436 Sir W. Scott's Connection with Ashiesteel,hyM.iss Russell. 



Berwickshire Naturalists' Club," he says, "is more than its name 

 imports. It is an association of gentlemen of varied tastes and 

 acquirements, who are as much concerned in exploring matters 

 of archaeological and literary interest in their neighbourhood as 

 in taking note of objects of Natural History. Not confining them- 

 selves to discussions and the reading of papers, the members set 

 apart a day for excursions, in which little in the way of scientific 

 or historical inquiry comes amiss to them." "We wish there 

 were more provincial associations of this kind." Thus, in our 

 attempts to penetrate the unexplored country surrounding us, are 

 we encouraged and welcomed to pass onward, 



" To fresh fields and pastures new." 



Sir Walter Scott's Connection with Ashiesteel, with other 

 Remarks on the Place. By Miss Russell, of Ashiesteel. 



In connection' with the late visit of the Berwickshire Natural- 

 ists' Club to Ashiesteel, it may be rioted that the only part of 

 Sir Walter Scott's published works known with certainty to have 

 been written there, is the part of Marmion dated from it. 

 But as the manuscript containing the first eleven chapters of 

 Waverley, which had beenlong laid aside, and turned up during the 

 removal of the furniture from Ashiesteel to Abbotsford, after 

 which it was resumed ; and as the second title of that famous 

 work dates it as having been begun in the year after Sir Walter 

 came to live at Ashiesteel, it has always been assumed that 

 these chapters (which struck his friends and advisers unfavour- 

 ably) were written there. 



The house, as tenanted by Sir Walter Scott, consisted of the 

 centre and west wing, which latter had been added by his aunt, 

 Mrs Russell, during her husband's absence in India,. 



The old flower-garden with box borders, at that end of the 

 house, seems also to have been hers ; in fact that side of the 

 house, with the old stables is not much altered. 



The house must have been an odd three-cornered building, 

 but if it had consisted only of the centre it is quite impossible 



