396 Report of Meetings for 1886. By J. Hardy. 



branch. The sun shone brightly and the foliage became en- 

 livened with a variety of tints — grassy or dark green, yellow, and 

 even blue, rather a singular colour to be reflected from leaves. 

 The dry dean, that where "old "Watt" of Harden hid the "stolen 

 kye," is very steep on both sides, and till the footpath was made 

 obliquely across the one side, must have been as obscure as a den 

 in its deepest recess at the upper end. Its sides are composed of 

 slaty debris. Some large elms as well as other timber clothe its 

 steeps. Marjoram grows on the upper edges. A Xerophilous flora 

 occupies the slopes near the footpath ; the examples noted being 

 Brachypodium xylvaticum, Geranium Robertianum, Circaa Lutetiana, 

 Scrophularia nodosa which was accompanied by its parasite weevil, 

 Cionus Scrophularia;. The house is well sheltered with trees. It 

 is a lengthy mansion of no particular plan, added to, as necessity 

 required ; with the single homely front and back doors. There 

 were no visible remains of the old peel, so far as we saw. Two 

 lettered stones on the wall in front of the house indicate the dates 



E C 

 of erection. One bears 1680 ; the other W.T. H.T. i.e. Walter, 



1691. 

 Earl of Tarras, and Helen, Countess of Tarras. Lord Polwarth 

 had courteously granted leave to visit the interior of the house, 

 and some of the younger branches of the family were present to 

 shew the valuable relics preserved in this the ancestral home of 

 the chieftain of the clan Scott. The ceiling of the old hall is in 

 stucco, fortunately representing flowers and not fat seraphs. The 

 marble-paved lobby was not remarked. This is no singularity no w- 

 a-days. The mantel-piece of one of the rooms is a monogram 

 (W.E.T.) of Walter, Earl of Tarras, surmounted by an Earl's 

 coronet. In the hall we were shown the famous spurs and horn, 

 which by his Lordship's consent will be figured in the Club's 

 Proceedings. The other relics were (1) an old octavo Bible 

 printed by John Field, 1657, and inscribed with the name of 

 Marie, Duchess of Buccleuch, Feb. 9, 1659. (2) A case of minia- 

 tures from which the following inscriptions have been copied, 

 that will serve to explain as well the inscriptions on the other 

 parts of the house. 



COPY OP INSCRIPTIONS ON MINIATURES BELONGING TO 

 LORD POLWARTH. 

 (1) "Cecil Drury, daughter to Sir Drue Drury of Yorkshire, Maid of 

 Honor to Mary Queen of Scots, and companion to her in Fotheringay 



