426 Meetings of Berwickshire Naturalists' 1 Club, by J. Hardy. 



store-room and housekeeper's room ; but it shows the thick wall 

 of the original tower — the oldest part of the house, which was 

 there, no doubt, long before my father's ancestor bought the 

 place in Queen Anne's reign. The drawing-room of Sir Walter 

 Scott's time is now a bed-room, at the end of the passage to the 

 left. Beyond the old dining-parlour is the lobby leading to the 

 present drawing-room, in the newer wing." 



In the library the company were much attracted towards a low 

 easy-chair, which they were told, was that in which Sir Walter 

 Scott breathed his last at Abbotsforcl ; for which there was no 

 evidence of likelihood, otherwise the pathetic scene, when all his 

 family knelt round the great novelist and poet's dying bed, as 

 depicted by Lockhart, is a romance. Neither was this his study, 

 as others substituting the present for the past, imagined. 



In the drawing-room there is a fine view of the river from the 

 window, and it contains the best portrait of General Russell. Of 

 the other curiosities of more special interest to the Club, Miss 

 Russell has favoured us with an account in a succeeding article. 

 Preserved examples of the Osprey and the Goosander found on 

 the estate occur in one of the rooms. The Osprey is less than 

 the average size'. 



From the house to the river there is a descent by a disused old 

 parish road, that conducts to a ford, where the crossing was, 

 previous to the erection of Ashiesteel bridge. Below the ford 

 was a " Riding Stone." which indicated the depth of the water, 

 to those who wished to pass over. It is now either sanded up, 

 or removed. There is still a boat here to facilitate passage. 

 The object of the visit to the water's edge was to see Sir Walter's 

 oak, which on the under portion is a thick-stemmed stump of a 

 tree, about 11^ feet in circumference, with outspread horizontal 

 lower arms of extraordinary- length and stoutness ; covering it 

 was calculated about 70 yards. The upward shoot is of dispro- 

 portionate size to the trunk, but has grown freely ; producing 

 branches in their natural positions. It has never been sur- 

 rounded by other trees, or till latterly, been touched by them at 

 all. It has in fact run to branches, in consequence of not being 

 crowded. It is now one of a crescent of limes, mountain-ashes, 

 and elms, that encircle a small haugh. It was the poet's delight 

 to meditate under its shadow, seated not far from the brink of 

 Tweed's fair waters rushing on. Sir Walter Scott came to 



