22 Report of Meetings for 1879, by James Hardy. 



The liouse at Graliainslaw now occupies a pretty situation on 

 a terrace overlooking a wooded hollow, along which flows the 

 winding Kale with a somewhat impetuous current. The foot- 

 path down to the water-side intersects a section of the old red 

 sandstone, in which the strata were lying obliquely. The cele- 

 brated caves were inspected, and were found to be spacious. 

 "Walls have been introduced to uphold the roof, which give the 

 appearance as if there had been a multiplicity of chambers. In 

 1826, they appear to have been only reached with safety by the 

 aid of the overhanging branches of trees.* Jeffrey in his 

 •'History of Eoxburghshire " (vol. i. p. 44; and iii., p. 326) 

 makes the statement that "■ the Grahamslaw or Douglas League," 

 against the government, in the reign of James II., was contracted 

 here ; but this is unsupported by any documentary evidence.f 

 It is well known, however, that at a much later period, the 

 Covenanters found refuge in these caves ; and that they occa- 

 sionally held their meetings in a sequestered spot about half a 

 mile distant up the river. | The Kale was here crossed by a 

 fragile bridge. Every one will deplore the neglect which has 

 permitted the house of Henry Hall, the famous covenanting 

 laird, to become a ruin. It was a thatched dwelling ; the wide 

 rude fireplace still remains entire. The ash-tree still exists 

 under which tradition says his children were baptised by the 

 outlawed preachers. The famous Mr Eichard Cameron was 

 licenced to preach, by two other worthies, Mr Welch and Mr 

 Temple, "at Haughead in Teviotdale, at the house of Henry 

 Hall."§ Henry Hall was a noted champion of the Covenant. 

 He was engaged in the battle of Bullion Grreen among the Pent- 

 lands, and acted as a leader in both the conflicts of Drumclog 

 and Bothwell Bridge. He was fatally wounded in an attempt to 

 take him prisoner at Queensferry, June 3, 1680 ; and the copy 

 of an unsubscribed paper found upon him, generally called the 

 '' Queensferry paper," from its uncompromising character, greatly 



* Mason's Border Tour, pp. 193-4. 

 t " The Grahamslaw League" was unknown to Godscroft. "The 

 "Douglas League" was with the Earls of Crawford and Ross, northern 

 Earls. There was no call for the most potent of all the Earls of Douglas to 

 concert a plot like a felon in a Border cavern. — Godscroft' s Hist, of Douglas 

 and Angus, i., pp. 344, 352. 



X New Stat. Account of Eox., p. 226. § Howie's Scots Worthies. 



