoward circumstances, when 

 he and his son-in-law (who records the incident) paid a visit to 

 the venerated place. 



The late Sir John, amongst other large transactions, purchased 

 from the Duke of Portland the barony and lands of Hepple, in 

 Coquetdale, Northumberland, containing about ten thousand 

 acres of arable and moor land. He sold large portions of this 

 estate during his life-time, but the remainder, comprising four 

 thousand acres, descended to his eldest son, Sir Walter Buchanan 

 Eiddell, the present possessor of the estate ; who has not only en- 

 larged and improved the property, but been a benefactor to the 

 neighbourhood by the erection of a handsome school, which is 

 used as a chapel in connection with the Church of England ; and 

 by the prominent part he has taken in promoting the building of 

 bridges, and transforming the rugged tracks of former days into 

 roads adapted to the requirements of modern times. 



Sir Walter has built a residence in a beautiful situation, and 

 planted largely on the surrounding hills. But though Hepple 

 may be as picturesque, it cannot compete with Eiddell in the 

 character of a baronial residence, nor in the grand extent of wood, 

 and general richness of the estate as inherited and improved by 

 Sir John. Never, certainly, can it recall to the members of the 

 family such memories and associations as " ancient Eiddell' s fair 

 domain." 



