476 Memoir of Mr. Alexander Jeffrey, by George Hilson. 



Mr. Jeffrey's name in future will be chiefly remembered 

 as the author of the " History and Antiquities of Roxburgh- 

 shire and adjoining Districts." For a work of this kind, he 

 had the necessary knowledge of the district — equalled by 

 none — and great enthusiasm for his subject. In 1836 he 

 had published a local work, consisting of an octavo volume 

 of 420 pages, now rarely to be met with. The original 

 design of it was a history of Jedburgh ; but having in his 

 investigations acquired much county information, he aimed 

 at the more ambitious design of making a county history. 

 It bears on every page the marks of haste ; the descriptions 

 are feeble and faulty ; the theories are fanciful and crude ; 

 and it is disfigured by many peculiarities of style, of which 

 in later years he was painfully conscious, and which he dis- 

 liked being referred to. The idea of re-writing this work on 

 an enlarged scale, never was absent from his mind, and as 

 in the course of his business, he had to travel much through 

 the county, he never failed to avail himself of these oppor- 

 tunities to examine and take copious notes of what he knew 

 to be interesting. In this way he had acquired a large mass 

 of materials, which in 1853 he commenced to arrange with 

 a view to publication. According to the prospectus then 

 issued, it was to be published by subscription in two crown 

 octavo volumes. The first was issued in March, 1855, when 

 it was stated that the second would follow in the summer 

 of that year, but it did not till November, 1857. In the 

 preface it was announced that the author had found it im- 

 possible to condense his materials within the limits of two 

 volumes, and do anything like justice to the subject, and 

 that the work would therefore extend to a third volume, 

 which he expected to be ready by the end of 1858. It did 

 not however appear till 1859, and it also contained an an- 

 nouncement of another volume being necessary to absorb 

 the valuable material he had on hand, which would be pub- 

 lished in 1860. This was not done, however, till 1864. 

 This protracted mode of publication was most unfortunate 

 for the pecuniary success of the work, and was aggravated 

 by each volume having a separate printer and publisher. 

 When the work was first announced, without any great per- 

 sonal effort, he soon obtained a numerous subscription list, 

 comprehending all classes of the community, and the earlier 

 volumes were quickly disposed of through them, and the 

 general public. Owing to the delay in publication, the 



