Anniversary Address. 57 



fire in tlie heart of " the aged Harper.'' The wand of the en- 

 chanter has touched the vales of Ettrick and Yarrow, and not 

 least those spots whose names he has made familiar when he 

 sings : — 



" But still 



When summer smiled on sweet Bowhill, 



And July's eve with balmy breath, 



Waved the blue-bells on Newark-heath ; 



When throstles sung in Harehead-shaw, 



And corn was green on Carterhaugh, 



And flourished, broad, Blackandro's oak, 



The aged Harper's soul awoke ! 



Then would he sing achievements high, 



And circumstance of chivalry, 



Till the rapt traveller would stay, 



Forgetful of the closing day ; 



And noble youths, the strain to hear, 



Forsook the hunting of the deer ; 



And Yarrow, as he rolled along. 



Bore burden to the Minstrel song." 



During our drive frequent halts were made that the many his- 

 torical and romantic associations connected with the ground tra- 

 versed and the places seen might be explained. In connection 

 with the battle of Philiphaugh, fought in 1645, and in which the 

 troops commanded by Montrose were routed with great slaughter 

 by the covenanting general, Leslie, it was stated on the authority 

 of Mr Craig Brown that the principal struggle must have taken 

 place about a mile from Selkirk on the haugh where now stands 

 the house called Lauriston Villa, and where formerly stood the 

 mansion-house of Philiphaugh. The monument near Philip- 

 haugh House, generally accepted by tourists as on the site of the 

 battle, was erected by Sir John Murray simply in commemoration 

 of the fight, and no more marks the site of the battle than does 

 the monument on Peniel Heugh the field of Waterloo. On the 

 day after the battle a number of prisoners were executed in cold 

 blood by the victorious Covenanters, and the scene of this cruel 

 and unworthy sequel to the battle has been designated "Slain 

 men's Lee." Mr Craig Brown believes that the spot is to be 

 found within the Bowhill grounds close to the present School at 

 Newark. 



On passing the farm of Harehead, a dry bank by the roadside 

 was pointed out, where the glow-worm, {Lampyris noctiluca), has 

 been frequently seen. 



Hangingshaw had not been previously visited by the Club. 

 It is now a small, but comfortable and snugly situated country 



H 



