438 Sir W. Scott's Connection with Ashiesteel, hy Miss Russell. 



There is probably none of the furniture which Sir Walter had 

 at Ashiesteel, and took with him to Abbotsford, in the rooms 

 shown at Abbotsford ; as far as it remains, it is probably in the 

 old small rooms. The older part of the furniture now at Ashie- 

 steel had been taken away by the owners, and was subsequently 

 brought back by them. 



It seems most probable that Lockhart never was actually at the 

 house at Ashiesteel. It was shut up for many years after Sir 

 "Walter gave it up ; and as his son-in-law was busy with literary 

 work even when living near Melrose, and must often have passed 

 the place on both sides, it is quite possible he never went up to 

 the closed door. 



The evergreen hedges, which he mentions, seem to have had no 

 existence, though the garden was then in front of the house. 

 The large evergreens are much older than his time, and part re- 

 mains of the barberry hedge planted by Mrs Russell ; also a very 

 old spindle-tree. The slipping of the bank of the ravine has 

 carried away many of the barberries. 



What is of more importance, he was evidently unaware of the 

 exact position of the house, in the angle formed by two steep 

 banks. His description of a meadow between the house and the 

 river-bank is precisely what would be said by a person who had 

 seen it from the road on the other side of the river. The grassy 

 upper part of the bank has from that point of view exactly the 

 effect of a lawn of some extent. 



It is in reality very steep ; the situation has no doubt been 

 chosen originally for defence, and the small old tower, now en- 

 closed within the centre of the house, must have been a place of 

 some strength. 



The account of the neighbourhood, or rather want of neigh- 

 bours at Ashiesteel, in the Life, there is reason to think conceals 

 a joke, or at least a facetious intention, towards particular 

 families. M aking all allowances for the writer not knowing the 

 exact distances, there must have been within a radius of ten 

 miles, besides Bowhill, the existence of which he acknowledges, 

 though it lies in a somewhat different district, and fourteen or 

 fifteen gentlemen's seats, the principal seats of three Scotch 

 peers ; two of these peerages, alas ! now extinct. 



To return to the place. The bridge by which the present 

 approach crosses the ravine was built by Sir James Russell ; the 

 old approach is now the walk leading directly to the garden, 



